#cinemassociations

[cinemassociations]

On Glass Onion (2022)

1. Glass Onion (2022), directed by Ryan Johnson

An Entertaining murder mystery with an up-to-date depictions of an exentric millionaire Miles Bron played by Edward Norton, instagram influencers and wealthy "distruptors", people in power. Who does not love Daniel Craigs Detective Benoit Blanch and a "come back" for Kate Hudson. It is crystal clear that this movie is about entertainment but it also tries to sort of critique the 1% lifestyles. I don´t think it does it very well but it tries.

Like the first Knives Out film this one has interesting use of paintings and art work in the back ground as sort of easter eggs for the viewers. First of all there is a terrifically tasteless shirtless portrait of Edward Norton/ Miles Bron (more on the subject here). Next to it a painting that looks as if Francis Bacon would have painted a triptych of Ronald MacDonalds. Then some Mondrian and Picasso... Money money money... And Kanye West? We get to solve the riddles and mysteries at the same time with Detective Blanc. 2. Icarus, Matisse, image from here

Flying too close to the sun, Icarus got his wings burned. Also kind of a portrait of Miles Bron. This depiction also looks like a bang-bang-bullet- to-the-chest.

3. An upside down Mark Rothko painting! This is a clever way to show how little Millionaire-Miles knows about the art works he owns. Mark Rothko´s 207, spotted here

4. Tomlinson court park 1, Frank Stella, image from here

Abstract minimalism that looks lika a puzzle, a maze. Also hangs on its side, just behind Daniel Craig.

5. Still life with mandoline and galette, Pablo Picasso, image from here. Nothing quite like a Picasso piece to signify that you are filthy rich

6. Untitled (Bacchus 1st Version IV), Cy Twombly, image from here

Blood red, cool abstraction sold at Sothebys for $15.4 million

6. Nichols Canyon, David Hockney, image from here

Last but not least the glass sculptures

RIP

[cinemassociations]

On Knives Out (2019)

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1. Knives out (2019, Directed by Rian Johnson)

Set decorator David Schlesinger and art director Jeremy Woodward did an amazing job at making the novelist Harlan Thrombeys manor almost a character initself. The manor is filled with paintings and objects that trick you somehow (masks, vanitas themed paintings and skulls, Houdini posters). Here are some examples of the paintings seen in the manor.

More on the art direction and set decoration of the film here and here

2. Portrait of Harlan Thrombey (image from here), from the film

Portrait of the manors ruler, the mastermind behind it all, hangs over the whole film. The painting is used in shot-reverse shots like a live character. There is even change of expression in the end of the film...

2. Escaping criticism (Pere Borrell del Caso, 1874), image from here

This fantastic trompe l´oleil painting is used very literally. Behind it, a secret window, a means to escape...

2. Salome and The Apparation of the baptist´s head (Gustave Moreau, 1876), image from here

Decapitated heads and beheadings, magicians with severed heads are a recurrent theme in the paintings inside the manor. This painting flashes by somewhere in the second floor of the manor.

I can´t wait to see some dvd-extras on ”inside the manor” for some more interior design ideas for my own future manors.

[cinemassociations]

On Dolor Y Gloria

The mise-en-scene of Dolor Y Gloria (2019, Pedro Almadóvar) is fabulous! Especially the apartment of the films main character, director Salvador Mallo (a self portrait of Almadóvar, played by the fantastic Antonio Banderas). The set is based on Almadóvar´s own house (peak into his home office here - looks familiar doesnt it?) and the art on the walls are copies of pieces from his personal collection.

Mallo has put his fortune on the gallery like walls of his apartment. His house is full of colorful details, little sculptures, vases and velvet. He seems to have a fabulous taste in art, kitchy objects and fashion. He spends most of his days in this mausoleum of art and culture - reading, writing, dwelling in pain or drugs. His house is almost like a colorful pharao´s tomb.

Almadóvar has been especially influenced by the painter Maruja Mallo - the name of the main character Salvador Mallo seems like a tribute.

Here´s a little list of the artwork seen in Salvadors/ Almadóvars apartment:

 1. Pedro Almodóvar, Explosion of Spring 1 (2018), image from here 

Almadóvar is a multidisciplinary artist and some of his own floral still lifes can be seen in the film.

