Hipsville 29 A.D.

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Because my wife, @archivingaloud is super fucking cool, I already have a finished copy of #matthewweiner novel. #heatherthetotality

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This past October, a month traditionally reserved for the viewing of horror favorites, I took a look at a few pictures from Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Peru. With their individual identities and shared histories, each of these countries have vibrant cinema scenes. Argentina, especially, is on the verge of being a cinematic powerhouse. The six directors I looked at this month are all at the forefront of their respective countries, even if some of these pictures are over twenty years old.

Despite the national identities setting these pictures apart, each of them explore how religion, class, and societal structures shape the women at the center of these stories. As an American, I found the focus on the house servant to be a major point of interest. Pictures such as The Second Mother and The Milk of Sorrow show South American classes defined by wealth. That very culture is deeply rooted here as well, making me ponder if things are often better in my own country for immigrant workers as house maids than in their native countries.

Sadly, I didn’t have the time to watch as many pictures as I set out to do this month. In fact, I watched half as many as I had intended. But, these pictures certainly left an impact on me. I long neglected seeking pictures from South America, the only reason I can offer is one of pure neglect. I am now whole-heartedly thirsty for more South American cinema.

And now...

6. Danzon (1991, dir. Maria Novaro) 

5. The Second Mother (2015, dir. Anna Muylaert)

4. The Holy Girl (2004, dir. Lucrecia Martel) 

3. I, The Worst of All (1990, dir. Maria Luisa Bemberg) 

2. The Milk of Sorrow (2009, dir. Claudia Llosa)

1. Take My Eyes (2003, dir. Iciar Bollain)

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It used to be a director could make six or seven pictures before achieving success with a masterpiece. All this time was spent experimenting and honing one’s craft. Nowadays, you have to have a sizable hit right out of the gate to matter to anyone. With the studio system essentially gone and distribution being minuscule, tremendous stress is put upon a debut pictures. Feature debuts can show directors finding themselves and other debuts show directors arriving fully formed. It should be noted however that most of these directors that had successes so early on didn’t just step into the directing a feature film with no experience. Claire Denis cut her teeth as an assistant director for years and Lynne Ramsay’s short films are stepping stones that lead to her debut feature, each step showing her grow more and more. All of this work however, does not take the pressure off the importance of the needed success of a debut feature.

Selecting the feature debuts for September wasn’t easy and I had to overlook some directors that A) I had already watched their debut feature earlier this year or B) I had already watched their debut feature in a previous year or C) I could not get my hands on some debut features. Marguerite Duras’s filmography still eludes me. So, going in I knew I’d have to choose carefully. I strove for the same diversity I have always sought with this project and I had to hit some well known titles that were always going to be a part of this project. The inclusion of the only Sofia Coppola (whom I am a big fan of) picture featured in my year long project is solely because it is the only picture of her’s I had not seen yet. It was great finally seeing the works of Mira Nair, Lucrecia Martel, and Haifaa Al-Mansour (who made the first motion picture ever in Saudi Arabia!). And if it isn’t apparent to anyone, many directors featured on this list are reoccurring names in this project as I am attempting to cover all or most of their respective filmographies.

The idea of focusing on feature debuts for a month was absolutely thrilling. Seeing where directors began and how or if they grew was the goal, but seeing how these prolific filmmakers all seemed to have such strong grasps on cinematic form at such young ages was inspiring. We see so many mediocre movies released weekend after weekend by Hollywood from directors that continue dumbing down cinema, that by comparison seeing a first feature that is fresh and brave is exhilarating. The pictures that follow are all by great talents and they all illustrate each director’s spirit and what they sought at the beginning of their careers. And each picture here, made careers for many of cinema’s great talents. So, without rambling any further, here are the debut features I focused on in September.

