Belgian directors Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, whose brilliant brotherly teamwork has been awarded two times with a Palme d'Or at the Cannes Filmfestival ('Rosetta' in 1999 and 'L'Enfant' in 2005), have been given carte blanche at the Brussels Filmmuseum in September. The Dardenne brothers have chosen some thirty movies that can be divided into two main categories. The first is a collection of movies that moulded the brothers as directors, such as the documentaries by Dutch director Johan Van Der Keuken. The other category consists of movies that evoke feelings of solidarity and identification with the brothers. The result is a diverse, original list of wonderful movies that hopefully will win the hearts of the attendant filmlovers in Brussels. Here's the complete list. For scheduling details, visit the site of the Brussels Filmmuseum.


LIBERTY
Leo McCarey, USA 1929
Oliver Hardy / b&w / 19'

CITY LIGHTS
Charles Chaplin, USA 1931
Charles Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill / b&w / 85'

POURQUOI ISRAËL
Claude Lanzmann, France 1973 / colour / 190'

HANGMEN ALSO DIE
Fritz Lang, USA 1943
Brian Donlevy, Walter Brennan / b&w / 134'

STROMBOLI, TERRA DI DIO
Roberto Rossellini, Italy 1949
Ingrid Bergman / b&w / 107'

STREET OF SHAME
[Akasen chitai] Kenji Mizoguchi, Japan 1956
Machiko Kyo / b&w / 84'

STRAY DOG
[Nora-inu] Akira Kurosawa, Japan 1949
Toshiro Mifune / b&w / 122'

L' ENCLOS
Armand Gatti, France - Yugoslavia 1960
b&w / 103'

A TIME TO LOVE AND A TIME TO DIE
Douglas Sirk, USA 1958
John Gavin, Liselotte Pulver, Klaus Kinski / scope / colour / 132'

UKIGUSA
Yasujiro Ozu, Japan 1959
Ganjiro Nakamura, Mashiko Kyo / colour / 119'

ACCATTONE
Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy 1961
Franco Citti / b&w / 116'

COMPARTIMENT TUEURS
Constantin Costa-Gavras, France 1965
Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Michel Piccoli, Jacques Perrin / scope / b&w / 91'

DODES'KA-DEN
Akira Kurosawa, Japan 1970
colour / 140'

QUATRE NUITS D'UN REVEUR
Robert Bresson, France - Italy 1971
Isabelle Weingarten, Guillaume De Forêts / colour / 82'

L'HISTOIRE D'ADELE H.
François Truffaut, France 1975
Isabelle Adjani / colour / 97'

THE CONVERSATION
Francis Ford Coppola, USA 1974
Gene Hackman / colour / 112'

THE DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID
Jean Renoir, USA 1946
Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith / b&w / 86'

FAUSTRECHT DER FREIHEIT
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, DDR 1975
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Kurt Raab / colour / 123'

PASSE TON BAC D'ABORD
Maurice Pialat, France 1979
Sabine Haudepin / colour / 84'

BIANCA
Nanni Moretti, Italy 1984
Nanni Moretti, Laura Morante / colour / 97'

THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE
John Cassavetes, USA 1976
Ben Gazzara, Seymour Cassel / colour / 108'

THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS
Alfred Hitchcock, UK 1935
Madeleine Carroll, Robert Donat / b&w / 84'

LES CINEPHILES - LE RETOUR DE JEAN
Louis Skorecki, France 1988
no subt. / 75'

LES CINEPHILES - ERIC A DISPARU
Louis Skorecki, France 1988
no subt./ 56'

DE WEG NAAR HET ZUIDEN
Johan Der Keuken, The Netherlands 1982
colour / 150'

SANS TOIT NI LOI
Agnès Varda, France - UK 1985
Sandrine Bonnaire, Macha Méril, Stéphane Freiss / colour / 106'

THE MATCH FACTORY GIRL
[Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö] Aki Kaurismäki, Finland - Sweden 1990
colour / 68'

LES ROSEAUX SAUVAGES
André Téchiné, France 1994
Elodie Bouchez, Gaël Morel, Stéphane Rideau / colour / 113'

CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS
Woody Allen, USA 1989
Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Martin Landau, Anjelica Huston, Claire Bloom / colour / 103'

VIVE L’AMOUR
[Aiqing Wansui] Tsai Ming-Liang, Taiwan 1994
Yang Kuei-Mei / colour / 118'

PORTRAIT D'UNE JEUNE FILLE DE LA FIN DES ANNEES 60, A BRUXELLES
Chantal Akerman, France 1994
colour / 61'

SUZAKU
[Moe no suzaku] Naomi Kawase, Japan 1997
Jun Kunimura, Machiko Ono / colour / 95'

S21, LA MACHINE DE MORT KHMERE ROUGE
Rithy Panh, Cambodja - France 2002
colour / 101'

L'ARGENT FAIT LE BONHEUR
Robert Guédiguian, France 1993
Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Ariane Ascaride / colour / 92'

CASINO
Martin Scorsese, USA - France 1995
Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone / scope / colour / 178'

If I had to guide a foreigner round Belgium in 3 days, 'THE ROYAL MUSEUM FOR CENTRAL AFRICA' near Brussels would be on top of my list. This grand p(a)lace came into being following the World Fair of 1897. Its collection of ethnographic objects from Central Africa is in fact the only one of its kind in the world.

