0408 – Tomorrowland (2015)

spacetime coordinates: 1964 – 2015 Florida / Houston / New York / Paris

Tomorrowland (subtitled A World Beyond in some regions) is a 2015 American science-fiction mystery adventure film directed and co-written by Brad Bird. Bird co-wrote the film’s screenplay with Damon Lindelof, from an original story treatment by Bird, Lindelof and Jeff Jensen. The film stars George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson and Raffey Cassidy. In the film, a disillusioned genius inventor (Clooney) and a teenage science enthusiast (Robertson) embark to an ambiguous alternate dimension known as “Tomorrowland”, where their actions directly affect their own world.

Walt Disney Pictures originally announced the film in June 2011 under the working title 1952, and later retitled it to Tomorrowland, after the futuristic themed land found at Disney theme parks. In drafting their story, Bird and Lindelof took inspiration from the progressive cultural movements of the Space Age, as well as Walt Disney‘s optimistic philosophy of the future, notably his conceptual vision for the planned community known as EPCOT.

imdb

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/

0386 – Nightwatching (2007)

spacetime coordinates: 1640s Amsterdam

Nightwatching is a 2007 film about the artist Rembrandt and the creation of his painting The Night Watch. The film is directed by Peter Greenaway and stars Martin Freeman as Rembrandt, with Eva Birthistle as his wife Saskia van Uylenburg, Jodhi May as his lover Geertje Dircx, and Emily Holmes as his other lover Hendrickje Stoffels. Reinier van Brummelen is the director of photography. James Willcock, known for his esoteric sets, is the art director. The film features Greenaway’s trademark neoclassical compositions and graphic sexuality. The music is by Włodek Pawlik.

Nightwatching is the first feature in Greenaway’s film series “Dutch Masters”. The following film in the series is Goltzius and the Pelican Company.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446750

0384 – The Mystery of the Third Planet (1981)

At the end of the 22nd century Alisa Seleznyova, her father Professor Seleznyov and pilot Zeleny go on a space expedition to find rare animals for Moscow Zoo.

The  Mystery of the Third Planet (Russian: Тайна третьей планеты, Tayna tretyey planety), aka The Secret of the Third Planet is a 1981 Soviet traditionally animated feature film directed by Roman Kachanov and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow. It is based on a children’s science fiction novella “Alice’s Travel” by Kir Bulychov, from Alisa (Alice) Selezneva book series. 

The movie is considered a cult classic in Russia,  a diafilm and a number of video games were based on The Mystery of the Third Planet, and spiritual successor film Alice’s Birthday was released in 2009.

wiki       imdb

366 – The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a 2017 psychological horror film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, from a screenplay by Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou. It stars Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Alicia Silverstone and Bill Camp. The story is based on the ancient Greek play Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5715874/

0358 – It (2017)

spacetime coordinates: summer of 1989,  small town Derry

It (also known as It: Chapter One) is a 2017 American supernatural horror film directed by Andy Muschietti, based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Stephen King. The screenplay is by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman. A second installment is planned. The film tells the story of seven children in Derry, Maine, who are terrorized by the eponymous being, only to face their own personal demons in the process. The novel was previously adapted into a 1990 miniseries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_(2017_film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396484/

0355 – Pupendo (2003)

spacetime coordinates:  Czechoslovakia during the 1980s

Pupendo is a 2003 Czech comedy / drama film directed by Jan Hřebejk. A bittersweet comedy set just prior to 1984, during the era of ‘practical socialism’. For political reasons, Bedrich Mára (Bolek Polívka) has had to give up teaching at Prague’s Academy of Art. He is not allowed to exhibit and has been pushed to the sidelines of interest and lucrative commissions. He and his ceramicist wife (Eva Holubová) and two sons live in a small apartment on the outskirts of Prague.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0357058/