[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKtRmBZPmPg]
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) by Wes Anderson
When the kids ask if the split is their fault, he replies: “Obviously we made certain sacrifices as a result of having children, but no. Lord, no.”
Tip of the hat to Cactus.
Previous “World Cinema Classics“
Nessus rapes Deianeira (1898) by Arnold Böcklin.
Arnold Böcklin (16 October 1827 – 16 January 1901) was a Swiss painter known for his grotesquely comic work. His best known painting is the macabre The Isle of the Dead. Most recently his work has been celebrated at the German traveling exhibition Comic Grotesque. He was born 180 years ago tomorrow.
I’ve always considered the ambivalence of the grotesque an essentially Western sensibility but I guess I’m wrong if you consider the work of Yue Minjun (Googe gallery) Yue Minjun is an artist based in Beijing working in painting and sculpture. His style is ambiguous in that it is very Chinese, yet at the same time very Western, and very political, satirical and humorous to the point of the grotesque. Last Friday, his painting “Execution” became the most expensive work sold by a Chinese contemporary artist.
As further ‘proof’ that the grotesque and fantastique (two very related sensibilities, in the sense that they both rely on ambiguity at their core), there is the anthology of stories Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, which Franz Kafka described as “exquisite” and the painting below:
One of the dragons from The Nine Dragons handscroll , painted by the Song Dynasty Chinese artist Chen Rong in the year 1244.
Tip of the hat to Doms.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V16K6yMWprk&]
I viewed Enki Bilal‘s film Immortal (starring Charlotte Rampling) over the weekend and liked it, although story-wise it’s not a very good film. It rendered the graphic novels which I was so crazy about when I was in my early twenties quite beautifully: the sense of futurism mixed with decay, high tech mingled with dirt which you will also find in Tanino Liberatore‘s RanXerox. The feeling of loneliness and of alienation, the wide open spaces and futuristic, multi-level cities, the cast of humans mixed with “non humans” make for interesting viewing. However, if you can spare the time and the money, go for the original graphic novels.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOf4uNwvC6c]
The first part is Afrikaan Beat
Afrikaan Beat is a 1962 song by German musician Bert Kaempfert, which in a strange twist of fate became the basis of a very famous Jamaican riddim named African Beat, also known as Under Me Sensi, first recorded by Studio One, widely credited to Don Drummond. Listen to the jamaican riddim at jamrid.com (does not feature Kaempfert’s distinctive horn line). The Kaempfert song is an exquisite guilty pleasure.
Kaempfert would have become 87 tomorrow, had he not gone on a permanent vacation in 1980.
for the visuals, excellent
quite enigmatic, I think we will see more of this author.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHsu_TvUh7I]
Some footage of an ARTE TV documentary film of a 2004 Nobuyoshi Araki, Japanese dandy and erotomaniac. Please forward to 2:25, the stop motion photography is quite effective. The musical selections in this documentary are excellent.
Artwork by Mihály Zichy (1827 – 1906)
Image sourced here.
Mihály Zichy (October 15 1827 in Zala, Hungary; February 28 1906 in St. Petersburg) was a Hungarian painter and graphic artist, best remembered today for the erotic pencil drawings in his X portfolio.
He was born 180 years ago today.
His Google gallery
He is not to be confused with “Count” Thedore Zichy:
Unidentified leg photograph
Theodore Zichy is one of the more enigmatic figures in the world of erotomania. All I found is on his page. I’m quite sure he was not a professional photographer, the photo depicted above is the only one I know of, and I can’t even remember where I sourced it. If anyone knows more, please fill me in.
Update: I found more myself. His autobio is That Was No Gentleman, That Was Zichy, London, Polybooks 1974. ISBN 0284985619. And some more photos: (prices range from 500 USD, to 1,000 USD, all gelatine prints): Shoes on a pillow, 1948, Woman and idol, 1948 and Nude with mask, 1948.
[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwUuEN2NTts]
Bamboozled (2000) by Spike Lee
It has been a while since we featured an American film. Although almost all of Spike Lee’s films are better than 97% of American cinema, I chose Bamboozled, a 2000 satirical film about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the violent fall-out from the show’s success. A hilarious film.
Did you know that whiteface is also a comic trope?
Previous “World Cinema Classics“
In Consultation (1924) – Joseph Schippers
Monkey Portraits (2006) – Jill Greenberg
[Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Gorilla and Woman (1887) – Emmanuel Frémiet
Some paintings of Gabriel von Max, Joseph Schippers, Chardin. The photography of Jill Greenberg. The sculpture of Fremiet. King Kong at the low art end of the spectrum. Is there a work dedicated to the representation of apes and monkeys in art outside of The Monkey in Art (1994) by Ptolemy Tompkins?
