Somewhere / Somewhere [the translation of the title in Finnish would be Jossakin]. US © 2010 Somewhere, LLC. EX: Francis Ford Coppola, Paul Rassam, Fred Roos. P: G. Mac Brown, Roman Coppola, Sofia Coppola. D+SC: Sofia Coppola. DP: Harris Savides - shot on 35 mm - digital intermediate: Company 3. PD: Anne Ross. COST: Stacey Batta. MAKEUP: Darlene Jacobs. HAIR: Natalie Driscoll. M: Phoenix. - Played by Johnny Marco: a piano transcription of: J.S. Bach: Chaconne from the partita in D minor for solo violin (BWV 1004). - Sung by Romulo: "Teddy Bear" (written by Kal Mann, Bernie Lowe for Elvis Presley, 1957). S: Richard Beggs. ED: Sarah Flack. STARRING: Stephen Dorff (Johnny Marco), Elle Fanning (Cleo). ALSO WITH: Chris Pontius (Sammy), Michelle Monaghan (Rebecca), Kristina Shannon and Karissa Shannon (Bambi and Cindy), Lala Sloatman (Layla). 98 min. Released in Finland by FS Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Katja Paanala / Carina Laurila. A 35 mm print viewed at Maxim 1, Helsinki, 31 Dec 2010 (day of Finnish premiere).
Sofia Coppola is at her best in her fourth feature film. (I have liked them all except Marie Antoinette.) The protagonist of the story is the film star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff). He is staying at the Château Marmont hotel on Sunset Boulevard when he receives an unexpected visit from his 11-year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning).
The film starts with Johnny driving in circles in his Ferrari and falling asleep in his own hotel bed watching a private pole dancing show of Bambi and Cindy. One might call Sofia Coppola's approach satiric or ironical but most of all I felt it is humoristic.
For many, Johnny's lifestyle would be "a dream come true". Actually it is gloriously boring.
I was thinking about Gone with the Wind which I revisited two weeks ago - Rhett Butler's transformation by his daughter Bonnie Blue. Something similar happens when Johnny meets Cleo. Johnny has been an absent father, but he gets along well with Cleo. They play Guitar Player and other games, and go swimming. Johnny is impressed by her ice-skating and dancing skills. There is a funny scene of Romulo singing "Teddy Bear" (the sequence is subtitled in the print viewed).
The memory of the pole dancing gets more embarrassing watching Cleo figure skating.
Johnny and Cleo visit Milan where Johnny receives an award in a Berlusconian tv show full of half-naked showgirls. In the press junket Johnny is asked only shallow questions. In the show proper Johnny's speech is interrupted by the showgirls.
The commodification of women grows into an image of what happens to culture - what happens to the soul.
Johnny is not a bad guy, and his "la dolce vita" can be compared with characters portrayed by Marcello Mastroianni characters in the early 1960s films of Fellini and Antonioni. Johnny realizes that his life is empty and that he is driving in circles.
Cleo emerges as a life force, the stronger character. A highlight is the breakfast sequence. Cleo has prepared Eggs Benedict. Cleo can convey a lot with her looks without raising the question about who is her father's lady-of-the-night who joins them for breakfast.
There is a reminder of the depth in Johnny in the scene where he plays a piano transcription of a Bach chaconne. Writing these remarks I listened to Itzhak Perlman's interpretation of the partita to which it belongs and found in Wikipedia a quote of Johannes Brahms' letter to Clara Schumann: "On one stave, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and most powerful feelings. If I imagined that I could have created, even conceived the piece, I am quite certain that the excess of excitement and earth-shattering experience would have driven me out of my mind." (Brahms wrote a piano transcription of the chaconne.)
Somewhere begins with Johnny driving in circles and it ends on a desert highway leading to the horizon. It's a film about a journey of self-discovery. I look forward to seeing it again.
The digital intermediate look is not bad, although the visual quality does not reach the all-photochemical glory of Marie Antoinette.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Madame Claude
Madame Claude / Madame Claude. FR 1977. PC: Orphée Arts (Paris). P: Claire Duval. D: Just Jaeckin. SC: André G. Brunelin, Just Jaeckin – based on the novel Alo oui, les mémoires de Madame Claude (1975) by Jacques Quoirez. DP: Robert Fraisse – Eastmancolor. AD: Maurice Sergent. COST: Zorica Lozic, Edith Wattinne. Make-up: Marie-Madeleine Paris. M: Serge Gainsbourg. Song: "Yesterday Yes A Day" – Serge Gainsbourg, sung by Jane Birkin. S: Daniel Brisseau. ED: Marie-Sophie Dubus. CAST: Françoise Fabian (Madame Claude), Dayle Haddon (Elizabeth), Murray Head (David Evans), Klaus Kinski (Alexander Zakis), Vibeke Knudsen (Anne-Marie), Maurice Ronet (Pierre), Robert Webber (Howard), Jean Gaven (Gustave Lucas), André Falcon (Paul), François Perrot (Lefevre), Marc Michel (Hugo), Roland Bertin (Soulier), Ed Bishop (Smith), Karl Held (Stanfield), Ylva Setterborg (Jill), Marie-Christine Deshayes (Florence). 112 min. A vintage Columbia Pictures release print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles (n.c.) viewed at Cinema Orion (Serge Gainsbourg), Helsinki, 30 Dec 2010
Based on the true story of Madame Claude, a fearless Resistance veteran who ran in the 1960s and the 1970s a de luxe call girl service whose clients included reportedly people like President Kennedy, King Faruk, leading gangsters and police officials. She went out of business when tax officials noticed she never paid taxes.
1. Just Jaeckin's film adaptation is a case of erotic exploitation, mixing gloss with sleaze.
2. Françoise Fabian gives a spirited performance as the tough Madame who grooms and drills her girls mercilessly but provides them with generous earnings.
3. The plot is merely a pretext for extended beautiful soft-core sex scenes, including a memorable bathtub sequence.
4. The funniest scene is Madame Claude's visit to her female dentist whose erotic train encounter with an unseen stranger is shown in flashback. The voluptuous dentist would be interested in doing gigs for Madame Claude, but she is rejected, because she enjoys sex too much.
5. A new girl comes to Madame Claude, believing the lady is interested in an affair with her. For a moment Madame Claude is confused since she is not used to fulfillment of desire without payment. - "You don't sell yourself. You sell dreams."
6. For Madame Claude there is no pleasure in sex. "Only once has a man brought me pleasure. It was humiliating". - "Am I supposed to pretend?" "Sometimes you have to." - "A woman enjoys only occasionally."
7. "What do you want?" "Power. Over men. They rule the world".
8. The thriller aspect is half baked.
9. Just Jaeckin's rendition of high finance and politics (his account of the Lockheed bribery scandals) is impossible to take seriously. It's a pity, because the truth was even stranger than this fiction.
10. From the heavily used 33 year old print it is still possible to appreciate the lush visualization of the original cinematography.
Based on the true story of Madame Claude, a fearless Resistance veteran who ran in the 1960s and the 1970s a de luxe call girl service whose clients included reportedly people like President Kennedy, King Faruk, leading gangsters and police officials. She went out of business when tax officials noticed she never paid taxes.
1. Just Jaeckin's film adaptation is a case of erotic exploitation, mixing gloss with sleaze.
2. Françoise Fabian gives a spirited performance as the tough Madame who grooms and drills her girls mercilessly but provides them with generous earnings.
3. The plot is merely a pretext for extended beautiful soft-core sex scenes, including a memorable bathtub sequence.
4. The funniest scene is Madame Claude's visit to her female dentist whose erotic train encounter with an unseen stranger is shown in flashback. The voluptuous dentist would be interested in doing gigs for Madame Claude, but she is rejected, because she enjoys sex too much.
5. A new girl comes to Madame Claude, believing the lady is interested in an affair with her. For a moment Madame Claude is confused since she is not used to fulfillment of desire without payment. - "You don't sell yourself. You sell dreams."
6. For Madame Claude there is no pleasure in sex. "Only once has a man brought me pleasure. It was humiliating". - "Am I supposed to pretend?" "Sometimes you have to." - "A woman enjoys only occasionally."
7. "What do you want?" "Power. Over men. They rule the world".
8. The thriller aspect is half baked.
9. Just Jaeckin's rendition of high finance and politics (his account of the Lockheed bribery scandals) is impossible to take seriously. It's a pity, because the truth was even stranger than this fiction.
10. From the heavily used 33 year old print it is still possible to appreciate the lush visualization of the original cinematography.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
National Film Registry: Films Selected in 2010
Films Selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress - 2010
1) AIRPLANE! (1980)
2) ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)
3) BARGAIN, THE (1914)
4) CRY OF JAZZ (1959)
5) ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
6) EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, THE (1980)
7) EXORCIST, THE (1973)
8) FRONT PAGE, THE (1931)
9) GREY GARDENS (1976)
10) I AM JOAQUIN (1969)
11) IT'S A GIFT (1934)
12) LET THERE BE LIGHT (1946)
13) LONESOME (1928)
14) MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937)
15) MALCOLM X (1992)
16) MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER (1971)
17) NEWARK ATHLETE (1891)
18) OUR LADY OF THE SPHERE (1969)
19) THE PINK PANTHER (1964)
20) PRESERVATION OF THE SIGN LANGUAGE (1913)
21) SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
22) STUDY OF A RIVER (1996)
23) TARANTELLA (1940)
24) TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, A (1945)
25) TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET, A (1906)
Worth reading! The Library of Congress press release beyond the jump break:
1) AIRPLANE! (1980)
2) ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976)
3) BARGAIN, THE (1914)
4) CRY OF JAZZ (1959)
5) ELECTRONIC LABYRINTH: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
6) EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, THE (1980)
7) EXORCIST, THE (1973)
8) FRONT PAGE, THE (1931)
9) GREY GARDENS (1976)
10) I AM JOAQUIN (1969)
11) IT'S A GIFT (1934)
12) LET THERE BE LIGHT (1946)
13) LONESOME (1928)
14) MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937)
15) MALCOLM X (1992)
16) MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER (1971)
17) NEWARK ATHLETE (1891)
18) OUR LADY OF THE SPHERE (1969)
19) THE PINK PANTHER (1964)
20) PRESERVATION OF THE SIGN LANGUAGE (1913)
21) SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (1977)
22) STUDY OF A RIVER (1996)
23) TARANTELLA (1940)
24) TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, A (1945)
25) TRIP DOWN MARKET STREET, A (1906)
Worth reading! The Library of Congress press release beyond the jump break:
Time Magazine's Person of the Year: Mark Zuckerberg
Time, Dec 27, 2010 - Jan 3, 2011. Double Issue with the Person of the Year cover story on "Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg: The Connector". The introduction to the cover story: Richard Stengel: "Only Connect. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook are changing how we interact - and what we know about each other". The cover story itself, "2010 Person of the Year: Mark Zuckerberg" is written by Lev Grossman.
Having read Lev Grossman's article I realize I have to reconsider The Social Network, voted in Sight & Sound as the movie of the year.
"The character [in the movie] bears almost no resemblance to the actual Mark Zuckerberg", is Grossman's assessment based on observations on Zuckerberg's warm family background, relationship status (same girl since before Facebook), and his "almost pathological" indifference to money, lifestyle and status symbols.
Zuckerberg "rented out a bunch of movie theaters and took the whole company to see [The Social Network]". Zuckerberg's comment on the film: "It just like completely misses the actual motivation for what we're doing, which is, we think it's an awesome thing to do".
Grossman: "The reality is that Zuckerberg isn't alienated, and he isn't a loner. He's the opposite. He's spent his whole life in tight, supportive, intensely connected social enviroments". "Zuckerberg loves being around people. He didn't build Facebook so he could have a social life like the rest of us. He built it because he wanted the rest of us to have his".
Grossman presents profound critical reservations to the Facebook model of networking. But Zuckerberg emerges in his article as a visionary who is also a nice guy.
Myself, I'm not in Facebook. The first invitations I received turned out to be from people who were not even aware they had invited me and were not necessarily in Facebook themselves. I have nothing against Facebook but my New Year's promise would rather be to increase live networking and decrease time spent online.
...
Also worth reading in this issue of the Time Magazine: the Farewell section, including:
Lena Horne - cover girl of the section - in her own words
Dennis Hopper - by Peter Fonda
Solomon Burke - by Cee Lo Green (reading this I start to hear "Cry To Me", the high point in Dirty Dancing, playing in my mind)
José Saramago - by Harold Bloom (Blindness)
Éric Rohmer - by Arielle Dombasle
Patricia Neal - by Sophie Dahl
Tony Curtis - by Kirk Douglas
Charlie Wilson - by Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson's War)
Leslie Nielsen - by Jerry Zucker
Alexander Haig - by Henry Kissinger (portrayed by Powers Boothe and Paul Sorvino in Oliver Stone's Nixon)
J.D. Salinger - by Richard Lacayo - Salinger successfully prevented any film adaptation of The Catcher in the Rye - a similar recluse appeared in Finding Forrester, interpreted by Sean Connery
Arthur Penn - by Warren Beatty
Having read Lev Grossman's article I realize I have to reconsider The Social Network, voted in Sight & Sound as the movie of the year.
"The character [in the movie] bears almost no resemblance to the actual Mark Zuckerberg", is Grossman's assessment based on observations on Zuckerberg's warm family background, relationship status (same girl since before Facebook), and his "almost pathological" indifference to money, lifestyle and status symbols.
Zuckerberg "rented out a bunch of movie theaters and took the whole company to see [The Social Network]". Zuckerberg's comment on the film: "It just like completely misses the actual motivation for what we're doing, which is, we think it's an awesome thing to do".
Grossman: "The reality is that Zuckerberg isn't alienated, and he isn't a loner. He's the opposite. He's spent his whole life in tight, supportive, intensely connected social enviroments". "Zuckerberg loves being around people. He didn't build Facebook so he could have a social life like the rest of us. He built it because he wanted the rest of us to have his".
Grossman presents profound critical reservations to the Facebook model of networking. But Zuckerberg emerges in his article as a visionary who is also a nice guy.
Myself, I'm not in Facebook. The first invitations I received turned out to be from people who were not even aware they had invited me and were not necessarily in Facebook themselves. I have nothing against Facebook but my New Year's promise would rather be to increase live networking and decrease time spent online.
...
Also worth reading in this issue of the Time Magazine: the Farewell section, including:
Lena Horne - cover girl of the section - in her own words
Dennis Hopper - by Peter Fonda
Solomon Burke - by Cee Lo Green (reading this I start to hear "Cry To Me", the high point in Dirty Dancing, playing in my mind)
José Saramago - by Harold Bloom (Blindness)
Éric Rohmer - by Arielle Dombasle
Patricia Neal - by Sophie Dahl
Tony Curtis - by Kirk Douglas
Charlie Wilson - by Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson's War)
Leslie Nielsen - by Jerry Zucker
Alexander Haig - by Henry Kissinger (portrayed by Powers Boothe and Paul Sorvino in Oliver Stone's Nixon)
J.D. Salinger - by Richard Lacayo - Salinger successfully prevented any film adaptation of The Catcher in the Rye - a similar recluse appeared in Finding Forrester, interpreted by Sean Connery
Arthur Penn - by Warren Beatty
Monday, December 27, 2010
Tuomari Nurmio - stadilaista tangoa etsimässä / Looking for the Lost Tango
Stadilaista tangoa etsimässä [the title on the print] / I söket för stadligt stånga / Domarens tango. FI © 2010 Pettufilmi Oy. P+D+DP: Tahvo Hirvonen - shot on HD - digital intermediate: Generator Post - released on 35 mm. SC and concept: Tahvo Hirvonen, Anne Lakanen, Tuomari Nurmio - based on the production by Tuomari Nurmio & Kongontien Orkesteri of the Tangomanifesti album (2006) and the tour based on its material. Additional cinematography: Heikki Färm, Olli Varja, Marita Hällfors, Rauno Ronkainen, Hannu Vitikainen, Jarkko T. Laine, Konsta Sohlberg. M: Tuomari Nurmio - song list beyond the jump break. Music mixed by: Risto Hemmi. ED: Anne Lakanen. S: Kyösti Väntänen. CH: Kirsi Monni. FEATURING:
Tuomari Nurmio & Kongontien Orkesteri: Tuomari Nurmio, Antero Jakoila, Jarmo Saari, Markku Hillilä, Pepa Päivinen, Arttu Takalo, Jukka Kiviniemi, Varre Vartiainen, Timo Kämäräinen, Petri Keskitalo.
Experts: Mikko Oinonen, Pekka Gronow, Pekka Jalkanen, Jussi Raittinen, Jarmo Mäkilä (the album cover artist), Njassa.
Milonga dancers: Katri Soini, Janne Marja-aho.
Rehearsal footage from: Nosturin treenikämppä (nosturi = crane) (treenikämppä = rehearsal shack) (ELMU Association of Live Music), by the New Helsinki Shipyard in the Punavuori / Hietalahti area.
Live concert footage from: Huvila-teltta, Helsingin Juhlaviikot 19.8.2006, Tavastia-klubi 27.2.2007, Virgin Oil Co. 29.12.2007.
109 min. A 35 mm print from FS Film without subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion (The Jussi Awards), Helsinki, 27 Dec 2010.
Tuomari Nurmio - stadilaista tangoa etsimässä is the official title of the film in the promotion, on the Filmikamari site, on the Helsingin Sanomat site, and on the IMDb.
A music documentary film.
Tuomari Nurmio (Judge Nurmio) is one of the most highly regarded Finnish rock artists, also a poet and a visual artist, and a Master of Law. With roots in blues, folk, protest song, and country and western, Nurmio is known for finding new approaches in many traditions of popular music. He may play solo, with a rock group, or with a big band. Judge Roy Bean is one of his avatars.