2. Guillermo Pérez Villalta: Artist looking at an art book (2008), image from here

3. Maruja Mallo: El racimo de uvas (1944), image from here

The rich burgundy shade of the grapes contrasted with the fresh and crisp light blue is a color scheme that goes through the entire movie - the main character (whose name is also Mallo) wears these colors and they appear again and again in the background.

4. Abraham Lacalle: Portería (2017), image from here

5. Sigfrido Martín Begué: El olfato Santa Casilda (1986), image from here

6. Dis Berlin: sculptures in the exhibition Galaxia Homo Sapiens. Exposición Homo Sapiens. Centro de Arte Tomás y Valiente. Fuenlabrada (Madrid). 2016

Some of these sculptures can be found in Mallo´s apartment.

7. Enzo Mari: la Pera

This poster is on the wall of the actor Crespo´s house (Crespo is played by the charismatic Asier Etxeandia - all the actors in this film do a superb job) and you can have it on your wall as well!

[cinemassociations]

On The Souvenir

1. The Souvenir (2019, directed by Joanna Hogg)

The Souvenir is a fantastic, biographical film about the difficulty of finding your outlines and limits, about youth, unsteady love and making art. The story is not idealized at all - the main character Julie does all the stupid things a young person does but what a fully realized character!

“An affair that coincides with an artistic reversal: this is where “The Souvenir” begins. The movie poignantly shows Julie channelling her creative energies into the stumbling conduct of her life, rather than into the making of art. Today, when the standard for a young female artist’s self-fashioning has been set by the precocious accomplishments of the likes of Lena Dunham, Hogg’s slower, more inhibited path to self-expression can be painful to watch. Yet this trajectory will be eminently recognizable to any viewer who has felt, especially in early adulthood, as if she were performing the role of herself, rather than simply living it.” (´Joanna Hogg´s self-portrait of a lady´ New Yorker)

2.The Souvenir Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1776–c.1778)

As seen on the film.

3. Kim Novak´s suit in Vertigo (1948, Alfred Hitchcock)

During The Souvenir we see Joanna´s style evolve. She starts to dress very lady-like. She even has a travel suit made to measure in the style of Vertigo. Hitchcock and Psycho is mentioned in her film school. There is even a similar aura of mystery and timelessness as in some Hitchcock films - especially during the “romantic get-away” and the train ride to Florence. 

More on the fantastic fashion in the film

https://variety.com/2019/artisans/production/the-souvenir-costume-designer-1203248000/

4. Le déjeuner sur l'herbe Edouard Manet 1863

There is something about the cinematography and the framing of the film that remind me of this painting. Joanna´s troubled boyfriend sometimes even dresses like the men in this painting.

[cinemassociations]

On Midsommar (2019)

1. Midsommar (2019, Directed by Ari Aster)

Midsommar is a splendid grotesque satirical pastoral carneval of images! Its a Bergman meets Wickerman, horror and comedy. It mixes images from pagan nordic sagas to catholic saints in a very medieval/ rennaissance way. The Finnish audience laughed a lot at our neighbor Swedes and this Scandinavian connection just emphasized the strange-yet-famialiar-feeling horror of Midsommar. 

2. Four seasons in one head (Giuseppe Archinboldo, 1590)

3. Harvest, Philadelphia (Joel-Peter Witkin, 1984, image from here)

Archinboldo and Joel-Peter Witkin both work with grotesque images and metamorphosis of man and other nature. Both artists are strongly referred in the film.

4. Altar piece (Hilma af Klint, 1915, image from here)

The symbols and colors of esoteric art seem to be present in the ceremonial architecture of the film. Hilma af Klint was an early master of abstract art in Europe.

5 - 6. Grotesque ceilings of Uffizi (Alessandro Allori, 1580-81, first image from here, second image by me)

This particular yellow color and the white back ground with the mannerist / grotesque hybrids and metamorphoses reminds me a lot about the mice-en-scene of the film. 

7 - 8.  Dalmålning (first image is a painting by Björ Anders Hansson 1805, second image is a painting by Johan Ersson, 1827)

Hälsingland (where the village of Hårga is in the film) is an area in mid-Sweden where this type of decorative painting is well preserved. The style of painting is called Hälsingemålning or dalmalning. Dalmålning was a style of “peasant painting” in 1770-1870, the practice was taught and passed on by father to son.

