Mariusz Wilczyński - A Lesson of Cinema

The real name of Sonny Boy Williamson II (1899–1965) was Aleck ‘Rice’ Miller. His adopted name included II, because another harmonica virtuoso, John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson already used the Sonny Boy stage name. Undoubtedly one of the most important figures in the history of blues, a musician with amazing technique and imagination, with a harmonica sound that is recognisable after just a few notes, he appears here in the blues classic Nine Below Zero.

This fragment is one of five episodes that take place simultaneously in different time zones during a night taxi ride. It begins in Los Angeles, as day gives way to night, and an influential agent, Victoria (Gena Rowlands) offers to make her cab driver Corky (Winona Ryder) a superstar.

The other episodes take place in New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. Jarmusch propagates tolerance and respect for fellow human beings in this ‘simultaneous’ film.

Chester Arthur Burnett (1910–1976), better known as Howlin’ Wolf, a legendary vocalist, gitar player, harmonica player, and composer, was one of the Chicago blues legends with a huge influence on rock music. His music inspired, among others, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Cream, and Jimi Hendrix. Here, Howlin’ Wolf plays two spectacular gigs I’ll Be Back Someday and Love Me Darlin’.

This film is a recording of a famous Frank Zappa concert at NY’s Palladium Theatre on Halloween in 1977. Musicians playing include Adrian Belew (guitar), Roy Estrada (vocals, bass guitar), Patrick O’Hearn (bass guitar), Tommy Mars (keyboard), Peter Wolf (keyboard), Ed Mann (drums), Terry Bozzio (percussion) and, of course, as master of ceremonies, Frank Zappa (vocals, guitar). The documentary parts interweave with animated sequences (Bruce Bickford’s masterpiece) thus creating a mesmerising collage of art and music.

While sitting at a café, you can talk about the dentist, Presley, and about the advantages of (non)smoking. This was the case in three short films about coffee and cigarettes by Jim Jarmusch. To the shorts made in 1986, 1989 and 1993, the American director added eight new episodes giving rise to the feature film, Coffee and Cigarettes. The characters smoke cigarettes, drink coffee and talk, talk, talk. All the stories are intriguing, though the dialogue between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits is pure delight.

Summer 1988: Miles Davis is softly rounding the notes of Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time on his horn at the Munich Philharmonic during the Münchner Klaviersommer festival, accompanied by Kenny Garret (saxophone and flute), Bobby Irving and Adam Holzman (keyboard), Joe ‘Foley’ McCreary (guitar), Benjamin Rietveld (bass guitar), Marylin Mazur (percussion instruments), and Ricky Wellman (drums). The recording with this memorable concert is available as part of a 3-CD album, Munich Concert, from IMC Music.

A succinct story about the memory of some room, metaphor of the interrelation between human fate and the passage of time. Enclosed in the space demarcated by four walls there are various simultaneous events taking place; they entice the past involving different tenants or people who appeared there more or less by chance. First, there is just one person, then the other one, then the next and the next… Someone is putting on some clothes, someone else is having soup; there is a couple making love on the bed; a man is installing a light bulb and while suffering from electric shock, he falls onto the floor; there is also a thief tiptoeing quietly… The room becomes more and more crowded but the people gathered there manage not to bump into one another; time planes overlap, but this is not the case with the people – each of them has their own space. A formally sophisticated experiment and a philosophical metaphor at the same time. The first Oscar for the Polish cinematography.

One of the greatest films of all time: Professor Borg’s physical journey becomes an emotional and spiritual voyage to the past reviving his lost purpose in life. Memories and dreams intermingle with the present; the past and the present coexist on screen. Bergman’s masterpiece opens with the professor’s strange dream, where he is walking through the streets of a desolate city. He passes a clock without hands, notices a man who proves to be a dead doll, and a hearse drives by. its casket falling out to reveal the professor’s corpse.

One of the best songs created by the Tadeusz Nalepa–Bogdan Loebl duo shown here live in concert version from Sopot, 1991. The title of this song in English means The Prayer. Tadeusz Nalepa sings: Hear my song, o Lord, / I cry to you today, / You are everywhere, You are everything, / but do not be a stone to me. / I cry to you with my song, / since you can give anything, / so I plead to you, give me a chance one more time, / give me the chance for the last time. / It is enough if you raise your hand, / one thought of yours will suffice, / and I will start my life from start / so I beg for one divine gesture.

The exploits of a young and talented journalist in the world of Roman high life serve as bitter commentary on the Italian upper class – their carefree lives filled with gossip, scandals, promiscuity, and hypocrisy. The title of Fellini's film, La dolce vita, has come to mean an empty, idle life, which may be finely packaged but wholly empty. It also the film that coined the expression paparazzi to describe photojournalists that ruthlessly feed on the privacy of celebrities.