Vet Flea Products For Dogs

If your dog has fleas it can cause them to scratch and potentially damage their skin. At the same time though it can also cause concern that it can spread to humans and even transfer disease and generally is not a desirable state of affairs. Knowing how to keep your dog ‘flea free’ then is an important skill for any owner. Thankfully it is also a fairly simple task.

First of all, if you own a dog you need to know what to look for with fleas. The first sign that your pet may have fleas is that they scratch and itch a lot, this is a fairly obvious sign as the main symptom of fleas is to cause you skin to itch (and sometimes hurt). Alternatively a dog might bite their own skin as a way to itch it and offer themselves some relief, or even lick themselves. If you dog seems unable to sit still and seems very uncomfortable then you might have a case of fleas on your hands. Similarly if they have any unusual cuts or broken skin on them, this might be a symptom of repeated scratching as dogs will often scratch themselves until they bleed. Even if you don’t catch them in the act of actually itching themselves then, blood can be a sign that they have been at some point.

Next then you should examine your dog’s skin and fur. Fleas are tiny black creatures with lots of legs that can jump high and you might be able to spot these just by looking. More often though people identify fleas by the eggs they leave on the skin – small white oval shapes that should stand out well on dogs with darker coloured hair.

Once you’ve identified a flea problem on your dog there are several things you can do to help them. The first is, strangely enough, to clean the house, their sleeping basket/beanbag and anything else that may have had contact with their skin and is fluffy or furry. The reason for this is that fleas can live in carpet, and if you spend ages washing your dog only for the fleas to jump back on from the carpet then you’ll have wasted your time. Wash and vacuum thoroughly then before you do anything else.

Next you need to wash your dog which will get rid of as many as possible. Use lots of shampoo – or better yet shampoos designed for combating fleas as there are a lot of flea products for dogs that come in the form of a shampoo. Use this with a fine comb and wash more thoroughly than you normally would. This will act to poison the fleas, kill the eggs and brush and wash them off.

However this on its own will likely not be enough and you will probably need several washes. There are many other orally administered flea products for dogs which you can use in conjunction with a shampoo which usually recommend a few days to kick into action.

Fleas - Caring for our Dogs with Melaleuca

If your dog is prone to pick up fleas, the best thing you can do is keep the fur well groomed and bathe every week with the following mixture: For every 2 tsp. of Melaleuca Original Shampoo add 1 tsp. Jojoba oil. Mix well. Shampoo the dog, avoiding the eyes and rinse well. Apply coat conditioner between washes.

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DIY Natural, Herbal, Homeopathic Flea, Tick, Mosquito Repellent Sprays, Rubs, Dips, Rinse for Dogs and Cats

In this article:

Recipes to make your own all natural, non-toxic, herbal and homeopathic flea, tick, mosquito: 

1. Repellent topical sprays;


2. Rubs;


3. Dips; 


4. Rinse;


5. Collar Drops


6. Spot-on Drops
   

1.0 Sprays

1.1 Fresh Lemon Spray (for cats and dogs)

Fresh lemons and water make an excellent non-toxic easy to make mosquito spray with a refreshing scent. See the recipe here.

1.2 Almond, Garlic, Lemon Oil-Based
      Sprays

Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Almond Oil,Citrus Spray (for dogs only)

Pour the following ingredients in a spray bottle…

• 
  1 cup of water;


• 2 cups of organic apple cider vinegar;


• 2 tbs sweet almond oil or:




• 2 tbs lemon oil (see recipe below), or;


• 2 tbs garlic oil (see recipe below;


• Both almond oil and garlic contain sulfur – sulfur repels many types of insects including mosquitoes;




• 2 tbs of fresh squeezed lemon juice;




• 
  Mosquitoes do not like citrus, especially lemon;
  


• do not use this spray on cats if you use lemon essential oil instead of fresh lemon!




• Shake well, and;


• Spritz your dog’s fur.

 Make your own lemon oil…

• You will need 2 lemons and 1 cup of olive oil.




• Preparation;




• Peel the rind from the lemons;


• Place oil and lemon rinds in a sauce pan;


• Place on a very low heat for 20 minutes;


• Allow to cool;




• Strain and pour into a bottle.

Make your own garlic oil…

For treating ear infections, making insect repellent, etc.  

• To prepare garlic oil you will need:




• A small, clean wide-mouth glass jar;


• Cheesecloth or other breathable clean cloth;


• Elastic band or string;


• Amber, brown or blue storage bottle;


• Garlic cloves;


• Virgin, or extra virgin olive oil (cold-pressed olive oil).




