Eclipse 1967: 日本春歌考

This is the most Summer of 1968 movie ever, and it’s from 1967. It’s all about student rebellion and protest and sex and stuff.

Oh! These guys are high school students… I thought this was supposed to be about university graduates or something. I guess those uniforms would be a stronger signal about their age if… they’re something that signal that they’re in high school…

I’m still kinda guessing.

I thought the first like half an hour of this movie was really interesting and arresting, but… it’s kinda lost all tension now? It’s just… I don’t even know what this movie is doing now? I mean, that could be good, but I don’t have any confidence that it knows what it’s doing.

Wow. The extended rape fantasy scene is pretty… er… unique? I guess it reminds me of something from Cronenberg a few years later. Is it possible that he’d seen this movie?

I kinda lost faith in this movie, but then it returned with a vengeance. The scenes around that pool are absolutely magical. I’m not sure I understand why the guys feel compelled to tell that woman about their shameful fantasies about her — that’s nothing to do with her, after all — but it … makes sense on an associative level, perhaps?

Hoi, hoi.

OK, the final scene is… a lot.

But still:

Sing a Song of Sex. Nagisa Ôshima. 1967.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Eclipse 1966: 白昼の通り魔

It was so impressed by Ôshima’s previous movie… but I don’t know about this one. It just seems calculated and by the numbers? The shots still look interesting, but without the spectacular colours of the previous movie, it’s just less striking.

I don’t think they’re going for realism here at much… but some of the transitions between stylised acting and more naturalistic acting is pretty jarring.

The editing is very stylish, though. Very fluid.

The plot is… I don’t even. It’s about some women that love a rapist and serial killer. Because of course they do. Even though he doesn’t really have any apparent character.

Violence at Noon. Nagisa Ôshima. 1966.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Eclipse 1965: 悦楽

I absolutely adore the cinematography on this. The angles, the framing, the colours.

This is the most rational crime ever.

Oh my god. This movie just doesn’t go where you expect it to. It’s either amazingly brilliant or just… odd? I’m not quite sure.

I lost the thread here for a second, and now I have no idea what’s going on.

I think I must have missed the segue to the flashback?

It’s safe to say that I didn’t quite understand the plot here? But I was still riveted. So:

Pleasures of the Flesh. Nagisa Ôshima. 1965.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

Eclipse 1962: All Night Long

It’s one of those funny cigarettes, see?

Anyway, next on the schedule was Victim, but it turns out that I watched it a couple months ago.

It was OK.

So I’m onto the final Basil Dearden movie instead.

They’re getting hooked on the reefer!

Patrick McGoohan drums up a storm very convicingly, I must say.

Oh! I thought this movie was really odd, but I didn’t make the connection:

This movie, based on William Shakespeare’s Othello, is neatly positioned as a vehicle to showcase some of the best jazz musicians of the period, including Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus.

Herp derp, I eat paste.

Then again, I don’t really remember the plot of Othello.

There’s bits of this movie that’s fantastic. But overall I’m just not feeling it.

I’m probably totally wrong, and this movie is pure genius. And I mean that.

But this is what I’m feeling right now:

All Night Long. Basil Dearden. 1962.

This blog post is part of the Eclipse series.

The Best Albums of 2021

Once again, Emacs has kept careful track of what I’ve been listening to this year, so I can scientifically give a list of what’s the best albums this year. And by amazing coincidence, the world’s very best album is by a Norwegian band and I’m Norwegian, but I’m sure that’s totally coincidental and fair.

Lost Girls

Menneskekollektivet
Lost Girls - Losing Something

SOPHIE

BIPP (Autechre Mx), UNISIL
SOPHIE - BIPP (Autechre Mx) (Official Stream)

The Notwist

Vertigo Days
The Notwist: Al Sur (feat. Juana Molina)

Aksak Maboul

Redrawn Figures 1
Eyelids and Phosphenes (Aksak Maboul Reconstruction)

Insides

Soft Bonds
The Softest Bonds Resist Resistance

Leslie Winer

When I Hit You, You’ll Feel It
Leslie Winer - In 1 Ear

Xeno & Oaklander

Vi-deo
Xeno & Oaklander - "Gain" (Official Audio)

Alasdair Roberts og Völvur

The Old Fabled River

Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion

Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part
Caroline Shaw & Sō Percussion - To the Sky (Live)

David Allred

Smells Like Everyone’s Watching
David Allred - Smells Like Everyone's Watching (full album)

Herbert

Musca
Herbert feat. Mel Uye Parker - Hypnotised

Irreversible Entanglements

Open The Gates
Irreversible Entanglements - "Open The Gates" | Music Video

Mia Doi Todd

Ten Views of Music Life
Wainiha Valley (Julia Holter & Tashi Wada Remix)

Snapped Ankles

Forest of Your Problems
Snapped Ankles - The Evidence (Official Video)

Alice Coltrane

Kirtan Turiya Sings
Alice Coltrane - Kirtan: Turiya Sings (Visualizer)

That David Allred album up there has my favourite lyric. It goes like

You said “wow you must be fun at parties”
And I said “That’s not true”

I feel seen.

But I bought a lot of older stuff, too. Here’s the objectively best older albums, and coincidentally the winner is another Norwegian. It cannot be!

Espen Reinertsen

Nattsyntese
Betenkningstid med trommesolo

Gary Panter

Precambrian Bath

Mimi Goese and Ben Neill

Life You Are
Cuckoo (Official Video) Mimi Goese and Ben Neill

Laura Jean

I’m A Rabbit, I’m A Fox
Laura Jean - I'm a Rabbit, I'm A Fox (with Strings)

Bertine Zetlitz

Beautiful So Far

SOPHIE

OIL OF EVERY PEARL’S UN-INSIDES

Espen Reinertsen

Forgaflingspop
Tilpasninger Hos Prestekrage

Hexting

Post Post Rock Rock
Video Waves 1803: Hexting - Post Post Rock Rock

Shopping

Consumer Complaints
Shopping - Long Way Home

Various

Mutant Disco Volume 2
I Know What Boys Like - The Waitresses (HQ Audio)

Arthur Russell

Sketches For World Of Echo (June 25 1984 Live At Ei)
Arthur Russell - Tone Bone Kone

That’s it.