Antonionin lyhytelokuvia 2

Kortfilmer av Antonioni 2 / Antonioni Shorts 2. IT 1978-1997. Tapes and prints from Cinecittà Holding. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 31 August 2008.
Ritorna a Lisca Bianca. IT 1983. PC: RAI Tre. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Carlo Di Palma. 8 min. Betacam, alas. - Revisiting the location of L'avventura.
Gianni Moretti: Fotoromanza. IT 1984. P: Maurizio La Pira. D+SC: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Luciano Tovoli (video). 6 min. Betacam. - A music video to Gianni Moretti's pop song "Fotoromanza", a typical music video of its era. The artist in the room watching a monitor. Numbers flying from the telephone. Smoke emerging from behind the door. Slow motion. Solarization. Manhattan skyline and gangster cliches. Boxing motifs. Clumsy superimpositions. The music video now looks like a parody of the early MTV era, and the audience could not help but laugh.
Kumbha Mela. IT 1989. P: Enrica Antonioni. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Carlo Di Palma. 18 min. Betacam, alas. - A devout vision of the Hindi purification rites in the holy water of the river Ganges, beautifully shot, with haunting Indian music.
Roma '90. IT 1990. PC: Recta Film / Istituto Luce et Ministerio del Turismo e dello Spettacolo. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Fiorenza Muller. M: baroque classics such as Vivaldi. 10'. - A wonderful view of the beauty of the buildings, statues and paintings of Rome, focusing finally on the Cappella Sistina, Michelangelo meeting Michelangelo, final image: God's hand gives spirit to Man. In gorgeous colour in analogue 35mm.
Noto, Mandorli, Vulcano, Stromboli, Carnevale. IT 1992. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Felice de Maria. 11 min. A cluster of five short films from the Sicilian area and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Visions of volcanic power and a Sicilian carneval. Splendidly beautiful in a brilliant 35mm print.
Sicilia. IT 1997. PC: Arancia Cinema. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Maurizio Dell'Orco. 12 min. Volcano, ruins, clouds, fountain, market, woman on the beach. Delicious views in a gorgeous 35mm print.
Antonioni vista da Antonioni. IT 1978. PC: Unità Procuttiva CCS. D+interviewer: Lino Miccichè. DP: Luciano Tovoli. Interviewee: Michelangelo Antonioni. 26 min. Betacam, very bad visual quality with horizontal lines, sound unnatural. - Antonioni in good form in this interview that starts from Gente del Po. His early interest in the private and the social. The Italian episode of I vinti destroyed by censorship (Neofascism as a subject not allowed). The theme of the falsification of images. I have always had to fight to make my films, some have been huge commercial flops. When I started, melodramas such as Catene were popular. I made unfeeling melodramas. The market tried to isolate Antonioni. Le amiche: the outlook on life very different from Pavese. I focus on female characters because women are a more subtle filter of reality. The psychological stress in the working class because of the lack of money.

Happy-Go-Lucky

Happy-Go-Lucky / Happy-Go-Lucky. GB (c) 2007 [Southwark Untitled?] / Ingenious Film Partners / Summit Entertainment / Thin Man Films / UK Film Council. P: Simon Channing-Williams. D+SC: Mike Leigh. DP: Dick Pope - digital intermediate - 35 mm film print 1:2,35. M: Gary Yershon. Starring Sally Hawkins (Poppy), Alexis Zegerman (Zoe), Andrea Riseborough (Dawn), Samuel Roukin (Tim), Sinead Matthews (Alice), Kate O'Flynn (Suzy), Sarah Niles (Tash), Eddie Marsan (Scott). 118 min. Finnish release by Sandrew with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Taina Komu / Joanna Erkkilä. Viewed at Maxim 2, Helsinki, 30 August 2008. - A pleasant film look with warm and bright colour. - My favourite Mike Leigh movie. - An original comedy with the concept of jolly Poppy meeting a variety of often surly characters. - Can be compared with Amélie, but this movie is fresher. - The 30-something Poppy is the life of the party wherever she goes. She is a teacher of the junior level, who visits a bookstore, enjoys a girls' party, loses her bicycle, starts driving lessons, and practices the flamenco. Helping a disturbed kid who is a school bully she meets a child psychologist, and they date. Meanwhile, her driving instructor loses his mental balance. - A pleasant Gary Yershon score.

Käsky / Tears of April

Aku Louhimies: Käsky / Tears of April (FI 2008) with Pihla Viitala (Miina Malin) and Samuli Vauramo (Aaro Harjula).

Käsky. / Varghyndan / Ordern.

    FI /DE/GR © 2008 Helsinki Filmi Oy / Thoke Moebius Film Company / Two Thirty Five. Premiere: 2008. P: Aleksi Bardy. 

