ROLAND AF HÄLLSTRÖM ERIKOISNÄYTÖS

Roland af Hällström specialvisning / Roland af Hällström Special Screening
Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 29 April 2008
In the presence of Arto af Hällström
Suomen ja Neuvostoliiton kulttuurisuhteet alkavat [The Finnish / Soviet Cultural Relations Start]. FI 1945. 9 min. Compilation quality. - With Vsevolod Pudovkin.
Jussit on jaettu ja juhlittu [The Jussi Awards]. FI 1948. Digibeta. 8 min. - With many stars.
Fennadan tarina I: Peruskalliona Roland af Hällström [The Fennada Story I: Roland af Hällström as the Foundation Rock]. D: Peter von Bagh. 57 min. Digibeta. - Excellent with interviews with Esko Töyri, Matti Kassila, Hannu Leminen, Ensio Suominen, Erkki Viljos, Kari Uusitalo, Lasse Pöysti, Rauni Ikäheimo, Maija Karhi, Aarre Elo, Matti Oravisto, Elina Salo, Eeva-Kaarina Volanen, Sylva Rossi, Leif Wager, Tarmo Manni, Kauko Laurikainen, Tapio Rautavaara, Tuija Halonen, Elvi Saarnio, Sylva Rossi. - He created an environment, where everything breathed. Before his time, realistic. Shot a lot late at night. Dangerous when drunk. A good knowledge of the countryside. - He died before his full bloom.
Kauneuden kuvastin [The Mirror of Beauty]. FI 1954. 15 min. The young Lenita Airisto already in command of the camera.

Séance de lanterne magique

Magic Lantern Show. 70e anniversaire de FIAF. Projection réalisée avec les collections historiques de la Cinémathèque francaise. Accompagnement à la harpe et bruitage. Viewed at Salle Henri Langlois, La Cinémathèque francaise, Paris, 25 April 2008.

Les Archives francaises du film

Projections Salle André Malraux, Bois d'Arcy, 24 April 2008. Programme 2 - 10h25
Autour de Salammbô. FR 1924. D: Léonce-Henri Burel. 8 min. "Un des membres de l'équipe du film Salammbô, vraisembablement Léonce-Henri Burel, le directeur de la photographie de Pierre Marodon, saisit quelques moments de la vie du tournage: les décors et l'arrière des décors, les acteurs imitant le metteur en scène, les deux caméras utilisées simultanément".
Un peu de rêve sur le faubourg. FR 1930. D: Germaine Dulac. 10 min. "Sur trois disques de la Columbia, Louise - Paysage - Heure exquise: les premiers émois entre un jeune homme et une jeune femme; des images d'une mer agitée; un couple s'embrasse près d'un réverbère; une petite cascade qui s'écoule dans une rivière; des arbres au bord d'un fleuve. Cette succession d'impressions cinégraphiques s'achève lorsque le vent se met à souffler. Chacun rentre chez soi, les arbres se courbent. Le disque s'arrête et le jeune homme rentre chez lui avec le phonographe." - A silent print of a record commercial. Three songs - the power of music - how music gets imagination running.
Montparnasse. FR 1930. D: Eugène Deslaw. 16 min. "Déambulation poétique et surréaliste dans le quartier de Montparnasse, où se mêlent quotidien et insolite et se croisent, au milieu d'une circulation trépidante, badauds, clochards, hommes-sandwichs, saltimbanques et artistes du monde. Alors qu'au jardin du Luxembourg les enfants jouent, sur le boulevard Raspail, les artistes de la "horde du Montparnasse" organisent le "marché aux navets", une exposition de peintures et de sculptures en plein air. Dans ce Montparnasse bouillonnant et culturel apparaissent Sacha Zaliouk, Luis Buñuel, Foujita et les futuristes Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Luigi Russolo et Enrico Prampolini."

Gefangene Seele

DE 1917. PC: Messter Film. D: Rudolf Biebrach. SC: Robert Wiene. DP: Karl Freund. Starring Henny Porten, Paul Bildt, Curt Goetz. 60 min announced, actually 75 min. Presented by Stefan Drössler, introduced by Jean-Francois Rauger. Viewed at La Cinémathèque francaise, Salle Henri Langlois, Paris, 21 April 2008. Premiere of the restored print by Münchner Filmmuseum preserved from a tinted and toned print. - Too slow at the speed projected. - A fascinating pre-Caligari film featuring many of the future talents of the golden age of German cinema. Visually fascinating. Striking mise-en-scène in several shots. Interesting pantomime. Strong Stimmung.

