La Grande Vadrouille

a film by Gérard Oury

As Большая прогулка, this WWII comedy starring Bourvil and Louis de Funès was both widely screened and wildly popular in the Soviet Union. Yet somehow I’ve never watched it before. And now I did, thanks to Filmoteca de Cantabria, with collaboration of the Alliance Française de Santander and Institut Français de Bilbao.

Drylongso

a film by Cauleen Smith

Another happy discovery: this lost and found (and restored) gem of a movie starring Toby Smith, April Barnett and Will Power. As far as I know, Drylongso is (so far) the only feature film by Cauleen Smith.

Scener ur ett äktenskap

a film by Ingmar Bergman

I had a dilemma: either to rush after work to watch almost three hours of Scenes from a Marriage, with a distinct possibility to fall asleep, or to give it a pass and just have a proper nap. As you may have guessed, my craving for cinema won.

This 1974 film is a theatrical release of a 1973 miniseries of the same name. If the first chapter/episode has a rather extended cast, by Bergman standards anyway, in the last four chapters “only” the protagonists, portrayed by Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, remain. It’s long but never boring, and even has a kind of wabey-sabey happy ending: Marianne and Johan evolve from meh spouses to pretty good lovers.

Free live music and stuff in Santander, November 2024

These are a few things that I’ve seen in November:

• 3 November: Jazz Jam @ Rvbicón, Calle del Sol, 4, Santander
  The base band of Cristina Ceballos (vocals), Manuel Cavero (double bass), Rafa Santana (piano) and Dani Trueba (drums), plus usual and unusual suspects guests.
• 16 November: Gospel Revolution @ Auditorium Salesianos Santander, Paseo del General Dávila, 73
  In spite of the name, there was very little “gospel” in it — praise the Lord for that, I wouldn’t endure an hour and a half of the stuff. Apart from a couple of truly cringeworthy numbers, the rest was a pleasant enough, if not spectacular, rendition of jazz, soul and disco standards like Hit the Road Jack, I Say a Little Prayer, Moanin’ and We Are Family. Featuring Pachi Aguilar, Loli Andreu, Cris Arnejo, Judith Caballo, Patu Campos, Oriana Carreño, Cris Lobato, Pedro Montero, Pilar Revuelta and Álvaro del Val.

Some exhibitions:

• 21 November — 3 December: «Hippie Memory» @ Galería Este, Mercado Municipal del Este, Calle Hernán Cortés, 4
  Jewellery by art.bylennie (Elena Galindo) and Pedro Calderón; concert of Isaías Rojo (21 November).

  

• 22 November 2024 — 9 February 2025: «Escenas para el séptimo ángel» @ El Palacete del Embarcadero, Muelle de Calderón
  Works by Xesús Vázquez.

  

• From 4 September: «La Dama Roja» @ Museo de Prehistoria y Arqueología de Cantabria, Calle de Hernán Cortés, 4
  The exhibition dedicated to the Red Lady of El Mirón, an Upper Paleolithic woman buried some 19,000 years ago. This is the first time I went to the Museum of Prehistory and Archaeology of Cantabria and absolutely loved it. Free entrance on Sundays from 17:00 to 20:00.

  

And that was it for November.

El Eco

a film by Tatiana Huezo

Not much happens in the Pueblan village El Eco. The only event of note is the death of the granny, “the first woman to arrive in El Eco”, and even that was expected all along. And yet it’s probably the most engrossing documentary I watched this year. Magic is everywhere: it wouldn’t surprise me if that galloping horse took off to the sky, together with her teenage rider. The children of the village are adorable, especially the teacher girl.

This film closed the VIII cycle of documental film «Miradas Globales».

Les Filles d’Olfa / بنات ألفة

a film by Kaouther Ben Hania

This docu-fiction reconstructs the story of the two teenage Tunisians who left their family to join ISIS. Featuring Olfa and her two younger daughters, Eya and Tayssir. The eldest daughters, Ghofrane and Rahma, those “devoured by the wolf”, are portrayed by Ichraq Matar and Nour Karoui, respectively; Hend Sabry plays a younger Olfa.

This film opened the VIII cycle of documental film «Miradas Globales» organised by La Asociación Cultural La Llave Azul.

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie

a film by John Cassavetes

This 1976 cult film starring Ben Gazzara is quite unlike any other film by Cassavetes that I’ve seen so far. Then agan, any Cassavetes film that I’ve seen so far is unlike any other Cassavetes film I’ve seen so far.