The Tango Manifesto album was Tuomari Nurmio's reconnaissance patrol quest to the bizarre world of the Finnish tango, foreign to Nurmio's repertoire so far. Tango has been huge in Finland for a century. Its peak time was strangely the 1960s, the decade of the youth culture explosion.
Tuomari Nurmio discusses the tango tradition with experts. He visits Pekka Gronow at the record archive of the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation. In Argentina the tango was originally the music of workers, sailors, and prostitutes in harbour districts. In Paris it became the fashion of the high society, and in Finland, too, the habanera was first danced by the elite (the earliest surviving Finnish film score composition is the Argentine-style habanera theme for the high society thriller Salainen perintömääräys / The Secret Testimony, 1914). Gradually the tango won a wide popularity. Special attention is paid to the Russian tango and its affinities with the Gypsy romance music trend.
Peculiarities of the Finnish tango include the simplified rhythm, the preference of the minor key, and the morbid predilection on sad themes. Why would anyone find this entertaining? Nurmio's instinct says that the tango provides a privileged channel to the Finnish unconscious. The tango is a means of bringing unconscious drives to consciousness, which can be liberating.
Tahvo Hirvonen is an experienced professional of music documentary films, and his Tuomari Nurmio feature has lasting value. The feature has been shot with a HD camera and has a digital video look. There is a lively sense of milieux (Kallio etc.) in this movie. The milonga dance scenes by Katri Soini and Janne Marja-aho have a playful sense of erotic charge.
The song list is beyond the jump break:
Tuomari Nurmio & Kongontien Orkesteri: Tuomari Nurmio, Antero Jakoila, Jarmo Saari, Markku Hillilä, Pepa Päivinen, Arttu Takalo, Jukka Kiviniemi, Varre Vartiainen, Timo Kämäräinen, Petri Keskitalo.
Experts: Mikko Oinonen, Pekka Gronow, Pekka Jalkanen, Jussi Raittinen, Jarmo Mäkilä (the album cover artist), Njassa.
Milonga dancers: Katri Soini, Janne Marja-aho.
Rehearsal footage from: Nosturin treenikämppä (nosturi = crane) (treenikämppä = rehearsal shack) (ELMU Association of Live Music), by the New Helsinki Shipyard in the Punavuori / Hietalahti area.
Live concert footage from: Huvila-teltta, Helsingin Juhlaviikot 19.8.2006, Tavastia-klubi 27.2.2007, Virgin Oil Co. 29.12.2007.
109 min. A 35 mm print from FS Film without subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion (The Jussi Awards), Helsinki, 27 Dec 2010.
Tuomari Nurmio - stadilaista tangoa etsimässä is the official title of the film in the promotion, on the Filmikamari site, on the Helsingin Sanomat site, and on the IMDb.
A music documentary film.
Tuomari Nurmio (Judge Nurmio) is one of the most highly regarded Finnish rock artists, also a poet and a visual artist, and a Master of Law. With roots in blues, folk, protest song, and country and western, Nurmio is known for finding new approaches in many traditions of popular music. He may play solo, with a rock group, or with a big band. Judge Roy Bean is one of his avatars.
The Tango Manifesto album was Tuomari Nurmio's reconnaissance patrol quest to the bizarre world of the Finnish tango, foreign to Nurmio's repertoire so far. Tango has been huge in Finland for a century. Its peak time was strangely the 1960s, the decade of the youth culture explosion.
Tuomari Nurmio discusses the tango tradition with experts. He visits Pekka Gronow at the record archive of the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation. In Argentina the tango was originally the music of workers, sailors, and prostitutes in harbour districts. In Paris it became the fashion of the high society, and in Finland, too, the habanera was first danced by the elite (the earliest surviving Finnish film score composition is the Argentine-style habanera theme for the high society thriller Salainen perintömääräys / The Secret Testimony, 1914). Gradually the tango won a wide popularity. Special attention is paid to the Russian tango and its affinities with the Gypsy romance music trend.
Peculiarities of the Finnish tango include the simplified rhythm, the preference of the minor key, and the morbid predilection on sad themes. Why would anyone find this entertaining? Nurmio's instinct says that the tango provides a privileged channel to the Finnish unconscious. The tango is a means of bringing unconscious drives to consciousness, which can be liberating.
Tahvo Hirvonen is an experienced professional of music documentary films, and his Tuomari Nurmio feature has lasting value. The feature has been shot with a HD camera and has a digital video look. There is a lively sense of milieux (Kallio etc.) in this movie. The milonga dance scenes by Katri Soini and Janne Marja-aho have a playful sense of erotic charge.
The song list is beyond the jump break:
Freetime Machos
Freetime Machos / Freizeit-Machos / [Part-Time Machos might be a more apt title?]. FI / DE © 2010 Klaffi Productions. PC: Klaffi Tuotannot, Prounen Film. P: Mika Ronkainen, Kimmo Paananen, Michael Trabitzsch. D+SC: Mika Ronkainen based on an idea by Arto Nivala. DP: Mika Ronkainen, Vesa Taipaleenmäki - shot on HD and HDV - mastered on HD - copied directly on 35 mm. S: Esa Nissi. M: Samuli Putro, Ahti Marja-Aho. ED: Anders Villadsen. LOC: Oulu. Featuring: OYUS Rugby Team - Matti Keränen, Mikko Koljonen, Jarmo Stoor, Roger Holden, Tuomo Jaakkonen, Ana Vidal, Niina Keränen, Kaisa Koljonen, Pekka Löppönen, Konsta Salmela, Richard Gomez, Lance Fono, Janne, Pauli Leviäkangas, Tero Hyvönen, Atte Kallijärvi, Jani Kukkohovi, Tapani Niva, Kimmo Pietilä, Jari Savolainen, Mika Vähäkuopus, Antti Rantapelkonen, Reijo Pantsar, Eero Auer, Mikel Echogoyen, Lassi Kojola, Matti Mäkikyrö, Risto Nurmi, Toni Salo, Arto Pantsar, Tiina Takalokastari. 83 min. Languages: Finnish, English and some Spanish. A 35 mm Pirkanmaan Elokuvakeskus print with the credits in English. Finnish subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion (The Jussi Awards), Helsinki, 27 Dec 2010.
A documentary film in candid camera style.
"A comedy about a rugby union team - the most Northern and the third worst in the world" (the official presentation).
The Oulu rugby union team faces the threat of falling into minor league. Their British coach Roger does his best to prevent it. Recruiting new players the team chairman Mikko acquires the young Spanishwoman Ana. Nokia is the big employer in Oulu, and its cutbacks threaten Roger's job. Jarmo prepares a novel criticizing Nokia.
The movie is a documentary on Finnish "äijäkulttuuri" (macho culture). The men are nice and domesticated, and rugby is the outlet of their primitive male energy, aggression, violence, and fury. The team's mascot is a "pumpattava barbara", a life size inflatable rubber sex doll.
The movie follows the team during the four seasons of the year. It opens perspectives to the impossibly contradictory expectations in the roles of today's young men. Oulu is a city of high technology enterprises, vulnerable to globalization.
The movie was screened in a 35 mm film print but it looks like it has been originally shot on digital video. The advantage is the candid intimacy, the disadvantage is the surveillance camera look.
Mika Ronkainen is a leading expert of the music video (the city of Oulu has an excellent music video festival), and he has made documentary features on the Northern spirit such as the tour documentary Huutajat on a choir of shouting men. The special merit of his new film is the candid record of the team spirit. He has managed to win an extraordinary confidence with the members of the team.
A documentary film in candid camera style.
"A comedy about a rugby union team - the most Northern and the third worst in the world" (the official presentation).
The Oulu rugby union team faces the threat of falling into minor league. Their British coach Roger does his best to prevent it. Recruiting new players the team chairman Mikko acquires the young Spanishwoman Ana. Nokia is the big employer in Oulu, and its cutbacks threaten Roger's job. Jarmo prepares a novel criticizing Nokia.
The movie is a documentary on Finnish "äijäkulttuuri" (macho culture). The men are nice and domesticated, and rugby is the outlet of their primitive male energy, aggression, violence, and fury. The team's mascot is a "pumpattava barbara", a life size inflatable rubber sex doll.
The movie follows the team during the four seasons of the year. It opens perspectives to the impossibly contradictory expectations in the roles of today's young men. Oulu is a city of high technology enterprises, vulnerable to globalization.
The movie was screened in a 35 mm film print but it looks like it has been originally shot on digital video. The advantage is the candid intimacy, the disadvantage is the surveillance camera look.
Mika Ronkainen is a leading expert of the music video (the city of Oulu has an excellent music video festival), and he has made documentary features on the Northern spirit such as the tour documentary Huutajat on a choir of shouting men. The special merit of his new film is the candid record of the team spirit. He has managed to win an extraordinary confidence with the members of the team.
Keith Badman: The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe (a book)
Keith Badman: The Final Years of Marilyn Monroe. The Shocking True Story. London: JR Books, 2010. Release date: 25 Sep 2010.
Where other read detective stories I devour Marilyn Monroe books. There is a new one about once every month. In 1996 I counted I had read or browsed 176 of them, some 70 of which were still currently available. There may have been some 150 new ones since. Most of them one really just needs to browse, as they are usually only new compilations of photographs with the text re-edited from familiar sources. But every now and then there is a genuinely original book such as Keith Badman's.
The title "the shocking true story" does not sound promising, does it? There have been many similar ones since the actress's death in 1962. But from Keith Badman's website I conclude the title originates with the publisher, not the author. Badman is a British popular culture expert who has published books on The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, and The Small Faces. He has also been called a "Columbo" of popular culture studies because of his thoroughness in collecting evidence. In his Marilyn Monroe book Badman calls his method "forensic", but that would be an exaggeration, although he presents a lot of new evidence that would be very useful for a police or legal investigation. Hard evidence such as telephone records, airport flight records, appointment books, and original receipts.
I have been comparing the Marilyn story with Rashomon because in both witnesses of the same event give wildly incompatible accounts of it.
I agree with Keith Badman that Marilyn's death was covered by the greatest conspiracy in the history of Hollywood. There were many parties by her corpse during the 7-8 hours before the first policeman was alerted to witness rigor mortis. Nobody told the truth, and many changed their stories several times. The official explanation was agreed on (and the press release was probably at least drafted) before the police came - in order to optimize insurance terms for the studio and to avoid inquest. There never was an inquest because of the need to cover up the Kennedy connection. The Kennedys had nothing to do with Marilyn's death but it was inconceivable even to consider the First Family in the context of Marilyn's death in 1962. The most delicate aspect was that Attorney General Robert Kennedy was on a clandestine visit to Los Angeles when Marilyn died, and it was necessary to get him back to San Francisco, the city he was officially visiting, before the police was alerted to Marilyn's home.
The biggest fabricator was Marilyn, herself, and fatally, she was not being honest even with her doctors, who were not au courant of each other's prescriptions. Ralph Greenson tried to wean Marilyn off from Nembutal and ordered her chloral hydrate. But Hyman Engelberg kept ordering her Nembutal. Although Nembutal was dangerous, Marilyn could somehow handle it. On her last day Marilyn had already taken Nembutal when a close associate took her bottle away, and, as a substitute, Marilyn took chloral hydrate, with lethal results combined with the Nembutal already in her system. Her housekeeper was watching tv and did not hear her alert. Peter Lawford was busy hosting a party. They all reacted but first when it was too late. Keith Badman estimates the time of Marilyn's death to have been at 20.40 on Saturday 4 August, 1962. The first policeman, Jack Clemmons, arrived at 4.35 on Sunday morning 5 August. I find that Badman's account of the circumstances of Marilyn's death makes sense.
What I like in Keith Badman's book:
1. The hard facts, including by-the-minute schedules of events where we have previously had a jungle of hazy descriptions.
2. The patient and entertaining debunking of many familiar fabrications (Norman Mailer, Robert Slatzer, Jeanne Carmen, John Miner...).
3. Badman tells or reminds us (pp. 32-33) that Marilyn's final unfinished film Something's Got To Give was originally planned as a Frank Tashlin / Jayne Mansfield vehicle. This remake of the screwball comedy My Favorite Wife was rewritten in the style of the contemporary Doris Day comedies. - My remark: neither Frank Tashlin nor George Cukor would have been good directors for Marilyn Monroe, and the Marilyn touch was very different from Jayne Mansfield and Doris Day.
4. Badman stresses that Marilyn cut her ties with the MCA in September 1961, and for the first time in her professional life was without agency representation. (This being the time of great turbulence around the MCA.)
5. In the beginning of 1962 Marilyn for the first time in her life bought a house of her own, having lived in over 35 rented flats or rooms for the previous 16 years. However, Badman stresses that the Brentwood house, within easy reach from Century City, was the place where Marilyn would stay only while making a film. Since 1955, Marilyn considered New York her home town and her Manhattan apartment her real home.
6. Robert Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were platonic friends only.
7. Marilyn and John Kennedy went to bed only once, and it was not a big deal for either. Badman's account of the Kennedy affairs feels sober and convincing.
8. The Marilyn-Kennedy fabrications originated in anti-Kennedy smear campaigns.
9. Marilyn's terror before the movie camera. Marilyn had a love for the still camera and a fear for the movie camera.
10. The weekend 21-22 July 1962: MM was treated for endometriosis, not for an "abortion of a Kennedy baby".
11. The account of previously unreported steps in the history of the MM-Fox reconciliation, the status of her new agreement, and the terms of continuing the production of Something's Got to Give.
12. The sober account of the relationship between MM and Joe DiMaggio, her best friend.
13. The account of the wiretapping of MM's house and the partial removal of it. During the night after MM's death Fred Otash's men "dusted" the house so efficiently that not even one of MM's own fingerprints remained.
14. The explanation of some of the contradictions in Eunice Murray's statements: MM's bedroom door could not be opened because MM had died in front of it. Although MM usually slept with her curtains stapled fast, in Brentwood she did not have to do that because the bedroom window faced the darkness of the garden.
15. MM's "final words" ("say goodbye to the President... ") were a fabrication by Peter Lawford.
16. Nobody who knew MM thought her death was a suicide.
17. Some irregulaties in the autopsy results were based on the special way MM took drugs, on the fact that she didn't eat on the day she died, and her extraordinary tolerance levels.
What I find wanting in Badman's book:
1. The account of Marilyn's psychological condition remains superficial. In this area J. Randy Taraborrelli's The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe (2009) (yes, another of those titles...) is the best so far. Personally I think the biggest battle in Marilyn's life was that for her mental health. Because of the terms of medical confidentiality the crucial facts will remain secret forever, and that is the black box of every Marilyn Monroe biographer. We have traces and clues, however, which lead to the conclusion that Marilyn may have suffered from what we now call a borderline personality disorder. Because of the special conditions of Marilyn's childhood (father unknown, mother since early childhood in mental hospital) there would have been little foundation for the transference needed in traditional psychoanalysis. Remarkably, however, seeking help, Marilyn only consulted psychoanalysts since 1951. But the treatment given by Ralph Greenson was not psychoanalysis. It was something unique and completely different, tailored only for Marilyn, based on the urgency to save Marilyn from self-destruction. Seven psychiatrists declined to treat Marilyn but Greenson did, with methods condemned by his colleagues. Badman claims that the influence of Greenson and his colleagues was damaging. I find this deeply unjust. Greenson did his best, and he might have succeeded with his patient who had been playing with fire for years.
2. Badman fails to report that the hate press Marilyn was receiving after the interruption of the production of Something's Got To Give was largely orchestrated by the Fox PR department as reported in extenso in Peter Brown and Patte Barham's book The Last Take.
3. The account of the Cal-Neva weekend, Sunday 29 July 1962. Badman convincingly proves that the Kennedys, including Patricia Kennedy Lawford, were not there. But he agrees with claims that MM was there in the company of, among others, the gangsters Paul D'Amato, John Roselli, and Sam Giancana. And in these circumstances Peter Lawford fulfilled his mission to inform MM that she had to stop contacting the Kennedy brothers. Badman repeats the Cal-Neva accounts that sound like a nightmare sequence from Twin Peaks. It would be interesting to read a sober book-length study of that weekend only, exposing the fabrications one by one.
4. The biggest problematic question remains MM's relationship with the Kennedys. 1961-1962 were years when the Cold War threatened to become hot. After the Bay of Pigs the Kennedys tried to oust Castro's government with all means, even with the help of gangsters such as Roselli and Giancana. There was also the Frank Sinatra connection. Peter Lawford, a member of Sinatra's Rat Pack, was married with Patricia, the sister of John and Robert. Badman, like some others before him, claims that MM threatened to give a "tell-all" press conference about the Kennedys. She did not mean it seriously, but according to Badman, Robert Kennedy did, and that was the reason for his secret visit to Los Angeles on the day MM died. - I find this theory unbelievable as MM was a dedicated Kennedy person. - I also find the account of Robert Kennedy's behaviour on MM's final day impossible to believe.
The book is fascinating but still not yet the definitive account of the final years. I think we are now more than halfway to the truth, however. There are still key witnesses alive who have never commented. They may have promised to take the secrets with them to the grave.
Where other read detective stories I devour Marilyn Monroe books. There is a new one about once every month. In 1996 I counted I had read or browsed 176 of them, some 70 of which were still currently available. There may have been some 150 new ones since. Most of them one really just needs to browse, as they are usually only new compilations of photographs with the text re-edited from familiar sources. But every now and then there is a genuinely original book such as Keith Badman's.
