Every Picture Tells A Story

At last a post with a Craig Rudy-esque title.

Megan has asked me several times for a list of the films that the stills which run down the right side of this page are taken from. Here they are along with some links about the films and their directors.

The first two stills are from Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 film, le Mepris (Contempt): Brigitte Bardot standing on the roof of Casa Malaparte in Capri and Jack Palance throwing a film can discus-style.

The next two are from Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1981 film, Lola (two shots of the actress Barbara Sukowa).

Next are series of stills from three other Fassbinder films: (Angst essen Seele auf, 1974) Fox and His Friends (Faustrecht der Freiheit, 1975) and The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (Die Bitteren Tranen der Petra von Kant, 1972). The first two stills feature Fassbinder himself as an actor.

Stills from three more Godard films are next: Alphaville (Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution, 1965), Weekend, 1967 and Vivre sa vie (My Life to Live, 1962).

Don't Look Now, Nicolas Roeg, 1973.

The Case of the Grinning Cat (Chat perches), Chris Marker, 2004.

Cremaster 3, Matthew Barney, 2002.

Two stills from Paris, Texas, Wim Wenders, 1984.

Baise-moi, Virginie Despentes, 2000.

Pandora's Box (Die Buchse der Pandora), G. W. Pabst , 1929.

Distant Voices/Still Lives, Terence Davies, 1988.

Trust, Hal Hartley, 1990.

So Close (Chik yeung tin si), Corey Yuen, 2002.

M, Fritz Lang, 1931.

Dancer in the Dark, Lars von Trier, 2000.

I Walked With A Zombie, Jacques Tourneur, 1943.

My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro), Hayao Miyazaki, 1988.

Sunset Blvd., Billy Wilder, 1950.

Fire Walk With Me, David Lynch, 1992.

Night of the Hunter, Charles Laughton, 1955.

Suspiria, Dario Argento, 1977.

Nosferatu (Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens), F.W. Murnau, 1922.

Street of Crocodiles, Quay Brothers, 1985.

Bad Timing, Nicolas Roeg, 1980.

Forty Shades of Blue, Ira Sachs, 2005. (Not a great film, the still was chosen purely for a representation of the great actor, Rip Torn).

I've tried to provide a broad variety of websites and resources in my links for both films and their directors. But there is one online film journal I've cited over and over: Senses of Cinema. Simply put, I think its the best online film resource period. Their coverage of film history, particular directors and important issues in cinema is very impressive and I've always found every essay and entry to be thought full and well-written. If you're interested in reading more about film, its a great place to start and if you're interested in pursuing more film studies, I also recommend it as valuable research resource.

Lil' Red in da hood...

Adam Koford is a cool graphic artist who sometimes draws under the name Ape Lad. I've seen his work here and there, and was particularly chuffed to see him offering original artworks for $20 a pop. He'd been contributing to a pan-internet Flikr collaborative project "700 Hoboes" which has spun off into 700 many other categories of things.

He was offering to custom draw anyone's favorite fairy tale, and if you look on his blog to see examples, you can see that he's now moved on to doing monkey drawings for hire.

Let's hear three cheers for Ape Lad!