Adolfo Bioy Casares, Todos los hombres son iguales

Adolfo Bioy Casares
(fuente: Descontexto)
no copyright infringement intended

Una espléndida historia que encontré hoy en Descontexto. ¡Léela y disfruta!

Descontexto: “Todos los hombres son iguales”, de Adolfo Bioy Ca... https://t.co/8qVKDCy5Yx

— Pierre Radulescu (@pierreradulescu) June 28, 2021

(Bioy Casares)

Patericul Copt: Judecata de Apoi

Hieronymus Bosch, The Last Judgment, 1842
Vienna Academy of Fine Arts
(source: wiki)
no copyright infringement intended

Un bătrân a spus, "Dacă ar fi cu putință ca sufletele oamenilor să iasă de frică după înviere la venirea lui Dumnezeu, lumea ar muri de groază și cutremur. Ce priveliște să vezi cum cerurile se deschid și Dumnezeu se arată cu mânie și amenințare și cu mulțimi nenumărate de cete îngerești, ca atunci toată omenirea să vadă acestea laolaltă. De aceea se cuvine ca așa să cugetăm ca și cum i-am da socoteală lui Dumnezeu în fiecare zi, fiind întrebați de faptele din timpul vieții."

Apoftegmele Părinților Deșertului, Versiunea Coptă Sahidică sau Patericul Copt
(Ediție Critică de Ștefan Colceriu, Ed. Humanitas, 2021)

(Psalter)

Tom Perriello on US Catholic Bishops

Tom Perriello is an American attorney, diplomat, and politician (wikipedia)

Some Catholic Leaders Deserve to Have Biden’s Ear, and Some Do Not https://t.co/9w2r0BCLYy

— Pierre Radulescu (@pierreradulescu) June 20, 2021

(Church in America)

Abbas Kiarostami, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Close Up, 1990

Mohsen Makhmalbaf and Hossain Sabzian
in Kiarostami's Close Up (کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک), 1990
(source: Sound Cloud)
no copyright infringement intended

A guy (just a guy, you know, nothing more) claims to be a well-known filmmaker (Mohsen Makhmalbaf) and the people seem be willing to believe him very easily. Is he a scammer, or a man living his illusions to the extreme? (at the end, the real filmmaker appears, and the confusion seems to be total). A reporter notices the possibility of a journalistic hit and determines the police to arrest the guy: the newsman will practically direct the action, while recording everything. Another well-known filmmaker (Abbas Kiarostami this time) asks to film the trial, and his request is approved immediately. The trial fails to clarify anything (in fact, at the end the plaintiffs withdraw their complaint), but the ciné-vérité feeling is overwhelming. Vanity Fair. We are in the Tehran of the 1990's, and the people there seem obsessed with turning their lives into a movie show. After all, is the movie art struggling (and probably failing) to create the illusion of reality, or the other way around?

Abbas Kiarostami, Close Up, 1990
(video by Hesham Mohamed)

(I'm in the Mood for Kiarostami)

(Mohsen Makhmalbaf)

Chaitanya Tamhane, The Disciple, 2020

Chaitanya Tamhane, The Disciple, 2020
(source: Hindustan Times)
no copyright infringement intended

I watched The Disciple on Netflix and I will come maybe with a few remarks. But, before that, here is a wonderful review, authored by the film critic Babu Subramanian:

https://t.co/XFLJ54UUXI

— Pierre Radulescu (@pierreradulescu) June 15, 2021

And here another review:

Chaitanya Tamhane, The Disciple, 2020 - review
(video by Long Live Cinema)

(Chaitanya Tamhane)

Chaitanya Tamhane, Court, 2015

Chaitanya Tamhane, Court, 2015
(source: Indian Express)
no copyright infringement intended

Chaitanya Tamhane, Court, 2015
(video by The Anonymous)

(Chaitanya Tamhane)

Chaitanya Tamhane

 

There is no such thing as realism. Everything is an impression.
Chaitanya Tamhane
(source: The Wire)
no copyright infringement intended

• Court, 2015
• The Disciple, 2020

(Indian Cinema)

Sokushinbutsu

 

The Buddhist Tradition of Being Buried Alive by @TapalagaAndrei https://t.co/sW96edM61i

— Pierre Radulescu (@pierreradulescu) June 10, 2021

(Church in America)

Abbas Kiarostami, 24 Frames, 2017

 

Stillness and life
Abbas Kiarostami, 24 Frames, 2017
(source: Mehrnaz Saeed-Vafa in the web site of Jonathan Rosenbaum)
no copyright infringement intended

A few scattered thoughts.

Watching 24 Frames I understood another of Kiarostami's works, Five Dedicated to Ozu. It was a collection of five propositions on cinematic purposes, gathered together as a tribute to the great Japanese master - while also a reference to Ozu's own ways in the movies' art.

Here in 24 Frames Kiarostami takes again his propositions, like a painful meditation about the subtle interactions between stillness and life. Painful, because 24 Frames is much more than an experimental movie: it's a cinematic experiment. An experimental movie is made to be screened in front of an auditorium, risking to be rejected, or accepted . A cinematic experiment is produced in a laboratory, and only some buffs will be there, to witness a birth drama, in all its pains. 

Each frame is perfect in its absolute stillness. The action comes and passes, as an accident, in total brutality. The frame remains unaware of what's taking place. The action is unaware of the frame. And despite their mutual unawareness an interaction is born: stillness and life become movie.

Abbas Kiarostami, 24 Frames, 2017
(video by Bitting Nails)

(I'm in the Mood for Kiarostami)

Zombies

 

(Church in America)

Sara Siadat nejad, My Tree, 2007

 

A tree is brought to life by a painter
(source: My Tree)
no copyright infringement intended

Reality and representation - a theme meditated in so many of Kiarostami's movies - there is a tragic gap between the two, and it cannot be passed - a theme recurring throughout the modern art. And Sara Siadat nejad comes here with a wonderful replica - the representation created by an artist becomes reality - a reality of her own - inciting us to accept it, to make it also our reality - and to rejoice.

Sara Siadat nejad, My Tree, 2007
adviser: Abbās Kiyārostamī
(video by Menticentalism)

(I'm in the Mood for Kiarostami)

Death of Richard Rubenstein

Richard Rubenstein, 97, Dies; Theologian Challenged Ideas of God https://t.co/p3Ly1aTUjY

— Pierre Radulescu (@pierreradulescu) June 7, 2021

(Church in America)