You can see how slowly the rennaissance traveled to Scandinavia (here in Finland we are still waiting for it).

9. Google DeepDream art, image from here

DeepDream is an A.I. program that finds patterns in images, enhances them and makes more images based on that. The artwork is quite hallucinogenic reminiscing the hallucinations in the film.

[cinemassociations]

On US (2019)

1. Us (2019, Directed by Jordan Peele)

What a source for associations! Jordan Peele clearly pays homage to his favourite horror films from The Shinging and Funny Games to Jaws. There´s a lot of fantastic images and easter eggs that you see again and again in this film, like a fake spider and a real one - and the spiderlike movements of a scary dobbelganger (Lupita Nyong´o is fantastic!). 

2.  La reproduction interdite (”Not to be reproduced”, 1937 by René Magritte)

This nightmarish painting is referenced in the beginning of the film.

3. Alice entering the looking glass world (Illustration by John Denniel, from the book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There written by Lewis Carroll, 1871)

The story of Alice is referenced in a lot of ways in Us. Alice falls through the looking glass. Follows a white rabbit. “We are all mad down here”...

Lewis Carrolls relationship with the 10 year old Alice Liddell was very controversial. The Michael Jackson t-shirt seen in the film also bears the same connotations. 

4.  À la rencontre du plaisir (From series ”Towards pleasure” 1962 by René Magritte)

This painting is in a Magritte exhibition in Helsinki, in Amos Rex museum right now. When I saw it I was struck by the black and blue. The colors remind me of the Barry Jenkins film Moonlight (2016) that clearly was an inspiration on some of the shots in Us.

4. Shock corridor (1963, Directed by Samuel Fuller)

Fullers film depicts the whole of United States (US) in a mental asylum. These depictions are both ´us´ and ´them´ at the same time. 

[cinemassociations]

On Sorry to Bother You (2018)

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1. Sorry to Bother You (2018, Directed by Boots Riley)

A fantastic surreal allegory on capitalism, work, media, art and society. I enjoyed every second of this film.

2. J. Otto Seibold made the fantastic typography in this film. I want those earrings too! Image from here

Also Spy Emerson did a lot of fabulous, fun sculptures in this film. You should read her interview here: https://brokeassstuart.com/2018/08/09/sorry-to-bother-you/

3. ´Black Children Keep Your Spirits Free´ 1972 by Carolyn Lawrence

There are a lot of beautiful paintings and sculptures in this film. It inspired me to search Oakland artists, american painters and the whole afro-punk movement.

This painting i found here: http://afropunk.com/2018/09/soul-of-a-nation-opens-at-brooklyn-musuem/

4.´Son of man´ 1946 by Rene Magritte 

The apple (green or red) is ever present in “the upstairs”

5. ´Nightmare´ 1781 by Henry Fuselli

This painting can be seen at the freaky CEO´s house. It is very depicting on the tone of that scene and what follows.

[cinemassociations]

On No Time To Die (2021)

1. No Time to Die (2021) directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga

James Bond films need only to refer to other James Bond films. This time especially to the other Daniel Craig films and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Daniel Craig gets a proper send-off.

2. Claude Monet Nymphéas, 1915

Seen in the bad guys, Ljutsifer Safins, lair. Suitable with the ongoing theme of gardening.

3. Hugo Simberg Garden of Death, 1896

Another association on the sort of gardening mr Safin does.

[cinemassociations]

On You were never really here (2017)

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1. You were never really here (2017) Directed by Lynne Ramsay

2. Psycho (1960) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Psycho is mentioned explicitly in You were never really here. Even this shot of violence is referred with a p.o.v. of a security camera (you can see a glimpse of this shot in the trailer)

But the more subtle references are in the way the interiors of the houses are shot. Houses and homes feel like mazes. The stairs lead to floors and layers of trauma. There are dollhouses and facades. And the obvious house as a metaphor for the mind.

3. Interior from Psycho (1960) image from here

4. Night of the hunter (1955) Directed by Charles Laughton

This shot specifically: the hair, the mother, the fantastic Freudian Todestrieb/ thanatos.

5. Jean-Baptiste Santerre ´Femme tirant le rideau´ from 18th century

This painting can be seen in the film. It´s like a witness and guide in the last maze.