• Preparation:




• Remove the outer skin (also called ‘paper’) from the garlic cloves;


• Cut the garlic cloves into thin slices;


• Put the sliced garlic in the jar, leave a little space at the top of the jar empty;


• Pour the olive oil into the jar, making sure to add enough oil to completely cover the garlic – make sure that you leave some empty space at the top of the jar;


• Cover the top of the jar with a few layers of cheesecloth:


• Stretch the cheesecloth so it lays flat on top of the lid – if the cloth touches the oil it will absorb the oil and make a mess;


• Secure the cloth with string or an elastic band;


• Let the garlic/oil filled jar sit top cure, in a warm location for 10 to 14 days;


• Once the curing period is over, separate the garlic from the oil by straining the oil into an amber, brown or blue storage bottle;




• Store the Garlic Oil in the refrigerator.

1.3 Neam Oil-Based Sprays and Rubs

Organic ¹Neem Oil Spray (for dogs only)

• You will need…




• ½ once (2.5 ml) organic neem oil;


• If you want to make a stronger replant use 1 once (5 ml neem oil);


• ½ once (2 ml) organic glycerine or organic Castile soap;


• 2 cups (.5 litre) warm water;


• Mixing bowl;


• Spray bottle.




• Preparation…




• Pour the glycerine soap and warm water into the bowl – mix the resulting liquid;


• Slowly add the neem oil , mixing as you add the neem to the soap/water mixture;


• Pour the resulting liquid into a spray bottle;




• Spritz your dog’s fur.

¹ Caution for Neem Oil:

• Neem oil breaks down after 8 hours, so only make enough spray  or rub for use within an 8 hour period, discard any unused spray and make more when required;


• Do not use Neem oil on cats;


• If you are using these Neem oil recipes on a dog that you breed or that is pregnant make sure that you make the recipes using the neem oil at half strength. 

1.4 Essential Oil Blend Sprays

Witch Hazel and Essential Oils Spray (for dogs only)

• 
  Fill an 8 once spray bottle with distilled or boiled (cooled) water;


• Add enough witch hazel to almost fill the balance of the spray bottle;


• Add essential oils:




• 10 drops of clove essential oil (if your dog is ²pregnant substitute use eucalyptus essential oil instead);


• 10 drops of  rosemary essential oil ;


• 10 drops of citrus (lemon, orange or grapefruit) essential oil .




• Shake well, and;


• Spritz your dog’s fur;




• 
   Don’t soak your dog’s or cat’s fur with this spray;
  


• Just mist your dog or cat with the spray;


• The scent of the essential oils repels the insects.

² Clove oil is a uterine stimulant and therefore should not be used on pregnant dogs. 

Lavender Essential Oil and Tea Tree Oil Spray
(for dogs only)

• 
  Fill a spray bottle with 1 cup of distilled or boiled (cooled) water;


• Add essential oils:




• 4 drops of Tea Tree Oil;


• 4 drops of Lavender Essential Oil;




• Shake well, and;


• Spritz your dog’s fur;




• Don’t soak your dog’s fur with this spray;


• Just mist your dog with the spray;


• The scent of the essential oils repels the insects.

Rosemary Essential Oil Spray
(for dogs and cats)

• 
  Fill a spray bottle with 1 cup of distilled or boiled (cooled) water;


• Add essential oils:




• 8 drops of rosemary essential oil;




• Shake well, and;


• Spritz your dog’s or cat’s fur;




• Don’t soak your dog’s or cat’s fur with this spray;


• Just mist your dog or cat with the spray;


• The scent of the essential oils repels the insects.

 

1.5 Herbal Sprays

Peppermint, Spearmint, Lavender, Cloves, Citronella Spray (for cats and dogs)

Use Fresh or Dried Herbs…

• 
  Boil 1 cup of water;


• Place the following in a tea pot or pot;




• 1 tbsp peppermint, 


• 1 tbsp catnip or spearmint;


• 1 tbsp citronella or lemon grass;




• if you are making this spray for use on cats use lemon grass, don’t use citronella;




• 1 tbsp lavender;




• if you are making this spray for use on cats leave the lavender out of the recipe and use rosemary instead;




• ²4 dried cloves (if your dog is ²pregnant substitute use eucalyptus essential oil instead)




• If you are making this spray for use on cats leave the cloves out of the recipe;






• Pour the boiling water into the tea pot and stir the ingredients;


• Allow to steep and cool – make sure you place the lid on the tea pot of pot as it is important not to lose the volatile oils from the herbs;


• When cool, strain the herbs from the liquid;


• Mix the resulting solution with one of the following:




• 1 cup of Witch Hazel, or:


• 1 cup of Organic Apple Cider Vinegar;




• Pour the resulting liquid into a spray bottle;


• Shake well, and;


• Spritz your dog’s fur.