The permanent exhibition still reflects the way Europe regarded Africa in the nineteen-sixties with all its exotica and colonial propaganda. It's a wonderful place for kids since there are many rooms with huge stuffed animals, African masks and instruments. Here, I can still feel the excitement I felt as a teenager when looking to old Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies at my grandfather's place on Sunday afternoons.

Because of a radically altered social context not only in Africa but in Europe as well, the museum is now undergoing a metamorphosis that will be complete in 2010. For the occasion of the 175th Anniversary of Belgium's Independence, a temporary exhibit called 'Memory of Congo - The Colonial Era' offers a new look at the colonial past in which not only the European, but also the African players take their part. The exhibition is flawless; intriguing and revealing.

In the museum's cafeteria 'Simba', I always go for a Congolese Mongozo beer (alright, brewed in Belgium but what the heck). Yesterday, I bumped into Nick Cave at the bar. He was scheduled to headline a big rock festival that night. If he was searching for inspiration, he sure did come to the right place! After all these years, 'The Royal Museum for Central Africa' is still a stupendous place that keeps on enchanting its visitors.

ON A WEEKDAY IN SEPTEMBER 1999, JAPANESE NOISE MONGERS MELT BANANA GAVE A BLISTERING SET OF FRENZIED PUNK AVANTGARDE THRASH AT THE 4AD CLUB IN DIKSMUIDE. BEFORE THE SHOW, I ASKED THE BAND A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS. NOW THAT MELT BANANA HAS JUST RELEASED A GREAT SINGLES COMPILATION ON THEIR OWN A-ZAP LABEL, I THINK IT’S ABOUT TIME TO PUBLISH THIS LITTLE INTERVIEW...



So when did the band start?

In 1994!

Only 1994?

OK, 1993.

Ah!

Our original drummer quit the band last year. He used to be in a band called Satanic Hell Slaughter which was a grindcore band. In Japan they were some kind of cult because they are from the northern part of Japan and people in Tokyo couldn't see 'em often. Since he had moved to Tokyo, we found his phonenumber and we asked him to join us.

How would you describe your music to outsiders?

The easiest way would be to say punk but we prefer to describe our music as GAGAGAGA-KIUNE-GAGAGAGA-KIUNE-KIUNE-NJHE-NJHE-NJHE-NJHA!!!

? ? ? ? ?

It's just a sound. Usually this expression is used for comic cartoons like Masinga.

Your music sounds like weird & fucked up cartoons. Can you tell us some more about the band's main influence?

We don't try to make music like watching a picture and trying to write a little change. Not like that! We just mix different influences in the brain.

Do you get influences from exhibitions?

Sometimes, we like going to exhibitions and watching Japanese animation.

Was the Japanese director Tsukamoto an influence?

It's not really a big thing for us. We're more into animation by Katsuhiro Otomo who did Akira and Spraygun. Spraygun is very good. It's a very fast and violent animation movie.

Do you sometimes get strange reactions to your music at live shows?

In the States sometimes but not in Japan. When we play shows in Japan usually young people come to the show. In the United States not only young people attend our shows but also old hillbillies who happen to be at the club. But it seems like they enjoy our music too so that's good!

What about the underground scene in Japan?

These days, there are many fastcore bands like Slight Slappers or Fuck On The Beach and grindcore bands like 324. Those bands are very active and many people go to check 'em out. Before - like 5 years ago - Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth and Steve Albini raved about the Japanese noise scene so many people started to pay attention. Although nowadays this kind of attention has been decreased, in Japan the hardcore stuff is very active.

How did you meet John Zorn?

We met him in Japan a long time ago. The reason why he put out an album of ours was when we played in San Francisco, Mike Patton saw our show and he's a very close friend to John Zorn. He knew us for a long time, but because of Mike Patton's phone call, he decided to put out our album which was recorded live in the studio.

Can you tell me about the A-Zap label?

It's our own label. Revolver USA helps us to manufacture and distribute. They have a good distribution in USA maybe not as good here. So far we released two albums on the label.

Can you make a living from the band?

Not really. I work at home as a free lance. I edit on a computer for other companies but it doesn't come constantly so sometimes I have money and sometimes not. But I can have time to do what I want to do, like writing music, so it's a good job for me. Once I had a 9 to 5 job but it was very hard to find the time to write music or to write lyrics so I quit it.

Well Done!

Melt Banana website

"If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest – in all its ardour and paradoxes – than our travels. They express, however inarticulately, an understanding of what life might be about, outside the constraints of work and the struggle for survival."

(The Art of Travel – Alain De Botton)