1967 Poll 2.0

[St. Gloede]

A secret wish of mine would be to see an alternative reality where sound wouldn't be discovered/integrated for another, or at least a few more years.

which is sort of what happened in japan, where you get a number of quite interesting hybrid practices running simultaneously. it was very interesting during the recent shimizu series to see a late silent like japanese girls at the harbor and an early sound film like a woman crying in spring that were made the same year. and of course a whole host of movies where very limited soundtracks co-exist with intertitles and other silent techniques.

Some of my favourite silent films are definitely from that period, and some of my favourite silents were also stragglers from Europe released in '30 and '31.

[Lencho of the Apes]

la soldadera (bolaños)

Silvia Pinal was so good in that! Maybe I'll give it a rewatch.

[missmorgue]

i need to see more films from '67, so this is tonight's watch! i love catherine deneuve and this is a blind spot for me so why not go ahead?

[rischka]

love your hedy avatar

[missmorgue]

love your hedy avatar

it's quite honestly the most beautiful anyone has ever looked in a photo!

[rischka]

love your hedy avatar

it's quite honestly the most beautiful anyone has ever looked in a photo!

i think it's from the film ziegfeld girl (1941)

[rischka]

the x from outer space (nihonmatsu) won't be going in my list



but it's a pretty fun swingin sexist kaiju movie. hilarious lounge score and the models are adorbs

[frisson]

Triangle / Եռանկյունի
dir. Henrik Malyan



started off strong!



unfortunately tapered off a bit for me towards the end. I won't knock it for anyone else, 'cause it undoubtedly has a lot going for it, but maybe it just wasn't for me.



quite the looker, though.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

The Terrornauts (Montgomery Tully, Amicus Productions) [UK]

Brim-filled with neat mid-century modern tech contraptions, which are showcased in the distinctive Eastmancolor process. Among the most Mélièsian of sound films.

[sally]

the tied up balloon - binka zhelyazkova


Inesperadamente berlanguiana - as per el perro de goya ...been hoarding this female-directed bulgarian classic to watch for years and yes it was worth it....absolutely my kind of abstract absurdist farce, absolutely making my final ballot

this was a mubi fave at one time i think...

[frisson]

Dream / 꿈 / "The Violator"(?)
dir. Shin Sang-ok

no clue where "The Violator" (letterboxd title) comes from.



available to watch on youtube with english subs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOPShYituFA



interesting contrast with how the same director handled the same story 12 years earlier. I ended up favoring the 1967 version, even though I was really a fan of the 1955 ver.'s beginning with its stark b/w contrasts and dreamy tone, but I thought the newer version was more consistent, and I was impressed by its visual language.



I'd heard that dreams hold particular significance in Buddhism, but I'm not well-read enough on the subject to say how that carried into this film adaptation. while watching I was reminded of an old Korean novel called The Nine Cloud Dream. it's a pretty fun read.

[rischka]

both of those look amazing will watch asap xD

[rischka]

殺人狂時代/the age of assassins (okamoto)



see the transformation of nakadai from clueless nerd to a suave hitman





frenetic pop art that maybe doesn't work as well as oh bomb! or fort graveyard



still very fun. okamoto loves these pov shots





black black comedy but i draw a line at torture and mental illness

[Silga]

Watched two films for the poll, both going to be on my final ballot.

Who’s Minding the Mint? (Howard Morris) & The Jungle Book.

Who’s Minding the Mint may not be a perfect film, but it is definitely one of the funniest comedies I've seen in a long time. It's got some obvious flaws in the third act, but there are plenty of gags and jokes throughout to keep it all entertaining. And what a cast, with legends like Jack Gilford, Milton Berle, Walter Brennan, Victor Buono, etc.

[rischka]

rewatched le samourai after many years part of my hitman marathon

[rischka]

the tied up balloon - binka zhelyazkova


Inesperadamente berlanguiana - as per el perro de goya ...been hoarding this female-directed bulgarian classic to watch for years and yes it was worth it....absolutely my kind of abstract absurdist farce, absolutely making my final ballot

this was a mubi fave at one time i think...

the bulgarians seem delightful !! ♥ ♥ ♥ sally thank you for this wonderful discovery this is why you can never never leave

[wba]

Watched DOC HOLLYWOOD (Michael Caton-Jones, 1991), another wonderful film with Michael J. Fox.
All actors were outstanding, down to the smallest role. And some of the dialogue was quite screwball-y.

but what does it have to do w 1967?

Hahaha... ^^
I thought I posted this in the LAST WATCHED thread.

EDIT: You can delete the post now.

[rischka]

ok just checking thought there might be some secret connection

[St. Gloede]

A newly-restored, previously completely unavailable (outside of Hungary) Péter Bacsó? Yes please:

Nyár a hegyen / Summer on the Hill (1967, Péter Bacsó)



Summer on the Hill is perhaps especially interesting for Péter Bacsó fans, as it shows him at an in-between stage. He's not yet the master of thinly veiled, pitch-black political satire, but he is interrogating Hungary's political past in a thoroughly overt way. The film sees a young man and woman team up with an older doctor they barely know to buy an old internment camp (after their friends abandon the project). The idea is to renovate it and turn it into a tourist hot spot, though petty jealousies start to get in the way. Opening with a character asking if "this was where they kept the Jews", only to realise it was running only a decade prior, it is quickly made clear that this was where the undesirables were sent before Hungary broke with Stalin - and what's more, the older doctor, was a prisoner there.