The title "the shocking true story" does not sound promising, does it? There have been many similar ones since the actress's death in 1962. But from Keith Badman's website I conclude the title originates with the publisher, not the author. Badman is a British popular culture expert who has published books on The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, and The Small Faces. He has also been called a "Columbo" of popular culture studies because of his thoroughness in collecting evidence. In his Marilyn Monroe book Badman calls his method "forensic", but that would be an exaggeration, although he presents a lot of new evidence that would be very useful for a police or legal investigation. Hard evidence such as telephone records, airport flight records, appointment books, and original receipts.
I have been comparing the Marilyn story with Rashomon because in both witnesses of the same event give wildly incompatible accounts of it.
I agree with Keith Badman that Marilyn's death was covered by the greatest conspiracy in the history of Hollywood. There were many parties by her corpse during the 7-8 hours before the first policeman was alerted to witness rigor mortis. Nobody told the truth, and many changed their stories several times. The official explanation was agreed on (and the press release was probably at least drafted) before the police came - in order to optimize insurance terms for the studio and to avoid inquest. There never was an inquest because of the need to cover up the Kennedy connection. The Kennedys had nothing to do with Marilyn's death but it was inconceivable even to consider the First Family in the context of Marilyn's death in 1962. The most delicate aspect was that Attorney General Robert Kennedy was on a clandestine visit to Los Angeles when Marilyn died, and it was necessary to get him back to San Francisco, the city he was officially visiting, before the police was alerted to Marilyn's home.
The biggest fabricator was Marilyn, herself, and fatally, she was not being honest even with her doctors, who were not au courant of each other's prescriptions. Ralph Greenson tried to wean Marilyn off from Nembutal and ordered her chloral hydrate. But Hyman Engelberg kept ordering her Nembutal. Although Nembutal was dangerous, Marilyn could somehow handle it. On her last day Marilyn had already taken Nembutal when a close associate took her bottle away, and, as a substitute, Marilyn took chloral hydrate, with lethal results combined with the Nembutal already in her system. Her housekeeper was watching tv and did not hear her alert. Peter Lawford was busy hosting a party. They all reacted but first when it was too late. Keith Badman estimates the time of Marilyn's death to have been at 20.40 on Saturday 4 August, 1962. The first policeman, Jack Clemmons, arrived at 4.35 on Sunday morning 5 August. I find that Badman's account of the circumstances of Marilyn's death makes sense.
What I like in Keith Badman's book:
1. The hard facts, including by-the-minute schedules of events where we have previously had a jungle of hazy descriptions.
2. The patient and entertaining debunking of many familiar fabrications (Norman Mailer, Robert Slatzer, Jeanne Carmen, John Miner...).
3. Badman tells or reminds us (pp. 32-33) that Marilyn's final unfinished film Something's Got To Give was originally planned as a Frank Tashlin / Jayne Mansfield vehicle. This remake of the screwball comedy My Favorite Wife was rewritten in the style of the contemporary Doris Day comedies. - My remark: neither Frank Tashlin nor George Cukor would have been good directors for Marilyn Monroe, and the Marilyn touch was very different from Jayne Mansfield and Doris Day.
4. Badman stresses that Marilyn cut her ties with the MCA in September 1961, and for the first time in her professional life was without agency representation. (This being the time of great turbulence around the MCA.)
5. In the beginning of 1962 Marilyn for the first time in her life bought a house of her own, having lived in over 35 rented flats or rooms for the previous 16 years. However, Badman stresses that the Brentwood house, within easy reach from Century City, was the place where Marilyn would stay only while making a film. Since 1955, Marilyn considered New York her home town and her Manhattan apartment her real home.
6. Robert Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe were platonic friends only.
7. Marilyn and John Kennedy went to bed only once, and it was not a big deal for either. Badman's account of the Kennedy affairs feels sober and convincing.
8. The Marilyn-Kennedy fabrications originated in anti-Kennedy smear campaigns.
9. Marilyn's terror before the movie camera. Marilyn had a love for the still camera and a fear for the movie camera.
10. The weekend 21-22 July 1962: MM was treated for endometriosis, not for an "abortion of a Kennedy baby".
11. The account of previously unreported steps in the history of the MM-Fox reconciliation, the status of her new agreement, and the terms of continuing the production of Something's Got to Give.
12. The sober account of the relationship between MM and Joe DiMaggio, her best friend.
13. The account of the wiretapping of MM's house and the partial removal of it. During the night after MM's death Fred Otash's men "dusted" the house so efficiently that not even one of MM's own fingerprints remained.
14. The explanation of some of the contradictions in Eunice Murray's statements: MM's bedroom door could not be opened because MM had died in front of it. Although MM usually slept with her curtains stapled fast, in Brentwood she did not have to do that because the bedroom window faced the darkness of the garden.
15. MM's "final words" ("say goodbye to the President... ") were a fabrication by Peter Lawford.
16. Nobody who knew MM thought her death was a suicide.
17. Some irregulaties in the autopsy results were based on the special way MM took drugs, on the fact that she didn't eat on the day she died, and her extraordinary tolerance levels.
What I find wanting in Badman's book:
1. The account of Marilyn's psychological condition remains superficial. In this area J. Randy Taraborrelli's The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe (2009) (yes, another of those titles...) is the best so far. Personally I think the biggest battle in Marilyn's life was that for her mental health. Because of the terms of medical confidentiality the crucial facts will remain secret forever, and that is the black box of every Marilyn Monroe biographer. We have traces and clues, however, which lead to the conclusion that Marilyn may have suffered from what we now call a borderline personality disorder. Because of the special conditions of Marilyn's childhood (father unknown, mother since early childhood in mental hospital) there would have been little foundation for the transference needed in traditional psychoanalysis. Remarkably, however, seeking help, Marilyn only consulted psychoanalysts since 1951. But the treatment given by Ralph Greenson was not psychoanalysis. It was something unique and completely different, tailored only for Marilyn, based on the urgency to save Marilyn from self-destruction. Seven psychiatrists declined to treat Marilyn but Greenson did, with methods condemned by his colleagues. Badman claims that the influence of Greenson and his colleagues was damaging. I find this deeply unjust. Greenson did his best, and he might have succeeded with his patient who had been playing with fire for years.
2. Badman fails to report that the hate press Marilyn was receiving after the interruption of the production of Something's Got To Give was largely orchestrated by the Fox PR department as reported in extenso in Peter Brown and Patte Barham's book The Last Take.
3. The account of the Cal-Neva weekend, Sunday 29 July 1962. Badman convincingly proves that the Kennedys, including Patricia Kennedy Lawford, were not there. But he agrees with claims that MM was there in the company of, among others, the gangsters Paul D'Amato, John Roselli, and Sam Giancana. And in these circumstances Peter Lawford fulfilled his mission to inform MM that she had to stop contacting the Kennedy brothers. Badman repeats the Cal-Neva accounts that sound like a nightmare sequence from Twin Peaks. It would be interesting to read a sober book-length study of that weekend only, exposing the fabrications one by one.
4. The biggest problematic question remains MM's relationship with the Kennedys. 1961-1962 were years when the Cold War threatened to become hot. After the Bay of Pigs the Kennedys tried to oust Castro's government with all means, even with the help of gangsters such as Roselli and Giancana. There was also the Frank Sinatra connection. Peter Lawford, a member of Sinatra's Rat Pack, was married with Patricia, the sister of John and Robert. Badman, like some others before him, claims that MM threatened to give a "tell-all" press conference about the Kennedys. She did not mean it seriously, but according to Badman, Robert Kennedy did, and that was the reason for his secret visit to Los Angeles on the day MM died. - I find this theory unbelievable as MM was a dedicated Kennedy person. - I also find the account of Robert Kennedy's behaviour on MM's final day impossible to believe.
The book is fascinating but still not yet the definitive account of the final years. I think we are now more than halfway to the truth, however. There are still key witnesses alive who have never commented. They may have promised to take the secrets with them to the grave.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
L'Âge de raison
Kirjeitä lapsuudestani / [Brev från min barndom] [The Age of Reason / Letters from My Childhood]. FR/BG © 2010 Nord-Ouest Productions / France 2 Cinéma / Rhône-Alpes Cinéma / Mars Distribution / Artémis Productions / Radio Télévision Belge Francophone. EX: Ève Machuel, Stephane Quinet. P: Christophe Rossignon. D+SC: Yann Samuell. DP: Antoine Roch - 2,35:1. Digital visual effects: Macguff. Visual effects supervisor: Martial Vallanchon. Makeup: Sylvie Greco. M: Cyrille Aufort. Main theme: W.A. Mozart: Clarinet concerto in A major K. 622. S: Thomas Desjonquères. ED: Andrea Sedlácková. Title designer: Laurent Brett. LOC: Lyon, Saoû. CAST: Sophie Marceau (Marguerite vel Margaret Flore), Marton Csokas (Malcolm), Michel Duchaussoy (Maître Mérignac, a notary), Jonathan Zaccaï (Philibert Bakary), Emmanuelle Grönvold (De Lorca), Juliette Chappey (Marguerite Flore enfant), Thierry Hancisse (Mathieu), Roméo Lebeaut (Philibert Bakary enfant), Jarod Legrand (Mathieu enfant), Alexis Michalik (l'assistant de Margaret), Raphaël Devedjian (Simon), Déborah Marique (la maman de Marguerite), Emmanuel LeMire (le papa de Marguerite), Christophe Rossignon (Huissier), Mireille Séguret (Madame Vermier), Bernard Gerland (vieux monsieur). Original French release 97 min. Finnish release 92 min. Released in Finland by Future Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Kauppila / Heidi Nyblom. 35 mm print viewed at Kinopalatsi 8, Helsinki, 25 Dec 2010
Official presentation: Tagline: "Que deviennent nos rêves d'enfant?"
Genre: Comédie Romantique.
Synopsis: "Chère moi-même, aujourd'hui j'ai 7 ans et je t'écris cette lettre pour t'aider à te souvenir des promesses que je fais à l'âge de raison et aussi te rappeler ce que je veux devenir..." Ainsi commence la lettre que Margaret, femme d’affaires accomplie, reçoit le jour de ses 40 ans.
A successful 40-year old businesswoman receives letters from herself written at the age of 7 and gets to reconsider her life. In her childhood the family had fallen on hard times, and she had sworn to make a lot of money. In this she has succeeded. Now she visits her estranged brother and her childhood sweetheart.
Some critics have called this film naive, and it does deal with childhood dreams that are naive. But Yann Samuell does not serve us naive solutions. The meeting of the brother and the sister is psychologically convincing. The most impressive sequence is the meeting of the childhood lovers in the prehistorical Angel Cave. The symbolism is beautiful. Yann Samuell sees the charm in getting in touch with one's childhood dreams, but he sees them also as "our prehistoric heritage", as life must go on.
I admire Yann Samuell for his playful approach and I don't mind that in the beginning the execution of his difficult concept is slightly awkward. The performances and the timing are not quite perfect to begin with, but the film gets better, and Marceau develops a more assured grip in her complex role.
The digital intermediate look (companies mentioned in the final credits included Macguff, Duboicolor, LTC, and Scanlab) is occasionally obvious.
Official presentation: Tagline: "Que deviennent nos rêves d'enfant?"
Genre: Comédie Romantique.
Synopsis: "Chère moi-même, aujourd'hui j'ai 7 ans et je t'écris cette lettre pour t'aider à te souvenir des promesses que je fais à l'âge de raison et aussi te rappeler ce que je veux devenir..." Ainsi commence la lettre que Margaret, femme d’affaires accomplie, reçoit le jour de ses 40 ans.
A successful 40-year old businesswoman receives letters from herself written at the age of 7 and gets to reconsider her life. In her childhood the family had fallen on hard times, and she had sworn to make a lot of money. In this she has succeeded. Now she visits her estranged brother and her childhood sweetheart.
Some critics have called this film naive, and it does deal with childhood dreams that are naive. But Yann Samuell does not serve us naive solutions. The meeting of the brother and the sister is psychologically convincing. The most impressive sequence is the meeting of the childhood lovers in the prehistorical Angel Cave. The symbolism is beautiful. Yann Samuell sees the charm in getting in touch with one's childhood dreams, but he sees them also as "our prehistoric heritage", as life must go on.
I admire Yann Samuell for his playful approach and I don't mind that in the beginning the execution of his difficult concept is slightly awkward. The performances and the timing are not quite perfect to begin with, but the film gets better, and Marceau develops a more assured grip in her complex role.
The digital intermediate look (companies mentioned in the final credits included Macguff, Duboicolor, LTC, and Scanlab) is occasionally obvious.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Hurt Locker
The Hurt Locker / The Hurt Locker / Démineurs [the title on the print viewed]. USA © 2008 Hurt Locker, LLC. Released in Italy in 2008, in the U.S.A. in 2009. Voltage Pictures presents in association with Grosvenor Park Media, LP and F.C.E.F.S.A. a Voltage Pictures / First Light / Kingsgate Films Production. EX: Tony Mark. P: Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro. D: Kathryn Bigelow. SC: Mark Boal. DP: Barry Ackroyd - shot with four Super 16 mm cameras and HDCAM SR (high speed shots) - digital intermediate 2k: Company 3. PD: Karl Júliusson. Visual effects: Company 3, Encore VFX. FX: Richard Stutsman. Cost: George Little, Vicki Mulholland. Makeup, hair: Daniel Parker. M: Marco Beltrami, Buck Sanders. S: Paul N.J. Ottosson. ED: Bob Murawski, Chris Innis. LOC: Amman (Jordan), Vancouver (Canada). Cast: Jeremy Renner (Staff Sergeant William James), Anthony Mackie (Sergeant J.T. Sanborn), Brian Geraghty (Specialist Owen Eldridge), Christian Camargo (Colonel John Cambridge), Duhail Al-Dabbach (Black Suit Man), Christopher Sayegh (Beckham), Evangeline Lilly (Connie James), Ralph Fiennes (Contractor Team Leader), David Morse (Colonel Reed), Guy Pearce (Sergeant Matt Thompson). 134 min. A 35 mm Nordisk Finland release print (with the original on-print title, intertitles, and credits in French only) with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Saliven Gustavsson. Viewed at Cinema Orion (A Tribute to Kathryn Bigelow / The Best of the Decade), Helsinki 23 Dec 2010
"In a hurt locker" means "in trouble". The expression dates back to the Vietnam War.
"The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug" (Chris Hedges) (motto).
Three men (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty) of the United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team (EOD) risk their lives in 2004 in Iraq defusing bombs, including bomb-wired cars and corpses, roadside bombs, and live human martyrs.
"The film was shot in Jordan within miles of the Iraqi border, because Bigelow wanted to bring greater authenticity to the film. This benefited filming by supplying many Iraqi refugees for extras and the unmistakable heat of the Middle East." (The English Wikipedia)
An intensive war film seen from the viewpoint of soldiers who confront danger and try to prevent even more massive devastation. Wearing bombsuits, they attempt to defuse bombs. The mission is often impossible.
The most famous actors play characters who die suddenly. The leading characters are played by a little less known actors.
The film's sympathy is with the soldiers. We can also sense the distance between the Iraqi people and the American soldiers.
This autumn I have been reading Samuel Fuller's memoirs. Fuller emphasizes the presence of children in circumstances of war. Bigelow has the same perception. A poignant character is the Iraqi boy, the pirate dvd seller called "Beckham". The Americans seem to miss the opportunity to turn the Iraqi into friends.
There is a general feeling of disorientation. The soldiers seem a little more nervous than I'd find realistic. Also I believe soldiers seeking "adrenaline highs" in the battlefield would in reality be fired. The Hurt Locker seems to mix realism with action fantasy.
In the visual execution there is a lot of handheld footage, zoom pumping and fast editing. The visual quality of the cinematography seems to aspire to a semblance of newsreel imagery. I think it's great but a little too much of the good thing for 134 minutes.
I have been intrigued by Kathryn Bigelow ever since I heard Paul Schrader pitching her in Sodankylä in 1988. She has never made an indifferent movie, and her Academy Award is richly deserved.
"In a hurt locker" means "in trouble". The expression dates back to the Vietnam War.
"The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug" (Chris Hedges) (motto).
Three men (Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty) of the United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team (EOD) risk their lives in 2004 in Iraq defusing bombs, including bomb-wired cars and corpses, roadside bombs, and live human martyrs.
"The film was shot in Jordan within miles of the Iraqi border, because Bigelow wanted to bring greater authenticity to the film. This benefited filming by supplying many Iraqi refugees for extras and the unmistakable heat of the Middle East." (The English Wikipedia)
An intensive war film seen from the viewpoint of soldiers who confront danger and try to prevent even more massive devastation. Wearing bombsuits, they attempt to defuse bombs. The mission is often impossible.
The most famous actors play characters who die suddenly. The leading characters are played by a little less known actors.
The film's sympathy is with the soldiers. We can also sense the distance between the Iraqi people and the American soldiers.
This autumn I have been reading Samuel Fuller's memoirs. Fuller emphasizes the presence of children in circumstances of war. Bigelow has the same perception. A poignant character is the Iraqi boy, the pirate dvd seller called "Beckham". The Americans seem to miss the opportunity to turn the Iraqi into friends.
There is a general feeling of disorientation. The soldiers seem a little more nervous than I'd find realistic. Also I believe soldiers seeking "adrenaline highs" in the battlefield would in reality be fired. The Hurt Locker seems to mix realism with action fantasy.
In the visual execution there is a lot of handheld footage, zoom pumping and fast editing. The visual quality of the cinematography seems to aspire to a semblance of newsreel imagery. I think it's great but a little too much of the good thing for 134 minutes.
