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Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s a darkly humorous tale of freedom and mortality, The Weather Report:
Prognoza pogody (1983)
and next week’s film, Kiseye Berendj:
Kiseye Berendj (1998)
Reviews of The Weather Report:
Letterboxd says:
where the fuck has obscure polish cinema been my whole life
and
A flotilla of boats, elderly Chirons across a hazy space where sky and land have no border. A bundle of frightened bodies, clinging to each other in an unmarked crate on the back of a truck. A wizened maiden in a wedding dress, collapsing into a river. Bodies hidden in hay, lit by the crackle of bonfire, scoured by the authority’s torch.
In The Weather Forecast a series of images and events dance with earnest, tactile grace between the carnal and chaotic, the earthy and ethereal. Its heart, full of love but free of sentiment, has an anarchist chamber reminiscent of the likes of Daisies (a revolution in a restaurant especially), one which doesn’t get lost to optimism, even as it avoids being subsumed by cynicism.
and
the war trauma acquired at an age of transformative growth, causing such deep wounds that the mere sight of caskets, combined with the hypnotic revelation of a looming war, was triggering enough to form a logical springboard from which this oniristic adventure can jump, headfirst, into a full-blown trip.
the coming together of a group of people who, despite living together in a house, are really just a bunch of strangers from all walks of life, whose only common features are being old and never getting to realize what living in full freedom really means.
the whole journey resembling the literal marches through the countryside, forests and mountains that their generation took to run from their oppressors in the wartime.
the community spirit that prompts them all to stick together because that’s what they were conditioned to do their whole lives, that’s how they survive.
moving as one organism, running towards a steep riverbank to save one of their own from drowning, even though she wasn’t really drowning, she just wanted to feel some semblence of a free choice and live out at least one final out-of-ordinary moment.
as such, the collective as the protagonist with no characteristic individualistic traits, because it doesn’t really matter who each one of you are – if you are all on this journey, that means you’re all hurting equally.
fuck, i love 20th century polish cinema so much man
My take:
A funny yet sad tale. At the risk of sounding banal, it’s a metaphor for life. I’m setting aside political contexts or historical framings. We are all scared and running from death, to one degree or another. The story encapsulates that perfectly. ⭐⭐.
Director: Antoni Krauze.
Writers: Antoni Krauze (screenplay), Marek Nowakowski (story).
Plot (Spoilers!):
The residents of an old age home see a truck load of coffins arrive one night. Around the same time that a brutal winter is predicted. The oldsters put things together and come to believe that they are going to be killed to get them out of the way.
They hatch a plan. There is a mass exodus from the facility. Freedom awaits! There is a bottle of vodka or two, some rolling in the hay, and general merriment.
It cannot go on for long, though. The authorities are looking for them, albeit ineptly. Soon the party is over. Just as it is for all of us.
Bonuses:
Chet Baker – Nice, France 1975 (Complete Bootleg)
Simulcast from Nice – June 24, 1975
(00:00) Porgy and Bess
(09:47) Milestones
(16:17) Autumn In New York
(19:56) Marilyn
(23:27) Witchcraft
(30:51) Stella by Starlight/ Band Intros
(41:45) Dear Old Stockholm
(45:55) Mister B
(53:12) Wanted You
(58:55) There Will Never Be Another You
Chet Baker – Trumpet and Vocals
Larry Ridley – Bass
Ray Mosca – Drums
Not sure who’s playing piano
Etelka Freund plays Brahms (ca. 1950 Test Recordings)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
00:00 Intermezzo in A-flat major, Opus 76 No. 3
01:53 Intermezzo in E-flat major, Opus 117 No. 1
06:58 Rhapsody in E-flat major, Opus 119 No. 4
Test recordings, ca. 1950
As a young student in Vienna, Etelka Freund (1879-1977) had the opportunity to play regularly for Brahms. This must have been in 1894-1895. Apparently, he was very pleased with the way she played:
“During her year in Vienna she called on Brahms each week on Wednesdays at lunchtime. When a guest once asked if Freund played, Brahms answered ‘to the enjoyment of everyone!’ Her insightful performances of Brahms stem from her musicality and the composer’s coaching. Brahms also insisted that the exclusive Gesellschaft für Musikfreunde elect her as a regular member, their youngest ever, although she was still a student.”
(Allan Evans, 1996)
Turkish & Anatolian Rock w/ The Grey Area [Through The Years]
An hour journalistic show focusing on Turkish/Anatolian/Anadolu Rock from the 60s and 70s with The Grey Area.
ቴዎድሮስና ደረጀ መኰንን ከሸበሌ ባንድ ጋር – The world Is Me And You ዓለም እኔና አንቺ [Ethiopia] Ethio Jazz (1973)
A cinematic collection of psychedelic jazz, rare soul, folk, fusion and ambient music from the past century, curated to accompany reflection and stillness.