The film is infused with the kind of free-wheeling energy washing over Europe and the world in the 60s, though it is a little more contained, in the way the Hungarian films often were. It's part style, part bohemian-free love style social attitudes, with the younger generation possibly breaking free from the old ones with their persecutions and games, only to perhaps be shown not to be as open-minded as they might think. I have to say though, that at least for me the somewhat heavy-handed political discourse, where our ex-prisoner meets his ex-warden, and the idea of how ar these rifts are from the younger generation were more interesting from the more familiar, mild love triangle (of sorts) with petty jealousies and the odd look.

This is a rare case of Bacsó playing it straight, and while there are comedic touches throughout (sadly, especially early on, giving me a slightly wrong idea of what it would be) this is not quite his strong suit. I did love his previous Bicyclists in Love, which was even further removed from what he would become, but more comedic still. However, there is much of his genius still present throughout, and the restoration is excellent. You can also feel how close he is to start breaking from the "norm", and you can also so easily read much into his construction of building a more free society within the ruins of oppression. 7/10

Sidenote: There is only one film between Summer on the Hill and Bacsó's best known and regarded, The Witness, namely, The Fatal Shot, also a drama. I'll aim to see it soon, but will focus on catching some more '67 films first.

[St. Gloede]

Las aventuras de Juan Quin Quin / The Adventures of Juan Quin Quin (1967, Julio García Espinosa)



A Cuban adventure-comedy, filled with thrills and meta effects? I wanted to like this one so much more than I did (and to be clear, I liked it a fair bit). It is probably one of the freest "action" films of the 60s (if you can call it that). In parts it is frantic, with constant title cards, some breaking the 4th wall, plays with the reels, and literal cartoon talk bubbles ... Did Hollywood ever do anything like this? A bit too silly? Sure. Will animal rights people likely have issues with things like cock fighting and bullfighting (I really doubt that was staged)? Sure. Meandering, and despite the parts in places, sometimes oddly slow and self-serious? Yes. It is essentially the tale of an alter boy, turned bullfighter, turned circus performer, turned guerilla fighter. Quite the yarn - and we skip back and forth - often with great success, but it feels a little undercooked and that it is missing something, but it also feels too damn special to dismiss it. 6/10

[ofrene]

the bulgarians seem delightful !! ♥ ♥ ♥ sally thank you for this wonderful discovery this is why you can never never leave

is there any better copy of this??

[rischka]

it looks like there's a 1080p on kg


i watched far from vietnam which was quite interesting given the current wave of protests in the US













plus ca change

[St. Gloede]

L'invention de Morel / The Invention of Morel (1967, Claude-Jean Bonnardot)






It is hard to believe this was made for TV in a time when b/w was the norm, the cinematography is dreamlike, and the sense of place is excellent. I'm reminded of India Song (and its b-side), with its ghosts from a past time, repeating their words and actions.

Mainly told through narration and visuals, as a castaway is confronted with an odd, and increasingly fantastical phenomenon, the film spins in spirals as we unravel the mystery. I loved the atmosphere and the way it engrosses you in the actions, repetitions, and rules.

Made by director Claude-Jean Bonnardot, who continued to make TV movies and mini-series for the rest of his career, I wonder just how many excellent French TV gems have been hidden by time.

8/10

[Mario Gaborovic]

Incredible year, every film on my top 20 is a masterpiece, with the top runner-up likely being the best action comedy of all time (along with Le magnifique):

Pre istine / Before the Truth (1967, Vojislav 'Kokan' Rakonjac)

Pre istine was 1968 release, but you can still watch The Rats Wake Up by Živojin Pavlović which was recently restored.t

EDIT: Oh wait... You've already seen it.

[St. Gloede]

Thanks, changed my ballot.

[pabs]

La collectionneuse (Rohmer)
The Red and the White (Jancso)
Terra Em Transe (Rocha)

Portrait of Jason (Clarke)
The Graduate (Nichols)
Point Blank (Boorman)

Mouchette (Bresson)
Belle de jour (Bunuel)
Oedipus Rex (Pasolini)

Le Samourai (Melville)
Playtime (Tati)
The Producers (Brooks)


final ballot

[Lencho of the Apes]

far from vietnam

I downloaded this last week, pretty sure I'll get to it. Between this and La Chinoise, it was a pretty good year for Death To America.

chi 1.JPG (42.24 KiB) Viewed 1541 times

[rischka]

i'll try to get to that too!

i watched a time for burning (jersey/connell) cinema verite doc produced by public television (watched on their website) and it very nearly moved me to tears. i grew up in southern baptist church which left scars and it's beautiful to know that there were a few brave white christians who understood that jesus wouldn't tolerate racism. one of them was (briefly) a lutheran minister in omaha, nebraska. 1967 was the long hot summer of riots in detroit and white people were nervous. how have things changed so little. i honestly expected someone to say that talking about racism causes racism (when they mean shut up you're making me uncomfortable. cw for racial epithets)

[St. Gloede]

One of the strengths of 1967 is that I'm certain there are so many more masterpieces sitting just under my nose. Here's an instant favourite that might not even make it into my top 20, as the year is just too damned stacked.