I have been intrigued by Kathryn Bigelow ever since I heard Paul Schrader pitching her in Sodankylä in 1988. She has never made an indifferent movie, and her Academy Award is richly deserved.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Free Jafar Panahi
The great Iranian film director Jafar Panahi has been sentenced to six years in prison. He is highly regarded also in Finland, where his strong presence at Midnight Sun Film Festival in Lapland is fondly remembered. David Bordwell has a good Jafar Panahi entry in his blog. Let's sign the petition for his freedom:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/solidarite-jafar-panahi/
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/solidarite-jafar-panahi/
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sukunsa viimeinen / Pudana: Last of the Line
Den sista av sin släkt. FI © 2010 Illume Oy. P: Pertti Veijalainen, Jouko Aaltonen. D+SC: Anastasia Lapsui, Markku Lehmuskallio. DP: Johannes Lehmuskallio - shot and edited on 16 mm - blown up to 35 mm. AD: Gregori Anagurtishi, Irina Jevai, Nedko Serotetto, Irina Serotettu, Valeri Serotetto. ED: Juho Gartz. S: Sergei Zabenin / Peter Nordström, Olli Pärnänen, Heikki Kossi, Tapio Liukkonen. Cast: Nadezhda Pyrerko (herself, Neko as an adult), Aleksandra Okotetto (Neko as a young girl), Anastasia Lapsui (Neko's grandmother), Jevgeni Hudi (Neko's father), Ljudmila Zannikova (Soviet teacher), Radik Anaguritsi (Parasi - Neko's friend). 81 min. In Nenets and Russian. A Pirkanmaan Elokuvakeskus print with Finnish subtitles only viewed at Cinema Orion (The Jussi Awards), Helsinki 21 Dec 2010
The theme of "the first teacher" was important in the Soviet cinema (Kozintsev, Trauberg, Donskoy, Konchalovsky). Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio's film shows us the other side of the story, that of the child of the indigenous tribe that has always wandered the land and still retains their ancient customs and culture.
A shaman drum is juxtaposed with a Komsomol song.
The Last of the Line is a fiction film which belongs to the Nenets cycle of films by Lapsui and Lehmuskallio. It is a unique body of work devoted to the Flahertyan inspiration of looking for the "last paradise", now already becoming "paradise lost", a different concept of time and living before modernity. A different concept of eternity that has existed in our lifetime.
The Tundra Nenets are a nomadic Samoyedic people living far north in the Siberian tundra herding reindeer on the Yamal Peninsula.
Finnish critics have noticed the connection to As If I Didn't Exist (Elina - som om jag inte fanns) dealing with the Meänkieli people in the 1950s in the valley of the Torne River in Swedish Lapland. The break with the past and the denial of one's own name and language can be soul-destroying.
In the late 1960s Neko has never learned Russian, never tasted porridge, never heard of Lenin, never sat on a chair. Having seen the (non-political) red dream she would be the one to carry forward the tribe's totemistic, shamanic tradition. But then she is taken to a Soviet school and given the new name of Nadezhda (Hope) (also the name of Lenin's wife).
The story is set against the vast horizons of the tundra. Visually memorable are also the warm and expressive close-ups. The crucial action is the children's escape from the school back home, following the seven star constellation of the Big Dipper. There is a pleasantly lively and juicy visual quality in the all-photochemical print.
The theme of "the first teacher" was important in the Soviet cinema (Kozintsev, Trauberg, Donskoy, Konchalovsky). Anastasia Lapsui and Markku Lehmuskallio's film shows us the other side of the story, that of the child of the indigenous tribe that has always wandered the land and still retains their ancient customs and culture.
A shaman drum is juxtaposed with a Komsomol song.
The Last of the Line is a fiction film which belongs to the Nenets cycle of films by Lapsui and Lehmuskallio. It is a unique body of work devoted to the Flahertyan inspiration of looking for the "last paradise", now already becoming "paradise lost", a different concept of time and living before modernity. A different concept of eternity that has existed in our lifetime.
The Tundra Nenets are a nomadic Samoyedic people living far north in the Siberian tundra herding reindeer on the Yamal Peninsula.
Finnish critics have noticed the connection to As If I Didn't Exist (Elina - som om jag inte fanns) dealing with the Meänkieli people in the 1950s in the valley of the Torne River in Swedish Lapland. The break with the past and the denial of one's own name and language can be soul-destroying.
In the late 1960s Neko has never learned Russian, never tasted porridge, never heard of Lenin, never sat on a chair. Having seen the (non-political) red dream she would be the one to carry forward the tribe's totemistic, shamanic tradition. But then she is taken to a Soviet school and given the new name of Nadezhda (Hope) (also the name of Lenin's wife).
The story is set against the vast horizons of the tundra. Visually memorable are also the warm and expressive close-ups. The crucial action is the children's escape from the school back home, following the seven star constellation of the Big Dipper. There is a pleasantly lively and juicy visual quality in the all-photochemical print.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Gone with the Wind
Tuulen viemää / Borta med vinden. USA © 1939 Selznick International. EX: David O. Selznick. D: Victor Fleming. SC: Sidney Howard – based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell (1936). DP (Technicolor): Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan, Wilfred M. Cline. AD: William Cameron Menzies; Lyle Wheeler. Cost: Walter Plunkett. FX: Jack Cosgrove, Fred Albin, Arthur Johns. M: Max Steiner. ED: Hal C. Kern, James E. Newcom. Cast: Vivien Leigh (Scarlett O’Hara), Clark Gable (Rhett Butler), Olivia de Havilland (Melanie Hamilton), Leslie Howard (Ashley Wilkes), Hattie McDaniel (Mammy), Butterfly McQueen (Prissy), Thomas Mitchell (Gerald O’Hara), Evelyn Keyes (Suellen O’Hara), Ona Munson (Belle Watling), Ward Bond (Yankee captain). 232 min - screened with a 20 min intermission at 105 min. A Finnish release print of the 50th anniversary version (1989) with Finnish / Swedish subtitles (n.c.) at widescreen height viewed at Cinema Orion (History of the Cinema), Helsinki, 19 Dec 2010
Watching Gone with the Wind the 70th anniversary double blu-ray a year ago I realized I would soon need to revisit the film on a cinema screen. In my cinephilic youth Gone with the Wind was rarely mentioned among film aficionados, and I had a perception of it as a piece of lightweight mainstream romantic entertainment. (I started seeing GWTW first in the 1980s.) Still a common perception of GWTW, based on its poster images, would probably be that it is a period love story or historical romance.
In our well-attended screening the young audience (maybe seeing GWTW in a cinema for the first time) was obviously delighted, and I think a big part of the delight was based on the consistent drive of the film to break stereotypical romantic expectations. The film is full of subtle anti-romantic humour of a unique kind. The audience perceived this immediately, and the sympathetic laugher was essential to the experience. The top example is Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara's honeymoon: it got the biggest laughs.
Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara are not heroes. Rather one might call them anti-heroes.
Rather than a romantic film GWTW is anti-romantic. There is no real love story. All her life, Scarlett has loved only Ashley Wilkes, but after Melanie's death she realizes that Ashley has always only loved Melanie, and Scarlett's feeling has been an illusion. Rhett's deepest love is for Bonnie, his daughter with Scarlett. Bonnie changes Rhett from a reckless adventurer to a devoted father. Bonnie's death breaks Rhett's heart. The film ends with disappointment, loneliness and desolation for everybody. Rhett and Scarlett have lost their illusions, but their spirit is unbroken: "Tomorrow is another day".
GWTW is not an aggressively racist film but it fails to tell the truth about the conditions of slavery. It fails to condemn lynching in its veiled and indirect Ku Klux Klan sequence. The positive black characters are portrayed only in their relationships with their white masters and mistresses.
GWTW is a film about the Civil War without a single combat scene. We see the devastation of the war from the women's viewpoint.
Scarlett O'Hara is a portrait of a capitalist. She saves Tara by becoming a top manager of a sawmill, necessary for the reconstruction of the South. Her second marriage is for money only.
GWTW has sold more tickets than any other film of the Western world. In Finland it was released first in 1950. For the Finnish viewer the parallel would be the Niskavuori saga, the cycle of plays written by Hella Wuolijoki, started in the same year 1936 when GWTW the novel was written. Of the plays, seven films have been made. The Niskavuori estate would be the parallel for Tara, the Niskavuori mistresses Loviisa and Heta could be compared with Scarlett, and in the characters played by Tauno Palo parallels could be examined for Rhett Butler as portrayed by Clark Gable.
The special love of the land is shown as a characteristic of the Irish heritage.
Rhett Butler can be compared with Rick Blaine in Casablanca. Same initials even.
GWTW was produced when the Production Code was at its severest. Yet prostitution is a major theme. Belle Watling's bordello is an important location. There is even a sequence which might be impossible to produce in a mainstream film today: Rhett rapes Scarlett (shown only before and after). Never is Scarlett so completely radiant, relaxed and happy as after that night.
The performances of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable are great. But frequent viewers of GWTW start to realize that the best role of the picture is that of Melanie and the finest performance is that of Olivia De Havilland as Melanie. For me that realization happened a year ago.
In the print viewed today close-ups look fine. Otherwise there is a duped quality. The print has been struck from a source where the match of the colour separations is imperfect. The Finnish subtitles seem like they have been taken from an old translation with Tarzanese for the dialogue of the black people.
Watching Gone with the Wind the 70th anniversary double blu-ray a year ago I realized I would soon need to revisit the film on a cinema screen. In my cinephilic youth Gone with the Wind was rarely mentioned among film aficionados, and I had a perception of it as a piece of lightweight mainstream romantic entertainment. (I started seeing GWTW first in the 1980s.) Still a common perception of GWTW, based on its poster images, would probably be that it is a period love story or historical romance.
In our well-attended screening the young audience (maybe seeing GWTW in a cinema for the first time) was obviously delighted, and I think a big part of the delight was based on the consistent drive of the film to break stereotypical romantic expectations. The film is full of subtle anti-romantic humour of a unique kind. The audience perceived this immediately, and the sympathetic laugher was essential to the experience. The top example is Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara's honeymoon: it got the biggest laughs.
Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara are not heroes. Rather one might call them anti-heroes.
Rather than a romantic film GWTW is anti-romantic. There is no real love story. All her life, Scarlett has loved only Ashley Wilkes, but after Melanie's death she realizes that Ashley has always only loved Melanie, and Scarlett's feeling has been an illusion. Rhett's deepest love is for Bonnie, his daughter with Scarlett. Bonnie changes Rhett from a reckless adventurer to a devoted father. Bonnie's death breaks Rhett's heart. The film ends with disappointment, loneliness and desolation for everybody. Rhett and Scarlett have lost their illusions, but their spirit is unbroken: "Tomorrow is another day".
GWTW is not an aggressively racist film but it fails to tell the truth about the conditions of slavery. It fails to condemn lynching in its veiled and indirect Ku Klux Klan sequence. The positive black characters are portrayed only in their relationships with their white masters and mistresses.
GWTW is a film about the Civil War without a single combat scene. We see the devastation of the war from the women's viewpoint.
Scarlett O'Hara is a portrait of a capitalist. She saves Tara by becoming a top manager of a sawmill, necessary for the reconstruction of the South. Her second marriage is for money only.
GWTW has sold more tickets than any other film of the Western world. In Finland it was released first in 1950. For the Finnish viewer the parallel would be the Niskavuori saga, the cycle of plays written by Hella Wuolijoki, started in the same year 1936 when GWTW the novel was written. Of the plays, seven films have been made. The Niskavuori estate would be the parallel for Tara, the Niskavuori mistresses Loviisa and Heta could be compared with Scarlett, and in the characters played by Tauno Palo parallels could be examined for Rhett Butler as portrayed by Clark Gable.
The special love of the land is shown as a characteristic of the Irish heritage.
Rhett Butler can be compared with Rick Blaine in Casablanca. Same initials even.
GWTW was produced when the Production Code was at its severest. Yet prostitution is a major theme. Belle Watling's bordello is an important location. There is even a sequence which might be impossible to produce in a mainstream film today: Rhett rapes Scarlett (shown only before and after). Never is Scarlett so completely radiant, relaxed and happy as after that night.
The performances of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable are great. But frequent viewers of GWTW start to realize that the best role of the picture is that of Melanie and the finest performance is that of Olivia De Havilland as Melanie. For me that realization happened a year ago.
In the print viewed today close-ups look fine. Otherwise there is a duped quality. The print has been struck from a source where the match of the colour separations is imperfect. The Finnish subtitles seem like they have been taken from an old translation with Tarzanese for the dialogue of the black people.
The Best of the Year 2010 (Sight & Sound)
Sight & Sound (January 2011), based on a poll of 85 international critics.
1. The Social Network (David Fincher, US)
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, TH/GB/FR/DE/ES/NL)
3. Another Year (Mike Leigh, GB)
4. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, FR/DE/BG)
5. The Arbor (Clio Barnard, GB)
=6. Winter's Bone (Debra Granik, US)
=6. I Am Love / Io sono l'amore (Luca Guadagnino, IT)
=8. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu / Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica, RO)
=8. Film socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard, CH/FR)
=8. Nostalgia for the Light / Nostalgia de la luz (Patricio Guzmán, FR/DE/CL)
=8. Poetry / Si (Lee Changdong, KR)
=8. A Prophet / Un prophète (Jacques Audiard, FR/IT)
The most fascinating result of the poll is the extensive compilation of experts' comments in the magazine and, best of all, the complete and unabridged remarks on the Sight & Sound homepage.
In Finland we used to see a good cross-section of the best international films in regular cinema distribution until the 1980s. The last decade was the turning point: most of the films generally voted to be the best of the decade were never released in cinemas, several of them not even on dvd with Finnish subtitles.
In our land festivals such as Midnight Sun Film Festival, Helsinki Film Festival, and Espoo Ciné have become more and more important venues for the best contemporary cinema. This year, our "best of the decade" cycle in Cinema Orion is different from previous "decade's best" retrospectives because most of the prints had to be imported.
So far only three of the Sight & Sound top ten films of 2010 have been released in Finland (The Social Network, Io sono l'amore, Un prophète). Certainly others have already been and the rest will be screened in Finnish festivals, but festival screenings are not enough. In the festival atmosphere a suitably strange film can flourish. But as a part of a viewing marathon other films may suffer, and there is no chance to select the proper mood for the proper film.
1. The Social Network (David Fincher, US)
2. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, TH/GB/FR/DE/ES/NL)
3. Another Year (Mike Leigh, GB)
4. Carlos (Olivier Assayas, FR/DE/BG)
5. The Arbor (Clio Barnard, GB)
=6. Winter's Bone (Debra Granik, US)
=6. I Am Love / Io sono l'amore (Luca Guadagnino, IT)
=8. The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu / Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceausescu (Andrei Ujica, RO)
=8. Film socialisme (Jean-Luc Godard, CH/FR)
=8. Nostalgia for the Light / Nostalgia de la luz (Patricio Guzmán, FR/DE/CL)
=8. Poetry / Si (Lee Changdong, KR)
=8. A Prophet / Un prophète (Jacques Audiard, FR/IT)
The most fascinating result of the poll is the extensive compilation of experts' comments in the magazine and, best of all, the complete and unabridged remarks on the Sight & Sound homepage.
In Finland we used to see a good cross-section of the best international films in regular cinema distribution until the 1980s. The last decade was the turning point: most of the films generally voted to be the best of the decade were never released in cinemas, several of them not even on dvd with Finnish subtitles.
In our land festivals such as Midnight Sun Film Festival, Helsinki Film Festival, and Espoo Ciné have become more and more important venues for the best contemporary cinema. This year, our "best of the decade" cycle in Cinema Orion is different from previous "decade's best" retrospectives because most of the prints had to be imported.
So far only three of the Sight & Sound top ten films of 2010 have been released in Finland (The Social Network, Io sono l'amore, Un prophète). Certainly others have already been and the rest will be screened in Finnish festivals, but festival screenings are not enough. In the festival atmosphere a suitably strange film can flourish. But as a part of a viewing marathon other films may suffer, and there is no chance to select the proper mood for the proper film.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Paha perhe / Bad Family
[Den onda familjen]. FI © 2009 Sputnik. [Premiere 29 Jan 2010.]. P: Aki Kaurismäki. D+SC: Aleksi Salmenperä. DP: Tuomo Hutri. AD: Markku Pätilä. Cost: Ella Brigatti. Make-up: Marjut Samulin. M: Ville Anselmi Tanttu. S: Tero Malmberg. ED: Samu Heikkilä. P manager: Mark Lwoff.
Post-production: Kari Manns / colour grading (Finn-Lab Oy). Tuija Kotamäki / negative cutting (Finn-Lab Oy). Olli Pärnänen / sound mixing (Meguru Film Sound). Pentti Keskimäki / TV master colour definition (Digital Film Finland). Joonas Kiviharju / yksivalosiirto (Digital Film Finland).
Actors in the main roles: Ville Virtanen (Mikael), Lauri Tilkanen (Daniel), Pihla Viitala (Tilda), Vera Kiiskinen (Laura), Niki Seppälä (Milo), Ismo Kallio (Jaan), Tomi Salmela (Kari).
With: Minna Suuronen (Jaan's nurse), Reino Nordin (Samuli), Sara Paavolainen (Anna), Asko Sarkola (Erik), Pertti Sveholm (Jaakko), Henriikka Salo (Seija), Matti Onnismaa (man), Aaro Wichmann (Joni), Merja Larivaara (consul), Juhani Niemelä (Eino), Kaarina Hazard (nurse), Janne Reinikainen (nurse), Antto Melasniemi (cook).
