"hjartað hamast (bamm bamm bamm)"
When I was putting these stills up, I actually thought it was going to be a relatively easy game but, surprisingly, most everyone actually complained about the difficulty level. Let's see how we did.
ANSWERS / RESULTS:
1) THE END IS EXTREMELY FUCKING NIGH
These stills were, o’course, from 28 Days Later. About half of you probably need to work on your contingency plans, tho, whilst Ali, Justin and Greta seem to be sufficiently in the know about the dangers surrounding an imminent zombie-related-breakdown-of-civilization.
2) CALCIFER, MOVE THE CASTLE 60 MILES WEST
The handsome fellow rakishly apparently incapable of actually wearing a jacket should have made it evident that these stills belonged to Hauru No Uugoku Shiro or Howl’s Moving Castle (or even El Castillo Ambulante); only Ali and Justin were well-versed in the art of wearing jackets perpetually over their shoulders. And then turning into bird-creatures.
3) YOU HAD A BULLET FROM WORLD WAR ONE IN YOUR LEG, JAMES! HOW DID IT GET THERE?
Awww, kids! It broke my heart that only Ali got this; it is 12 Monkeys, and it fucking rocks. See it if you haven’t, but I have a feeling most of you probably have, and just forgot about the globe of eyes and the awesome bio-hazard suit (which some mistook for Mr. Freeze’s costume in Batman Forever, whilst others thought it akin to the uniforms / proton packs of Ghostbusters fame, and a third even thought it might be some costume piece from Brazil).
4) WAS IST DEN UNTERSCHIED ZWISCHEN ERICH HONECKER UND EIN TELEFON?
The first still made a lot of people think it was Dogville but, hey, newsflash: I hated Dogville (I couldn’t even get through the first hour, on account of it feeling like a particularly depressing production of Our Town. These stills, instead, corresponded to Das Leben der Anderen or The Lives of Others, particularly to the scene when the expert Stasi spy draws the floor plan of the flat upon which he is spying on the floor of the attic above that very flat. Despite winning the Oscar for Best Foreign Film this year, only Claire got this one (as well she ought to have, considering she went to see it with me). You can read about it here.
5) AND EVEN THOUGH I WARN YOU, EVEN THOUGH I GUARANTEE YOU THAT THE GIRL WILL ONLY HURT YOU TERRIBLY, YOU’LL STILL PURSUE HER. AIN’T LOVE GRAND?
The wonders of Alfonso Cuarón’s obsession with green, the wonders of Anne Bancroft hamming it up and singing “Bésame Mucho”, the wonders of the fountain kiss; hurrah, Great Expectations, one of my favourites. Claire, Greta and Ali got this one.
6) HAPPY REX MANNING DAY!
If you didn’t get Empire Records, you really get no pity from me. It’s not that it’s a great movie, or even a moderately good one; it’s that it is a staple of all of our youths as products of the alternative 90’s. Everyone-save-one got this.
7) TADZIO, WHERE’VE YOU BEEN?
Sigh. Very disappointing. Nobody got this, and there really is very little excuse. Some of you should have seen this film because of its amazing director, some of you should have seen it by way of the literary connection and felt the burning desire to get your Thomas Mann on, and some of you should have just recognized it because, god damn, you should have said, “Hey, that kid looks like Murray, ergo he must be Björn Andrésen, ergo this must be Morte a Venezia.” Indeed, Visconti’s classic, Death in Venice. See it. Go. Really. It’s just silly to avoid it.
8) DEAR MR. VERNON, WE ACCEPT THE FACT THAT WE HAD TO SACRIFICE A WHOLE SATURDAY IN DETENTION FOR WHATEVER IT WAS WE DID WRONG.
The Breakfast Club. Everyone knows their brat-pack, even if other people have to nudge them towards the recognition.
9) THERE CAN BE NO UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE HAND AND THE BRAIN UNLESS THE HEART ACTS AS MEDIATOR
Metropolis. Greta, Claire, Ali: well done. As for the guessers, despite how impressive the autobahn might be, there’s really no way that one can confuse Lang’s vision of the utopian city with…any of Leni Riefenstahl’s films.
10) I HAVE NO LEGS. I HAVE NO LEGS. I HAVE NO LEGS. I HAVE NO LEGS. MAY GOD BLESS YOU. I HAVE NO LEGS…
Claire and Ali love virgins. Everyone else apparently didn’t recognize Kids, or mistook it for White Boyz in da Hood.
11) BE A MENSCH.
This was, indeed, not Peter Pan. It was The Apartment. And, somewhere, Billy Wilder is crying because nobody got it. Also, Jack Lemmon was, in fact, in films other than The Odd Couple…
12) PERHAPS YOU’RE THE WOMAN I NEVER MET
Rouge or Red from the Three Colours Trilogy. Justin, Greta…period.
13) “QUIVERING MEMBER.” I LIKE THAT.
Everyone burns, pines, perishes, and recognized 10 Things I Hate About You.
14) YOU MAY REMOVE YOUR SHOES! YOU MAY REMOVE YOUR WIGS!
Sorry Robin, this was not Leprechaun in the Hood, but rather The Witches; both Ali and Justin wished they had that awesome, mouse-safe Lego contraption extending all over their house as children.
15) NADA ES SENCILLO; SOY BAILARINA, Y NADA ES SENCILLO.
Finally, the Almodóvar test: Hable Con Ella, which Ali, Justin, Claire. Surprisingly, it seems most people didn’t recognize the first still, which shows a clip from the Buñuel-style silent film-within-the-film, in which an incredible shrinking man literally dives into his beloved’s vagina.
So, tallying up the scores, we have (as ever), Ali in the top ranking, with 11 correct, lasdesperadas stealing dothemuna only one behind in fourth, and
mspinkie closing off the event with a dismal performance that brings shame upon her people (the Slavs).
Well played, everyone!
(*and, also, HURRAH SPRING BREAK and feliz cumpleaños, madre mía.)
poesian's thunder at the last moment, to make off with second and leaving him in third, with