| 5:30 p.m. | Nagasaki Stories Jos de Putter (The Netherlands, 1996) |
Filmed during the fiftieth anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, de Putter's appropriately mournful documentary reveals stories of those who survived the bomb. A reporter who returns to Nagasaki, others who never left—de Putter records their impressions and recollections, interspersed with images of the city itself. "The almost whispering atmosphere of the film reminds us of Ozu," wrote Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad of this reverential film, a sobering companion piece to the Doctor Atomic series, and an essential historical document.
—Jason Sanders
• Photographed by Paul Cohen. (55 mins, In Japanese with English subtitles, Color, 16mm, From the artist/Stichting Dieptescherpte)
Preceded by:
Nor His Donkey
Jos de Putter (The Netherlands, 2002)
Commissioned for a series on the Ten Commandments, Nor His Donkey playfully interrogates the Tenth: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his donkey.” An actual (very charismatic) donkey leads us through the scenic Pyrenees and into three tales of lust and desire: the filmmaker's own mother reads a letter from a suitor who has waited forty-five years to express his love; narrators recount the tale of a personal shopping assistant who became addicted to shopping; and a convention of scientists reveal their lust for a seemingly unattainable object: Mars!
Photographed by Marc Homs. (50 mins, In English, Dutch, and Spanish with English subtitles, Color, BetaSP, From Paul de Bont Produkties)
(Total running time: 105 mins)