95 min. A Sandrew Metronome Distribution Finland print without subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion (The Jussi Awards), Helsinki, 17 Dec 2010.
One of the most highly regarded Finnish films of this year, The Bad Family is made with a bite. The visual concept is strong. There is a consistent drive in the visual storytelling, and The Bad Family has this year's most memorable final image in a Finnish film (Mikael standing alone by the roadside his trouser legs fluttering in the wind). Both the vision and the sound of the film are exceptionally expressive. There are interesting inventions in the soundtrack, culminating in a ukulele interpretation of Bach and an impressive number for horns. The performances by Ville Virtanen, Pihla Viitala, Vera Kiiskinen, and the others are strong.
This is an inferno family. There is everything except love and happiness. The backstory is the impossible match of Mikael the father who is a judge and the mother who was a hippie who flew to Copenhagen. The film starts 20 years later with the funeral of the mother. The daughter Tilda is a young woman now. Mikael sends his current wife (Vera Kiiskinen) and their little son to a top hotel for the time being.
Tilda is received by Mikael together with his son Daniel, a high school student preparing for his matriculation examination. Tilda is not understood by Mikael at all but by Daniel all too well. The fundament of the story is Mikael's suspicion of sibling incest.
Mikael is evidently an excellent judge for whom it is paramount to be in absolute control. He exercises a lot with a rowing machine, and he has exquisite taste in everything from music to interior decoration.
But Mikael is emotionally handicapped. Has no "emotional intelligence". He really puts an effort to dedicate a lot of time to his son Daniel, and he even takes a leave of absence from his position at the court of appeal for that reason. But whether giving fencing lessons or driving instructions he only succeeds in paralyzing Daniel. The relaxed Tilda provides Daniel a much-needed valve from the constant controlling tension.
There is a fine sense of satire, irony, and farce in this movie. A delicious sequence is where Daniel helps a driver by the roadside to change summer tires although the driver does not need help. It seems to be about Daniel having to prove to himself that he is a nice guy.
I had the feeling that there is a profound secret personal agenda in the film, but what that agenda might be I have no clue of. The Bad Family is a movie of a family from which love is missing. At first viewing I failed to connect deeply.
A beautiful definition of colour in the print screened.
Post-production: Kari Manns / colour grading (Finn-Lab Oy). Tuija Kotamäki / negative cutting (Finn-Lab Oy). Olli Pärnänen / sound mixing (Meguru Film Sound). Pentti Keskimäki / TV master colour definition (Digital Film Finland). Joonas Kiviharju / yksivalosiirto (Digital Film Finland).
Actors in the main roles: Ville Virtanen (Mikael), Lauri Tilkanen (Daniel), Pihla Viitala (Tilda), Vera Kiiskinen (Laura), Niki Seppälä (Milo), Ismo Kallio (Jaan), Tomi Salmela (Kari).
With: Minna Suuronen (Jaan's nurse), Reino Nordin (Samuli), Sara Paavolainen (Anna), Asko Sarkola (Erik), Pertti Sveholm (Jaakko), Henriikka Salo (Seija), Matti Onnismaa (man), Aaro Wichmann (Joni), Merja Larivaara (consul), Juhani Niemelä (Eino), Kaarina Hazard (nurse), Janne Reinikainen (nurse), Antto Melasniemi (cook).
95 min. A Sandrew Metronome Distribution Finland print without subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion (The Jussi Awards), Helsinki, 17 Dec 2010.
One of the most highly regarded Finnish films of this year, The Bad Family is made with a bite. The visual concept is strong. There is a consistent drive in the visual storytelling, and The Bad Family has this year's most memorable final image in a Finnish film (Mikael standing alone by the roadside his trouser legs fluttering in the wind). Both the vision and the sound of the film are exceptionally expressive. There are interesting inventions in the soundtrack, culminating in a ukulele interpretation of Bach and an impressive number for horns. The performances by Ville Virtanen, Pihla Viitala, Vera Kiiskinen, and the others are strong.
This is an inferno family. There is everything except love and happiness. The backstory is the impossible match of Mikael the father who is a judge and the mother who was a hippie who flew to Copenhagen. The film starts 20 years later with the funeral of the mother. The daughter Tilda is a young woman now. Mikael sends his current wife (Vera Kiiskinen) and their little son to a top hotel for the time being.
Tilda is received by Mikael together with his son Daniel, a high school student preparing for his matriculation examination. Tilda is not understood by Mikael at all but by Daniel all too well. The fundament of the story is Mikael's suspicion of sibling incest.
Mikael is evidently an excellent judge for whom it is paramount to be in absolute control. He exercises a lot with a rowing machine, and he has exquisite taste in everything from music to interior decoration.
But Mikael is emotionally handicapped. Has no "emotional intelligence". He really puts an effort to dedicate a lot of time to his son Daniel, and he even takes a leave of absence from his position at the court of appeal for that reason. But whether giving fencing lessons or driving instructions he only succeeds in paralyzing Daniel. The relaxed Tilda provides Daniel a much-needed valve from the constant controlling tension.
There is a fine sense of satire, irony, and farce in this movie. A delicious sequence is where Daniel helps a driver by the roadside to change summer tires although the driver does not need help. It seems to be about Daniel having to prove to himself that he is a nice guy.
I had the feeling that there is a profound secret personal agenda in the film, but what that agenda might be I have no clue of. The Bad Family is a movie of a family from which love is missing. At first viewing I failed to connect deeply.
A beautiful definition of colour in the print screened.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Odna / Alone
Одна / Yksin / Ensam. SU 1931. PC: Sojuzkino (Leningrad). D+SC: Grigori Kozintsev & Leonid Trauberg. DP: Andrei Moskvin. M: Dmitri Shostakovitsh (Opus 26). S: Lev Arnstam. AD: Jevgeni Enei. CAST: Jelena Kuzmina (Jelena, teacher), Pjotr Sobolevski (Pjotr, Jelena's fiancé), Sergei Gerasimov (chairman of the village council), Marija Babanova, Van Ljui-Sjan (Bey), Janina Zheimo (young woman), Boris Tsirkov. Original duration 91 min, KAVA: parts 1–7 ja 9, music version, 80 min, e-subtitles in Finnish by Onni Nääppä. Viewed at Cinema Orion (Carte blanche à Kanerva Cederström), Helsinki, 16 Dec 2010.
Viewed for the first time an early interpretation of the Soviet cinema's favoured "first teacher" theme. The young Leningrad teacher is commanded to the Altai mountains, to milieux also familiar from the films of Vasili Shukshin. The movie begins in an atmosphere of social idealism, but as soon as we get to Altai it gets more interesting. It is Communist propaganda but not of the worst kind. The film has playful, farcical, and eccentric aspects as well as serious, propagandist and tragic ones. The loudspeaker in the square of Leningrad has an ambivalent function, with Orwellian overtones. The ancient customs of the Altai (the shamans, the sheep farming, the labour tools) are in contrast with the modern ways imported from Leningrad. Jelena Kuzmina's performance as the teacher is moving in this Bildungsroman role (the teacher is taught as well as the children). In our print the 8. reel is missing with the teacher being frozen in the tundra. In the final reel an airplane comes to take the fatally injured teacher to a hospital in the city. - In the beginning the Kozintsev-Trauberg-Shostakovich touch is unrecognizable. But after 20 minutes or so also Shostakovich's music gets interesting, often very exciting, original, and different. It is playful and modernist, bringing new dimensions to the story. - Our print has a duped quality, and the 8. reel is missing although not lost from other existing prints.
Viewed for the first time an early interpretation of the Soviet cinema's favoured "first teacher" theme. The young Leningrad teacher is commanded to the Altai mountains, to milieux also familiar from the films of Vasili Shukshin. The movie begins in an atmosphere of social idealism, but as soon as we get to Altai it gets more interesting. It is Communist propaganda but not of the worst kind. The film has playful, farcical, and eccentric aspects as well as serious, propagandist and tragic ones. The loudspeaker in the square of Leningrad has an ambivalent function, with Orwellian overtones. The ancient customs of the Altai (the shamans, the sheep farming, the labour tools) are in contrast with the modern ways imported from Leningrad. Jelena Kuzmina's performance as the teacher is moving in this Bildungsroman role (the teacher is taught as well as the children). In our print the 8. reel is missing with the teacher being frozen in the tundra. In the final reel an airplane comes to take the fatally injured teacher to a hospital in the city. - In the beginning the Kozintsev-Trauberg-Shostakovich touch is unrecognizable. But after 20 minutes or so also Shostakovich's music gets interesting, often very exciting, original, and different. It is playful and modernist, bringing new dimensions to the story. - Our print has a duped quality, and the 8. reel is missing although not lost from other existing prints.
Shakhmatnaya goryachka / Chess Fever
Шахматная горячка / Shahmatnaja gorjatshka / Shakkikuume / Schackfebern. SU 1925. PC: Mezhrabpom-Rus. D: Vsevolod Pudovkin, Nikolai Shpikovski. SC: Shpikovski. DP: Anatoli Golovnja. CAST: Vladimir Fogel (man caught by chess fever), Anna Zemtsova (his fiancée), Jakov Protazanov (pharmacist), Juli Raizman (pharmacist's assistant), Fedor Ozep, Boris Barnet, Konstantin Eggert, J. Raoul Capablanca. A KAVA print with Finnish subtitles by Kirsi-Annele Tykkyläinen, 542 m /20 fps/ 24 min, viewed at Cinema Orion (Carte blanche à Kanerva Cederström), Helsinki, 16 Dec 2010
Revisited a funny comedy of monomania, obsession, and hyperbole. There is a gag in each scene, and each gag is related with chess fever. The hero is so obsessed with chess that he forgets his wedding date. (Yet another case of the cinema's obsession with the subject of "the cancelled wedding"!). The comedy proceeds to grand tragedy with plans of suicide via poisoning and drowning. "But, however, maybe love is stronger than chess, after all". "Let's have a round of the Sicilian". Beautifully shot in the winter, and there is a good definition of light in this used print.
Revisited a funny comedy of monomania, obsession, and hyperbole. There is a gag in each scene, and each gag is related with chess fever. The hero is so obsessed with chess that he forgets his wedding date. (Yet another case of the cinema's obsession with the subject of "the cancelled wedding"!). The comedy proceeds to grand tragedy with plans of suicide via poisoning and drowning. "But, however, maybe love is stronger than chess, after all". "Let's have a round of the Sicilian". Beautifully shot in the winter, and there is a good definition of light in this used print.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Night Mail
GB 1936. PC: General Post Office Film Unit. P: John Grierson. D+SC: Basil Wright, Harry Watt. DP: H.E. Fowle, Jonah Jones. ED: R.Q. McNaughton. M: Benjamin Britten. Poem: W.H. Auden. 24 min. A BFINA print screened at 1,2:1 at Cinema Orion (History of the Cinema), Helsinki, 15 Dec 2010.
Revisited a classic work of the British documentary movement. I did not remember that the first 20 minutes are just sober, straight (and excellent) documentary as exciting as an action film. This is the story of a mail train from London to Scotland, a celebration of professionalism. First during the last three minutes does the film burst into a special poetic mode. A celebration of modernity and a masterpiece of montage. The print is mostly good with some shots with weaker definition.
Revisited a classic work of the British documentary movement. I did not remember that the first 20 minutes are just sober, straight (and excellent) documentary as exciting as an action film. This is the story of a mail train from London to Scotland, a celebration of professionalism. First during the last three minutes does the film burst into a special poetic mode. A celebration of modernity and a masterpiece of montage. The print is mostly good with some shots with weaker definition.
The Song of Ceylon
Ceylonin laulu. GB 1935. PC: General Post Office (GPO) Film Unit. P: John Grierson. D+DP+ED: Basil Wright. M: Walter Leigh. Commentary: from Robert Knox's travel journal (1680). Reader: Lionel Wendt. S: Cavalcanti. 40 min. Screened at 1,2:1. A BFINA print viewed at Cinema Orion (History of the Cinema), Helsinki, 15 Dec 2010.
Revisited one of the most beautiful (British) films of all time. A poetical masterpiece in four episodes: 1. The Buddha, 2. The Virgin Island, 3. The Voices of Commerce, and 4. The Apparel of God. It is a film of nobility and dignity.
The first episode follows the passage from devil worship to Buddhism. In the second episode we witness traditional ways with elephants, fishing, sawmills, and dancing schools. It is a celebration of an ancient way of life. In the third episode we proceed to industrialization: forestry (with elephants), cocoanut industry, tea industry, modern communication (telephone wires). In the final episode we return to Buddhism. There is a sense of music, dance, and rhythm in this wonderful film. Largely a beautiful definition of light in this print.
Revisited one of the most beautiful (British) films of all time. A poetical masterpiece in four episodes: 1. The Buddha, 2. The Virgin Island, 3. The Voices of Commerce, and 4. The Apparel of God. It is a film of nobility and dignity.
The first episode follows the passage from devil worship to Buddhism. In the second episode we witness traditional ways with elephants, fishing, sawmills, and dancing schools. It is a celebration of an ancient way of life. In the third episode we proceed to industrialization: forestry (with elephants), cocoanut industry, tea industry, modern communication (telephone wires). In the final episode we return to Buddhism. There is a sense of music, dance, and rhythm in this wonderful film. Largely a beautiful definition of light in this print.
Jos rakastat / If You Love
Om du älskar. FI © 2010 Juonifilmi Oy. P: Jarkko Hentula. D: Neil Hardwick. SC: Katja Kallio - based on the idea of Jarkko Hentula - inspired by the fairy-tale "Adalmiinan helmi" ("Adalmina's Pearl") by Sakari Topelius (from Läsning för barn, 1865-1896). DP: Pini Hellstedt - RED - digital intermediate at Generator Post - scope. AD: Kaisa Mäkinen. COST: Elina Kolehmainen. Make-up: Marjut Samulin. M: Leri Leskinen. Song list beyond the jump break. Choreography: Osku Heiskanen. ED: Harri Ylönen. S: Pasi Peni. Cast: Elli Vallinoja (Ada / Anna), Chike Ohanwe (Toni), Jessica Penttilä (Ada at 9), Taneli Mäkelä (Ada'a father), Satu Silvo (Marja-Leena), Minttu Mustakallio (Ada's mother), Meri Nenonen (Hanna), Jenni Hakala (Mervi Takala), Henni-Liisa Stam (Muru), Anna Laulumaa (Milla). Fay Eskin (Toni's mother), Mateus Tembe (Toni's father), Renée Böök ja Matilda Elo (Toni's little sisters), Matti Onnismaa (Ola), Sarah Kivi (Afya), Soma Manuchar (Inaya), Esa-Matti Loukola (Jonne), Veeti Kallio (clown / hat seller). 123 min. A FS Film print deposited with KAVA without subtitles, 35 mm print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (The Jussi Awards), 15 Dec 2010.
I had been scared by the previews (trailers) from seeing this Finnish musical, and now that I finally saw it I was positively surprised. The fairy-tale by Topelius tells about a selfish princess who loses her memory and ends up as a shepherdess. In this modernization the minister's daughter drives recklessly, there is a crash fatal to the other party, and Ada loses her memory. She starts a new life as Anna the nurse, and falls in love with a boy who happens to be the victim's son. In this contemporary story, the father and the son are black. This is a musical with a serious theme, about taking responsibility of one's actions.
Neil Hardwick is a writer and a top theatre and television director of many of the most popular shows in Finnish tv history. This is his first cinema film, boldly in the musical genre, which has been rare in Finnish film history. This is a modern musical apparently inspired by the Dennis Potter shows. There are some 20 production numbers based on some of the most popular Finnish songs of the last 40 years. The title of the film is from the song "Jos rakastat" by Kaj Chydenius and Matti Rossi from 1971 with associations to a time of idealistic political activism.
There is much to like. The young leads are inexperienced and the film is too long, less would be more. I like the two endings best. The two "draw each other's images in the sand" in the impressive final aerial shot of the narrative. When the final credits roll almost all of the original artists of the songs appear in a spoof music and dance video.
The movie is shot with a digital RED camera, and I have no quarrel with the visual quality. There is an emphasis on warm colours, and it has been successfully realized. I think I had been turned off by the garish look of the trailer, but the movie itself is not garish.
The song list is beyond the jump break:
I had been scared by the previews (trailers) from seeing this Finnish musical, and now that I finally saw it I was positively surprised. The fairy-tale by Topelius tells about a selfish princess who loses her memory and ends up as a shepherdess. In this modernization the minister's daughter drives recklessly, there is a crash fatal to the other party, and Ada loses her memory. She starts a new life as Anna the nurse, and falls in love with a boy who happens to be the victim's son. In this contemporary story, the father and the son are black. This is a musical with a serious theme, about taking responsibility of one's actions.
Neil Hardwick is a writer and a top theatre and television director of many of the most popular shows in Finnish tv history. This is his first cinema film, boldly in the musical genre, which has been rare in Finnish film history. This is a modern musical apparently inspired by the Dennis Potter shows. There are some 20 production numbers based on some of the most popular Finnish songs of the last 40 years. The title of the film is from the song "Jos rakastat" by Kaj Chydenius and Matti Rossi from 1971 with associations to a time of idealistic political activism.
There is much to like. The young leads are inexperienced and the film is too long, less would be more. I like the two endings best. The two "draw each other's images in the sand" in the impressive final aerial shot of the narrative. When the final credits roll almost all of the original artists of the songs appear in a spoof music and dance video.
The movie is shot with a digital RED camera, and I have no quarrel with the visual quality. There is an emphasis on warm colours, and it has been successfully realized. I think I had been turned off by the garish look of the trailer, but the movie itself is not garish.