Brandung

This image has nothing to do with the film. Erich Heckel: Brandung (DE 1915). Woodcut 48.4 × 36.4 cm. Image from: Artsy.net.

[The Surf].
    DE 1915. D: Ludwig Colani, Heinrich Lisson. Starring Ludwig Colani, Elisabeth Kaiser.
    20 min.
    Copie restaurée par Filmmuseum de Munich.
    Presented by Stefan Drössler, introduced by Jean-Francois Rauger.
    Electronic subtitles in French.
    Viewed at Salle Henri Langlois, La Cinémathèque francaise, 21 April 2008.

Good print, interesting tinting, somewhat high contrast, movement natural at first, then too slow.

Nitrate had been found a few months ago, hardly shrunken.

The central role of the nature. The forest, the sea.

The story of the sailor's betrayed wife. Husband flirts with barmaid while mother, son and daughter are alone at home. The gossiping neighbours take care that the wife knows. Wife comes to tavern to fetch the man.

Tryst by the dunes. Wife breaks the bottom of the sailor's boat as a trap for the no-good husband, but the son embarks the boat with the father. The sea gets rough. Tragedy.

Meidän poikamme

FI 1929. PC: Suomi-Filmi. D: Erkki Karu. DP: Eino Kari. M: Emil Kauppi, Lauri Näre. Starring Axel Slangus, Helge Ranin, Birgit Sergelius. Print preserved by KAVA, with Finnish / Swedish intertitles, and e-subtitles in French, viewed at Salle Henri Langlois, La Cinémathèque francaise, Paris, 18 April 2008. - Introduced by Jean-Francois Rauger I made a short presentation on
1) Suomi-Filmi company, the oldest in Finland
2) the bi-lingual character
3) Erkki Karu, the visionary founder of the continuity of large-scale Finnish film industry, his interest in Finnish subjects, landscapes, and characters
4) Axel Slangus, the distinguished theatre man, his long film career from Nummisuutarit (The Village Shoemakers, 1923) till Ingmar Bergman's Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring, 1960)
5) the film's links to the military farce, a kind of a founding stone of Finnish military farce
6) the music by Emil Kauppi and Lauri Näre, which was played live in Helsinki by the brass band of the Hämeenlinna Tank Battalion, and the kantele
mainstream Finnish cinema, against which Tulio and Vaala reacted

Yagyu ichizoku no inbo / Shogun's Samurai

JP 1978. PC: Toei. D: Kinji Fukasaku. DP: Toru Nakajima - Toeiscope. Starring Kinnosuke Yorozuya Nakamura (Yagyu Tajima), Shinichi "Sonny" Chiba (Yagyu Jubei). 130 min. A Japan Foundation print with English subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 17 April 2008. - I caught a portion of Fukasaku's major jidai-geki, the tale of the war of succession of the Tokugawa clan. Two sons of an assassinated shogun face a difficult future.

James Stewart Classic Collection (5-dvd), James Stewart Western Collection (7-dvd)

James Neilson: Night Passage (US 1957) with James Stewart. Planned to be directed by Anthony Mann who "backed out of the project before production due to other obligations and a disagreement over the casting of Audie Murphy" to borrow the formulation in Wikipedia. The film is fascinating to study from the viewpoint of the politique des auteurs. So much was provided by the screenwriter Borden Chase, the star James Stewart, the producer Aaron Rosenberg, the cinematographer William H. Daniels and the composer Dimitri Tiomkin (who composed the magnificent score The Fall of the Roman Empire for Mann). 

Antti Alanen

Helsingin Sanomat

Dvd-klassikko

16.4.2008

Epätavallinen kadunmies

JAMES STEWART CLASSIC COLLECTION. 

Viiden dvd:n boksi. 

KÖYSI (The Rope, Alfred Hitchcock, 1948) 

YSTÄVÄNI HARVEY (Harvey, Henry Koster, 1950) 

KUUTAMOSERENADI (The Glenn Miller Story, Anthony Mann, 1953) 

TAKAIKKUNA (Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) 

VERTIGO (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958).

JAMES STEWART WESTERN COLLECTION. 

Seitsemän dvd:n boksi. 

