Month: July 2018

6th (1968): “High Drama in Low Key” Show Notes

Ryan Swen Catalyst and Witness Leave a comment

Table of Contents: Description, Corrections/Clarifications, Housekeeping, General, Main Slate, Ephemera, Recurring Directors, Recurring Countries, One-Time Directors, Debuts/Final Features, Festivals/Oscar Nominees, Events/Shorts, Discussions By Length, Specifications

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Description
The sixth episode of the Catalyst and Witness podcast, devoted to exploring the films and format of the New York Film Festival, hosted by Ryan Swen and Dan Molloy. This covers the sixth edition of the festival in 1968, and features special guest Etan Weisfogel, cinephile and Twitter personality.

0:00-15:06 – Opening
15:07-1:18:27 – Part One [Capricious Summer to The Red and the White]
1:18:28-2:39:26 – Part Two [Mouchette to Kaja, I’ll Kill You!]
2:39:27-3:33:45 – Part Three [24 Hours in the Life of a Woman to Les Biches]
3:33:46-4:47:58 – Part Four [L’Enfance nue to The Firemen’s Ball]
4:47:59-4:59:07 – Closing

Corrections/Clarifications

  • The editing methodology for this episode shifted during Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach.

Housekeeping

  • Hosted by Dan Molloy & Ryan Swen
  • Special Guest Etan Weisfogel
  • Conceived and Edited by Ryan Swen
  • Recorded in Seattle, Portland, and Newark on MacBook GarageBand, Edited in Audacity
  • Podcast photograph from Yi Yi, Logo designed by Dan Molloy
  • Poster by Henry Pearson
  • Recorded July 19, 2018
  • Released July 31, 2018
  • Music (in order of appearance):
    • Capricious Summer (opening night)
    • The Immortal Story (another favorite)
    • Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (favorite of the first section)
    • Lola Montés (favorite of the second section)
    • Les Biches (favorite of the third section)
    • Week-end (favorite of the fourth section)
    • The Firemen’s Ball (closing night)

General

  • Selection Committee: Richard Roud (program director), Amos Vogel (festival director), Arthur Knight, Andrew Sarris, Susan Sontag
  • Location: Philharmonic Hall
  • Prices: 2 for terrace, 3 for orchestra, 4 for loge, with 1 added to all seats for opening night
  • Films seen for the podcast:
    • Ryan
      • Seen before podcast watching period: Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her
      • Seen for the podcast: All available and One Plus One* except Beyond the Law; none rewatched
      • Favorite films: Week-end, Lola Montés, The Immortal Story, The Red and the White, Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, Mouchette, The Nun
      • Least favorite films: A Report on the Party and the Guests, Oratorio for Prague
    • Dan
      • Seen before podcast watching period: Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, Mouchette, The Nun, Lola Montès, Faces, L’enfance nue, The Firemen’s Ball
      • Seen for the podcast: All available except L’Argent and 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman; Faces, L’enfance nue rewatched
      • Favorite films: Week-end, Chronicle of Anna Magdalena, Bach, Lola Montès, The Immortal Story, Mouchette, The Nun, Toni
      • Least favorite films: Partner., A Report on the Party and the Guests, Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed, Beyond the Law
    • Etan
      • Seen before podcast watching period: Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, Lola Montès, Faces, L’Enfance nue, Week-end
      • Seen for the podcast: Toni, The Immortal Story, A Report on the Party and the Guests, Mouchette, 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her, Les Biches, The Firemen’s Ball; none rewatched
      • Favorite films: Lola Montès, L’Enfance nue, Les Biches, Faces, Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach, Toni
      • Least favorite films: A Report on the Party and the Guests
  • Discoveries of the festival: 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman, One Plus One*, Les Biches
  • Unavailable films: Tropics, Kaja, I’ll Kill You!

