Passages

[hearthesilence]

My condolences Bressonaire. Very sad, but it sounds like he enjoyed a very long and full life.

Drummer Sam Lay has also died. Great drummer, he was one of the last living links to the heyday of Chicago blues. He played for Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (in their best, original incarnation, which got Lay a Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction back in 2015) and Bob Dylan among many others.

[Matt]

James Bidgood, groundbreaking photographer and maker of Pink Narcissus

[dekadetia]

James Bidgood, groundbreaking photographer and maker of Pink Narcissus

Hard to believe he was 88 years old, partly because he never made another film, which feels like a shame given how much creative potential is on display in Pink Narcissus.

[max_cherry]

Monica Vitti

[TMDaines]

Monica Vitti

Well, that will give me the final kick I need to rewatch some of her Antonioni films and I look forward to diving into her more acclaimed comedy roles in the 1970s too.

[knives]

She has a great English language role in Michael Ritchie’s An Almost Perfect Affair.

[Aunt Peg]

She was great fun in Mario Monicelli's The Girl with a Pistol (1968). Loved all her work for Antonioni. She was truely one of the greats of cinema and it was very sad to hear years ago that she was suffering from Alzheimers.

[Dean Harris]

It's too bad Vitti's comedies aren't more readily available in the US. I've taken to buying Italian editions, finding US subtitles elsewhere, and making my own subtitled copies, and they are so delightful.

[therewillbeblus]

What are these “more acclaimed comedy roles in the 1970s”? Would be helpful prep for the next decade project

[swo17]

Monica Vitti

What can I say? I loved her

[Omensetter]

I barely post (due to time constraints), but I cannot help myself with regard to how much I adored Vitti and how her Antonioni films and she specifically within them waylaid me and reconceptualized art for me, one of the pillars that provides lifeblood for me, and I suspect others here. I have been dragging my feet mounting my Romanian L'Eclisse poster onto my wall, but a very human urge to display her and her work as a totem of sorts is rumbling enough within me. I happily voted L'Eclisse thrice as the best of its decade for these lists on these forums, and I look forward to rewatching it later today.

[Maltic]

What are these “more acclaimed comedy roles in the 1970s”? Would be helpful prep for the next decade project

Which, incidentally, doesn't look set to start during the next decade

[colinr0380]

I cannot really say anything more but agree with Omensetter that her work with Antonioni is a spectacular meeting of actress and director.





The film I would most like to see some time would be her 1970 film The Pacifist, directed by Miklós Jancsó.

[Omensetter]

From what I've seen of her Italian comedies, the draw is Vitti and only Vitti. I imagine one could map a foray into her mid-1960s comedies based on titles alone—Nutty, Naughty Chateau, The Bitch Wants Blood, I Married You for Fun, etc.

The Pacifist is actually fascinating in that it retains Jancsó's supremely long takes (double-digit ASL) overlaid a stylish Vitti, bad Italian humor, and a period-specific portentous ending. It doesn't have much to say about the counterculture, but there's a fascinating friction between form and content.

[therewillbeblus]

Michael K. Williams. Bye, Omar.

Four charged in death of Michael K. Williams, accused of selling him heroin laced with fentanyl

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

Shintaro Ishihara. Brother to Nikkatsu Diamond star, Yujiro Ishihara, writer of the novels Crazed Fruit and Season of the Sun, which caused a major controversy in Japan upon their release, and extreme right-wing governor of Tokyo for many years. Weird pivot to go from author of stories about decadent youth (something he was very much a part of) to being an ultra right-wing figure, but he made it work.

Not much to say about Vitti that hasn’t been said other than she was a tremendous actress and in my eyes, one of the most beautiful women ever captured on film. She’s immortal just for her collaborations with Antonioni.

[DarkImbecile]

Michael K. Williams. Bye, Omar.

Four charged in death of Michael K. Williams, accused of selling him heroin laced with fentanyl

Sadly ironic that the death of the star of the greatest piece of anti-drug war art is now being used to further prosecute that war

[colinr0380]

Lata Mangeshkar at 92, the most famous playback singer of Bollywood with well over a thousand credits to her name, starting in the early 1940s up to the early 2000s.

For a good representative sample of her work this video from her 1997 concert showcases the variety of actresses she sung for.

[agnamaracs]

Syl Johnson, less than a week after his brother Jimmy.

If you don't recognize the name, you've almost certainly heard his work (often used without permission, sadly).

[dadaistnun]

George Crumb

[Lemmy Caution]

Syl Johnson, less than a week after his brother Jimmy.

First time I heard Syl Johnson's Is it Because I'm Black was during a slideshow presentation in the early 80's by a Scandinavian lecturer who had documented the continued poverty of blacks in America. The song made quite an impact with the images of dirt poor folks seemingly straight out of the 30's during America's post-war boom. A classic, powerful racial protest song. Concrete Reservation is another great Syl Johnson social/racial consciousness song. I'd also rec Syl's version of Take Me to the River. And Walk a Mile in My Shoes. All great, essential soul tunes.

[DarkImbecile]

Douglas Trumbull

[flyonthewall2983]

Another GOAT, for sure.

[colinr0380]

I know a lot of attention will deservedly go towards his special effects legacy (I particularly like the effects for The Andromeda Strain) but it is important to acknowledge the two films he directed in Silent Running and especially the severely underrated Brainstorm, which was a film that with its shifting aspect ratios and first person sensory sharing devices seemed to anticipate the turn that Trumbull's career would go towards more immersive and experiential IMAX screens and theme park rides.

[agnamaracs]

Betty (Mabry) Davis