1043 – The Wild Pear Tree / Ahlat Ağacı (2018)

timespace coordinates: 2010’s coastal Turkish town of ÇanakkaleThe Wild Pear Tree (Turkish: Ahlat Ağacı) is a 2018 Turkish drama film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus reads, “The Wild Pear Tree uses a young man’s post-graduation experience to pose thoughtful, engaging questions about life in modern Turkey — and the rest of the world.”

According to Nuri Bilge Ceylan, The Wild Pear Tree is about a son’s unavoidable slide towards a fate resembling that of his father.

imdb   /  rottentomatoes

1028 – The Notorious Bettie Page (2005)

timespace coordinates: 1936 – 1958 Tennessee / New York City / Miami

The Notorious Bettie Page is a 2005 biographical film directed by Mary Harron. The screenplay by Harron and Guinevere Turner focuses on 1950s pinup and bondage model Bettie Page, portrayed by Gretchen Mol.

imdb

1025 – Jeanne d’Arc (1999)

timespace coordinates: France 1429 – 1431 (Hundred Years’ War)

Percival, about the Maid of Orleans:
The girl is of appealing beauty and manly bearing; she speaks little and shows remarkable sagacity; when she speaks she has a pleasing, delicately feminine voice. :{…} her tears often overflow; she loves a happy face, endures unheard of toil, and is so assiduous in the manipulation and bearing of weapons that she remains uninterruptedly for six days — day and night — in full armour.

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (French: Jeanne d’Arc) is a 1999 French epic historical drama film directed by Luc Besson. The film stars Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway and Dustin Hoffman. The screenplay was written by Besson and Andrew Birkin.

http://www.kommunicera.umea.se/hemma/mathias/

The Messenger portrays the story of St. Joan of Arc, the French war heroine and religious martyr of the 15th century. The story begins with young Joan as she witnesses the atrocities of the English against her family, and she is portrayed as having visions that inspire her to lead the French in battle against the occupying English forces. Her success in routing the English allows Charles VII to take the throne. Eventually Joan is captured by the English, tried and executed for heresy.

Luc Besson stated that he was not interested in narrating the history of Joan of Arc; rather, he wanted to pull a message out of history that is relevant for today. (read more: Themes)

Historical accuracy

imdb

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“Regardless of what Joan of Arc said about the appearance of the higher beings in her visions, the occultist who is able to investigate these things knows that it was always the genius of the French nation who stood behind them.” (rs)

1024 – The Golden Compass (2007)

timespace coordinates:  parallel universe – Victorian Jordan College in Oxford >  retrofuturistic London > experimental station Bolvanga – far North

The Golden Compass is a 2007 fantasy adventure film based on Northern Lights, the first novel in Philip Pullman’s trilogy His Dark Materials. Written and directed by Chris Weitz, it stars Nicole Kidman, Dakota Blue Richards, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliott, Eva Green, and Ian McKellen.

The film depicts the adventures of Lyra Belacqua, an orphan living in a parallel universe where a dogmatic ruling power called the Magisterium opposes free inquiry. Children in that universe are being kidnapped by an unknown group called the Gobblers who are supported by the Magisterium. Lyra joins a tribe of sea-farers on a trip to the far North, the land of the armoured polar bears, in search of the missing children.

Before its release, the film received criticism from secularist organisations and fans of the His Dark Materials trilogy for the dilution of elements of the story which were critical of religion, as well as from some religious organisations for the source material’s anti-religious themes. The studio ordered significant changes late in post-production, which Weitz later called a “terrible” experience. Although the film’s visual effects won both a BAFTA and an Academy Award, critical reception was mixed and revenue lower than anticipated.  The film trilogy has not been continued, prompting actor Sam Elliott to blame censorship and the Catholic Church. (wiki)

Video game  The game was released prior to the film and features a slightly different sequence of events towards the end of the story, as well as additional footage at the end of the game not seen in the film. (playthrough)

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Controversies   /  Cancelled sequels 

imdb   /   His Dark Materials (TV Series 2019– )

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1754 – La Belle Sauvage (2017 novel)

1793 – The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust #2 – 2019)

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1011 – The House That Jack Built (2018)

timespace coordinates:  1970s and 1980s  Washington.

!extreme violence!

The House That Jack Built is a 2018 psychological horror art film written and directed by Lars von Trier, starring Matt Dillon in the title role of Jack. The story follows Jack, a serial killer, over the course of 12 years in the 1970s and 1980s in the U.S. state of Washington. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, marking von Trier’s return to the festival after more than six years. (wiki)

The shot of Jack and Verge standing in a boat strongly resembles the painting “La Barque de Dante” by Eugène Delacroix, which was in itself influenced by “The Raft of the Medusa” (Le Radeau de La Méduse) by Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault. (read more: trivia)

von Trier described the film as celebrating “the idea that life is evil and soulless”.

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1005 – Mysterious Skin (2004)

timespace coordinates: summer of 1981 > Christmas Eve 1991 Hutchinson, Kansas / New York City

Mysterious Skin is a 2004 Dutch-American drama film directed by American filmmaker Gregg Araki, who also wrote the screenplay based on Scott Heim‘s 1995 novel of the same name.

Mysterious Skin tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who are sexually abused by their baseball coach, and how it affects their lives in different ways into their young adulthood. One boy becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous male prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction. (wiki)

The film score was composed by Harold Budd and Robin Guthrie.

imdb

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0996 – Fargo (TV Series 2014– )

Fargo is an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series created and primarily written by Noah Hawley. The show is inspired by the eponymous 1996 film written and directed by the Coen brothers, who serve as executive producers on the series alongside Hawley. The series premiered on April 15, 2014, on FX, and follows an anthology format, with each season set in a different era, and with a different story and mostly new characters and cast, although there is minor overlap. Each season shares a common chronology with the original film. (wiki)

(season 1)

timespace coordinates:  2006 –  Bemidji, Minnesota /  Duluth

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(season 2)

timespace coordinates: Upper Midwest in March 1979 (Dakota Territory / Luverne,_Minnesota)

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(season 3)

timespace coordinates: December 2010 and March 2011, in three Minnesota towns: St. Cloud, Eden Valley, and Eden Prairie,

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(season 4)

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imdb   /   fandom