Mazars and Deutsche Bank could have ended this nightmare before it started. They could still get him out of office. But instead, they want mass death. Don’t forget that.
Beautiful tribute to The Louvre by director Aleksandr Sokurov (Russian Ark) and another rumination on museums as vessels navigating perilous seas (literally, in a modern-time subplot). Very different from the sumptuous, opulent Russian Ark; more a collage of humble, even poignant reflections on art, Paris, WWII, the museum’s history, the value of art, wonderment, time, humanity (esp. liked his narrative on the bond & collaboration between two real-life men--the museum’s civil servant director and an aristocratic Nazi party member, during Germany’s occupation)..........I liked it even more than his earlier film (though do have to wonder about pillaged work in Louvre's own permanent collection).
The greatest sin is to be unconscious. ~ Carl Jung
We may not choose the parameters of our destiny. But we give it its content. ~ Dag Hammarskjold 'Waymarks'
Reminds me of a bad horror movie, The Ghost Galleon.
Are bad horror movies culture? Are they art? I find many of them beautiful. Being serious as a heart attack, here.
Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder? Or is it out there, waiting to be discovered. Beyond personal preconceptions of taste, cultural standards, social mores internalized and taken for granted.
Horror of the Zombies (1974) aka "The Ghost Galleon" "El buque maldito" (original title) R | 89 min | Horror | 1976 (USA) The living corpses of the Satan-worshiping Knights Templar hunt for human victims in a 16th century galleon. Director: Amando de Ossorio Writers: Amando de Ossorio (screenplay), Amando de Ossorio (story) Stars: Maria Perschy, Jack Taylor, Bárbara Rey
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
I've been looking for this collection of old japanese poetry that I can't find. Suddenly got this uncontrollable urge, don't know where it came from. Can't remember if I was reading it online or off. Searched through my bookmarks, didn't find it. I can't imagine I didn't bookmark something like that. Googled around, can't find it. Went through a whole bunch of bookshelves, making sure I looked at every book on every shelf. Don't even know why I want to find it, they're so depressing, pull on your heart strings real bad kind of poems.
Searching everywhere for a book of sad, heart-rendingly beautiful poems that I can't find. So funny. Tonight my life is like a Heian period poem.
The bridge of Ogawa
From Tsukushi To this place I’ve come, yet I find no souvenirs A leather sword-belt In fragments, is all.
- Ariwara no Narihira (825–880)
Kobayashi Kiyochika (1876) View of Tokyo's Shin Ohashi bridge in Rain
Kobayashi Kiyochika (1879) View of Takanawa Ushimachi under a Shrouded Moon
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
Thinking about Orson Welles. Specifically 'Filming Othello.'
I doubt you would consider the film beautiful in any traditional sense, it is a 'personal essay':
"With F FOR FAKE, I thought I had discovered a new kind of movie, and it was the kind of movie I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. The failure of F FOR FAKE, in America and also in England, was one of the big shocks of my life. I really thought I was onto something. As a form, (F FOR FAKE) is a personal essay film, as opposed to a documentary. It's quite different-- it's not a documentary at all." --Orson Welles to Leslie Megahey, 1980
Filming Othello is lacking in 'aesthetically pleasing visuals.' From the Wellesnet site:
"Although FILMING OTHELLO is a valuable document on the making of OTHELLO, it is also a very minor Welles film, since it consists almost entirely of a long monologue by Welles, as he explains all the mishaps that occurred while he was shooting OTHELLO. Unfortunately, this talking head format becomes tedious rather quickly, despite Welles usual brilliance as a raconteur. However, it should be noted that Welles originally intended to make a much more elaborate film, by including cutaway scenes that would have broken up the monotony of the lecture format. Welles not only planned to illustrate his discourse by re-visiting many of the key locations of OTHELLO, he actually shot several of these sequences, including footage of himself on a motorboat, gliding down the grand canal in Venice as he points out the different sites where OTHELLO was originally shot. A brief glimpse of this beautiful footage can be seen in Gary Graver's documentary, WORKING WITH ORSON WELLES. These planned sequences would clearly have made a world of difference to the static nature of the film as it now stands, but all that footage was somehow lost, after it was placed in the custody of a Spanish producer."
"The following is a transcript of Welles remarks taken from the soundtrack of FILMING OTHELLO. Since the film essentially takes the form of a lecture, having the text to read and refer to, is a much easier way to digest Welles comments. It can now be perused at one's leisure, without the strain of trying to absorb this rather dense material in a single 90 minute screening. "
The film can be found on youtube. But I agree that the transcript is useful. Also it's a pleasurable read. Super informative, too. The "excerpts from a luncheon party, a reunion really, between three old friends" with Orson, (though the reverse shots of Orson as he delivers his lines were filmed two years later), Micheal MacLiammoir, and Hilton Edwards (Edwards played Brabantio, Desdemona's Father. MacLiammoir, of course was Iago) might be considered the 'highlight' of the film. Culture and the arts, if not beautiful. Although very beautiful, in its way. To me, at least.
But what I'm thinking about is Orson's acting in this film. I find I'm struck, absolutely taken, by his acting.
He's playing the role of himself in Filming Othello. As I watch, I realize that I can't make a distinction between Orson the actor, and Orson the man. I can't help feeling that Orson Welles is the act. I find myself wondering if when he's playing other roles in other films, if that is actually the real Orson Welles.
And yet there's nothing inauthentic, or superficial in this 'actor playing Orson Welles,' far from it. On the contrary, you get the impression that here is a man who knows himself thoroughly, inside and out. He is aware of every gesture, every nuance of expression. Clear, precise, comfortable and casual delivery of the lines. That this is a man that has learned how to control himself.
Knowing the reputation of Orson's infamously voracious appetites for fine food and wine, it may sound odd to think of him as one who is in control of himself. The usual notion is that these habits are indications of one who has no self-control. When I see his work in this film, the masterful way he plays the part of Orson Welles, it forces me to reconsider.
---
I'll add this selection, from a short interview with the Photgrapher of Othello, Gary Graver, which can be found at the bottom of the transcript, since it has that 'Rigorous Intuition' aura about it:
Lawrence French: Was there a formal script for FILMING OTHELLO?
Gary Graver: Yes, it was all scripted. Orson wrote it all. We started in 1974 with Hilton and Micheal in Paris, and then we did some work on THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND and came back to FILMING OTHELLO in 1976. It was finished in 1977. We shot every night that Orson felt like it, but Orson was very superstitious of things, like black cats, or walking under ladders. Well, we shot FILMING OTHELLO in a house I had rented for him, right down the street from where Sharon Tate was murdered. Orson liked the house, but he never knew it was right next to where the Charles Manson killings took place. If he had known about it, he would have been very suspicious about staying there. We also shot in that same house, a 10 minute short to promote F FOR FAKE. It was done in 35mm and was meant to be the trailer for F FOR FAKE, but the distributor didn't want to make any prints of it! It's really a 10 minute Orson Welles film, without using any of the footage from F FOR FAKE. It was all totally new film, but the American distributor wouldn't spend the money to cut the negative and make prints.
--
Playing to the crowd. You know what they say: when in Rome.
So, a different kind of beauty. But I'll add this short film, for traditional beauty's sake. Return to Glennascaul. 'Orson Welles' ghost story,' as it is otherwise known:
Both his words and manner of speech seemed at first totally unfamiliar to me, and yet somehow they stirred memories - as an actor might be stirred by the forgotten lines of some role he had played far away and long ago.
by The Consul » Fri Feb 23, 2018 2:16 pm 
This brought me to tears..