² Clove oil is a uterine stimulant and therefore should not be used on pregnant dogs.

Rosemary Spray – Specifically for Fleas (for cats and dogs)

 

• Steep 1/8 cup of fresh rosemary in 16 ounces of boiling water for 30 minutes;


• Allow the resulting infusion to cool;


• Strain the liquid, discard the rosemary;


• Pour the liquid into a spray bottle;


• Shake well;


• Spritz your dog’s fur.

You can also increase this recipe to make a rosemary flea dip…

Four Thieves Vinegar – Extra Strength Spray
(for cats and dogs)

• Preparation:




• In a glass jar – a Masons Jar with lid is best; add the following ingredients:




•  2 cups Organic Apple Cider Vinegar;




• The following dry herbs;


• Lavender – 4 tbsp’




• If you are using this spray on cats do not use lavender use rosemary instead;




• Peppermint – 4 tbsp


• Sage – 4 tbsp;


• Thyme – 4 tbsp;




• Fresh Garlic – 4 to 8 cloves, crush the cloves before adding to the mixture.




• Mix the ingredients;


• Seal the glass jar with lid;


• Allow to steep (in a cool, dark place, shake occasionally) for a minimum of 2 weeks, up to a maximum of 6 weeks;


• After steeping period is over, strain the liquid from the herbs (discard the herbs);


• You can then store the liquid in the fridge;




• To Use:




• Do not use the liquid as a spray on fur and skin full strength…
  Fill a spray bottle half-full with the steeped liquid;


• Fill the remaining half of the bottle with distilled water;


• The spray is now ready for use;


• Shake well, and;


• Spritz your dog’s fur.

The original Four Thieves Vinegar Recipe – the one above is a variation, is a recipe from the 1600s.  The famous French aromatherapy doctor, Jean Valnet, has two recipes in his book. He claims corpse robbers who were caught red-handed in the area around Toulouse in 1628-1631 revealed the original recipe. His story is the more credible of the many one can find. Given the virulence and deadliness of the plague, the judges were astonished by the indifference of the thieves to contagion. Valnet quotes the archives of the Parliament of Toulouse…“During the Great Plague, four robbers were convicted of going to the houses of plague victims, strangling them in their beds and then looting their dwellings. For this, they were condemned to be burned at the stake, and in order to have their sentence mitigated, they revealed their secret preservative, after which they were hanged.”

2.0 Rubs to Kill Fleas 

2.1 Diatomaceous Earth Rub (for dogs and cats)

• Use food grade Diatomaceous Earth (DE);




• Rub the DE into your dog’s or cat’s fur – within about 20 minutes the fleas will be dead;


• You may need to repeat the application the following day if the flea eggs have not been all eradicated with the first application;


• Wash your dog or cat within a couple of hours after applying DE;




• DE soaks up moisture, so leaving DE on your companion animals skin for a prolonged time can dry-out his, her skin;


•  You can use an herbal shampoo or herbal rinse to remove the DE – you can use of these recipes.

2.2 Organic ¹Neem Oil Rub (for dogs only)

• Mix 1 part neem oil with 10 parts almond oil;


• Place a few drops in your hand;


• Rub your palms together;


• The run your hands through your dog’s fur.

¹ Caution for Neem Oil:

• Neem oil breaks down after 8 hours, so only make enough spray  or rub for use within an 8 hour period, discard any unused spray and make more when required;


• Do not use Neem oil on cats;


• If you are using these Neem oil recipes on a dog that you breed or that is pregnant make sure that you make the recipes using the neem oil at half strength. 

3.0 Dips to Kill Fleas 

3.1 Rosemary Flea Dip (for cats and dogs)

• Steep 2 cups of fresh rosemary in 1 gallon of boiling water for 30 minutes;


• Allow the resulting infusion to cool-off until it is just warm;


• Strain the liquid, discard the rosemary;


• Pour the liquid over your dog’s fur until he/she is soaked,


• Allow your dog to dry naturally.

4.0 Rinse to Kill Fleas

4.1 Organic ACV, Tea Tree Oil and Aloe Vera Juice
      (fordogs only)

Parasites such as fleas, ticks mosquitoes and worms do not do well in an environment that is not supportive of their life and reproductive requirements. Such parasites do not like acidic environments. Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) is acidic and therefore not an attractive substance for these parasites. The following topical treatment kills adult fleas and is soothing for the dog’s skin…

You will need:

• An 8 oz bottle;


• Tea Tree Oil;


• 100% Aloe Vera Juice;
  


• Organic ACV;


• Fresh, clean water.

