0412 – Loving Vincent (2017)

spacetime coordinates: Arles 1891

Loving Vincent is a 2017 animated biographical drama film about the life of painter Vincent van Gogh, and in particular, the circumstances of his death. It is the first fully painted animated feature film. The film, written and directed by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman, was an international co-production between Poland and the United Kingdom. The development was funded by the Polish Film Institute, and partially through a Kickstarter campaign.

Each of the film’s 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas, using the same technique as Van Gogh, created by a team of 125 painters.

Rotten Tomatoes‘ consensus states: “Loving Vincent‘s dazzling visual achievements make this Van Gogh biopic well worth seeking out – even if its narrative is far less effectively composed.”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3262342/

0411 – The Stanley Parable (2013 video game)

The Stanley Parable is an interactive fiction video game designed by Davey Wreden. The game was originally released on July 27, 2011 as a free modification for Half-Life 2.

requirements (MINIMUM):

OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8 / Processor: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 (or higher) or AMD64X2 (or higher) / Memory: 2 GB RAM / Graphics: Video card must be 128 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for Pixel Shader 2.0b (ATI Radeon X800 or higher / NVIDIA GeForce 7600 or higher / Intel HD Graphics 2000 or higher – *NOT* an Express graphics card) / Storage: 3 GB available space / Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible

steam   wiki

0402 – Drowning by Numbers (1988)

Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 British-Dutch film directed by Peter Greenaway.

The film’s plot centres on three married women — a grandmother, her daughter, and her niece — each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses, each woman successively drowns her husband. The three Cissie Colpittses are played by Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson and Joely Richardson, while Bernard Hill plays the coroner, Madgett, who is cajoled into covering up the three crimes.

The structure, with similar stories repeated three times, is reminiscent of a fairy tale, most specifically ‘The Billy Goats Gruff‘, because Madgett is constantly promised greater rewards as he tries his luck with each of the Cissies in turn. The link to folklore is further established by Madgett’s son Smut, who recites the rules of various unusual games played by the characters as if they were ancient traditions. Many of these games are invented for the film, including:

• Bees in the Trees
• Dawn Card Castles
• Deadman’s Catch
• Flights of Fancy (or Reverse Strip Jump)
• The Great Death Game
• Hangman’s Cricket
• The Hare and Hounds
• Sheep and Tides

In Drowning by Numbers, number-counting, the rules of games and the repetitions of the plot are all devices which emphasise structure and symmetry. Through the course of the film each of the numbers 1 to 100 appear, the large majority in sequence, often seen in the background, sometimes spoken by the characters. 

The film is set and was shot in and around Southwold, Suffolk, England, with key landmarks such as the Victorian water tower, Southwold Lighthouse, and the estuary of the River Blyth clearly identifiable.

Music

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092929/

399 – Walker (2012)

spacetime coordinates:  2010’s Hong Kong

Kang-sheng Lee is dressed in a red robe and walks slowly and patiently through a lively city.

Tsai Ming-liang

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2225782/

0396 – Big Eyes (2014)

spacetime coordinates: 1958 > 1970 North Beach, San Francisco // Honolulu, Hawaii

Big Eyes is a 2014 American biographical film directed by Tim Burton, written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski and starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz. The film is about the life of American artist Margaret Keane—famous for drawing portraits and paintings with big eyes. It follows the story of Margaret and her husband, Walter Keane, who took credit for Margaret’s phenomenally successful and popular paintings in the 1950s and 1960s. It follows the lawsuit (and trial) between Margaret and Walter, after Margaret reveals she is the real artist behind the big eyes paintings.

imdb   wiki

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“I think what Keane has done is just terrific. It has to be good. If it were bad, so many people wouldn’t like it.”   Andy Warhol

0395 – Angel’s Egg (1985)

Angel’s Egg (天使のたまご Tenshi no Tamago) is a Japanese OVA film released by Tokuma Shoten on 15 December 1985. It was a collaboration between popular artist Yoshitaka Amano and director Mamoru Oshii. It features very little spoken dialogue. Its sparse plot and visual style have led to it being described as “animated art rather than a story”.

Prior to the production on Angel’s Egg, Mamoru Oshii lost his faith in Christianity. Senses of Cinema opined that the film “seems informed by the existential desperation caused by the collapse of one’s belief system”; Oshii himself has stated he does not know what the film is about.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208502/

Is Angel’s Egg an Overlooked Masterpiece? – Analyzed and Explained

0393 – Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)

Hedgehog in the Fog (Russian: Ёжик в тумане, tr. Yozhik v tumane, IPA: [ˈjɵʐɨk f tʊˈmanʲɪ]) is a 1975 Soviet animated film directed by Yuriy Norshteyn,  produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow.  The script was written by Sergei Kozlov, who also published a book under the same name. In 2006, Norshteyn published a book titled Hedgehog in the Fog, listing himself as an author alongside Kozlov.

Hedgehog in the Fog was ranked #1 in a poll at the 2003 Laputa Animation Festival where 140 animators from around the world voted for the best animated films of all time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedgehog_in_the_Fog#Role_in_Soviet_Animation

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073099/