Herostratus (1967, Don Levy)



Herostratus is frantic, angry and mesmerizing. The film's editing is simultaneously brutal, yet free. Sometimes choppy, with milliseconds ticking away in the darkness between the images, other times as if you were flipping through channels, and other times, dreamlike. Connections, past, present and future are made, with shots from scenes yet to come flashing before our eyes, and echoes repeating themselves. It also intercuts archival footage from British prime ministers, politicians across the world, nazi conferences, Hitler speeches, and more, establishing a vision that, surprisingly, ends up being more concise than it would originally appear.

The images are often stunning, the light captured beautifully, and there are also some shot compositions that remind me of Yoshida:



It takes a little time before the pieces are set, as we spend time with an artist living in poverty and anger - an angry young man very well fit for the movement a decade earlier - but it takes a pivotal, and soon political turn as he marches into an advertising office with an unusual offer - that they can make money on his suicide.

Soon he is caught in a net, witnessing the promotion of his own death, and the creation of an ideology to fit it. He wants to die because he views the world as ugly and hopeless, run and controlled by people like those who are now his masters - but this is not "positive" enough - and soon, he is doing it as a protest of degeneracy and a string of Fascist/social-conservative buzzwords his handlers find admirable and bankable.

Our lead is hardly a nice fella, fuelled by hate and egotism, but the world of marketing and power is worse.

There are sly and over-the-top stabs - including a hyper-sexual advert just to sell [redacted] - which also sports Helen Mirren's feature film debut. I'd certainly say it qualifies as a black comedy, and the scope felt similar (though obviously different as not scored by The Velvet Underground) I Am an Elephant, Madame. The style can also at times remind me of Jane Arden, and perhaps a bit of Dwoskin.

One negative is the frequent hyper-sexualisation of women, which, is clearly often meant to criticise the images themselves, including a long strip-tease intercut with footage from a slaughterhouse, but it can still feel a little gratuitous.

The acting is also both a positive and a negative. There's an interesting balance between more deadpan/off-beat sensibilities and more intimate moments that can feel slice of life, and extreme exaggerations, but with the floating, tongue-in-cheek narrative, editing and world it all ends up feeling like a beautifully dark whole.

[St. Gloede]

Getting a bit consumed by exploring '67 at the moment, here's 3 more recent viewings. The last one being the standout.

La lune avec les dents / The Moon by Its Teeth (1967, Michel Soutter)



I love the raw lo-fi aesthetics. A proper playful indie very much in-line with early Tanner and Goretta (and by extension clearly inspired by the French New Wave - does anyone ever speak of a Swiss New Wave?). The energy, especially in the first two acts is excellent as we explore (yet another) angry young man, an idealist crippled by his views, and a very clear case of toxic masculinity. The sudden focus change in the last act, felt odd, and the plotting a little frustrating, but plenty of memorable moments here as well. I have previously seen Les arpenteurs by Soutter, which I liked a bit less, but I do enjoy his style, and I will seek out more. 7/10


Otklonenie / Detour (1967, Grisha Ostrovski & Todor Stoyanov)

A quiet revolt or call for romance in a world that, if you believe this movie, wishes to suppress it? Detour tells the story of a blast from the past, a chance encounter between former sweethearts, decades later. Flashbacks run in tandem with the current moment, showing us their ideological conflicts then - him believing love is a mechanical function to support life's purpose - to work - she, wishing to prove him wrong. Now, they are both more jaded, and positions may even be reversed. There's several moments of quite intriguing dialogue, especially their final scene, but it can also feel a little too overwrought at times. 6.5/10


Szevasz, Vera / Hello, Vera (1967, János Herskó)



The most notable thing about Hello, Vera to me, beyond the final line, which could be read as extremely subversive, is how remarkably shot it is for a director I have never heard of, and who does not seem to have any other films available with English subtitles. Well, the restoration does it beautiful justice. There are several long takes, some at a couple of minutes, that were wholly unexpected in what is essentially, or at least appear to be, a light teen drama, with comedic touches. The opening is excellent. Playful and with a proper vibe. The aesthetics very much live and breathe the 60s, with a sense of freedom, all down to our protagonist's short Jean Seberg like hair (shot from the back several times in ways that made me think of Breathless). The plot can feel a little light and meandering, but it ties into a whole, of a 17-year-old girl growing up over a summer, or rather, just a few days. It's a vacation moie, arguably a road movie, which came as a surprise, and flows wonderfully well. 8/10

Sidenote: It's almost a little creepy. When I was watching this I kept thinking - damn - the way the light is captured, the shots of moving cars on the road, so much of the movements, it looks just like Summer on the Hill (reviewed a couple of posts ago). I had to look up the cinematographer János Zsombolyai - who also shot The Winess, but that was in colour.