Reviews for each individual feature can be found here  http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/films/diary/

9. Wadjda (2012, dir. Haifaa Al-Mansour)

8. La Cienaga (2001, dir. Lucrecia Martel)

7. Salaam Bombay! (1988, dir. Mira Nair)

6. Virgin Suicides (1999, dir. Sofia Coppola)

5. Sweetie (1989, dir. Jane Campion)

4. River of Grass (1994, dir. Kelly Reichardt)

3. Ratcatcher (1999, dir. Lynne Ramsay)

2. Red Road (2006, dir. Andrea Arnold)

1. Chocolat (1988, dir. Claire Denis)

Some of the directors I wanted to feature this month but had to overlook because their pictures were unavailable to me or I couldn’t fit them in were Jackie Kong, Ann Hui, Celine Sciamma, Mia Hansen-Love, Catherine Breillat, Susanne Bier, Ava DuVernay (who I just fucking overlooked), and Vera Chytilova. 

First Features you should definitely check out: Kathryn Bigelow’s The Loveless, Chantal Akerman’s Ju, Tu, Il, Elle, Samira Makhmalbaf’s The Apple, Agnes Varda’s La Pointe-Courte, Julie Taymor’s Titus, Marzieh Makhmalbaf’s The Day I Became a Woman, Ida Lupino’s Not Wanted, Marina de Van’s In My Skin, Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Barbara Loden’s Wanda, and Mania Akbari’s 20 Fingers.

And only one of the directors previously mentioned in this project will carry over to next month, where I’m steering into pictures from Spain, Central America, and South America. If you are looking for horror movies from women filmmakers for the Halloween season, go check out my March list. 

See you next month!

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My 2016 Women’s Cinema Project has wrapped it’s eighth month. Wow. I’ve just passed 80 pictures for the project too. I focused on English language cinema as a way of both covering some American filmmakers as well as fitting in a dose of pictures from the UK and New Zealand (sorry Australia and South Africa). A big joy for me going into the month was that I now had a chance to spotlight pictures by African-American women directors, a demographic that is doubly in the minority in my home country’s cinema. Part of the way through this month, the BBC published a list of the 100 best pictures of the 21st century. Some 177 critics voted for their respective top tens and the sum (I guess) of those top tens created the list. Of many of the problems I have with this list (mostly from my own tastes and opinions) is that absence of pictures by Lynne Ramsay and Kelly Reichardt - two filmmakers defining in the new century without massive budgets or the center piece of an endurance based performance. For the most part, I tried to stick with as many contemporary directors as possible for August. Only on two occasions did I venture into decades older than the ‘90s. The ‘90s however, was a hotspot for English language women directors. Opportunity was slim before and after, most prevalent in North American cinema. Normally, I would post the links to each review below as they are listed, but I’m slimming back and just below is a link to my letterboxd account where all the reviews for each of the pictures featured in this year long project are. So, with out any more preamble, here’s August’s in reflection.

http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/films/diary/

12. Monster (2003, dir. Patty Jenkins)

11. Daughters of the Dust (1991, dir. Julie Dash)

10. Gas, Food Lodging (1992, dir. Allison Anders)

9. Orlando (1992, dir. Sally Potter)

8. Eve’s Bayou (1997, dir. Kasi Lemmons)

7. Pariah (2011, dir. Dee Rees)

6. Variety (1983, dir. Bette Gordon)

5. The Piano (1993, dir. Jane Campion)

4. Wendy and Lucy (2008, dir. Kelly Reichardt)

3. We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011, dir. Lynne Ramsay)

2. Fish Tank (2009, dir. Andrea Arnold)

1. Mikey and Nicky (1976, dir. Elaine May)

Passing 80 pictures for this project this past month was incredible. I’m hitting the home stretch on the way to the 120 picture goal and if anyone following this year long project has any questions, discussion topics, or suggestions please send them to me he to me hear or on instagram where I consistently post updates about the project. You can find me @ https://www.instagram.com/initialsg.d/ and of course at my letterboxd account above. See you next month when I’ll be focusing on debut features. Ciao.