The song list is beyond the jump break:
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Triumph des Willens
Triumph of the Will. DE 1935. D: Leni Riefenstahl. With e-subtitles in Finnish by AA. Viewed at Cinema Orion (History of the Cinema), Helsinki, 14 Dec 2010. - Revisited the beginning. - Every year in our History of the Cinema series we show one Fascist film. We have shown Roberto Rossellini's Un pilota ritorna, Hans Steinhoff's Hitlerjunge Quex, and Goffredo Alessandrini's Noi vivi, and now, Triumph des Willens. None of these films were released in Finland. - For me, Triumph des Willens is a horror film about a cultured people being degraded into a mob before our very eyes. - This autumn I have been reading Samuel Fuller's memoirs, and he tells how fierce the defense of Germany was in every town and village even after it was evident that Germany had lost the war. Riefenstahl's film helps understand. - The cinematography by Sepp Allgeier and his team is excellent, and the music arrangement by Herbert Windt is profoundly moving. - There is no explicit racism and militarism in this film, which portrays the NSDAP as the harbinger of peace, prosperity and restoration. But we can sense the threat. - I believe one reason for the fact that Triumph des Willens was never generally screened in Finland (it was seen only in closed screenings arranged by the German embassy) was that in our country it would have largely functioned as anti-German and anti-Nazi propaganda. - But Soviet films started to be seen after the WWII, and they functioned as excellent anti-Soviet propaganda.
Kauas pilvet karkaavat / Drifting Clouds
FI 1996. D: Aki Kaurismäki. With English subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion (Aki Kaurismäki), Helsinki, 14 Dec 2010. - Revisited the ending of the first film in Aki Kaurismäki's "Finnish trilogy", about unemployment, starring Kati Outinen and Kari Väänänen, dedicated to the memory of Matti Pellonpää. A neo-Capraesque tale in Kurosawaesque colour. These films communicate with the eyes, the looks. The title of the film comes from the song "Pilvet karkaa, niin minäkin" ("Clouds Escape, So Do I") by Rauli Somerjoki, with lyrics by the poet Jarkko Laine, heard during the final credits. - It is a pleasure to see the full colour of Timo Salminen's cinematography in a film print.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Eija-Liisa Ahtila: Marian ilmestys / The Annunciation (an installation of three projected images)
FI © 2010 Crystal Eye - Kristallisilmä Oy. P: Ilppo Pohjola. D+SC: Eija-Liisa Ahtila. DP: Arto Kaivanto - 35 mm and HD - digital intermediate 2k - projection format HD. AD: Sattva-Hanna Toiviainen. Cost: Maria Savio. Make-up: Leila Mäkynen. S: Peter Nordström - DD 5.1. ED: Heikki Kotsalo. Loc: Aulanko. Cast: Satu Mäkinen (Virgin Mary), Elise Laaksonen (Archangel Gabriel), Taru Ollila (Saint), Elina Hurme and Anastasia Ilvonen (servants), Riina Myyryläinen (Patron), Seppo Salminen (Santa Claus), Kati Outinen (director). 32 min 10 sec. 3-channel projected high definition installation at Galleria Heino 11 Dec 2010 - 9 Jan 2011, viewed at the vernissage, in the presence of Eija-Liisa Ahtila, 10 Dec 2010
Eija-Liisa Ahtila's The Annunciation is simultaneously on display at Galerie Marian Goodman (79 Rue du Temple, 75003 Paris), December 4, 2010 - January 8, 2011.
The Annunciation is a topical subject for December although the even more perfect timing would be nine months before Christmas. Reflections on Christian imagery are the background to this reconfiguration. This work demands repeated viewings, and now I only saw it once. I appreciated the splendid visions of the winter landscape. The installation is the story of a modern reconstruction of the Annunciation as told in the Gospel of Luke and in the tradition of Western painting.
P.S. 14 Jan 2012. Olaf Möller has written in Filmihullu 5/2011 (he saw this movie in the Venice Film Festival in 2011) that The Annunciation is about how man makes God in his own image.
The official presentation is beyond the jump break.
Eija-Liisa Ahtila's The Annunciation is simultaneously on display at Galerie Marian Goodman (79 Rue du Temple, 75003 Paris), December 4, 2010 - January 8, 2011.
The Annunciation is a topical subject for December although the even more perfect timing would be nine months before Christmas. Reflections on Christian imagery are the background to this reconfiguration. This work demands repeated viewings, and now I only saw it once. I appreciated the splendid visions of the winter landscape. The installation is the story of a modern reconstruction of the Annunciation as told in the Gospel of Luke and in the tradition of Western painting.
P.S. 14 Jan 2012. Olaf Möller has written in Filmihullu 5/2011 (he saw this movie in the Venice Film Festival in 2011) that The Annunciation is about how man makes God in his own image.
The official presentation is beyond the jump break.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
Voittamaton ykkönen / Den obesegrade ettan. The original release version: US © 1980 Lorimar Productions, Inc. P: Gene Corman. D+SC: Samuel Fuller. AD: Adam Greenberg. AD: Peter Jamieson. FX: Jeff Clifford, Peter Dawson, Kit West. Make-up, hair: Blanche Shuler. M: Dana Kaproff. S: Jack A. Finlay. ED: Morton Tubor. LOC: Israel. CAST: Lee Marvin (Sergeant), Mark Hamill (Griff), Robert Carradine (Zab), Bobby DiCicco (Vinci), Kelly Ward (Johnson), Stéphane Audran (Walloon), Siegfried Rauch (Schroeder), Serge Marquand (Ransonnet), Charles Macaulay (General / Captain), Alain Dourey (Broban), Maurice Marsac (Vichy colonel), Colin Gilbert (prisoner), Joseph Clark (Shep), Ken Campbell (Lemcheck), Doug Werner (Switolski), Perry Lang (Kaiser), Howard Delman (Smitty), Marthe Villalonga (Madame Marbaise), Giovanna Galetti (woman in a Sicilian village), Gregori Buimistre (a German), Shimon Barr (a German nurse), Matteo Zoffoli (Sicilian boy), Avraham Ronai (German Marshal), Galit Rotman (pregnant woman). (The original release version was 113 min)
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction. 2004. PC: Lorac Productions. EX: Brian Jamieson. P: Douglas Freeman, Richard Schickel. Digital intermediate: Efilm. Digital paint: Arn Campero, John Falchi, Gary Forbes. S: Mark Linden, Tara Paul, Harry E. Snodgrass. ED: Bryan McKenzie. Released by: Warner Bros. 162 min
A 35 mm Cinematek print with French / Flemish subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion (Samuel Fuller), Helsinki, 9 Dec 2010.
Revisited Richard Schickel's superb reconstruction of The Big Red One with 50 additional minutes.
The Big Red One was the most important film in Samuel Fuller's life. Officially he was working with it since 1957, originally for Warner Bros., but the project was cancelled because Fuller did not accept John Wayne in the leading role. Merrill's Marauders was Fuller's "dry run" for another attempt to produce The Big Red One for Warner Bros., but although it was a success in every way, nobody wanted to finance The Big Red One in the 1960s.
Fuller finally got to direct the magnificent story, and the film was released in 1980. It is a small-scale semi-autobiographical interpretation of the way of the U.S. First Infantry Division in WWII in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy Landing, occupied France, the Kasserine Pass, the Hürtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, Germany, and finally, the Falkenau concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Watching The Big Red One I project mentally the feeling of the scope and magnitude of Merrill's Marauders to this "little big film".
All Samuel Fuller aficionados are grateful for this reconstruction. Yet Fuller's other war films are much better, and the best account of the subject is in Samuel Fuller's autobiography A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking. Fuller went to war with the attitude of a crime reporter to cover the biggest crime of our time. His whole oeuvre can be seen as a coming to terms with the experience of the Second World War.
The audience was grateful for the rare chance to see The Big Red One: The Reconstruction in a film print screening. Although 35 mm, the print has an obvious digital intermediate look.
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction. 2004. PC: Lorac Productions. EX: Brian Jamieson. P: Douglas Freeman, Richard Schickel. Digital intermediate: Efilm. Digital paint: Arn Campero, John Falchi, Gary Forbes. S: Mark Linden, Tara Paul, Harry E. Snodgrass. ED: Bryan McKenzie. Released by: Warner Bros. 162 min
A 35 mm Cinematek print with French / Flemish subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion (Samuel Fuller), Helsinki, 9 Dec 2010.
Revisited Richard Schickel's superb reconstruction of The Big Red One with 50 additional minutes.
The Big Red One was the most important film in Samuel Fuller's life. Officially he was working with it since 1957, originally for Warner Bros., but the project was cancelled because Fuller did not accept John Wayne in the leading role. Merrill's Marauders was Fuller's "dry run" for another attempt to produce The Big Red One for Warner Bros., but although it was a success in every way, nobody wanted to finance The Big Red One in the 1960s.
Fuller finally got to direct the magnificent story, and the film was released in 1980. It is a small-scale semi-autobiographical interpretation of the way of the U.S. First Infantry Division in WWII in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy Landing, occupied France, the Kasserine Pass, the Hürtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, Germany, and finally, the Falkenau concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Watching The Big Red One I project mentally the feeling of the scope and magnitude of Merrill's Marauders to this "little big film".
All Samuel Fuller aficionados are grateful for this reconstruction. Yet Fuller's other war films are much better, and the best account of the subject is in Samuel Fuller's autobiography A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking. Fuller went to war with the attitude of a crime reporter to cover the biggest crime of our time. His whole oeuvre can be seen as a coming to terms with the experience of the Second World War.
The audience was grateful for the rare chance to see The Big Red One: The Reconstruction in a film print screening. Although 35 mm, the print has an obvious digital intermediate look.
La belle équipe
Jean Pariisista / Jean från Paris. FR 1936. PC: Ciné-Arys Production. P: Arys Nissotti. D: Julien Duvivier. SC: Charles Spaak, Duvivier. DP: Jules Krüger, Marc Fossard. AD: Jacques Krauss. M: Maurice Yvain. Valse musette »Quand on s’promène au bord de l’eau» (music by Yvain, lyrics by Julien Duvivier, Yvain, Louis Poterat) perf. Jean Gabin (vocals), Albert Deprince (accordeon). ED: Marthe Poncin. Studio: Joinville. Loc: Chennevières-sur-Marne. Cast: Jean Gabin (Jean), Charles Vanel (Charles), Raymond Aimos (Raymond, "Tintin"), Viviane Romance (Gina), Micheline Cheirel (Huguette), Raphaël Medina (Mario), Charles Dorat (Jacques), Charpin (policeman). 101 min. A SFI print of the happy end version with Swedish subtitles, screened with e-subtitles in Finnish by Lena Talvio. Viewed at Cinema Orion (History of the Cinema), Helsinki, 9 Dec 2010
The weeks before Christmas are extremely dark in Finland, but now Helsinki is snowbound in a way that it has not been in decades at this time of the year. To fight the darkness, there is a busy season of receptions and celebrations called pikkujoulut (Little Christmases). Having celebrated the Japanese Emperor's birthday and the Lasipalatsi reception at Bio Rex and having moved at a snail's pace in the traffic slowed down by the snow I finally make it to the Orion.
Revisited the second half of Julien Duvivier's seminal work from the front populaire era. "The fine gang" ("la belle équipe") consists of five unemployed friends who win the top prize in the lottery and establish a guinguette called Chez nous by the river Marne. There is a moment of happiness, culminating in the marvellous Jean Gabin song sequence, one of the most beautiful anthology pieces in the history of the (French) cinema with immortal long takes shot with the moving cameras of Jules Krüger and Marc Fossard. Meanwhile, one of the friends is dancing on the roof... and a series of misfortunes starts to pile up. The most damaging of all is the jealousy over Gina. Solidarity soon goes out of the window. This film is all about the spirit of the nation, and one can sense Duvivier's profound mistrust in solidarity. One of the essential Jean Gabin films. Duvivier was the one who discovered his star persona in La Bandera and Pépé le Moko. In each Duvivier film Gabin is different, and in La belle équipe his performance is immortal. One can appreciate the visual beauty of Jules Krüger's plein air cinematography in this SFI print.
"Quand on s'promène au bord de l'eau" lyrics by Julien Duvivier beyond the jump break:
The weeks before Christmas are extremely dark in Finland, but now Helsinki is snowbound in a way that it has not been in decades at this time of the year. To fight the darkness, there is a busy season of receptions and celebrations called pikkujoulut (Little Christmases). Having celebrated the Japanese Emperor's birthday and the Lasipalatsi reception at Bio Rex and having moved at a snail's pace in the traffic slowed down by the snow I finally make it to the Orion.
Revisited the second half of Julien Duvivier's seminal work from the front populaire era. "The fine gang" ("la belle équipe") consists of five unemployed friends who win the top prize in the lottery and establish a guinguette called Chez nous by the river Marne. There is a moment of happiness, culminating in the marvellous Jean Gabin song sequence, one of the most beautiful anthology pieces in the history of the (French) cinema with immortal long takes shot with the moving cameras of Jules Krüger and Marc Fossard. Meanwhile, one of the friends is dancing on the roof... and a series of misfortunes starts to pile up. The most damaging of all is the jealousy over Gina. Solidarity soon goes out of the window. This film is all about the spirit of the nation, and one can sense Duvivier's profound mistrust in solidarity. One of the essential Jean Gabin films. Duvivier was the one who discovered his star persona in La Bandera and Pépé le Moko. In each Duvivier film Gabin is different, and in La belle équipe his performance is immortal. One can appreciate the visual beauty of Jules Krüger's plein air cinematography in this SFI print.
"Quand on s'promène au bord de l'eau" lyrics by Julien Duvivier beyond the jump break:
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
The Naked Kiss
Alaston suudelma. US 1964. PC: F & F Productions. A Leon Fromkess - Sam Firks Production. P+D+SC: Samuel Fuller. DP: Stanley Cortez. M: Paul Dunlap. ED: Jerome Thoms. S: Bert Hallberg. AD: Eugene Lourie. Cost: Einar H. Bourman, Hazel Allensworth. Make-up: Harry Thomas. Cast: Constance Towers (Kelly), Anthony Eisley (Griff), Michael Dante (Grant), Virginia Grey (Candy), Patsy Kelly (Mac), Betty Bronson (Miss Josephine), Marie Devereux (Buff), Karen Conrad (Dusty). 93 min. A DFI print with Danish subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 8 Dec 2010. - Revisited the first half-an-hour of Samuel Fuller's low budget masterpiece with a strong performance by Constance Towers, great cinematography by Stanley Cortez, and engaging music by Paul Dunlap. An interesting parallel film to Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie of the same year, both stories of wandering women outside the law. But in Fuller's story the independent Kelly is not helped by any men, on the contrary, she has to fight the injustice of men. The Naked Kiss is more topical now than then because of the more widespread recognition of pedophilia. - As a director, Fuller was still at his best in The Naked Kiss, but the production circumstances became too unfavourable, and his continuously exciting oeuvre was interrupted. - Fine definition of light in the used print.
Total Balalaika Show
FI 1993. PC: Sputnik Oy. P+D: Aki Kaurismäki. DP: Heikki Ortamo - with Pekka Aine, Tahvo Hirvonen, Timo Salminen, Olli Varja - with assistents Heikki Färm, Esa Illi, Seppo Louhi, Rauno Ronkainen - shot on super 16 - film print on 35 mm. Music recording: Heikki Savolainen. Music mixing: Mauri Sumén, Heikki Savolainen, Pemo Ojala. ED: Timo Linnasalo.
Leningrad Cowboys: Twist-Twist Erkinharju (drums), Ben Granfelt (guitar), Sakke Järvenpää (vocals, guitar, drums), Jore Marjaranta (vocals), Ekke Niiva (harmonica, saxophone), Lyle Närvänen (guitar), Pemo Ojala (trumpet, alto horn), Silu Seppälä (bass), Mauri Sumén (accordeon, keyboards), Mato Valtonen (vocals, guitar, hand drum).
The Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble with 100 singers, 40 orchestra musicians, and 20 ballet dancers.
Presenter: Kirsi Tykkyläinen. 57 min. Viewed at 35 mm at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 8 Dec 2010
Total Balalaika Show is a documentary about a remarkable concert on 12 June 1993 at the Helsinki Senate Square, Finland's most prominent square, surrounded by the Helsinki Cathedral, the Cabinet of Finland and the Helsinki University.
There were 50.000 - 70.000 spectators on the square, more than it can fit. I was nearby that night but seeing the crowds did not even think about trying to squeeze in. After this screening I had coffee with a friend who was there that night and told that it was hard to make sense of the music in the actual concert.
This joint concert of Leningrad Cowboys and the Red Army Ensemble was one of the most important performances worldwide to celebrate the fall of the Iron Curtain. No matter that the music of neither of the two ensembles is their best. This is not something one would like to listen to out of this context. This performance is concept art, and the film is a solid documentary on it. We see 14 of the 24 numbers in their entirety. Aki Kaurismäki shows good judgment in keeping this a straight record without special emphases.
This film is a document of happiness about the end of the Cold War.
Total Balalaika Show has been transmitted several times on tv and it has been popular on vhs and dvd. Very few have seen it on 35 mm, but only on a big screen one can have the experience of space and the scope of the crazy spectacle.
Song list beyond the jump break:
Leningrad Cowboys: Twist-Twist Erkinharju (drums), Ben Granfelt (guitar), Sakke Järvenpää (vocals, guitar, drums), Jore Marjaranta (vocals), Ekke Niiva (harmonica, saxophone), Lyle Närvänen (guitar), Pemo Ojala (trumpet, alto horn), Silu Seppälä (bass), Mauri Sumén (accordeon, keyboards), Mato Valtonen (vocals, guitar, hand drum).