Preparation

• 
  Pour the shampoo into the 8 ounce bottle;


• Add 10 drops of tea tree oil;


• Add 1 tablespoon of aloa vera juice;


• Shake well.

 Treatment

• 
  Shampoo Your Dog;


• Wait 6 to 10 minutes.

Rinse Your Dog

• 
  Then rinse with ACV diluted in water – 1 tablespoon ACV for every pint of water.


• Allow your dog to shake the excess water off;

 After-Rinse Spray

• Then follow-up with a spray of equal parts ACV to water;  


• You can also add fresh squeezed lemon juice;


• Do not get the shampoo, rinse or spray in your dog’s eyes;


• The spray can be used on a daily basis and may be used several times a day.

5.0 Collar Drops and Spot-on Drops
(for cats and dogs)

See this article

6.0 Spot-on Drops
(for cats and dogs)

See this article

Cautions:

 

Caution When Spraying near Your Dog’s Eyes

• Remember to protect your dog’s eyes from the spray;

 To Apply the Spray to your Dog’s Face:

• Spray the palm of your hand with the solution;


• Rub your hands gently over your dog’s nose, around their eyes, behind the ears, etc.

 Daily Application of Sprays

• 
  Sprays should be re-applied 2-3 times a day when protection is required;


• If your dog goes swimming, gets wet in the rain etc. you will need to re-apply the spray.

 Essential Oils…

• For the recipes above that call for essential oils – use only 100% pure organic, therapeutic grade essential oils.

❀ᵔᴥᵔ❀

Related Articles

For related and additional articles on dog and cat, care, health, training, nutrition and animal advocacy go to thispage.

Feel free to leave a comment below – if your comment is polite, informative etc. I will publish it. If your comment is a quick question, I will answer it if time permits…

If you require additional assistancewith your dogs you can engage me to…

1.0) Do an in-person session(see details below)

2.0)  Do a phone/email consultation (see details below)

1.0) In-Person Sessions are available to you if you live in the region of Ottawa-Gatineau, the Ottawa Valley and Region.

(i.e. Ottawa, Hull, Alymer, Orleans, Bells Corners, Manotick, Vars, Kanata, Stittsville, Smith Falls, Fitzroy, Carp, Arnprior, Renfrew, etc.) 

  and surrounding areas 

(i.e. Brockville, Smith Falls, Perth, Kingston, L’Original, Val-des-Monte, St-Pierre-de-Wakefield, etc.)

or if you will be visiting the area from out-of-town.

Methods of Payment (for In-Person Sessions):

Cash, Email Money Transfer and Credit Card via PayPal

2.0) If you reside elsewhere you can engage my world wide consultation service, details of which are provided just below…

My Hourly Fee

$ 100.00/hour in Canadian funds.

Purchasing Consultation Time:

Client’s often start out by purchasing an hour of my time and then augment that if required to suit the situation;

Or you can – if your situation requires it, purchase whatever block of time you want (i.e. multiple hours).

Methods of Payment:

Email Money Transfer and Credit Card via PayPal

1.0 Email Money Transfer:

1 hour = $ 100.00 in Canadian Funds;

For payment via email money transfer I provide you with a password (security information).

2.0 Credit Card via PayPal

1 hour = $ 100.00 + $ 5.00 PayPal Transaction fee = $ 105.00 Canadian Funds;

For payment via PayPal I send you a PayPal invoice to enable payment.

Method of Consultation – Canada, USA and Abroad (i.e. UK, Asia, etc.)

If You Are Located In:

1.0 Canada:

I can work with you via:

Phone with follow-up by email, or;

Via email only;

The choice is yours;

If you want to work via phone you provide me with your phone number and I will call you at the mutually agreed upon Consultation time.

2.0 USA:

I can work with you via:

Phone with follow-up by email, or;

Via email only;

The choice is yours;

If you want to work via phone:

You call me at the following number 613-622-7958, at the mutually agreed upon consultation time.

3.0 ALL OTHER GLOBAL LOCATIONS (i.e. UK. Asia, etc.):

I can work with you via:

Via email only, or;

Phone with follow-up by email…

The choice is yours;

If you want to work via phone:

You call me at the following number 613-622-7958, at the mutually agreed upon consultation time.

To Set-up a Consultation

Step 1 – Identify how you would prefer to pay for the consultation;

  Payment options as noted above are:

o    email money transfer, or;

o    Credit card via Paypal.

Step 2 – Identification of a consultation time that works for both our schedules;

Step 3 – You then pay the fee for the amount of consultation time you want to purchase;

Step 4 – Consultation takes place on the agreed upon time.

