The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Nostos (1989) Run Time: 1H 24M Plus Bonuses!

Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s a spare retelling of the Odyssey, Nostos:

and next week’s film, The Mattei Affair:

Reviews of Nostos:

Letterboxd says:

Nostos: The Return achieves a level of cinematic art that Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Odyssey will never be able to touch. I am still completely blown away. I have rarely seen a movie this breathtakingly beautiful. If you want to see filmmaking elevated to pure poetry, you have to experience this masterpiece.

The film is directed by Franco Piavoli, who basically handled everything—the directing, writing, cinematography, and even the editing! It is a loose adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey, focusing on Odysseus’ long, grueling journey home across the Mediterranean after the Trojan War. What makes it an absolute masterpiece is how incredibly minimalist it is and how well it works. There is almost zero dialogue. When characters actually do speak, they use a fictional, un-subtitled Mediterranean language inspired by ancient Greek, Sanskrit, and Latin. By the way, this hypnotic atmosphere with the slow, meditative pace and the deeply spiritual connection to nature heavily reminded me of the dreamlike cinema of Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Instead of relying on characters explaining their feelings, Franco Piavoli lets the environment do the talking.

My take:

This is a really stunning film with incredible cinematography. The only dialogue is in the form of a fake language, other than that the sounds are of birds and the sea and the wind. It’s deeply immersive, try it with a little pot. Worth watching at ⭐.

Director: Franco Piavoli

Writer: Franco Piavoli

Plot (Spoilers!): The war is over. Odysseus is returning home. At first, things seem to go fine.

Then the weather changes. The ship is wrecked. He floats alone in the sea.

He finds land. He walks for many miles. Finally, he returns home.

***

Bonuses:

In honor of the anniversary of Fritz Lang’s death:

“Destiny” (1921) Engl. subs

“Fury” (1936) (colourized vers.)96 min.https://archive.org/details/fury-1936-colorized-movie-720p-hd

“Man Hunt” (1941)102 min.

“Ministry of Fear” (1944)87 min.https://archive.org/details/ministry-of-fear-1944

“The Big Heat” (1953)89 min.https://archive.org/details/the-big-heat-1953

Martin Scorsese on “The Big Heat”5 min.

Michael Mann on “The Big Heat”11 min.

A Jury of Her Peers

“Simple, powerful, jolting”- The New York Times

A farm woman is accused of murdering her husband on a desolate farm in early 1900s Midwest America. Two women, a neighboring farmer’s wife and the sheriff’s wife, find themselves alone in the jailed woman’s kitchen while the prosecuting attorney and their husbands search the farm for evidence that would prove a motive for murder. As the women gather some things together for the accused, they uncover details of her life and discover what may be just what the men are looking for. Adapted from Susan Glaspell’s 1917 short story of the same name, the film illuminates a women’s world largely unnoticed by the men.

As a young reporter in Iowa, Susan Glaspell covered the sensational trial of a farmer’s wife accused of murdering her husband in his sleep (book about trial). Years later, she summoned her memories of visiting the accused woman’s home and wrote her 1916 classic one-act play, Trifles, which she rewrote in 1917 as a story for magazine publication, re-titling it A Jury of Her Peers.

A Jury of Her Peers (1980)

[MONO LP] Paul Chambers – 1st Bassman

Paul Chambers – 1st Bassman. Original 1960 US MONO (Vee Jay Records – VJLP 3012)Original Jazz Vinyl.

Night Drivin’: 1960/1964 | Modern Jazz Classics: Hard-Bop, Modal & Soul Jazz

Driving into the late night hours with 1960’s Modern Jazz playing the best in Hard-Bop, Modal & Soul Jazz. Featuring Donald Byrd, Horace Silver, Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and more. Thank you for listening!

Gerry Mulligan – Feelin Good -1965 (FULL ALBUM)

Bill Evans: Sounds Instead of Words | Best of Bill Evans Trio Classics

A Bill Evans jazz piano playlist featuring some of his most beautiful trio classics, ballads, and timeless modern jazz recordings. This mix includes essential Bill Evans songs such as Tenderly, Autumn Leaves, Waltz for Debby, Blue in Green, My Foolish Heart, Nardis, Turn Out The Stars, You Must Believe In Spring, and Someday My Prince Will Come. Perfect for jazz lovers who enjoy Bill Evans Trio, classic jazz piano, lyrical jazz, relaxing jazz, and emotional piano jazz.