The Alexandrov Red Army Ensemble with 100 singers, 40 orchestra musicians, and 20 ballet dancers.
Presenter: Kirsi Tykkyläinen. 57 min. Viewed at 35 mm at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 8 Dec 2010
Total Balalaika Show is a documentary about a remarkable concert on 12 June 1993 at the Helsinki Senate Square, Finland's most prominent square, surrounded by the Helsinki Cathedral, the Cabinet of Finland and the Helsinki University.
There were 50.000 - 70.000 spectators on the square, more than it can fit. I was nearby that night but seeing the crowds did not even think about trying to squeeze in. After this screening I had coffee with a friend who was there that night and told that it was hard to make sense of the music in the actual concert.
This joint concert of Leningrad Cowboys and the Red Army Ensemble was one of the most important performances worldwide to celebrate the fall of the Iron Curtain. No matter that the music of neither of the two ensembles is their best. This is not something one would like to listen to out of this context. This performance is concept art, and the film is a solid documentary on it. We see 14 of the 24 numbers in their entirety. Aki Kaurismäki shows good judgment in keeping this a straight record without special emphases.
This film is a document of happiness about the end of the Cold War.
Total Balalaika Show has been transmitted several times on tv and it has been popular on vhs and dvd. Very few have seen it on 35 mm, but only on a big screen one can have the experience of space and the scope of the crazy spectacle.
Song list beyond the jump break:
Aki Kaurismäki: music short films
Courtesy Sputnik and Pirkanmaan Elokuvakeskus, 35 mm prints in black and white (except L.A. Woman, Betacam, colour). Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 8 Dec 2010.
Leningrad Cowboys: Rock'y VI (FI 1986) 9' - Cold War boxing match parody
Leningrad Cowboys: Thru The Wire (FI 1987) 6'- prison escape
Leningrad Cowboys: L.A. Woman (FI 1987) 5' Betacam [there never was a 35 mm print although it was shot on 35 mm] - live performance
Melrose: Rich Little Bitch (FI 1987) 6'- live performance - from Hamlet Goes Business
Leningrad Cowboys: Those Were The Days (FI 1992) 6' - the bar in Paris
Leningrad Cowboys: These Boots (FI 1992) 5' - the Leningrad Cowboys history of Finland
A top set of music shorts which Aki Kaurismäki refuses to call music videos. Aki was instrumental in the transition of The Sleepy Sleepers into Leningrad Cowboys. Laconic visuals, deadpan comic effects. The best music is in the early shorts. Aki's four conceptual Leningrad Cowboys music shorts are among the best of the golden age of the music video. Many prominent film directors have made music videos, but the results have almost always been forgettable. Aki is an exception.
Leningrad Cowboys: Rock'y VI (FI 1986) 9' - Cold War boxing match parody
Leningrad Cowboys: Thru The Wire (FI 1987) 6'- prison escape
Leningrad Cowboys: L.A. Woman (FI 1987) 5' Betacam [there never was a 35 mm print although it was shot on 35 mm] - live performance
Melrose: Rich Little Bitch (FI 1987) 6'- live performance - from Hamlet Goes Business
Leningrad Cowboys: Those Were The Days (FI 1992) 6' - the bar in Paris
Leningrad Cowboys: These Boots (FI 1992) 5' - the Leningrad Cowboys history of Finland
A top set of music shorts which Aki Kaurismäki refuses to call music videos. Aki was instrumental in the transition of The Sleepy Sleepers into Leningrad Cowboys. Laconic visuals, deadpan comic effects. The best music is in the early shorts. Aki's four conceptual Leningrad Cowboys music shorts are among the best of the golden age of the music video. Many prominent film directors have made music videos, but the results have almost always been forgettable. Aki is an exception.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Wagon Master
Wagonmaster - aavikon sankari / Wagonmaster - öknens hjälte. US © 1950 Argosy Pictures Corp. Presented by John Ford, Merian C. Cooper. Assoc. P: Lowell Farrell. D: John Ford. Assist. D: Wingate Smith. SC: Frank Nugent, Patrick Ford. DP: Bert Glennon. 2d unit Photography: Archie Stout. AD: James Basevi. ED: Jack Murray; Set Dec: Joe Kish. Properties: Jack Golconda. Men's Wardrobe: Wes Jeffries. Women's Wardrobe: Adele Parmenter. M: Richard Hageman. Songs: "Shadows in the Dust," "Song of the Wagon Master," "Wagons West" and "Chuckawalla Swing," words and music by Stan Jones. S: Frank Webster, Clem Portman. FX: Jack Caffee. Makeup: Don Cash. Hair: Anna Malin. LOC: Monument Valley. Cast: Ben Johnson (Travis Blue), Joanne Dru (Denver), Harry Carey Jr. (Sandy Owens), Ward Bond (Jonathan Wiggs), Charles Kemper (Uncle Shiloh Clegg), Alan Mowbray (Dr. A. Locksley Hall), Jane Darwell (Sister Ledyard), Ruth Clifford (Floretty "Florey" Phyffe), Russell Simpson (Adam Perkins), Kathleen O'Malley (Prudence Perkins), James Arness (Floyd Clegg), Fred Libby (Reese Clegg), Mickey Simpson (Jesse Clegg), Hank Worden (Luke Clegg), Francis Ford (Mr. Peachtree), Jim Thorpe (Indian chief), Cliff Lyons (Marshal). 86 min. A print of the 1964 Aito Mäkinen re-release with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Aito Mäkinen / Jerker A. Eriksson edited by Pentti Pajukallio. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 7 Dec 2010.
Revisited John Ford's epic poem, a film that may seem at first sight a routine number. But the more one sees it the better it gets. The film was a favourite of John Ford, himself, and it keeps growing in esteem among John Ford aficionados. Wagon Master is a relaxed film without pretension. The only monumentalism is the location, Monument Valley. The Mormons (their leader played by Ward Bond) are chased out of town. They start their journey through the desert, the rivers, and over the mountains to the promised land. They get horse traders (Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr.) as their wagon masters. They meet a medicine show wagon. A family of outlaws, the Cleggs, hijacks the wagon train to hide in the wagons from the sheriff's posse. The wagon train also meets a peaceful Navajo tribe. - Joseph McBride remarks on the topical relevance of the film's stance against prejudice, bigotry, racism, and intolerance. - The cinematography by Bert Glennon is magnificent, and the visual quality of the print is fine.
Revisited John Ford's epic poem, a film that may seem at first sight a routine number. But the more one sees it the better it gets. The film was a favourite of John Ford, himself, and it keeps growing in esteem among John Ford aficionados. Wagon Master is a relaxed film without pretension. The only monumentalism is the location, Monument Valley. The Mormons (their leader played by Ward Bond) are chased out of town. They start their journey through the desert, the rivers, and over the mountains to the promised land. They get horse traders (Ben Johnson, Harry Carey, Jr.) as their wagon masters. They meet a medicine show wagon. A family of outlaws, the Cleggs, hijacks the wagon train to hide in the wagons from the sheriff's posse. The wagon train also meets a peaceful Navajo tribe. - Joseph McBride remarks on the topical relevance of the film's stance against prejudice, bigotry, racism, and intolerance. - The cinematography by Bert Glennon is magnificent, and the visual quality of the print is fine.
White Dog
Valkoinen koira / Vit hund. US © 1981 Paramount Pictures Corporation. EX: Edgar J. Scherick, Nick Vanogg. P: Jon Davison. D: Samuel Fuller. SC: Samuel Fuller, Curtis Hanson - based on the short story "Chien blanc" (1970) by Romain Gary. DP: Bruce Surtees. FX: John Frazier. PD: Brian Eatwell. COST: Ellis Cohen (men), Gail Viola (women). Make-up: Adelbert Acevedo. M: Ennio Morricone. ED: Bernard Gribble. LOC: Los Angeles, Wildlife Way Station (San Fernando Valley). CAST: Kristy McNichol (Julie Sawyer), Paul Winfield (Keys), Burl Ives (Carruthers), Jameson Parker (Roland Gray), Christa Lang (sairaanhoitaja), Samuel Fuller, Paul Bartel, Martine Dawson, Neyle Morrow, Dick Miller, Samantha Fuller. 90 min. A vintage print with Swedish subtitles by Stig Björkman viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 7 Dec 2010.
Revisited a strong anti-racist drama which was a high point in Samuel Fuller's late career. It had only a limited release because of its controversial subject matter but its greatness has been belatedly recognized.
The title animal is a white German shephard dog which has been trained as a puppy as an attack dog - to attack black people.
White Dog is one of the all time best dog films, along with Rin-Tin-Tin, Lassie, White Bim Black Ear, and the Finnish Myrsky (Storm) by Kaisa Rastimo (about an attack dog puppy rescued from the Berlin Wall).
The performances are fine. White Dog may be Kristy McNichol's best film. Paul Winfield and Burl Ives are powerful as seasoned animal trainers who have a hard time convincing the young actress that it may be impossible to un-train a killer dog. The dog's performance is convincing, and the film is especially interesting for owners of gundogs.
White Dog is essential Samuel Fuller because of its controversial and uncompromising anti-racist subject matter. There are the intensive close-ups, including extreme close-ups of eyes, and other Fullerian hallmarks, but the film is more linear, more mainstream, more like conventional tv drama than his other masterpieces.
Revisited a strong anti-racist drama which was a high point in Samuel Fuller's late career. It had only a limited release because of its controversial subject matter but its greatness has been belatedly recognized.
The title animal is a white German shephard dog which has been trained as a puppy as an attack dog - to attack black people.
White Dog is one of the all time best dog films, along with Rin-Tin-Tin, Lassie, White Bim Black Ear, and the Finnish Myrsky (Storm) by Kaisa Rastimo (about an attack dog puppy rescued from the Berlin Wall).
The performances are fine. White Dog may be Kristy McNichol's best film. Paul Winfield and Burl Ives are powerful as seasoned animal trainers who have a hard time convincing the young actress that it may be impossible to un-train a killer dog. The dog's performance is convincing, and the film is especially interesting for owners of gundogs.
White Dog is essential Samuel Fuller because of its controversial and uncompromising anti-racist subject matter. There are the intensive close-ups, including extreme close-ups of eyes, and other Fullerian hallmarks, but the film is more linear, more mainstream, more like conventional tv drama than his other masterpieces.
Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück
[the film was not released in Finland] [Äiti Krausen matka onneen] / Mamma Krause far till lyckans land / Mother Krause's Journey to Happiness. DE 1929. PC: Prometheus Film-Verleih und Vertrieb GmbH (Berlin). P: Willi Münzenberg. Protektorat: Käthe Kollwitz; Hans Baluschek; Otto Nagel. D+DP: Phil Jutzi. SC: Willy Döll; Jan Fethke - contribution: Otto Nagel - based on stories by Heinrich Zille - and an account of these stories by Otto Nagel. AD: Robert Scharfenberg; Carl Haacker. M for a live cinema orchestra: Paul Dessau. LOC: Wedding (Berlin). CAST: Alexandra Schmitt (Mutter Krause), Holmes Zimmermann (her son Paul Krause), Ilse Trautschold (her daughter Erna Krause), Gerhard Bienert (Schlafbursche), Vera Sacharowa (Friede, a streetwalker), Friedrich Gnaß (construction worker Max), Fee Wachsmuth (a child). Original length 3297 m. Current German length 2846 m /24 fps/ 104 min. - A print from Svenska Filminstitutet / Filmarkivet, 2864 m /24 fps/ 106 min with e-subtitles in Finnish by Lena Talvio viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (History of the Cinema), 7 Dec 2010.
Revisited Phil Jutzi's masterpiece of naturalism, Neue Sachlichkeit, and social realism. It was also included in Pordenone's Canon Revisited this year, but we had made our selection to our ongoing History of the Cinema series independently. The film is much stronger than I remembered: rich in observation, expressive and inventive in its cinematography, and with growing value as a document of its time. The film is a combination of a political story, a love story and a crime story with a Kammerspiel tragedy. As a student in Berlin I was still able to visit those old backyards (Hinterhöfe) in Wedding, and I also visited a cinema called Alhambra, but I don't know whether it was the same one as the one where Mutter Krause had its premiere. Mother Krause is a decent German woman whose heart is broken by what happens to her children. Alexandra Schmitt' performance is unforgettable. "Einen Menschen kann man mit einer Wohnung genau so wohl töten wie mit einem Axt" ("You can kill a man as easily with an apartment as with an axe") said Heinrich Zille. "Schuld hat doch nicht das Mädchen sondern das Milljöh" ("Don't blame the girl but the milieu") is the advice of a politically active friend to Max who has learned about Erna. The visual quality is largely fine; there are variations but not annoyingly often.
Revisited Phil Jutzi's masterpiece of naturalism, Neue Sachlichkeit, and social realism. It was also included in Pordenone's Canon Revisited this year, but we had made our selection to our ongoing History of the Cinema series independently. The film is much stronger than I remembered: rich in observation, expressive and inventive in its cinematography, and with growing value as a document of its time. The film is a combination of a political story, a love story and a crime story with a Kammerspiel tragedy. As a student in Berlin I was still able to visit those old backyards (Hinterhöfe) in Wedding, and I also visited a cinema called Alhambra, but I don't know whether it was the same one as the one where Mutter Krause had its premiere. Mother Krause is a decent German woman whose heart is broken by what happens to her children. Alexandra Schmitt' performance is unforgettable. "Einen Menschen kann man mit einer Wohnung genau so wohl töten wie mit einem Axt" ("You can kill a man as easily with an apartment as with an axe") said Heinrich Zille. "Schuld hat doch nicht das Mädchen sondern das Milljöh" ("Don't blame the girl but the milieu") is the advice of a politically active friend to Max who has learned about Erna. The visual quality is largely fine; there are variations but not annoyingly often.
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps / Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. US © 2010 Twentieth Century Fox / Dune. PC: Edward R. Pressman Film. P: Eric Kopeloff, Edward R. Pressman, Oliver Stone. D: Oliver Stone. SC: Allan Loeb, Stephen Schiff - based on the characters by Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone (1987). DP: Rodrigo Prieto - digital intermediate: Efilm. PD: Kristi Zea. COST: Ellen Mirojnick. Makeup: Jane Choi, Ande Yung - (for Mr. Douglas): Leslie Fuller. M: Craig Armstrong. S: Wylie Stateman. ED: David Brenner, Julie Monroe. CAST: Michael Douglas (Gordon Gekko), Shia LaBeouf (Jake Moore), Josh Brolin (Bretton James), Carey Mulligan (Winnie Gekko), Eli Wallach (Jules Steinhardt), Susan Sarandon (Jake's mother), Frank Langella (Louis Zabel) - Sylvia Miles (realtor), Oliver Stone (investor), Warren Buffett (himself), Charlie Sheen (Bud Fox). 136 min. (U.S. release 20 Sep, Finnish release 1 Oct, 2010). Released in Finland by FS Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Minna Franssila / Sophia Beckman-De-La-Riva. A 35 mm projection at Tennispalatsi 5, Helsinki, 4 Dec 2010.
Oliver Stone has in this film the best possible material for a topical drama, tragedy, and / or satire, and the film starts well. Gordon Gekko became a symbol of the 1980s capitalism, and now we follow with him the progress to the 2008 financial earthquake the full implications of which still remain unknown. Michael Douglas in great shape as Gekko.
The progress to the conclusion is a disappointment, a case of easy-watching wish-fulfillment entertainment. But the film is worth seeing because of the first half's dramatization of contemporary financial speculation.
Oliver Stone has in this film the best possible material for a topical drama, tragedy, and / or satire, and the film starts well. Gordon Gekko became a symbol of the 1980s capitalism, and now we follow with him the progress to the 2008 financial earthquake the full implications of which still remain unknown. Michael Douglas in great shape as Gekko.
The progress to the conclusion is a disappointment, a case of easy-watching wish-fulfillment entertainment. But the film is worth seeing because of the first half's dramatization of contemporary financial speculation.
Les Amours imaginaires
Kangastuksia / Inbillad kärlek / Heartbeats. CA © 2010 Mifilifilms, Inc. P: Xavier Dolan, Carole Mondello, Daniel Morin. D+SC: Xavier Dolan. DP: Stéphanie Anne Weber Biron - digital intermediate - 1,85:1. Cost: Sophie Beasse. Makeup: Melissa Purino. "Bang Bang" (Sonny Bono) perf. Dalida. J.S. Bach cello suites. S: Sylvain Brassard. ED: Serge Harvey. Cast: Monia Chokri (Marie), Niels Schneider (Nicolas), Xavier Dolan (Francis). 103 min. Released in Finland by Bio Rex Distribution with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Topi Oksanen / Joanna Erkkilä. A 35 mm screening at Kinopalatsi 6, Helsinki, 4 Dec 2010.
The second feature film of the 21-year-old Xavier Dolan is a triangle story of Marie and Francis who live together as friends and fall in love for Nicolas. However, the feeling is one-sided for both Marie and Francis.
Les Amours imaginaires is full of references. Two main characters see Audrey Hepburn and James Dean as reference points. There is a retro concept in Marie's style. The film has been compared with the French nouvelle vague and with Wong Kar-wai. For me, the film is slightly threatened to be drowned in its references, including the powerful Dalida performance of "Bang Bang".
I don't pretend having understood the characters. There is a mystery what they do, are they working, do they study, or even, are they prostitutes. There is a narcissist aura in the monologues. The nervous hand-held camera movements I have seen before.
The second feature film of the 21-year-old Xavier Dolan is a triangle story of Marie and Francis who live together as friends and fall in love for Nicolas. However, the feeling is one-sided for both Marie and Francis.