Main Slate

Opening Night: Capricious Summer [Rozmarné léto] (1968, Jiří Menzel)
September 17, 9:00
Released 1968
Retrospective: Toni (1935, Jean Renoir)
September 18, 6:30
Released 1936
The Immortal Story [Une histoire immortelle] (1968, Orson Welles)
September 18, 9:30
Released 1969
Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach [Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach] (1968, Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet)
September 18, 6:30
Released 1969
A Report on the Party and the Guests [O slavnosti a hostech/About the Party and the Guests] (1966, Jan Němec)
September 19, 9:30
Released 1968
The Red and the White [Csillagosok, katonák/Stars, Soldiers] (1967, Jancsó Miklós)
September 20, 6:30
Released 1969
Mouchette (1967, Robert Bresson)
September 20, 9:30
Released 1970
Retrospective: L’Argent [Money] (1928, Marcel L’Herbier)
September 21, 5:30
Never released
The Nun [Suzanne Simonin, la Religieuse de Denis Diderot/Suzanne Simonin, The Nun of Denis Diderot] (1966, Jacques Rivette)
September 21, 9:30
Released 1971
Retrospective: Lola Montès (1955, Max Ophuls)
September 22, 6:30
Released 1969
Faces (1968, John Cassavetes)
September 22, 9:30
Released 1968
Tropics [Tropici] (1968, Gianni Amico)
September 23, 6:30
Released 1969
Partner. (1968, Bernardo Bertolucci)
September 23, 9:30
Released 1974
Kaja, I’ll Kill You! [Kaja, ubit ću te!] (1967, Vatroslav Mimica)
September 24, 6:30
Released 1969
24 Hours in the Life of a Woman [Vingt-Quatre Heures de la vie d’une femme] (1968, Dominique Delouche)
September 24, 9:30
Never released
Signs of Life [Lebenszeichen] (1968, Werner Herzog)
September 25, 6:30
Never released
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her [2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle] (1967, Jean-Luc Godard)
September 25, 9:30
Released 1970
Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed [Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos] (1968, Alexander Kluge)
September 26, 6:30
Never released
Les Biches [The Does] (1968, Claude Chabrol)
September 26, 9:30
Released 1968
L’Enfance nue [Naked Childhood] (1968, Maurice Pialat)
September 27, 6:30
Released 1970
Week-end (1967, Jean-Luc Godard)
September 27, 9:30
Released 1968
Canceled: One Plus One (1968, Jean-Luc Godard)
September 28, 12:00 AM
Released 1970
Hugo and Josephine [Hugo och Josefin] (1967, Kjell Grede)
September 28, 3:00
Never released
Beyond the Law (1968, Norman Mailer)
September 28, 6:30
Released 1968
Unannounced: Oratorio for Prague [Oratorium pro Prahu] (1968, Jan Němec)
“Closing Night”: The Firemen’s Ball [Hoří, má panenko/There’s a Fire, My Lady] (1967, Miloš Forman)
September 28, 9:30
Released 1968/Released 1968

Ephemera

  • Special Retrospective Matinee: The Boy With the Green Hair (Joseph Losey) and They Live by Night (Nicholas Ray); September 22, 3:00 at Philharmonic Hall
  • “Personal Cinema”: 8 programs of films made by underground/outsider/minority filmmakers, shown at the Library and Museum of Performing Arts in Lincoln Center, all free
  • “The Western”: 19 programs of silent and sound Westerns, shown at the Library and Museum of Performing Arts in Lincoln Center, all free
  • “Filmmakers on New Lifestyles”: 6 programs of films dealing with the new generation’s ways of life, shown at the Library and Museum of Performing Arts in Lincoln Center, all free

Recurring Directors
Key: films in this iteration excluding shorts/omnibus/retrospectives, films in this iteration including, films in the festival up to this point excluding, films up to this point including, number of gala spots (when applicable), number of festivals with more than one film shown (when applicable); † indicates their last appearance, fraction in parentheses indicates number of features shown from oeuvre, features released in the eligible timeframe, features in oeuvre

  • Jean-Luc Godard: 3/3/10/14/2/5
  • Miloš Forman: 1/1/3/3/2
  • Jan Němec: 1/2/1/3/0/1†(1/14/14)
  • Robert Bresson: 1/1/3/3
  • Bernardo Bertolucci: 1/1/2/3
  • Jancsó Miklós: 1/1/2/2
  • Alexander Kluge: 1/1/2/2
  • Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet: 1/1/2/2
  • Jiří Menzel: 1/1/1/2/1†(1/16/16)
  • Gianni Amico: 1/1/1/2
  • John Cassavetes: 1/1/1/1
  • Claude Chabrol: 1/1/1/1
  • Kjell Grede: 1/1/1/1
  • Werner Herzog: 1/1/1/1
  • Maurice Pialat: 1/1/1/1
  • Jacques Rivette: 1/1/1/1
  • Orson Welles: 1/1/1/1
  • Jean Renoir: 0/2/0/2
  • Max Ophuls: 0/1/0/1