[cinemassociations]

On Tenet (2020)

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1. Tenet (2020, directed by Christopher Nolan), trailer from YouTube

2. Betty (Gerhard Richter, 1988, oil on canvas), image from here

Without spoiling anything there seems to be a strong link between Gerhard Richters Betty (1988) and the film... But since Tenet is best enjoyed without any foreknowledge - if you haven’t seen the film, look away and please return to this post after seeing the film.

Gerhard Richter painted this painting based on a photograph he took of his daughter 10 years ago in 1978, when she was 11 years old.

He’s looking back at his daughter, who is looking away from the camera. It almost feels like he is reaching back in time to grasp her. The photorealism of this painting captures the fleeting moment, that slice of time.

3. Copy of a Kairos relief by Lycippos (of the 4th century BC), image from here

4. Kairos relief, Roman work after the original by Lysippos ca. 350—330 BCE, Turin, Museum of Antiquities, image from here

The greek word “kairos” means an opportunity in time, the crucial moment, a significant moment, an opportune time for action, “the strategic moment” (in contrast to “kronos” which means chronological time). A famous Hippocrates quote goes “Every kairos is a chronos, but not every chronos is a kairos” - doctors know this as the critical moment, a moment in wich you must act (seize the day). Tenet approaches the theme of kairos forward from the past and back from the future.

In ancient greek art Kairos (Caerus, or in Roman art Occasio or Tempus) is depicted as a young man (opportunity newer grows old), tiptoeing with Hermes-like winged shoes, holding a scale (because those specific moments in time come and go and shift all the time).

[cinemassociations]

On Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker (2019)

1. Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker (2019, directed by J.J. Abrams)

Ofcourse the latest Star Wars film mostly refers to other Star Wars films. This movie is all over the place. But here is a few associations I´d like to share.

2.Photograph by Lotta Sulin (2018), image from here

Sulins instagram fashion photographs are now a part of the collection of the Finnish museum of photography. The first time we see Jannah (Naomi Ackie) riding some sort of space horse with her hair flowing this image came to my mind.

More on Lotta Sulins photography: https://www.valokuvataiteenmuseo.fi/en/exhibitions/lottaland

2. Jannah, image from here

Just in case you forgot

3. Destruction of Tyre (John Martin, 1840) image from here

The film is full of horrendous storms and lightning. Looking for a tesseract-sort-of-magical-pyramid-thingy Rey crosses a biblical stormy sea to reach the ruined death star.

4. Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X (Francis Bacon, 1953) image from here

Everything that has to do with the emperor in this film is ridiculous. He is portrayed like a Frankensteins monster, his face is light by strobe lighting. He uses Jedis as a battery recharge (Emperor reloaded). But ofcourse you cannot unsee the reference to this painting.

[cinemassociations]

On Blade Runner 2049

1. Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Directed by Dennis Villeneuve

The lost city of Las Vegas and the Tyrell Corporation pyramid remind the lost kingdom of pharaohs in Egypt. Fallen statues reference the lost culture of man and humanity and the rise of the new gods.

2. Scanners (1981) Directed by David Croenenberg, image from here

3. Eros Bendato (1999) by Igor Mitoraj

4. Mask II (2001–02) by Ron Mueck

5-6. Statue of Ramses II found in Cairo

[cinemassociations]

On First Reformed (2017)

1. First Reformed (2017, Directed by Paul Schrader)

2. Arrangement in Grey and Black No.1 (Whistler´s mother, 1871) by James McNeill Whistler 

The strict victorian composition and the monochrome colors are referenced in the film in quite a few shots where the characters are seated and talking to each other.

3. Black Square (1915) by Kazimir Malevich 

There is something about the nearly divine silence and the texture of this painting that resonates with the film.

3. Nattvardsgästerna (Winter light, 1963, Directed by Ingmar Bergman)

First Reformed feels like a more extreme, very much an american, version of Bergmans classic film about gods silence.

5.Saint Lucy (1473) by Francesco del Cossa 

Saint Lucy or Sancta Lucia is an important saint in scandinavian (especially swedish speaking) countries. The connection to Bergman brought her to my mind. Lucia is celebrated on the darkest days of the year, she wears a crown of candles and is the patron saint of the blind. 

4.Set design in First reformed. Notice the eye shaped lamp that looks a lot like they eyes in del Cossas painting.

Is there a light that never goes out?