Wild Planet ~ The B-52’s

Wild Planet is the second studio album by American new wave band the B-52’s, released in August 1980 by Warner Bros. (US) and Island Records (Europe, Japan).As with their first album, the B-52’s traveled to Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas to record Wild Planet. Several of the songs from the album had been concert staples since 1978. The band did not record them for their first album, as they had more songs than could fit in a quality LP record.

https://youtu.be/cYVRMhRigNQ?si=jsniXfn669UQJyTC

The Doors – Critique (1969)

Filmed for NET at Studio 55 in New York, NY on April 28, 1969 and first broadcast on WNDT/Channel 13 on June 25, 1969. (Note: WNDT was an affiliate of NET and would later merge with the station to form WNET in the fall of 1970.)

Though often forgotten in favor of more sensational live performances, this understated television appearance represents a significant moment in the history of The Doors.

Filmed less than two months after their infamous March 1, 1969 concert in Miami, it was the band’s first public appearance since then and an attempt to rebuild their reputation ahead of the release of their fourth album, The Soft Parade, while in the midst of widespread negative press coverage and a spate of venue cancellations across the country.

Jim Morrison was especially interested in performing on the NET network because it didn’t adhere to traditional commercial standards and the group could play whatever they wanted, telling Rolling Stone’s Jerry Hopkins: “There are no guest stars, no patter, and no dancing girls — just serious talk and serious music presented in an appropriate, professional, and respectful manner.”

As a result, the performance features several songs that were rarely played in concert and reveals The Doors at their purest — stripped down and unfiltered.

Child – Child (1970) (US, ULTRA RARE Acid Rock, Psychedelic Rock)

INFO: The ultra rare debut album by keyboard-heavy late 60’s US acid rock band child. Includes a fierce lengthy version of Isaac Hayes’ “Hold On, I’m Comin”. Similar to Vanilla Fudge and on the heavier side of late 60s US rock.

The Fact – Always There (1986) Post Punk, Gothic Rock – Germany

1993 confession tape: Einstein saw Roswell UFO and ETs in 1947, says his assistant Dr. Shirley Wright:

Fatha Plays Classics [1977] – Earl Hines:

Label: Jazz Life – 2273012Format: VinylCountry: GermanyRecorded 1977

Digitalism – Pogo (A favorite song of mine from a wild time in my life.):

Rare – Bin Dekhe Jiyaa Naahi Chain, Bhairavi Thumri – Manik Verma:

Manik Verma, Was A Versatile Artist Who Renders Classical As Well As Light Songs With Equal Facility. Gifted With A Mellifluous Voice, She Sings With Great Feeling And Verve, Imparting An Uncommon Appeal To Her Music.

Piya To Maanat Naahi | Thumri In Raag Kafi | Vidushi Manik Verma | Rare:

David Munrow – The Art of the Recorder [full]:

David Munrow: The Medieval Sound (1970) Side 2:

David Munrow – Greensleeves to a Ground (1976) [full]:

Aldo Tambellini’s BLACKOUT (1965):

Aldo Tambellini is a pioneer experimental film and video artist. This film, like an action painting by Franz Kline, is a rising crescendo of abstract images. Rapid cuts of white forms on a black background supplemented by an equally abstract soundtrack give the impression of a bombardment in celestial space or on a battlefield where cannons fire on an unseen enemy in the night.

Aldo Tambellini’s BLACK IS (1965):

Aldo Tambellini is a video and film pioneer. This experimental film was made entirely without the use of a camera. “Working directly on 16mm … I scratched, perforated, drew,used acid and other substances on the surface of the leader. … The movement of the projector (30 frames per second) created the animated rhythm of the film. To get down to the essentials: light and motion.” (Aldo Tambellini)

Aldo Tambellini’s BLACK TRIP (1965):

Aldo Tambellini is a pioneer experimental film and video artist. Through the uses of kinescope, video, multimedia, and direct painting on film, an impression is gained of the frantic action of protoplasm under a microscope where an imaginative viewer may see the genesis of it all.

BERTRAND RUSSELL, The Mathematician, The Philosopher, The Skeptic, A Salient Biography:

Imagine a life where one man, armed with the sharpest intellect and a refusal to bow to convention, reshapes not only the foundations of logic but also the very way we think about morality, war, and the universe itself. Bertrand Russell, philosopher, mathematician, and fearless critic of societal norms, lived a life of audacious inquiry and unrelenting pursuit of truth. From his groundbreaking work Principia Mathematica that rewired the logic of mathematics, to his fierce pacifism that landed him in prison during World War I, Russell’s journey is a testament to the power of reason and courage in an irrational world.

古琴曲 山居 Taoist Guqin music “Retreat in the mountains”