Recurring Countries
Key: films in this iteration excluding shorts/retrospectives, films in this iteration including, films in the festival up to this point excluding, films up to this point including, number of gala spots (when applicable)

  • France: 8/11/35/45/4
  • Czechoslovakia: 3/4/9/11/3
  • West Germany: 3/3/6/6
  • USA: 2/2/14/23
  • Italy: 2/2/14/18/1
  • UK: 1/1/6/8
  • Sweden: 1/1/5/5
  • Hungary: 1/1/4/4
  • Yugoslavia: 1/1/4/4

One-Time Directors

  • Dominique Delouche
  • Marcel L’Herbier (retrospective)
  • Norman Mailer
  • Vatroslav Mimica

Feature Debuts

  • Gianni Amico
  • Dominique Delouche
  • Kjell Grede
  • Werner Herzog
  • Maurice Pialat

Final Features

  • Max Ophuls (retrospective)

Festivals

  • NYFF World Premiere
    • Beyond the Law (?)
    • Oratorio for Prague
  • Cannes
    • The Nun (1966)
    • Mouchette (1967, OCIC)
    • Capricious Summer (also Karlovy Vary, Crystal Globe)
    • The Firemen’s Ball
    • The Red and the White
    • A Report on the Party and the Guests
    • 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman (also San Sebastian)
  • Berlin
    • Les Biches (Silver Bear for Best Actress)
    • Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach
    • The Immortal Story
    • Signs of Life (Silver Bear Extraordinary Jury Prize)
    • Week-end
  • Venice
    • Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed (Golden Lion)
    • L’Enfance nue
    • Faces (Volpi Cup for Best Actor, Pasinetti Award)
    • Partner. (also 1969 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight)
  • Other
    • Kaja, I’ll Kill You! (Pula)
    • Tropics (Pesaro)
  • N/A
    • L’Argent
    • Hugo and Josephine
    • Lola Montès
    • One Plus One
    • Toni
    • 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

Oscar Nominees

  • Faces: Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress
  • The Firemen’s Ball: Best Foreign Film

Events/Shorts

events
shorts

Discussions By Length (Approximate)

  • 23:36 Week-end (3:52:44-4:16:20)
  • 18:06 L’Enfance nue (3:34:37-3:52:43)
  • 16:25 Lola Montés (1:56:35-2:13:00)
  • 15:38 Faces (2:13:01-2:28:39)
  • 14:49 The Nun (1:41:45-1:56:34)
  • 13:42 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman (2:40:23-2:54:05)
  • 13:05 Mouchette (1:19:32-1:32:37)
  • 12:42 The Immortal Story (33:05-45:47)
  • 12:32 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (3:00:58-3:13:30)
  • 12:02 Les Biches (3:21:43-3:33:45)
  • 11:14 A Report on the Party and the Guests (56:39-1:07:53)
  • 11:11 Toni (21:53-33:04)
  • 10:50 Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (45:48-56:38)
  • 10:33 The Red and the White (1:07:54-1:18:27)
  • 9:29 One Plus One* [One Person] (4:16:21-4:25:50)
  • 9:06 L’Argent [One Person] (1:32:38-1:41:44)
  • 8:11 Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed (3:13:31-3:21:42)
  • 7:06 Partner. (2:30:50-2:37:56)
  • 6:51 Signs of Life (2:54:06-3:00:57)
  • 6:34 The Firemen’s Ball (4:41:24-4:47:58)
  • 5:46 Capricious Summer (16:06-21:52)
  • 5:32 Hugo and Josephine (4:25:51-4:31:23)
  • 5:28 Beyond the Law [One Person] (4:31:24-4:36:52)
  • 4:30 Oratorio for Prague (4:36:53-4:41:23)
  • 2:09 Tropics [Unavailable] (2:28:40-2:30:49)
  • 1:29 Kaja, I’ll Kill You! [Unavailable] (2:37:57-2:39:26)

