Few films are as redolent with zeitgeist as Guns of the Trees. Jonas Mekas’ only dramatic feature, it concerns Greenwich Village bohemians embodied by his brother Adolfas,
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(Adolfas Mekas )
the young couple Ben Carruthers and Argus Speare Jullard,
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(Ben and Argus)
and writer Frances Stillman.
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(Frances Stillman)
While Ben and Argus are quite happy, Adolfas is unsettled by the prospect of nuclear war – a threat that pushes Frances to suicide.
It’s hard for the kids today to imagine how terrifying the nuclear threat was back then, and how important the “Ban the Bomb” movement was. The film has footage of anti-war demonstrators being physically attacked by the NYPD. Plus ca change. . . The year Guns debuted also saw the release of John Cassavetes Shadows, bringing Ben Carruthers considerable fame. Jonas called him the American Belmondo. And in many ways he was.
(Guns of the Trees)
Every bit as loose-limbed as Guns of the Tress, but in a far more cheerful mode, Jacques Rozier’s Adieu Phillipine was in its home country one of the most celebrated films of the nouvelle vague. The “for the first time on screen” stars were Stefania Sabatini, Yvonne Cery as a pair of inseparable friends
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(Sabatini and Cerry)
who meet a young man working as an assistant on a television program played by another novice Jean-Claude Amini.
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(the trio)
Showing no jealousy or rivalry whatsoever, both girls pursue the boy simultaneously. Their frequent, semi-conspiratorial, giggles were clearly a major influence on Rivette’s Celine and Julie Go Boating. The film was also a copiously acknowledged inspiration by Alfonso Cuaron for his breakthrough film Y Tu Mama Tambien which, in his case, involved two boys instead of two girls. In Adieu Phillipine, the Algerian War hangs over the trio’s heads. He’s been called up, and the summer they spend together may be his last. Cuaron took this a step further in Y Tu Mama as the heroine is dying of cancer. But in both films, Death can’t stave off youthful free spirits. And that’s as it should be.
(Adieu Phillipine)
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p.s. Hey. David Ehrenstein's venerable institution Le Petit-Mach Mahon has been reinstalled here today in order that you guys and I might discover and cozy up with two films that I, at least, was not aware of pre-this, and, as ever with Mr. E's tip-offs, they look pretty great, so please dim your surrounding ambience and have a watch, if you have time. Thanks, and, thank you very much, David! ** Rigby, Hi, man! So, suicidal depression in sonic form managed to lure you back in here, did it? That must be the very definition of the opposite of collateral damage. Cheers, mate! You liked 'Nightcrawler'a lot too, huh. I watched it in Iceland. Maybe it was the wrong place. I'm dying to see 'Babadook' and 'Mr. Turner', which is a weird combination of wants. No, I don't know 'We Are the Best' in the slightest. I'll find out what it is post-haste. Lovely to see you, my sir! What's the haps? ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T. Did it help your writing? Fucked By Noise rules, yeah, totally. Gracias for the direct link to the Xiu Xiu! ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you, man to man, for the movie theater, man. Those films look super interesting, and I don't know why I don't know 'Adieu Phillipine' given its status in the NV. I knew Les Petit Bon Bons a little. Especially Bobby, a la Tosh. I wonder whatever happened to them? They were so gung-ho. ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh. Good question about indie rock groupies. I would imagine the configuration of that phenom must be very different, if so. Undercover-ish? But I have no idea. Cool you knew the PBBs too. Like you, when I talked to them, it was usually to Bobby. Interesting guys. In the RBED context, they were kind of like culture tutors. I'm glad to hear some positive about 'Big Eyes'. I'll see it when it gets here in any case. My big 70s periodicals were, if I'm remembering right, NME, Creem, Slash, Who Put the Bomp, Punk. ** Steevee, Hi. I think I read some interview or something wherein the gay member of Interpol talked about having groupies. My friend Juan who was the gay member of Abe Vigoda said he never ever had groupies. That's all I know. ** Kier, I think I shot my name mutation wad for the moment with Kier-kegaard. I'll try to restock. Oh, okay, thank you about the names. Very sensible. I'd wondered if maybe the names/words meant something that might have applied to their personalities or something. I like Britney. She's the only one of that kind of pop star who I actually make a point of listening to and often sort of unreservedly enjoy. I would totally go see her live. I would even pay. Yeah, Gisele and Jonathan C. saw her play here a few years ago. All I remember is that they said she had an obvious body double who came out whenever she had to dance and who was onstage a lot more than she was. Zac is veggie, yes. That's so sweet about Lucifer finding a dear chum. My day was perhaps the most uninteresting in months, I fear. I dropped off Zac's treats. I bought some food. I walked around a little. It wasn't that cold early on, but then the temp dropped a lot over the course of about 3 minutes, it was weird. Mostly, I just worked randomly and haphazardly on the stuff I need to work on without a lot of progress or things accomplished that would be interesting to tell you about. I thought Zac might call and that we might get back to the film editing at some point yesterday, but he didn't. The washing machines here at the R. continue to be broken as they have been for months, so I washed some clothes in a plastic bucket, and I hope they're dry by now. You see how unexciting the day was. Maybe just maybe today will be a vast improvement. Meanwhile, what did you do? ** _Black_Acrylic, Welcome home to your home. Is that a button? It looks like a button? ** Sypha, Hi. Yeah, it's hard. ** Misanthrope, Hi. I just entered #OpDeathEaters in google and realized it's about that UK pedophile ring thing that's been in the process of becoming breaking news for months. So, yeah, I'm sort of following that. As big as the scandal will likely be, I don't think it's going to live up to the promising tag DeathEaters and its creators' doomy graphic design sense. I probably will do a post about their style at least. It's probably an FB-directed bot or something/ someone just fucking around randomly, right? Seems like it. ** Alan, Hi, Alan! Of course it's a joyful thing to see you! I hope you're doing really great! And, obviously, my great pleasure on the IC-B interview. Take care, man! ** Right. Shut Netflix, disable youtube and the like, and stay here in the Le Petit Mach-Mahon until further notice. And talk to David. Thank you! See you tomorrow.