Music for Snails to Meditate To
Music and artwork by Olly Stevenson (©2026 all rights reserved. No part of this recording may be reused, sampled, or downloaded without permission)
Relaxing Armenian music with duduk
Sad and Mysterious Armenian duduk music 2 • Sad and Mysterious Armenian duduk music
• Hovern enkan – A cool breeze is blowing – Gevorg Dabagian 0:01 – 4:31
• Amen aravot – Every morning – Gevorg Dabagian 4:35 – 8:13
• Akh im champen – Ah, my road – Gevorg Dabagian 9:52 – 11:54
• Es gisher, lusnak gisher – Tonight the moon is full – Gevorg Dabagian 11:57 – 15:49
• Kali yerg – Harvest song – Gevorg Dabagian 15:53 – 21:27
• Kamantcha – Gevorg Dabagian 21:28 – 24:25
• Kezanits mas chunem – I miss you – Gevorg Dabagian 24:30 – 29:19
• Dle yaman – Gevorg Dabagian 29:51 – 33:37
• Tui tui – Gevorg Dabagian 33:39 – 36:15
• Yes mi tsar em tsirani and tsirani bar mi tar – The apricot tre – Gevorg Dabagian 36:20 – 40:52
• Vorskan akhper – Brother hunter – Gevorg Dabagian 40:55 – 45:45
• Ashkhares mi panjara ye – The world is a window – Gevorg Dabagian 45:50 – 48:45
• Tsarere tsahgum en – The trees are in bloom – Gevorg Dabagian 48:50 – 53:06
• Pailun arusiak – Shining Arusiak – Gevorg Dabagian 53:08 – 56:05
• Vasn mero perkutian – For us to be saved – Gevorg Dabagian 56:08 – 58:35
• Chachaneh tsaghadzoreh – Gevorg Dabagian 59:51 – 1:01:24
• Me khosk unim – I have a word for you – Gevorg Dabagian 1:01:29 – 1:05:49
• Alashkerti cochari – Gevorg Dabagian 1:05:53 – 1:09:40
Onboard a Japanese Submarine in WW2 | WWII Archival Footage
Sensational film footage of Berlin after the surrender (May 3, 1945)
Footage of the Red Army restored with ifilmrestoration.com in 3K
Subtitles with explanations in different languages can be activated in the player.
Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov – commander-in-chief of the Red Army – inspects the city on May 3, 1945 after the surrender of Berlin. He is accompanied by Arthur Pieck – the later general director of the East-German airline Interflug and son of the first president of the GDR, Wilhelm Pieck. In addition, celebrations of the Red Army in front of the Brandenburg Gate, the Victory Column and the Lustgarten are shown with rare original sound.
Locations chronologically:
0:00 Reichtsag – 0:26 Brandenburg Gate – 1:34 Reich Chancellery (dead Hitler lookalike and dead Goebbels family) – 3:15 Victory Column – 4:06 Georgen Church (blown up in 1949) – 4:40 City Palace – Kaiser Wilhelm National Monument (demolished 1949/1950) – 4:55 Lustgarten and Altes Museum.
The archive material is partly used in the 2nd part of the documentary “Hitler over Berlin”, which will be published soon on this channel.
Atomic Tests in Nevada
I assembled this version from three different sources and did restoration (cleaning and removing breaks and splices). This is a famous Atomic Energy film produced by Lookout Mountain Labs about the folks who live in St. George Utah. The event which spawned this film was Upshot Knothole Harry also known as “Dirty Harry.” The cloud from shot Harry drifted over that area.
John Lennon talks about the Pistols. 1980
John Lennon talks about the Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious and how The Beatles stage behaviour was similar to the Pistols in their Cavern days
Jack Johnson vs. Tommy Burns (1908) | Championship Fight
The Burns-Johnson Fight (or Burns-Johnson Contest) is a 1908 documentary film of the boxing fight between Tommy Burns and Jack Johnson at Sydney Stadium, Rushcutters Bay, on 26 December 1908 for the World Heavyweight Championship title, which Johnson won.It was produced by Charles Cozens Spencer at the behest of the fight’s promoted Hugh D. McIntosh.
Some footage from the film survives today, chiefly of that showing some of the middle rounds of the 14-round fight.
Leonard Cohen on Woke Culture
From his 2009 Q TV interview
Genuine (1920 Silent Film)
This film, released as Genuine, die Tragödie eines seltsamen Hauses (Genuine, the tragedy of a strange house) and Genuine: A Tale of a Vampire, portrays our title character, not as a vampire, but as an ancient priestess who has the power to bewitch others. This she does to escape her prison.
Witch Way Presents takes you through the history of the portrayals of witches in film. These films are presented as originally created and may contain outdated and negative cultural depictions and stereotypes which were wrong then, and are wrong now.
The Mermaid (1904) Georges Méliès
The Mermaid (french: La Siréne) is a trick film from 1904 directed and produced by Georges Méliès:
• Georges Méliès
A gentleman takes some water from inside an aquarium, he pours some in his top hat and starts to catch fish that he places in the case; then he changes his clothes into those of an old fisherman. The gentleman places the case in the center of the room and he transforms the room into an underwater cave, inside there is a mermaid surrounded by fish. The man who is a magician turns the mermaid into a maiden, then he makes appear a stone throne, sits there, materializes three Nereids, and turns himself into Neptune.
By