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The month has wrapped, thus concluding the seventh month of my 2016 Women’s Cinema Project. I’m tracking well toward my goal of 120 pictures for the year with 72 pictures so far. I’m excited I’ve made it through so many great pictures this year and still so many cinematic treasures ahead. Time for reviewing each picture as I watch them however is getting tighter and tighter with the other obligations in my life, but I will continue to strive do so.

When I sat down and mapped out the pictures I wanted to watch from women directors of East Asia, I had no clue how difficult these pictures were going to be to track down. Only two of the pictures I set out to watch were available from my local video store and most of them I found available on YouTube, some even VHS rips, and by other means on the internet. In spite of the lack of available hard copies, I constantly shifted the selections and continued researching titles from women directors of East Asia until I found just the right titles I could watch.

Focusing on China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea I watched pictures about grief, heartbreak, and immigration. These pictures also cover homosexuality, abortion, and economics. I spotlighted two pictures starring Doona Bae, both of them nearly fifteen years apart. I revisited a Hong Kong master and was introduced to the talents of Isabella Leong and Mika Ninagawa.

The pictures and the directors behind them illustrate the situations women face almost daily. Even a quasi-action picture focusing on an Vietnamese soldier features heavily how immigrant women are kidnapped and forced into sex slavery. These are pictures of vastly varying styles yet they are all boldly told pieces.

And now…

9. Spider Lilies (2007, dir. Zero Chou)

8. Helter Skelter (2012, dir. Mika Ninagawa)

7. The Mourning Forest (2007, dir. Naomi Kawase)

6. A Girl at My Door (2014, dir. July Jung)

5. The Story of Woo Viet (1980, dir. Ann Hui)

4. Take Care of My Cat (2001, dir. Jeong Jae-eun)

3. Murmurs of the Heart (2015, dir. Sylvia Chang)

2. Lost in Bejing (2007, dir. Li Yu)

1. Boat People (1982, dir. Ann Hui)

Next month of my 2016WCP, I’m shifting into English language films. That is pictures from the UK, Australia, and the US. Maybe Canada too. I’m most looking forward to spotlighting some African-American women directors here too. Stay hip to my project here, on Instagram, or @ http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/ and always, please join me in watching the cinema of the supremely talented women of the world.

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The month has wrapped, thus concluding the seventh month of my 2016 Women’s Cinema Project. I’m tracking well toward my goal of 120 pictures for the year with 72 pictures so far. I’m excited I’ve made it through so many great pictures this year and still so many cinematic treasures ahead. Time for reviewing each picture as I watch them however is getting tighter and tighter with the other obligations in my life, but I will continue to strive do so.

When I sat down and mapped out the pictures I wanted to watch from women directors of East Asia, I had no clue how difficult these pictures were going to be to track down. Only two of the pictures I set out to watch were available from my local video store and most of them I found available on YouTube, some even VHS rips, and by other means on the internet. In spite of the lack of available hard copies, I constantly shifted the selections and continued researching titles from women directors of East Asia until I found just the right titles I could watch.

Focusing on China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea I watched pictures about grief, heartbreak, and immigration. These pictures also cover homosexuality, abortion, and economics. I spotlighted two pictures starring Doona Bae, both of them nearly fifteen years apart. I revisited a Hong Kong master and was introduced to the talents of Isabella Leong and Mika Ninagawa.

The pictures and the directors behind them illustrate the situations women face almost daily. Even a quasi-action picture focusing on an Vietnamese soldier features heavily how immigrant women are kidnapped and forced into sex slavery. These are pictures of vastly varying styles yet they are all boldly told pieces.

And now...