EI MIKÄÄN ENKELI (Destry Rides Again, George Marshall, 1939) 

WINCHESTER '73 – KOHTALON ASE (Winchester '73, Anthony Mann, 1950) 

MAA VUORTEN TAKANA (Bend of the River, Anthony Mann, 1952) 

SEIKKAILIJOIDEN LUVATTU MAA (The Far Country, Anthony Mann, 1955) 

KAKSINTAISTELU VUORILLA (Night Passage, James Neilson, 1957) 

KUNNIAN LAAKSO (Shenandoah, Andrew V. McLaglen, 1965) 

RANCHO RIVER (The Rare Breed, Andrew V. McLaglen, 1965)

Universal Pictures Finland 16.4.2008

James Stewartin pitkällä uralla 1930-luvun ihanteellinen siloposki muuttui monen vaiheen kautta vanhaksi patriarkaksi. Suurin muutos tapahtui 1940-luvun jälkipuolella, jolloin sodan kokenut Stewart alkoi tulkita uudella herkkyydellä ihmismielen syövereitä, pettymyksiä ja heikkouksia. Hänen hahmojensa kohtaloksi saattoi tulla alkoholi, rikos tai hulluus, mutta hänessä säilyi aina myös kadunmiehen poikamainen säteily. Tätä todistavat Universalin kaksi boksia, jotka tarjoavat kaikkiaan 12 elokuvaa.

Lännenboksin harppaus mainion Ei mikään enkeli -komedian (1939) maitoa juovasta sheriffistä Winchester '73:n (1950) pakkomielteiseen takaa-ajajaan on valtava. Jälkimmäinen elokuva aloitti lännenelokuvan 1950-luvun kulta-ajan, ja ohjaaja Anthony Mannin kanssa Stewart saavutti hurjan vireen. Maa vuorten takana (1952) kertoo uudisraivaajien matkasta ja Seikkailijoiden luvattu maa (1955) Kanadan kultakuumeesta tavalla, joka kasvaa paljaan liberalismin kritiikiksi. Kun Mannille ei kelvannut käsikirjoitus rautatiewesterniin Kaksintaistelu vuorilla (1957), siihen palkattiin rutiiniohjaaja James Neilson. Andrew V. McLaglen ohjasi kouraisevan sisällissotatarinan Kunnian laakso (1965) ja rempseän karjataloussaagan Rancho River (1965), vastanäyttelijänä Maureen O'Hara.

Classic-boksia hallitsee Alfred Hitchcock, toinen keskeinen Stewart-ohjaaja (Takaikkuna, 1954, Vertigo, 1958). Köysi (1948) palauttaa mieleen, miten Friedrich Nietzschen oppeja on väärinkäytetty murhahankkeisiin ennen Jokelaakin. Ystäväni Harvey (1950) on elokuvan kestäviä alkoholistikuvauksia. Kuutamoserenadissa (1953) Anthony Mann ohjasi Stewartia vaihteeksi lempeänä Glenn Millerinä, big band -soundin luojana.  James Stewartin haastattelut Harvey- ja Winchester '73 -levyillä käsittelevät kiehtovasti hänen uransa käännevuotta 1950. Hitchcock-kiekoilla on vuoden 2001 tutut hyvät Hitchcock Collection -lisäaineistot.

Kozure Okami: Shinikazeni mukau ubaguruma / Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades

Kenji Misumi: Kozure Okami: 子連れ狼 死に風に向う乳母車 / Shinikazeni mukau ubaguruma / Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (JP 1972) starring Tomisaburo Wakayama (Ogami) and Akihiro Tomikawa (Daigoro).

子連れ狼 死に風に向う乳母車 / Okami – Der Wind des Todes / Sword of Vengeance, Part III.
    JP 1972. PC: Katsu Production / Toho Company. D: Kenji Misumi. SC: Kazuo Koike – based on the comic strip by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. DP: Chishi Makiura – Eastmancolor – Tohoscope. Starring Tomisaburo Wakayama (Ogami), Akihiro Tomikawa (Daigoro). 89 min.
    A good print from Rapid Eye Movies, deutsche Untertitel, e-subtitles in English.
    Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 16 April 2008.

The wandering samurai, the ex-executioner with his baby cart. He helps a wronged prostitute and receives sadistic torture on her behalf. In the climax he defeats an army. – Devastatingly powerful action saga.

Goyokin

Guld (SE) / Gull (NO) / Gold (EN). JP 1969. PC: Fuji Telecasting, Tokyo Eiga. D: Hideo Gosha. SC: Hideo Gosha, Kei Tasaka. DP: Kozo Okazaki - Eastmancolor - Panavision. M: Masaru Sato. Starring Tatsuya Nakadai (Magobei Wakizaka), Kinnosuke Nakamura (Samon Fujimaki). 123 min. E-subtitles in Finnish by Antti Valkama, operated by Kalle Karinen. Viewed in Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 15 April 2008. - I saw the beginning only of this legend of the clan who has robbed the shogunate's gold shipment in a shipwreck. The inhabitants of the nearby fishing village have been slaughtered. Shot in the bitter cold of Hokkaido.