Contact me at

 email mailto:ottawavalleydogwhisperer@gmail.com

Office 613-622-7958
Cell 613-293-3707

Do you have ticks and fleas with your dogs?

Q: How did my dog get these fleas and ticks?
A: The way animals get fleas is some other flea-infested animal – a stray dog or stray cat, or some other neighbors’ dog or cat, or urban wildlife, mainly opossums and raccoons – went through your neighborhood, your yard, and the female flea is laying eggs and the eggs are basically rained off into your environment. We call them a living salt shaker. And then those eggs developed into adults and those fleas jumped onto your pet. That’s how it happened.
Dogs generally get ticks because they’re out in that environment, walking through the woods or high grass, and these ticks undergo what’s called questing, where they crawl up on these low shrubs or grass, generally 18 to 24 inches off the ground and they basically hang out. And when the dog walks by or we walk by and brush up against these ticks they dislodge and get onto us. Ticks don’t climb up into trees. That’s an old myth. They just lie in wait for us. It’s sort of an ambush strategy. They can live well over a year without feeding.
Q: Can fleas and ticks cause my dog to get sick? What kinds of illnesses can she get from them?
A: Probably the most common thing is, when these fleas are feeding, they’re injecting saliva into the skin. These salivary proteins are often allergenic and animals end up with allergy. The most common skin disease of dogs and cats is what’s called flea allergy dermatitis, where they bite and scratch and lose their hair. It can take only a few fleas for this allergy to become a problem.
If you have a lot of fleas, since they’re blood-sucking insects, especially if you have puppies, pets can become anemic and even die with heavy infestations. Fleas also commonly transmit tapeworms to our pets, at least one species.
With ticks, there are a dozen to 15 or more tick-transmitted diseases that our pets get from ticks. There’s tick fever,Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, tularemia, ehrlichiosis, and more. Many of these diseases can kill pets.
Q: Are fleas and ticks worse in some areas?
A: Ticks and fleas can be worse from one area to another and can vary seasonally and from year to year.  As you move inland, however, depending on the rainfall in a given year, it can be OK or get very horrid at times.
Ticks have different biologies and behaviors, of course. And certain areas have more tick problems than others. .
Q: What are the best ways to control fleas?A: Besides the flea products we’ve discussed, if you have a cat, don’t ever let it go outside. Try to keep your home as dry as possible. I would recommend not having any carpet because carpet is a flea’s best friend. Keep the brush and weeds in your yard to an absolute minimum.
Q: Are there natural ways I can control them if I don’t want to use chemicals?
A: There really aren’t from a natural standpoint. Over the years, we’ve spent some time looking into the more natural or holistic approaches and as yet I’ve not found any that’s actually effective. The garlic, the brewer’s yeast, all the research shows none of that stuff works. If it did, I’d be using it. The ultrasonic devices? The data shows they don’t work.
And just because something is “natural” or “organic” that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Most of the poisons in the world are actually organic poisons. Some of these citric extracts people used to use can be fairly toxic to cats. The cats’ livers just can’t handle them.
There is diatomacious earth, which is basically microscopic silicone particles that can be spread around in your carpet. They scratch or excoriate the flea larvae. But you’ve got to be a little careful. You don’t want to inhale the stuff, because now you’ve inhaled silicone particles into your lungs and where’s that going to go? There are pesticide control firms that apply that stuff appropriately, and when they do it’s very effective and it’s safe. But just make sure if you have somebody do it in your house it’s done appropriately. It’s a very good larvacidal and a flea preventative measure if it’s done correctly.
Q: How can I control fleas and ticks in my yard?
A: Cut the tall grass, trim back the bushes and shrubs, then rake up all the leaf litter under the bushes. Leave it just bare ground. There are some lawn and garden insecticides that are approved by the EPA to be applied under shrubs, under bushes, in crawl spaces, along fence lines, to control fleas and ticks outside. The big issue I see is people tend to go out and start spraying their grass. That’s not effective and it’s certainly not good for the environment. Fleas and ticks are really sunlight and humidity sensitive. Most situations where we find them are under shrubs, under bushes, under porches, in shaded, protected habitats. So we should only be applying those compounds in a limited fashion under those locations. Then we’re going to let it dry on the foliage for three to four hours before we allow our pets and our children back out there.
Q:How I can control ticks on my dogs?

A:You should use most effective and powerful insecticidal used to control ticks.There are various tick control products you can get from your nearest vet.Don’t go for pharmacist as they can offer you unnecessary products which are not use in controlling ticks on dogs.

Frontline Plus for dogs to fight fleas and ticks

When the dogs or cats are healthy and are playing with their owners and as a result the environment of the house is very much infused with endless ooze of energy, but when pet animals such as cats and dogs start to slowly deviate themselves from these activities due to an ailment, dog or cat lovers lose sleep and peace over it.