9. Spider Lilies (2007, dir. Zero Chou)

8. Helter Skelter (2012, dir. Mika Ninagawa)

7. The Mourning Forest (2007, dir. Naomi Kawase)

6. A Girl at My Door (2014, dir. July Jung)

5. The Story of Woo Viet (1980, dir. Ann Hui)

4. Take Care of My Cat (2001, dir. Jeong Jae-eun)

3. Murmurs of the Heart (2015, dir. Sylvia Chang)

2. Lost in Bejing (2007, dir. Li Yu)

1. Boat People (1982, dir. Ann Hui)

Next month of my 2016WCP, I’m shifting into English language films. That is pictures from the UK, Australia, and the US. Maybe Canada too. I’m most looking forward to spotlighting some African-American women directors here too. Stay hip to my project here, on Instagram, or @ http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/ and always, please join me in watching the cinema of the supremely talented women of the world.

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Cinema Traversa: East Asia

Sorry folks, I got a little backed up with posting reviews here. Three great reviews on East Asian films from women filmmakers are over @ http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/films/diary/

I hope to get back on track and post the reviews as I get back on track for the rest of the month. :)

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Cinema Traversa, East Asia: Spider Lilies (2007)

Spider Lilies is a tale of regret told with a soft melodramatic approach. It is set in a world of webcam sex shows, tattoo parlors, and street hustlers but this isn’t a lurid and cynical story. Through a plot convoluted with flashbacks and time jumps, we follow Takeko and Jade through their lives today and when they were teens and how the Taiwanese earthquake of 1999 shaped who they are in the present.

Jade enters Takeko’s tattoo shop one day and wants a tattoo. They speak professionally and Jade has not decided what design she wants and eventually leaves needing to think it over. However when she returns, she asks for a tattoo on the wall that reminds her of a tattoo that someone from her past had. The tattoo is of course Takeko’s tattoo of spider lilies. Now, at this point we learn that these women have a past connection. But it is difficult to discern if both women have either just forgotten each other over the years or if they are both in such denial that they can not recognize each other. I’d like to think the latter is true. Jade does not reveal if she has recognizes Takeko or not during these early interactions. As they continue pursuing the tattoo, both women’s feelings for one another eventually surface, leading us to the moment in which we are given the flashback of when these two women nearly had a sexual encounter. But that earthquake...

The strengths of the picture lie in the performances of the two central characters and the flaws they delicately display. The writing at times is overwrought and most secondary characters never wholly impact the story but rather create scenarios that cause emotional reactions from the two central characters. The direction and camera work is television quality at best. For all its faults though, what has stuck with me the most about Spider Lilies is that it addresses homosexuality with honesty and it shows just how progressive Taiwan is in this regard. When Takeko and Jade were younger and just about to break the threshold of intimacy with one another, the earthquake hit. Takeko left her brother alone at home with her father so that she may be with Jade, however the earthquake killed her father and left her brother mentally handicapped. This could be viewed as punishment for her homosexual actions, however Zero Chou makes it very clear that since the earthquake, Takeko views love as a selfish act and has been dedicating all her personal time to caring for her brother and isn’t running from her sexuality.

Spider Lilies is a small picture with a lot to say but just can’t seem to get it clearly on the screen. Despite introducing deep character flaws that would make for great character explorations and further mine the human condition, it settles for television drama-style emotions and visual languages. The two lead performances help sell the picture but they do not mask its flaws.

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Cinema Traversa, East Asia: Lost in Beijing (2007)

Li Yu’s Lost in Beijing is a terrifically complex portrait of Chinese life in the 21st century where Chinese tradition clashes with capitalist ideals. Focusing mostly on the arrangements of the birth of a baby out of questionable circumstances, this picture delicately mixes four different perspectives on the situation without vilifying any of the characters.

After Lin Pingguo is raped by her boss and finds out she is pregnant, her husband and her boss enter into a battle of wills over who is the father. Pingguo is left in the cold for most of the picture never finding love or comfort from her boss or her husband - both who only want money and for the baby to be born a boy. What is most interesting about the picture is the relationship that blossoms between the boss character and his wife along with Pingguo and her husband. At times the relationship between the four of them is a menage a quatre and other times all the characters hate one another. Somehow though, they end up making a surrogate dysfunctional family.