Les Amours imaginaires is full of references. Two main characters see Audrey Hepburn and James Dean as reference points. There is a retro concept in Marie's style. The film has been compared with the French nouvelle vague and with Wong Kar-wai. For me, the film is slightly threatened to be drowned in its references, including the powerful Dalida performance of "Bang Bang".
I don't pretend having understood the characters. There is a mystery what they do, are they working, do they study, or even, are they prostitutes. There is a narcissist aura in the monologues. The nervous hand-held camera movements I have seen before.
Risto Räppääjä ja polkupyörävaras / Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief
Risto Rappare och cykeltjuven. FI 2010. PC: Kinotar Oy. P: Lasse Saarinen, Rimbo Salomaa. D: Mari Rantasila. SC: Sinikka Nopola, Tiina Nopola - based on the characters in their series of books. DP: Timo Heinänen. PD: Minna Santakari. Cost: Niina Pasanen. Makeup: Leila Mäkynen. Choreography: Lotta Kuusisto. S: Risto Iissalo. ED: Tuuli Kuittinen. CAST: Severi Heikkilä (Risto Räppääjä), Lauramaija Luoto (Nelli Nuudelipää), Annu Valonen (Rauha Räppääjä), Ulla Tapaninen (Elvi Räppääjä), Martti Suosalo (Lennart Lindberg), Marcus Groth (Bertil Rosenbögel), Joel Bonsdorff (Robert Rosenbögel), Christina Indrenius-Zalewski (Gunvor Rosenbögel), Anna-Maija Tuokko (personal nurse Pipsa), Martti Syrjä (hospital doctor Mara), Pantse Syrjä (hospital doctor Pera). 79 min. Released by Nordisk with Swedish subtitles. Viewed at Tennispalatsi 6, Helsinki, 4 Dec 2010.
Sinikka Nopola and Tiina Nopola have created Ricky Rapper, a popular figure of children's fiction in 14 books since 1997, three plays, an animated tv series and two theatrical musical comedy films directed by Mari Rantasila. Risto Räppääjä ja polkupyörävaras, which premiered in February, is the most popular film of the year in Finland and still running.
Again I'm a perfect stranger in a screening. I like the performances of the child protagonists Severi Heikkilä and Lauramaija Luoto, and Ulla Tapaninen is again great as Pakastaja-Elvi ("Mrs. Freeze").
The approach is that of a musical fantasy farce. The acting style of the other characters is early Keystone. The colour palette is anti-realistic in the extreme.
Sinikka Nopola and Tiina Nopola have created Ricky Rapper, a popular figure of children's fiction in 14 books since 1997, three plays, an animated tv series and two theatrical musical comedy films directed by Mari Rantasila. Risto Räppääjä ja polkupyörävaras, which premiered in February, is the most popular film of the year in Finland and still running.
Again I'm a perfect stranger in a screening. I like the performances of the child protagonists Severi Heikkilä and Lauramaija Luoto, and Ulla Tapaninen is again great as Pakastaja-Elvi ("Mrs. Freeze").
The approach is that of a musical fantasy farce. The acting style of the other characters is early Keystone. The colour palette is anti-realistic in the extreme.
Friday, December 03, 2010
Hævnen / In a Better World
Kosto / Hämnden. DK / SE © 2010 Zentropa Entertainment 16 Aps. P: Sisse Graum Jørgensen. D: Susanne Bier. SC: Susanne Bier, Anders Thomas Jensen. DP: Morten Søborg. PD: Peter Grant. COST: Manon Rasmussen. Makeup: Charlotte Laustsen. S: Anne Jensen, Eddie Simonsen. ED: Pernille Bech Christensen, Morten Egholm. CAST: Mikael Persbrandt (Anton), Trine Dyrholm (Marianne), Ulrich Thomsen (Claus), William Jøhnk Nielsen (Christian), Markus Rygaard (Elias). 114 min. Original in English, Danish, and Swedish. A Bio Rex Distribution release with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Anitra Paukkula / Sophie Beckman-De-La-Riva. A 35 mm screening at Kinopalatsi 8, Helsinki, 3 Dec 2010.
Three strong stories united by the theme of revenge, its futility and destructiveness. Anton is a doctor in Kenya, where he faces the atrocities against pregnant women by a local crime lord called Big Man. His son Elias is a victim of brutal school bullying. Anton is also being stupidly insulted by a local car mechanic. Christian invents an outrageous revenge plan with potentially catastrophic results.
Susanne Bier is at her best in this gripping story which presents fundamental ethical questions in an original way. Among my favourite scenes is the one at school where the teachers evade responsibility and insinuate that the parents are to blame for their son being bullied at school. I know these things happen with potentially life-long damage to the victims.
A digital intermediate look, but not of the worst kind.
Three strong stories united by the theme of revenge, its futility and destructiveness. Anton is a doctor in Kenya, where he faces the atrocities against pregnant women by a local crime lord called Big Man. His son Elias is a victim of brutal school bullying. Anton is also being stupidly insulted by a local car mechanic. Christian invents an outrageous revenge plan with potentially catastrophic results.
Susanne Bier is at her best in this gripping story which presents fundamental ethical questions in an original way. Among my favourite scenes is the one at school where the teachers evade responsibility and insinuate that the parents are to blame for their son being bullied at school. I know these things happen with potentially life-long damage to the victims.
A digital intermediate look, but not of the worst kind.
Pentti Hauhiala Collection: Walt Disney Collecting as a Passion (exhibition)
The National Library of Finland, The Rotunda, 21 Oct - 31 Dec 2010. Curated by Heikki Kaukoranta. Viewed on 3 Dec 2010.
Official introduction: "Selections from Pentti Hauhiala’s Walt Disney collection, considered one of Europe’s largest Disney collections, that has been donated to the National Library of Finland. The materials include Disney-themed literature, magazines, other printed products, audiovisual materials, as well as objects."
Pentti Hauhiala has been dedicated since childhood to Walt Disney, and the exhibition in this prominent address is a tribute to his magnificent collection and the many aspects of the world of Walt Disney. Most importantly, Pentti Hauhiala is himself a wonderful man with an insight in the spirit of Walt Disney.
Official introduction: "Selections from Pentti Hauhiala’s Walt Disney collection, considered one of Europe’s largest Disney collections, that has been donated to the National Library of Finland. The materials include Disney-themed literature, magazines, other printed products, audiovisual materials, as well as objects."
Pentti Hauhiala has been dedicated since childhood to Walt Disney, and the exhibition in this prominent address is a tribute to his magnificent collection and the many aspects of the world of Walt Disney. Most importantly, Pentti Hauhiala is himself a wonderful man with an insight in the spirit of Walt Disney.
Thursday, December 02, 2010
La Pyramide humaine
Ihmispyramidi. FR 1958. PC: Les Films de la Pléïade. D: Jean Rouch. SC: Jean Rouch. DP: Louis Miaille - colour. S: Michel Fano. ED: Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte, Geneviève Bastide. Cast: Nadine Ballot, Denise, Elola, Jean-Claude, Nathalie, Dominique, Landry, Baka, Raymond, Alan Tusques. 93 min. A vintage print with e-subtitles in Finnish by Lena Talvio, viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 2 Dec 2010.
Revisited a half an hour of Jean Rouch's ethnofiction, a human experiment among high school students, black and white, in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. Much stronger than I remembered. The level of intensity is amazing. The film is very direct and harsh on racism, almost inflammatory, dealing openly with prejudice. But in the next scenes we see the black and the white students playing and dancing together. In La Pyramide humaine there is no "cinéma-vérité" but a never-ending movement towards the reality of life, the play and the record. - The vintage colour print has still the sense of the original colour, although it may be slightly faded (and may be a blow-up from 16 mm?).
Revisited a half an hour of Jean Rouch's ethnofiction, a human experiment among high school students, black and white, in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. Much stronger than I remembered. The level of intensity is amazing. The film is very direct and harsh on racism, almost inflammatory, dealing openly with prejudice. But in the next scenes we see the black and the white students playing and dancing together. In La Pyramide humaine there is no "cinéma-vérité" but a never-ending movement towards the reality of life, the play and the record. - The vintage colour print has still the sense of the original colour, although it may be slightly faded (and may be a blow-up from 16 mm?).
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Merrill's Marauders
Hyökkäys Burmassa / Attack i Burma. US © 1962 United States Productions. P: Milton Sperling. D: Samuel Fuller. SC: Milton Sperling, Samuel Fuller – based on the novel The Marauders (1959) by Charlton Ogburn, Jr. Ass D: William Kissel. DP: William Clothier; second unit: Higino J. Fallorina. FX: Ralph Ayres. Make-up: Gordon Bau. M: Howard Jackson. S: Francis M. Stahl. ED: Folmar Blangsted. Technical advisor: lieutenant colonel Samuel Wilson. Loc: The Philippines. Cast: Jeff Chandler (brigadier general Frank Merrill), Ty Hardin (lieutenant Lee Stockton), Peter Brown (Bullseye), Andrew Duggan (major George "Doc" Nemeny), Will Hutchins (Chowhound), Claude Akins (sergeant Kolowicz), Luz Valdez (Burmese girl), John Hoyt (general Joseph W. Stilwell), Charles Briggs (Muley), Chuck Roberson, Chuck Hayward (officers), Jack Williams (medic), Chuck Hicks (corporal Doskis), Vaughan Wilson (lieutenant colonel Bannister), Pancho Magalona (Taggy). 98 min. A vintage Technicolor print from Classic Films viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 1 Dec 2010.
Revisited: Merrill's Marauders which has the most authentic look of grandeur and devastation of all Samuel Fuller's war films, shot in the Philippines with access to 12.000 real soldiers with jungle experience and the cooperation of the U.S. and Philippine defense forces.
Based on the true story in which the strategic mission is to prevent Japanese troops from getting in touch with the German ones in the Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theater of World War II. The mission is entrusted to a long range penetration special forces unit which is first led to believe that they have only one strategic target to conquer, but instead there are five, such as Walawbum, Shaduzup, and Myitkyina. The jungles, the swamps and the mountains are overwhelming. Besides enemy snipers they face malaria, hunger, exhaustion, and mental breakdown. The jungle becomes a field of massive slaughter. Centrally, the story is about a tragedy of leadership. General Merrill knows he is wasting most of his 3000 men in the overwhelming campaign. He himself is among the casualties.
Fuller's film is a tribute to the endurance of the soldiers. It is not really an ensemble piece like Fuller's other war films. It is rather the story of a collective where we hardly get to know the fighters as individuals.The film is not based on an identification strategy. Rather it is a work of epic theatre.
The physical realism of the film is impressive, and it was a privilege to see this rare vintage Technicolor print with a feeling of authentic colour.
Revisited: Merrill's Marauders which has the most authentic look of grandeur and devastation of all Samuel Fuller's war films, shot in the Philippines with access to 12.000 real soldiers with jungle experience and the cooperation of the U.S. and Philippine defense forces.
Based on the true story in which the strategic mission is to prevent Japanese troops from getting in touch with the German ones in the Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian Theater of World War II. The mission is entrusted to a long range penetration special forces unit which is first led to believe that they have only one strategic target to conquer, but instead there are five, such as Walawbum, Shaduzup, and Myitkyina. The jungles, the swamps and the mountains are overwhelming. Besides enemy snipers they face malaria, hunger, exhaustion, and mental breakdown. The jungle becomes a field of massive slaughter. Centrally, the story is about a tragedy of leadership. General Merrill knows he is wasting most of his 3000 men in the overwhelming campaign. He himself is among the casualties.
Fuller's film is a tribute to the endurance of the soldiers. It is not really an ensemble piece like Fuller's other war films. It is rather the story of a collective where we hardly get to know the fighters as individuals.The film is not based on an identification strategy. Rather it is a work of epic theatre.
The physical realism of the film is impressive, and it was a privilege to see this rare vintage Technicolor print with a feeling of authentic colour.
In the Core of the Documentary 55: Those Magnificent Wordsmiths
Dokumentin ytimessä 55: Nuo mainiot sanasepot ja viihdyttävät kielikellot / I dokumentärens kärna 55: Dessa fantastiska ordskapare. A digibeta compilation of Finnish non-fiction by Ilkka Kippola and Jari Sedergren, introduced by Ilkka Kippola, viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 1 Dec 2010
Legendary Finnish commentators on display: Kaarlo Marjanen, Hilkka Helinä, Mai-Brit Heljo, Paavo Nurmi, Heikki Silvennoinen, Olavi Puusaari, Carl-Erik Creutz. Their famous voices were also juicy targets for parody, and after the show on our way to the Corona Bar a distinguished regular presented his versions of Nurmi and Silvennoinen.
Hämeenkyrön heinänteko [Haymaking in Hämeenkyrö]. 1936. Kansatieteellinen Filmi. Kaarlo Marjanen. 9 min. - Flahertyan inspiration.
Elämä ihmiselle [Life Belongs to the People]. 1939. For: SDP. Kaarlo Marjanen. 5 min. - A political propaganda film as an urban montage essay.
Vanha Viipurimme [Our Old Vyborg]. 1939. Suomi-Filmi. Hilkka Helinä. 7 min. - Karelianism with a political emphasis.
Tutkijan työtä [A Scientist at Work]. 1961. Suomi-Filmi. Hilkka Helinä. 8 min. - Microscopic cinematography.
Ajan Kuvastin 42 [The Mirror of Time 42]. 1958. Kansan Elokuva. Mai-Brit Heljo and Esko Hytönen. 8 min. - Pirkko Mannola becomes Miss Finland.
Keskitystä keittiössä [Concentration in the Kitchen]. 1951. SOK. Irma Tyllinen and Paavo Nurmi [not the runner]. 11 min. - Towards an electric kitchen.
Muotia Napapiirillä [Fashion in the Polar Circle]. 1955. Filmileijona. Paavo Nurmi. 9 min. - Armi Kuusela.
Armin päivät [Armi's Birthday]. 1953. Huhtamäki Yhtymä. Martti Silvennoinen. 4 min. - A chocolate commercial.
Nigeria. 1969. Suomi-Filmi. Martti Silvennoinen. 10 min. - The wonders of Africa in colour.
Finlandia-Katsaus 567 [Finlandia News 567]. 1961. Finlandia-Kuva. Olavi Puusaari. 8 min. - President Kekkonen visits the U.S.A.
Olympiaradio 1952 [Olympia Radio 1952]. 1952. Harry Lewing. Carl-Erik Creutz. 8 min. - A fascinating documentary in radio history: global radio transmissions during the Helsinki Olympics.
Jouppilan neloset [The Jouppila Quadruplets]. 1954. Holger Harrivirta. Carl-Erik Creutz. 3 min. - A vitamin commercial.
Filmiviikko 1949 [The Film Week 1949]. 1949. Suomi-Filmi. Carl-Erik Creutz. 9 min. - An important documentary on the first Finnish film festival. It was arranged by 40 film distribution companies as a nationwide event.
Legendary Finnish commentators on display: Kaarlo Marjanen, Hilkka Helinä, Mai-Brit Heljo, Paavo Nurmi, Heikki Silvennoinen, Olavi Puusaari, Carl-Erik Creutz. Their famous voices were also juicy targets for parody, and after the show on our way to the Corona Bar a distinguished regular presented his versions of Nurmi and Silvennoinen.
Hämeenkyrön heinänteko [Haymaking in Hämeenkyrö]. 1936. Kansatieteellinen Filmi. Kaarlo Marjanen. 9 min. - Flahertyan inspiration.
Elämä ihmiselle [Life Belongs to the People]. 1939. For: SDP. Kaarlo Marjanen. 5 min. - A political propaganda film as an urban montage essay.
Vanha Viipurimme [Our Old Vyborg]. 1939. Suomi-Filmi. Hilkka Helinä. 7 min. - Karelianism with a political emphasis.
Tutkijan työtä [A Scientist at Work]. 1961. Suomi-Filmi. Hilkka Helinä. 8 min. - Microscopic cinematography.
Ajan Kuvastin 42 [The Mirror of Time 42]. 1958. Kansan Elokuva. Mai-Brit Heljo and Esko Hytönen. 8 min. - Pirkko Mannola becomes Miss Finland.
Keskitystä keittiössä [Concentration in the Kitchen]. 1951. SOK. Irma Tyllinen and Paavo Nurmi [not the runner]. 11 min. - Towards an electric kitchen.
Muotia Napapiirillä [Fashion in the Polar Circle]. 1955. Filmileijona. Paavo Nurmi. 9 min. - Armi Kuusela.
Armin päivät [Armi's Birthday]. 1953. Huhtamäki Yhtymä. Martti Silvennoinen. 4 min. - A chocolate commercial.
Nigeria. 1969. Suomi-Filmi. Martti Silvennoinen. 10 min. - The wonders of Africa in colour.
Finlandia-Katsaus 567 [Finlandia News 567]. 1961. Finlandia-Kuva. Olavi Puusaari. 8 min. - President Kekkonen visits the U.S.A.
Olympiaradio 1952 [Olympia Radio 1952]. 1952. Harry Lewing. Carl-Erik Creutz. 8 min. - A fascinating documentary in radio history: global radio transmissions during the Helsinki Olympics.
Jouppilan neloset [The Jouppila Quadruplets]. 1954. Holger Harrivirta. Carl-Erik Creutz. 3 min. - A vitamin commercial.
Filmiviikko 1949 [The Film Week 1949]. 1949. Suomi-Filmi. Carl-Erik Creutz. 9 min. - An important documentary on the first Finnish film festival. It was arranged by 40 film distribution companies as a nationwide event.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