Thus, a close watch must be kept on dogs and cats as to what kind of symptoms they are showing so that a proper diagnosis is done and proper medicines are taken so that the disease is cured and the pet animals are able to get back to their normal days.

This is more evident as a bad condition called fleas and ticks have started to attack dogs and whose symptoms are hard to distinguish. However, when a too much scratching becomes order of the day followed by refusal of favorite food and a keep off from activities that they used to love; dogs must be taken to a vet doctor and get tested for fleas and ticks.

Once fleas and ticks are confirmed, taking good flea remedies for dogs become a must. But, taking any of the flea remedies for dogs must not be done as most of them are laced with harmful side-effects that give rise to other complications such as Lyme’s disease and Tapeworms. That’s where taking Frontline Plus for dogs as side-effects free flea remedies for dogs is good as it works for a period of 30 days after just one use and also works harmlessly to cure fleas and ticks in the most candid manner.

So, what are you waiting for? Give your pooch the option of giving them nothing but the safety of the best flea remedies for dogs in the form of Frontline Plus for dogs and bring them back to the normal and shiny days of life. All the best!

Visit Generic Frontline Plus and find out more information about Frontline for Dogs. You may also visit our blog to subscribe for regular pet care product.

Follow us :Follow@GFrontlinePlus

November | 2009 | old fleas new dogs

Score: Vivre pour vivre // Francis Lai // 1967

November 26, 2009

>>buy it from amazon<<

or

download from rapidshare

Posted by christopher
Filed in scores
Tags: 60s

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Charulata (The Lonely Wife) // Satyajit Ray // 1964

November 20, 2009

imdb | allmovie | wikipedia

What happens on the screen? Actually, very little. Husband, a liberal newspaper publisher, neglects pretty young wife. Wife is attracted to husband’s young cousin, a dashing derelict. He nobly departs just in time, and the couple begin again—yes, older and wiser. That’s it. It takes nearly two hours. As do all Ray films, it moves like a majestic snail.

As usual, Mr. Ray has composed the picture in the most literal sense of the word—and exquisitely. He has made the most of beautiful young Madhabi Mukherjee, who gives a lustrously affecting and almost mind-readable performance as the yearning heroine.

In a sense, the very opening shot—Miss Mukherjee’s hands darting a needle into an embroidery hoop—keys all that follows. Arranging every single camera frame to convey nuance, mood or tension, Mr. Ray has photographically embroidered a steady flow of quiet images with precise, striking acuity. One montage—when the day-dreaming wife, in a garden swing, rocks to and fro like a pendulum—is unforgettable. And the final shot in the film—a stop-motion close-up of two hands—is a memorable period to Mr. Ray’s structure.  –Howard Thompson, The New York Times

Charulata is an exquisitely shot, sublimely haunting, and emotionally complex film on the nature of human relationships. At the heart of the conflict are three well-intentioned, sympathetic protagonists – Bhupati, Charulata, and Amal – who clearly love and respect each other, but realize that their individual actions have led to an unforeseeable, yet inevitable emotional betrayal. Satyajit Ray does not dilute the gravity of the situation with an act of adultery or violence, but with the subtle gaze of crushing realization and the heartbreaking weight of consequence: Charulata’s concealed apprehension at Amal’s arranged marriage proposal; Amal’s guilt-ridden, sideways glance to Charulata as Bhupati reveals his business problems involving a relative; Bhupati’s lone carriage ride. In the remarkable final shot (inspired by Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows) of Bhupati and Charulata’s hands frozen in mid grasp, the words “The Ruined Nest” appear: the title of Rabindranath Tagore’s short novel on which the film was based. It is a poignant reminder that life cannot continue as before – that something has been irretrievably lost from the relationship – and all that can be salvaged are the fragments of human decency that remain… the polite gesture. –strictly film school

>>buy it from amazon<<

or

get it from megaupload (part1 part2)

Posted by christopher
Filed in feature films
Tags: 60s, india, satyajit ray

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Solaris // Stephen Soderbergh // 2002

November 18, 2009

The Ploughman’s Lunch // Richard Eyre // 1983

November 9, 2009

imdb | allmovie | wikipedia

JAMES PENFIELD, the journalist who glowers at the center of the fine new English film ”The Ploughman’s Lunch,” is a fascinating variation on all of the angry, low-born young men who populated British novels and plays in the late 1950′s and 60′s. Although he denies it, he is angry. At one point he says: ”You do everything right and you feel nothing. Either way.” His problem is that he feels everything all too acutely, but it doesn’t make him a better person, only more devious.