Li Yu’s direction is always tight and she finds a way of not only getting in to the characters’ headspace with silent shots but consistently observes them in the urban structures of Beijing. And there are always little vignettes of other people coming in and out of the lives of these characters, perfectly illustrating the great metropolis that is Beijing.

If you’re unfamiliar with 21st century Chinese cinema, like I am, this is a great place to start. I came here looking for hints of Wong Kar-Wai or Fruit Chan but what I found was a filmmaker with a strong voice. Lost in Beijing, originally titled Pingguo, is the perfect encapsulation of what it might mean to be a woman working in the cinema industry.

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June has ended and so has my trip through the pictures of women European filmmakers. I ventured through France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Turkey, and Greece. Its really difficult to encapsulate all of Europe’s great talents in one month of viewings, however. And the fact that France has such an immense history of cinema, it was difficult not to focus solely on France. Eastern Europe, I’m sorry I didn’t have enough time in a month to get to you. I do want to point out that I had a very difficult time finding a picture from Spain to feature this month.

When it came time to choose pictures by women filmmakers from the vastly different countries of Europe, it was difficult to choose which were most representative of these said countries and of course the issue of what was available to me also played a factor in what I was able to watch. I’m incredibly thankful for the internet, for without it I would not be able to find some pictures.

If there is one thread that runs through the pictures I watched this month it is the human relationship or lack thereof one. Each picture shows human relationships through the filters of politics, war, religion, romantic feelings, or societal constraints. These relationships leave people lonely or wanting or wandering, or loved. The filmmakers here access these feelings as they are no doubt well acquainted with them.  

So without further hubbub, here are the pictures from sunny Italian beaches to the cold train stations of Brussels and a few other places in scattered about.

10. Swept Away (1974, dir. Lina Wertmuller)

9. The Night Porter (1974, dir. Liliana Cavani)

8. Hannah Arendt (2012, dir. Margarethe von Trotta)

7. Attenberg (2010, dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari)

6. Mustang (2015, dir. Deniz Gamze Erguven)

5. Vagabond (1985, dir. Agnes Varda)

4. White Material (2009, dir. Claire Denis)

3. Toute une nuit (1982, dir. Chantal Akerman)

2. La bonheur (1965, dir. Agnes Varda)

1. Les rendezvous d’anna (1978, dir. Chantal Akerman)

Having moved into a new apartment this month put me behind on my review schedule as I went through the month. So, I’ll just leave my letterboxd link below to catch up on the titles I was able to review.

Next month, I’m shifting over to East Asia with some wonderful titles by many filmmakers that I have never encountered before. And I hope to maybe be able to share some of these pictures with everyone as I go through them.

See you next month.

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Cinema Traversa, Europe: Attenberg (2010)

To call this a coming-of-age tale would be ill-fitting. This is a tale of adult resignation, a resignation that life is ruled by sex and death. And the fact that you may not like either but you’ll have to live with them forever. Attenberg is a dark comedy of behavior, something typical of modern Greek cinema these days. It centers around Marina, a young woman caring for her dying father in an economically desolate seaside area. In the weeks readying for her father’s departure, Marina struggles with the fact that she finds sexual activity revolting.

Interrupting Marina’s trajectory to adult resignation are vignettes of Marina’s and her friend Bella’s childish frolicking hand-in-hand. These vignettes are reminiscent of Chytilova’s Daisies, illustrating two women defying the adulthood thrust upon them. But unlike Daisies, the adventure here is short-lived. Marina looses her father and resigns to a life with some truly unsatisfying sexual encounters with a man she frequently meets in a hotel room.

Director Tsangari is often compared to Yorgos Lanthimos (who co-stars here) and his picture Dogtooth; she opts not for cringe humor and transgressions. She uses nature documentaries as metaphors for human relationships and passionless sex. Opposite the destruction of glass ceilings in Dogtooth that end that picture, Attenberg is bereft. When it wraps we are left with a long standing shot of the cold industrial landscape standing in for the long, cold life Marina has yet to live.