Bikur ha-tizmoret

Orkesterin vierailu /Orkesterns besök. US/FR/IL (c) 2007 July August Productions /Bleiberg Entertainment / Sophie Dulac Productions. D+SC: Eran Kolirin. DP: Shai Goldman - 35mm - 1:1,85. Sasson Gabai (Lt-col Tawfiq Zacharya), Ronit Elkabetz (Dina), Saleh Bakri (Haled), Khalifa Natour (Simon). 89 min. Bilingual in Hebrew and Arabic. Released in Finland by Buena Vista International, with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Marko Hartama /Marko Hietikko. Viewed in Kino-Palatsi, Helsinki, 12 April 2008. - The police band of Alexandria pays a visit to Israel and gets into a wrong station. - Laconic, minimalist humour resembling Milos Forman and Jim Jarmusch, yet completely original.

Be Kind Rewind

Be Kind Rewind / Be Kind Rewind. US (c) 2007 New Line U.S. D+SC: Michel Gondry. DP: Ellen Kuras - shot on 35mm (Fuji, Eterna, Reala) and video, even VHS - digital intermediate 2K - DeLuxe, Fuji - screened on 35mm film J-D-C-Scope 1:2,35. M: Jean-Michel Bernard. Starring Jack Black (Jerry), Mos Def (Mike), Danny Glover (Elroy Fletcher), Mia Farrow (Miss Falewicz), Melonie Diaz (Alma), Sigourney Weaver (Ms. Lawson). 102 min. Released in Finland by Sandrew, with Finnish /Swedish subtitles by Minna Nuutinen / Sanna Huldén. Viewed in Tennispalatsi, Helsinki, 12 April 2008. - Blatant digital intermediate look. - Quoting Maltin: "Odd but endearing film set in Passaic, N.J., where Glover's dilapidated video-rental store - supposedly the birthplace of Fats Waller - is an anachronism, outside and in. When he leaves Def in charge, nutty pal Black (who's become magnetized) accidentally erases all the tapes in the store, forcing the duo to reinvent the missing films (Ghostbusters; 2001: A Space Odyssey; The Lion King) with their old-fashioned video camera and the help of neighborhood allies." - "To Swede" means to make a zero-budget remake of a huge epic. - The do-it-yourself spirit is timely, although the vhs technology is getting obsolete.

Vratné lahve

Elämä kierrättää / Livet i återvinning /Empties. CZ/GB (c) 2007 Biograf Jan Sverák / Portobello Pictures / Phoenix Film Investments. D: Jan Sverák. SC: Zdenek Sverák. DP: Vladimír Smutný - digital intermediate - 35mm print. Starring Zdenek Sverák (Josef Tkaloun), Tatiana Vilhelmová (daughter), Daniela Kolárová (Mrs. Tkalounová). A Cinema Mondo release with Finnish /Swedish subtitles by Topi Oksanen /Ditte Kronström. Viewed at Maxim, Helsinki, 11 April 2008. - Print visually good-looking. - A literature teacher quits his job and starts to work as a helper in the bottle return department of a supermarket. - Funny observations on life by the makers of Kolja.

Dai-bosatsu toge

The Sword of Doom. JP 1966. PC: Takarazuka Eiga Company, Toho. D: Kihachi Okamoto. DP: Hiroshi Murai - b&w - Tohoscope. AD: So Matsuyama. M: Masaru Sato. Starring Tatsuya Nakadai (Ryunosuke Tsuku), Yuzo Kayama (Hyoma Utsuki), Michiyo Aratama (Ohama), Toshiro Mifune (Toranosuke Shimada). 121 min. A brilliant National Film Center (Tokyo) print with English subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 9 April 2008. - I saw the beginning only of this remarkably engaging and visually exciting samurai saga.