James Penfield is Jimmy Porter of ”Look Back in Anger” updated to the 1980′s, specifically to London during the 1982 Falkland war and the Tory leadership of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. ”The Ploughman’s Lunch,” the first theatrical film to be written by Ian McEwan and directed by Richard Eyre, is a witty, bitter tale of duplicity and opportunism in both private and public life. –Vincent Canby, The New York Times

Funded in part by Channel Four and released in 1983, The Ploughman’s Lunch is an ‘issues’ film, commenting on the state of affairs in Britain in the early 1980s. It uses a very contemporary setting to criticise the policies of the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher, particularly the promotion of self-interest, of ruthless dedication to obtain a desired goal. Each of the film’s main characters embraces these ideas, but in a negative way, using each other to get ahead. Journalist James uses Susan to get to her historian mother, then sleeps with the mother so she will continue to help him with his research. Embarrassed by his working-class parents, he tells people they are dead.

The subtext of the film is the way countries and people re-write their own history to suit the needs of the present. James’ book is about the 1956 Suez Crisis, which was a disaster for Britain and then Prime Minister Anthony Eden. But in the light of the 1982 Falklands War, which for many presented a new image of Britain as a strong and brave country, James re-writes the story of Suez to make it look like a victory. James also writes the news for the radio, so as he re-writes past events to fit a new British image, he also shapes the news as it happens. He also shapes himself, moulding his opinions to fit whoever he is talking to, in order to make the right impression.

The film presents a bleak Britain with little hope for the future. There are almost no sympathetic characters and at the end James learns no lesson. He improves his image, but loses his soul. He gets what he wants, at a price he is prepared to pay. –Simon Brown, screenonline

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Tags: 80s, richard eyre, uk

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Days of Heaven // Terrence Malick // 1978

November 6, 2009

imdb | allmovie | wikipedia

I vividly remember the experience of sitting in a large, state-of-the-art theater in 1978, encountering this work, which seemed like the shotgun marriage of a Hollywood epic (in 70 mm!) with an avant-garde poem. Wordless (but never soundless) scenes flared up and were snatched away before the mind could fully grasp their plot import; what we could see did not always seem matched to what we could hear. Yes, there was another “couple on the run”—Richard Gere and Brooke Adams as the lovers Bill and Abby, he fleeing a murder he inadvertently committed working in a Chicago steel mill, she pretending to be his sister during the wheat harvest season in the Texas panhandle near the turn of the twentieth century—but this time, the filmmaker’s gaze upon them was not simply distant or ironic but positively cosmic. And there was so much more going on around these two characters, beyond even the dramatic triangle they formed with the melancholic figure of the dying farmer (Sam Shepard)—now the landscape truly moved from background to foreground, and the work that went on in it, the changes that the seasons wreaked upon it, the daily miracles of shifting natural light or the punctual catastrophes of fire or locust plague that took place . . . all this mattered as much, if not more, than the strictly human element of the film. –Adrian Martin, The Current

At the beginning, it is as though this is going to be a film about European immigrants in the early days of President Wilson’s presidency. Then it switches to the Texas Panhandle, where the buffalo roam and the deer and the antelope still play. Migrant workers, fleeing the big cities, help reap the wheat harvest of a young, wealthy farmer. There are all kinds of special effects, including a plague of locusts and a prairie fire. There is a romance, in which the girlfriend of a young worker, who poses as his sister, marries the farmer. What results is jealousy and murder.

But Days of Heaven never really makes up its mind what it wants to be. It ends up something between a Texas pastoral and Cavalleria Rusticana. Back of what basically is a conventional plot is all kinds of fancy, self-conscious cineaste techniques. The film proceeds in short takes: people seldom say more than two or three connected sentences. It might be described as the mosaic school of filmmaking as the camera and the action hop around, concentrating on a bit here, a bit there.

A young girl named Linda Manz—and a talented young lady she is—has a prominent part of the action. The voice-over that constantly runs through the film is hers; she comments on the action, something in the manner of a Greek chorus. The photography, beautiful as some of it is, is as self-conscious as the rest of the film. People are carefully arranged, frames are carefully composed; there are more silhouettes than in an old nickelodeon.