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Cinema Traversa, Europe: Toute une nuit (1982)

Moving was tough on my watch schedule but I’m close to getting back on track. This short write up here will have to suffice, as I still have much to do as my wife and I settle into our new home. This picture wraps up the French or French related portion of the European pictures I wanted to watch this month. 

Toute une nuit encapsulates a city and its people at night. The picture is constructed through quick vignettes, a cinematic flash fiction of sorts, depicting honest portrayals of human behavior and interactions. We are privy to lovers running away together, people cheating, people leaving lovers, restless people, tired people, lonely people, and some truly great dancing scenes. This city is overflowing with emotion. The embraces between any two people in any of the vignettes are sloppy, uncoordinated, and protracted. Cars horns and engines populate the whole picture as well as radios and telephones and some of the most palpable sounds of high heels on hard surfaces.

We rarely get the names of the individuals we are watching, however it is their plights in this night that are so recognizable. We no doubt want to know more about these people yet this is a picture purely interested in the connectivity of human behavior. This is the definitive picture about life at night, where we are reach our emotional peaks and valleys during this time. The morning may bring productivity, remorse, and resolution but we’ll never be as alive as we were the night before.

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Cinema Traversa, Europe: White Material (2009)

Set in an ambiguous African country, White Material is a tale of denial, ignorance, and the downfall of colonialism. Maria runs a plantation for her ex-husband, who inherited the plantation from his father. Maria is out in the field everyday. She mingles with the workers. She is the face of the plantation. But, Maria is delusional and ignorant to her position within her family as well in this increasingly hostile country. She denies her son’s mental illness, the fragility of her ex-husband’s son’s education, and when a rebel leader takes refuge in her estate, she refuses to acknowledge their position in the world all together.

Because White Material is a Claire Denis picture it is anything but easy. The plotting is always beneath the surface and opposing points of views are played honestly, there is no vilifying of any of the players here. This is a picture so deeply ingrained in a systemic issue, none of the characters have any solutions to their problems. The most symbolic scene in all the film is Maria hanging on the back of a bus full of Africans, visually illustrating that Maria is so far behind on what is happening. It isn’t until Maria is stranded so far from home and finds herself faced with murder and chaos in the city, does she acknowledge her situation and the fate of her family. Once she accepts her family’s fate, she gives into violence and strikes out at who she deems responsible.

A large part of the plot is devoted to the significance of The Boxer, the red beret wearing rebel leader. For the most part of the picture he is wounded and laid up in the plantation, yet he is a larger than life figure among rebels and the military alike. He is never given any character development, nor does he need any. He is the will of the rebels, a will that must be defeated by the military as much as the military must topple the plantation. It is no coincidence that the plotting of this picture brings The Boxer and the plantation together as crumbling institutions. White Material comes to a close as the military topples both of these institutions, yet in the final shot of the picture we see a young and capable rebel escaping with The Boxer’s red beret. This image of the rebel fighter is optimistic, however the idea that the fighting between Africans continues is bleak.

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Cinema Traversa, Europe: Mustang

Mustang is a coming of age tale about five orphan sisters living in a strict Muslim house. One by one they are married away as the picture increasingly focuses on the youngest sister and her will to escape her situation. Deniz Gamze Erguven’s picture is an honest look at the rebellious spirit of youth, as well as the fear driven conservatism that plagues so many cultures in our world. It is minimally shot and the writing handles the emotional ups and downs with great care.

One of the brilliant artistic choices that helps Mustang achieve its successes is the casting of amateur actors in the roles of the sisters. Always kinetic, they fill every scene with chatter, tangled bodies, and a connectivity that is rarely scene in American family dramas today. The early scene of the two eldest sisters celebrating their dual weddings is reminiscent of the wedding celebration in Circumstance (2011), both pictures depicting arranged marriages as a damning societal shackle. Like Circumstance, the actors here have to express ambivalent emotions and amateur or not they knock it out of the park. There is no doubt we will be seeing more from these young actors again.

