04.20

Journey to Italy (Robert Rossellini, 1954) (rewatch)

Both appreciated it more this time and understood better why Rossellini doesn't entirely do it for me.  There are some very powerful passages but there's something so stilted or something about the way he tackles his themes.

The Lusty Men (Nicholas Ray, 1952)

Naturally I was pretty fucked up by movie #2, but my main impression was damn, Ray really really really fucking had it.

04.19

Berlin (Lou Reed, 1973)

Not as good as the VU stuff but some pretty great material.  This technically being the morning of 4/20 I was pretty blitzed when I heard it and neither had a particularly discerning ear at the time nor can recall much about it now, but I remember thinking it's not as depressing as people make it out to be.

04.05

This Is the Afro-Semitic Experience (Warren Byrd and David Chevan, 2002)

You're kind of setting yourself up for failure with a title that ambitious but damn, it pretty much lives up to it!  Great jazz recording with a huge sonic variety.

04.04

The Housemaid (Kim Ki-young, 1960)

These kind of grotesque domestic thrillers aren't in my wheelhouse but this is fantastically executed for what it is.  Ballsy as hell and the ending is definitely in my wheelhouse.  Kim directs the hell out of it, I'm curious to see what he's done in other genres.

04.03

Live in the Studio (Misisipi Rider, 2008)

Pretty awesome alt-country album which makes up for a lack of sonic diversity with a huge lyrical diversity, despite a glut of various love songs in the first half, and an incisive dry humor.  Probably has a lot of replay value but I haven't gotten around to throwing it in again.

04.02

Sorrows (Gregory Markopoulos, 1969) (theatrical)

(I think that's a still from the film.)  Another in-camera-edited place film.  For a movie about a big ass house with no people in it isn't quite as memorable as one might expect, though that may be due more to the fact that I'm writing this way in retrospect or to it being sandwiched between a bunch of more major Markopouli than to any inherent shortcomings.  Has some nice music as I recall.

The Mysteries (Gregory Markopoulos, 1968) (theatrical)

One of his rarest films and the only one of this group of screenings that has much of a narrative thrust.  Unfortunately for all his iconoclasm Markopoulos' narrative films suffer from the same brand of stiffness or something endemic to many experimental narrative films.  This doesn't have the highs of The Illiac Passion or Twice a Man or his earlier myth/literature-based stuff but it's consistently solid.

Political Portraits (Gregory Markopoulos, 1969) (theatrical)

Speaking of shit endemic to experimental films, this is (actually just a selection from) Markopoulos' take on the look at these shots of my homies subgenre.  Pretty mediocre as to be expected; the only one who pulls this off is Warhol cuz his homies are so tight to look at.

04.01

Nefertiti (Miles Davis, 1968)

The title track is A-1 Davis.  It doesn't really go anywhere cool from there but it's never less than solid.










Bliss (Gregory Markopoulos, 1967) (theatrical)

I couldn't find any screenshot for this one.  I didn't make any connection between the title and the film at the time, but it's pretty aptly named in retrospect.  Markopoulos isn't my favorite experimental filmmaker, but his ability to capture something so soothing in ordinary spaces is matched only by Brakhage.

Gammelion (Gregory Markopoulos, 1967) (theatrical)

First of all, a film about an abandoned castle with no people in it couldn't fail to be my cup of tea, but this is immaculate.  There are a lot of people who moved in similar circles to Markopoulos interested in stripping film down to its basic components, but I've never seen them use that technique to make something so monumental.  This doesn't sacrifice any of the quietness or reflection that I appreciate in his other place films but it leaves an impression of something much bigger and more important than those.  Probably tops even The Illiac Passion for me.

03.31

Western Union (Fritz Lang, 1941)

On the other hand, this one I was sober for and remember virtually nothing about either.  But there's also less worth remembering.  Lang is no Hawks when it comes to directing Hawksian material and no Ford when it comes to directing Fordian material, and as such this is no Rancho Notorious, wherein Lang shines with a decidedly Langian script.  It was nice to see a western again though.

03.30

Charulata (Satyajit Ray, 1964)

I haven't been smoking enough lately to be able to watch a movie high and fully retain it.  This is such a high caliber of filmmaking I really regret not seeing it sober, though I can't say it wasn't a fun experience.  Ray has something truly special, I could stand to learn a lot from the way he lets his stories unfold.

03.29

To Pimp a Butterfly (Kendrick Lamar, 2015)

In some ways incredibly impressive, but as Kendrick moves increasingly toward the Ab-Soul end of the Black Hippy spectrum content wise his messages feel more played out while his techniques feel increasingly fresh.  Of course I admire any project of this ambition, especially since it mostly lives up to it, but it was a major slog for me to get through and other than a few replays of King Kulture I haven't mustered the energy to pop it in for further listens.