Dokumentin ytimessä 42: Makeimmat mainokset

I dokumentärens kärna 42: Rivande reklam / In the Core of the Documentary 42: The Cutest Commercials. Compiled by Ilkka Kippola, Jari Sedergren. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 9 April 2008.
Ravintolayleisöä kameran silmällä [Restaurant Patrons Through the Eye of the Camera]. FI 1930. PC: Ab Mainos Oy. Supervised by: Ragnar Hartwall, Teuvo Tulio, Valentin Vaala. Starring: Hanna Taini, Josef Liebkind, Teuvo Tulio. 6 min. Betacam, alas.
Pikku myyjätär / Den lilla försäljerskan [The Little Saleswoman]. FI 1933. PC: Suomi-Filmi. D: Georg Malmstén. DP: Theodor Luts. Starring Kaarlo Angerkoski, Martta Kontula. Originally 38 min, preserved: 15 min. Video, alas.
Suomen toiset ravinto- ja nautintoainemessut. FI 1933. PC: Suomi-Filmi. P: Erkki Karu. DP: Eino Kari, Frans Ekebom. M: Tapio Ilomäki. 6 min on dvd, alas.
I saw these first films only of the really fascinating history of Finnish commercials.

Onibaba

Onibaba - tappajat / Gripen. JP 1964. PC: Tokyo Eiga, Toho Eiga, Kindai Eiga Kyokai. D+SC+AD: Kaneto Shindo. DP: Kiyomi Kuroda - b&w - Tohoscope. M: Hikaru Hayashi. Starring Nobuko Otowa (woman), Jitsuko Yoshimura (young woman), Kei Sato (Hachi), Jukichi Uno (samurai). 103 min. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 8 April 2008. - A print with good definition of light. - I saw the beginning only of this stark jidai-geki with remarkably forceful stylization in image and sound.

Moartea domnului Lazarescu

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu / Herr Lazarescus död. RO (c) 2005 Mandragora. D: Cristi Puiu. Starring Ioan Fiscuteanu (Dante Lazarescu), Luminita Gheorghiu (Mioara). 155 min. English subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 8 April 2008. - I saw the ending only of this naturalistic descent in the antechambers of death, as Mr. Lazarescu is taken to his terminal world in the hospital bureaucracy.

The Kite Runner

Leijapoika / Flyga drake. US (c) 2007 DreamWorks / Kite Runner Holding. D: Marc Forster. SC: David Benioff - based on the novel by Khaled Hosseini (2003). DP: Roberto Schaefer. M: Alberto Iglesias. Starring Khalid Abdalla (Amir), Atossa Leoni (Soraya), Shaun Toub (Rahim Khan), Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada (Omar), Zekeria Ebrahimi (young Amir), Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada (young Hassan). In English, Dari, Pashtu, Urdu, and Russian. 128 min. Released in Finland by UIP / Finnkino with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Arto Vartiainen / Joanna Erkkilä. Viewed in Kinopalatsi 1, Helsinki, 5 April 2008. - Digital look. - An excellent film, the strength obviously stemming from the Khaled Hosseini book (which I haven't read), but this is also a piece of talented direction from Marc Forster (Monster's Ball). - The film gives passionate insight into the tragedy of Afghanistan through the life story of the two protagonists, Amir and Rahim.

Into the Wild

Erämaan armoille / Ute i vildmarken. US (c) 2007 River Road Entertainment / Paramount Vantage. P: Art Linson, Sean Penn. D+SC: Sean Penn - based on the book by Jon Krakauer (1996). DP: Eric Gautier. LOC: Alaska, Arizona, Canada, Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington, South Dakota. Starring Emile Hirsch (Chris McCandless), Marcia Gay Harden (Billie McCandless), William Hurt (Walt McCandless), Jena Malone (Carine McCandless / additional narrator), Brian H. Dierker (Rainey), Catherine Keener (Jan Burres), Vince Vaughn (Wayne Westerberg), Kristen Stewart (Tracy Tatro), Hal Holbrook (Ron Franz). 148 min. Released in Finland by Finnkino (Paramount) with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Saliven Gustavson. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 7, Helsinki, 5 April 2008. - A digital intermediate look, the sublime of the nature lost. - Sean Penn's best film. A masterpiece. - Fine handling of different time dimensions. There is a different imagery to each episode in Chris's quest. - It is a coming-of-age story, the young man's journey to find the world and oneself, also a modern commentary on Thoreau. He's a wanderer, a train tramp, a drifter, a hobo, a farmer, a hunter, a hitch-hiker. Getting rid of money he sees the world of plenty with the eyes of the have-not. In the end he is at the mercy of nature in Canada. Qf. The Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog). "Happiness is real only when shared". - Growing apart from his childhood family he meets (more) affectionate quasi-families, and even a potential girlfriend.