The titular mustang is the unbroken spirit of the youngest sister who never stops fighting for her freedom. As the picture nears the final third, it focuses on her escape plan. She slowly plans and trains herself for the day but like many life moments in Mustang, opportunity never knocks but circumstances push her to act. The final act brings the tension of a prison break to this coming of age tale and its final scene is a kin to the boat reunion in The Shawshank Redemption.

Coming of age pictures always tow the line of veering into nostalgia or cliched plotting, but Mustang skirts these problems. Its a assured directorial debut and by the end of the picture I’ll be damned if I didn’t want another picture about the next phase of the youngest sister’s life ala Antoine Doinel-style.

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Cinema Traversa Europe: Le bonheur (1965)/Vagabond (1985)

Le bonheur packs quite a punch in its 79 minutes. Fields of sunflowers, country feasts, matching sweaters, and loving families are all are only superficial when one of the most selfish protagonists in all of cinema takes them for granted. Jean-Claude Drouot stars as Francois Chevalier who is satisfied and happy with his wife, Therese (Claire Drouot), and their two kids. He starts an affair with Emilie (Marie-France Boyer) after meeting her in a post office and instead of conventionally being torn between the two loves of his life, he accepts that they are both parts of his life.

Francois takes both women for granted never once considering their feelings. The picture never gives either woman their own agency and by the picture’s end, one can be substituted for another and Francois seems to care less. At a first watch, the opening sequence has a strange rhythm to the cutting, two shots alternate: one of a field of sunflowers and a close up of another sunflower. The shots of the field last considerably longer than that of the close up. It isn’t until close to the picture’s climax that Francois explains how he feels about his mistress to his wife that the opening shots make sense. Francois explains that his family is like a crop all growing together inside a fenced area. Then outside the fence another crop starts to grow and they are all a part of the same world. However, this metaphor can be seen in another perspective. The opening shots of the field of sunflowers can be the women and the family and the close up of the sunflower can be Francois.

Agnes Varda created one of the most beautiful films ever here: rivaling Contempt and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, two of the most celebrated visually stunning pictures of the Nouvelle Vague era. She photographs fields and city streets, using yellows and reds to depict just how wonderful the world is for Francois. The conversations between Francois and Emilie in the cafe is shot with a constant panning camera, like a visual tete-a-tete. And of course, the finale long dolly shot through the woods is both devastating as it is beautiful. Le bonheur is Varda’s best picture of the 1960s. As it is beautiful it is unsentimental; as it is majestic, it is melancholy. It is certainly the individual flower growing outside the field.

Agnes Varda’s Vagabond reflects on a life disillusioned with society and society’s disregard for this disillusionment. At the center of the picture is Mona, found frozen to death in the opening scene. The picture follows the police investigating the people that encountered Mona along her travels. This police investigation gives way to these characters speaking directly to the audience. They mostly confess the disgust and shock of encountering Mona, always skirting whether they used or abused her. Countering these testaments are flashbacks of Mona’s life.

Little information transpires over the course of the picture as what set Mona on her path in life. We are privy to the knowledge that Mona is a trained secretary and that she does not like that profession. However, we see that she disregards work, marriage, and politeness. She only expresses that she likes grass and music. Mona exposes the societal constraints of each of the individuals she encounters. These constraints are so ingrained in the individual, they have no choice but to shun Mona and the revolting truth about themselves.

Mona eventually falls in with a group of petty criminals and drunks, one of them even attempts to pimp her. However, Mona is strong enough not to fall into the constraints of this group too. It is also possible that they rejected her for her unwillingness to succumb to despair and addiction like the rest of them. It is after this last encounter with society’s lowest group, that Mona goes her own way and meets her death. Other than knowing the truth of Mona’s death, only one thing is revealed through the investigations and flashbacks - everyone depends on society in one form or another. The societies we’ve constructed leave those outside of it disillusioned, starving, and lonely. Vagabond is not a cynical picture and depicts freedom as something that has rules and compromises. And that maybe no one is truly free.