Specifications

  • Jiří Menzel, Rozmarné léto, 1968, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 74 minutes, 1.37:1, Czech, Czechoslovakia.
  • Jean Renoir, Toni, 1935, 35 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 81 minutes, 1.37:1, French and Italian and Spanish, France.
  • Orson Welles, Une histoire immortelle, 1968, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 58 minutes, 1.66:1, English, France.
  • Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach, 1968, 35 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 94 minutes, 1.37:1, German, West Germany.
  • Jan Němec, O slavnosti a hostech, 1966, 35 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 71 minutes, 1.37:1, Czech, Czechoslovakia.
  • Jancsó Miklós, Csillagosok, katonák, 1967, 35 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 90 minutes, 2.35:1, Hungarian and Russian, Hungary.
  • Robert Bresson, Mouchette, 1967, 35 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 81 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.
  • Marcel L’Herbier, L’Argent, 1928, 35 mm, black-and-white, silent, 195 minutes, 1.33:1, French, France.
  • Jacques Rivette, Suzanne Simonin, la Religieuse de Denis Diderot, 1966, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 140 minutes, 1.85:1, French, France.
  • Max Ophuls, Lola Montès, 1955, 35 mm, color, 4-track stereo sound, 116 minutes, 2.55:1, French and English and German, France.
  • John Cassavetes, Faces, 1968, 16 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 130 minutes, 1.66:1, English, USA.
  • Gianni Amico, Tropici, 1968, 35 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 81 minutes, 1.37:1, Portuguese and Italian, Italy.
  • Bernardo Bertolucci, Partner., 1968, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 105 minutes, 2.35:1, Italian, Italy.
  • Vatroslav Mimica, Kaja, ubit ću te!, 1967, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 87 minutes, 1.37:1, Serbo-Croatian, Yugoslavia.
  • Dominique Delouche, Vingt-Quatre Heures de la vie d’une femme, 1968, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 84 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.
  • Werner Herzog, Lebenszeichen, 1968, 35 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 87 minutes, 1.37:1, German, West Germany.
  • Jean-Luc Godard, 2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle, 1967, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 87 minutes, 2.35:1, French, France.
  • Alexander Kluge, Die Artisten in der Zirkuskuppel: Ratlos, 1968, 35 mm, black-and-white and color, mono sound, 104 minutes, 1.37:1, German, West Germany.
  • Claude Chabrol, Les Biches, 1968, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 100 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.
  • Maurice Pialat, L’Enfance nue, 1968, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 83 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.
  • Jean-Luc Godard, Week-end, 1967, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 105 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.
  • Jean-Luc Godard, One Plus One, 1968, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 100 minutes, 1.66:1, English, UK.
  • Kjell Grede, Hugo och Josefin, 1967, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 82 minutes, 1.37:1, Swedish, Sweden.
  • Norman Mailer, Beyond the Law, 1968, 16 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 110 minutes, 1.37:1, English, USA.
  • Jan Němec, Oratorium pro Prahu, 1968, 35 mm, black-and-white, mono sound, 26 minutes, 1.37:1, English, Czechoslovakia.
  • Miloš Forman, Hoří, má panenko, 1967, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 73 minutes, 1.37:1, Czech, Czechoslovakia.

July 2018 Capsules

Ryan Swen Reviews Tags: Leave a comment

Ashes of Time [Original]
But first time with the original cut, which feels like another beast entirely; where the Redux felt as if from another world out of time, this feels rooted in a specific cultural and geographic context. What stay the same are the faces, the ruminations on memory and figures.

The Grandmaster (rewatch)
The key to The Grandmaster lies in the photos, in those moments where time comes to a total standstill. If, as Ip says, once a move – whether it be on a chessboard, in the flurry of fists, in the grand scheme of history – has been made, it cannot be taken back, then these act as the concrete points of delineation. Color fades to black-and-white, and though the participants may then leave, their trace cannot be erased. So it is with their destinies. Gong Er has no choice but to fight Ma San, her father must pass on the torch, Ip can never return to Foshan: they are defined as much by their actions, their lot in life, as by their skill in combat. All eventually reach this state of acceptance, where they become resigned to their fates; that Ip is the last one that remains vertical is no accident.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
Perhaps most startling, among so many of the elemental parts that combine to form The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, is Lau Kar-leung’s sense of editing, especially during the training sequences. Once Liu finishes the strength courses and moves into learning the forms of kung fu, Lau moves into almost an entirely different vein of conveying his narrative. Neither strictly montage (in the sequence definition) nor the entirely step-by-step mode in which the film had proceeded prior, the chambers flow into each other: hands into legs, legs into sword, sword into staff. These delineations are clear to the viewer, but Lau cuts so fluidly on movement that the viewer is constantly brought anew into another discipline. So it is with the rest of the film, so dedicated to laying out every step with clarity, and yet accomplishing it in a way that feels essential to not just Liu’s training, but the possibilities of the human form at large.