Anyway, the old cars, and the biplane and triplane in an airplane sequence are fun. –Harold C. Schonberg, The New York Times

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Tags: 70s, terrence malick, usa

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La maman et la putain (The Mother and the Whore) // Jean Eustache // 1973

November 5, 2009

imdb | allmovie | wikipedia

The Mother and the Whore is a raw, unsentimental, and incisive slice-of-life exposition into the demoralization, deflated euphoria, and pervasive rootlessness of the May 68 generation (a period marked by widespread student protests and worker strikes throughout France) in the wake of the failed counterculture revolution. Jean Eustache employs high contrast black and white, medium framing and close-ups, spare (almost squalid) interiors, and natural milieu to create an atmosphere of visually distilled, organic hyperreality that reflect the profound desolation, ambivalent direction, and meaningless rituals that define the unresolved emotional and psychological states of Alexandre, Veronika, and Marie. However, in contrast to the figuratively transcendent images of manual labor in Bresson’s minimalist and dedramatized cinema, Eustache’s illustration of physical activity is inherently inert, self-destructive, and escapist: experimental drug use, intimations of suicide (that sadly presages the filmmaker’s own cause of death in 1981), and Veronika and Marie’s passive, almost autonomic response to Alexandre’s initiations of sex serve as transitory surrogates to the actual process of human existence and true intimacy. Moreover, interpersonal communication is reduced to vacuous, distended conversations (or more appropriately, monologues by the self-consumed Alexandre) that similarly devalue human connection to impressive, but ultimately meaningless words. In the end, it is this underlying emptiness that the filmmaker exposes through Alexandre’s moribund, pleasure-seeking, existential limbo: the trauma of a generation struggling to come to terms with profound change, cultural alienation, and the collapse of a once seemingly attainable ideal. –strictly film school

Time-traveling can be demoralizing — when you’re going in reverse. Watching “The Mother and the Whore,” you find that you’re back in the movie-sludge of the nineteen-fifties, when a number of mediocre French films focused on sub-Sagan characters: numb, semi-paralyzed creatures who hardly had the calories to drag themselves through the day. Then, boredom was a hip disease—and it all comes rushing down the spout of memory when Jean-Pierre Léaud explains that he lives “in a world where people are old at 17.” Jean Eustache’s picture, which was shown last night at the New York Film Festival, is so reminiscent of those mossy productions that you start wondering if nothing has been learned about movies, about acting, about men and women. The discoveries of the last decade have been erased. Or else the sixties never happened: you were just hallucinating.

All in all, it’s tempting to mail the director a list of complaints as long as his movie. What possessed him to use slow dissolves when we yearn for quick cuts? Or to give us a tour of the inside of a refrigerator or lessons in putting records on turntables or how to make a call? And occasionally, when Eustache builds toward a scene that might be almost interesting—in which these weary people might have to cope with one another — he leaves it out. The program notes report that he “now hates most films.” So this picture may be his vengeance on the apes who like them. But perhaps he was paying homage to Gore Vidal’s Myra Breckinridge, who had “a radical theory” that “boredom in the arts can be, under the right circumstances, dull.” –Nora Sayre, The New York Times

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Tags: 70s, france, jean eustache

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Июльский дождь (July Rain) // Марле́н Хуци́ев (Marlen Khutsiyev) // 1967

November 4, 2009

imdb | allmovie

After the first 15 minutes of Marlen Khutsiyev’s ”July Rain” you may be tempted to pack a suitcase and catch a plane to Moscow, 1966. Like Godard and Truffaut’s black-and-white Paris, it’s where the cool kids seem to be — talking, arguing, dancing to jazzy records and trying to construct modern lives.

Showing in the invaluable ”Envisioning Russia” series at the Walter Reade Theater, ”July Rain” has a loose, improvisatory style, influenced by the Nouvelle Vague and punctuated with lyrical passages in which the camera restlessly probes city streets. About a group of young intellectuals, in particular Lena (an expressive Yevgeniya Uralova, above, with a Julie Christie bob) and her boyfriend, Volodya (Aleksandr Belyavsky), the film has more parties and picnics than plot. But like many Russian movies from the 1960s, it tries to paint an honest picture of daily life and real people. You can feel its internal tug of war between optimism and melancholy: the filmmaking may be exciting — there’s always something interesting to look at — but melancholy wins hands down. (Not surprisingly, it was criticized for being too dark. Mr. Khutsiyev’s previous film, the brilliant ”I Am Twenty,” had to be reshot and edited after Khrushchev attacked it.) –Rachel Saltz, The New York Times

When Lena decides that her fiancé is not the man she thought he was, the breakup causes her to reflect on her life and to wonder about the kind ofworld she and other members of her generation are set to inherit. Then, during a cooling rain, she meets Zhenya…An invaluable record of its moment, July Rain is an engaging portrait of ’60s Moscow youth—the first generation to have grown up far from the shadows of war and Stalinist repression. The well-loved soundtrack features the work of several Soviet pop superstars of the ’60s. —Dryden Theater, Rochester, NY

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Tags: 60s, marlen khutsiyev, mарле́н xуци́е, ussr

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