Topic

The Olympics

An ancient festival revived as a modern accounting problem.

2: in film
13:00: average
26 min: in total
10: across the network

The Olympics across the network →

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13:00

Tokyo Olympiad

Kon Ichikawa · 1965

Kon Ichikawa’s 1965 documentary Tokyo Olympiad records the 1964 Tokyo Games not as a chronicle of results but as a sustained study of human movement, effort, and collective attention. Shot by Kazuo Miyagawa and scored by Toshiro Mayuzumi, it rejects narration and exposition in favour of immersive, unhurried observation — close-ups of muscles, wide shots of emptying stadiums, extended sequences of athletic exertion. Commissioned by the Japanese government as a national showcase, it instead became a landmark of poetic documentary, prioritising physical presence over patriotic narrative. Its 170-minute runtime demands patience, but rewards it with unparalleled intimacy and tactility.

13:00

Visions of Eight

Claude Lelouch, Miloš Forman, Kon Ichikawa, Yuri Ozerov · 1973

Visions of Eight (1973) is a documentary composed of eight segments directed by international filmmakers, each interpreting a different aspect of the 1972 Munich Olympics. Commissioned by David L. Wolper, it prioritises stylistic divergence over narrative unity — from Penn’s slow-motion pole vault to Lelouch’s focus on defeat. Though awarded Best Documentary at the 1974 Golden Globes, its treatment of the Munich massacre remains fragmented and indirect. Available via Criterion, it functions best as a formal experiment in perspective, not as historical record.

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13:00

20th Century Women

Mike Mills · 2016

Set in 1979 Santa Barbara, Mike Mills’ 20th Century Women follows 15-year-old Jamie as his single mother Dorothea enlists two younger women — photographer Abbie and teenage friend Julie — to help raise him. Anchored by Annette Bening’s restrained performance, the film observes their overlapping lives with warmth and precision, treating feminism, illness, ageing and adolescence as lived conditions rather than themes. Shot by Sean Porter and edited by Leslie Jones, it moves at the pace of real conversation, building meaning through accumulation rather than climax.

13:00

24 Frames

Abbas Kiarostami · 2017

Abbas Kiarostami’s final film, 24 Frames, comprises twenty-four uncut, static shots — each ninety seconds long — observing nature, animals, and thresholds between interior and exterior. Beginning with animated movement superimposed on Bruegel’s Hunters in the Snow, it proceeds into real-world stillness, testing how much meaning resides in time, attention, and unmediated presence. Released posthumously at Cannes 2017, it is a rigorous, unsentimental essay on perception and impermanence.

13:00

3:10 to Yuma

Delmer Daves · 1957

Delmer Daves’ 1957 Western 3:10 to Yuma adapts Elmore Leonard’s taut short story into a study of obligation under pressure. Rancher Dan Evans agrees to escort outlaw Ben Wade to the 3:10 train for Yuma, facing ambush, betrayal, and his own wavering resolve. Shot by Charles Lawton Jr. with sun-bleached realism and scored sparingly by George Duning, the film builds suspense through pacing, performance, and moral granularity — not spectacle. It was preserved by the Library of Congress in 2012 for its cultural and aesthetic significance.

13:00

3 Women

Robert Altman · 1977

Robert Altman’s 1977 film 3 Women follows the uncanny merging of identities among a timid young woman, her garrulous roommate and a silent, pregnant artist in a sun-scorched California town. Built from a dream and shot with deliberate, unhurried precision, it uses repetition, reflection and improvisation to explore how selves are borrowed, performed and abandoned.