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Cinema Traversa Europe: Les rendez-vous d’anna, 1978

The cinema of Chantal Akerman has utterly captivated me this year, she is truly one of the undervalued auteurs in the medium’s canon. Her run of magnificent pictures in the 1970s concludes with Les rendez-vous d’anna - a picture as cold as it is lonely.

Les rendez-vous d’anna is as much a picture about Akerman’s loneliness as it is about Western Europe. She crafts wonderfully difficult pictures and she couldn’t see the world any different if she tried. The static shots here of city streets, train stations, and hotel rooms reflect character emotion and histories more than any amount of dialogue could ever do. Aurore Clement does the extraordinary task of carrying the picture with a confident reserved performance that perfectly matches the mood and pacing of Akerman’s long takes.

Urban alienation is a big theme of the 20th century fiction and as far as cinema goes, this is one of the best works on the subject. The title of Marianne Lambert’s documentary on Akerman is I Don’t Belong Anywhere, a statement perfectly expressed in this picture. It is a grand experiment in loneliness and in alienation, Anna meets several people yet never connects with no one. And by the picture’s finale, we are left with the idea that Anna may never connect with anyone. Perhaps Akerman felt that way as well.

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Iran is one of the most cinematically fertile places in the world right now. With the country’s censorship, religious devotion, and societal restraints filmmakers have found these obstacles to be fuel for creativity and over the last twenty years have produced some of the most stunning and sophisticated cinema the world has ever produced. 

Women filmmakers in particularly are thriving in Iran. Our perception in the West (or at least it is propagated to us) is that women are second class citizens with no rights. This isn’t the absolute case, but women do severely struggle daily for equality. After reading argument after argument about the validity of Circumstance’s plot, between Western viewers, it is obvious we in the West need to learn a great deal about Iran and the most accessible way to do so is through their cinema. 

The pictures I watched this month are mostly from the 21st century (Iranian cinema is also not the most accessible in the US). But each picture does take aim at the inequalities in Iranian society, whether it be through sex, illness or age. Iranian cinema can not show promiscuity or sexual relationships (even between married couples); there can be no scrutiny of the government or of Islam. So these pictures dodge these issues yet through plainly showing the inequalities present in their country, they inadvertently address the issues the censors try to suppress.

The following list are the pictures I watched in the month of May, however I’d like to mention a few titles, also directed by Iranian women, to accompany this list that I’ve viewed in the past that are equally compelling and cinematically daring: 20 Fingers (2004), The Apple (1998), and Blackboards (2000). 

8. The Hidden Half (2001, dir. Tahmineh Milani) 

http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/film/the-hidden-half/

7. At Five in the Afternoon (2003, dir. Samira Makhmalbaf)

http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/film/at-five-in-the-afternoon/

6. Women’s Prison (2002, dir. Manijeh Hekmat)

http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/film/womens-prison-2002/

5. Daughters of the Sun (2000, dir. Maryam Shahriar)

http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/film/daughters-of-the-sun/

4. The Black House (1963, dir. Forugh Farrokhzad)

http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/film/the-house-is-black/

3. Circumstance (2011, dir. Maryam Keshavarz)

http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/film/circumstance/

2. Under the Skin of the City (2001, dir. Rakshan Bani-Etemad)

http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/film/under-the-skin-of-the-city/

1. The Day I Became a Woman (2000, dir. Marziyeh Meshkini)

http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/film/the-day-i-became-a-woman/

Next month, I’ll continue globetrotting and I’ll be doing a brief overview of European filmmakers. If anyone has any suggestions to add to my watchlist, shoot them to me here or over on letterboxd. And as always you can follow me her or on letterboxd @ http://letterboxd.com/hipsville29ad/