    D: Aku Louhimies. SC: Jari Olavi Rantala - based on the novel by Leena Lander (2003). "Der Erlkönig" (J. W. von Goethe). DP: Rauno Ronkainen - digital intermediate: Digital Film Finland, Generator Post - color - 35mm film print 1:2.35. PD: Tiina Pätilä. M: Pessi Levanto. Erik Satie, Beethoven, Chopin. CO: Tiina Kaukanen. ED: Benjamin Mercer. 

    Starring Samuli Vauramo (Aaro Harjula), Pihla Viitala (Miina Malin), Eero Aho (Emil Hallenberg), Eemeli Louhimies (Eino), Miina Maasola (Martta), Riina Maidre (Beata Hallenberg), Sulevi Peltola (Konsta), Mikko Kouki (sergeant major). 

    116 min. 

    In Finnish, with some dialogue in Swedish, German, etc. 

    Released by FS Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Anitra Paukkula / Joanna Erkkilä. 

    Viewed at Kinopalatsi 2, Helsinki, 30 August 2008.

Bleak digital intermediate look.

The Finnish Civil War of 1918 was a national tragedy. The subject is still sensitive, but films can offer an excellent outlet to discuss the historical trauma.

The film starts in April, as the White Army has already beaten the Red Army. The bloody retribution has started. The film starts with a gang rape and summary executions without trial by the Whites of women caught from the Red side. The White brave Aaro rescues the Red Miina from slaughter and brings her to military court. As Miina tries to escape at sea, they are shipwrecked for a week on an island. At the military court, they meet the mad judge Hallenberg.

The film is brave in its counter-statement to the dominant White version of history.

But of the characters, only Aaro and Miina are three-dimensional. Save Aaro, the Whites are caricatures of evil, grotesque figures of horror, monsters.

T. J. Särkkä was not famous for subtlety, but his film "1918 - A Man and His Conscience" (1957) was richer in nuance.

The military court episodes are needlessly prolonged.

This is a film about brutalization and moral squalor. I don't think it pays justice either to the Reds or the Whites.

The composition is powerful. Unfortunately, much of the richness of the cinematography is lost in digital transition. The colour is cold and gloomy, as in the antechamber of Hell.

Professione: reporter

Ammatti: reportteri / Yrke: reporter. IT/ES/FR 1975. PC: Compagnia Cinematografica Champion. P: Carlo Ponti. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Luciano Tovoli - Metrocolor - 1:1,85. Starring Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider. 126 min. A Cinecittà International print. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 28 August 2008. - A dupe with flat colour. - I checked the start only.

Der Verlorene / The Lost Man

Peter Lorre: Der Verlorene / The Lost Man (DE 1951) with Peter Lorre as Dr. Karl Rothe. Photo from Wikipedia courtesy of Filmposter-Archiv.de

 
The Lost One / Kadotettu / [Den förlorade]. 

    DE 1951. PC: Arnold Pressburger Produktion. 

    D: Peter Lorre. SC: Peter Lorre, Benno Vigny, Axel Eggebrecht - contribution: Helmut Käutner - [based on a subject by Egon Jameson, n.c.] [Not based on a novel by Peter Lorre.] DP: Vaclav Vich. M: Willi Schmidt-Gentner. 

    Starring Peter Lorre (Dr. Karl Rothe), Karl John (Hösch / Novak), Johanna Hofer (Frau Hermann), Eva-Ingeborg Scholz (Ursula Weber), Lotte Rausch (Helene), Gisela Trowe (streetwalker).

    Loc: Hamburg - Lüneburger Heide - Kersten-Miles-Brücke.

    98 min

    Not distributed theatrically in Finland.

    Telepremiere in Finland: 13 July 2014 Yle Teema: Kino Klassikko

    A DIF print with e-subtitles in English from Goethe-Institut. 

    Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 28 August 2008.

A dupe.

A melancholy mood. The traces of crime and suffering on Lorre's face. The restlessly roaming camera. The overpowering shadows. A feeling for the underworld. The atmosphere of the train. The puppet on the string. The sensual radiation of the frustrated women.

Peter Lorre dives into Germany's psychic undercurrents in the same way as in Fritz Lang's M. It is the story of a serial killer, an amok runner who has lost his sense of life a long time ago. Just like in M, Lorre conveys both the tenderness and kindness of the criminal (he is a well-loved doctor) as well as his irresistible urge to kill.

...

SUOMEN ELOKUVA-ARKISTO

FINLANDS FILMARKIV

PROGRAM NOTE BASED ON PETER VON BAGH, EDITED BY SAKARI TOIVIAINEN

Der Verlorene

Kadotettu / Den förlorade

 

Saksan liittotasavalta 1951. Tuotantoyhtiö: Arnold Pressburger Produktion. Ohjaus: Peter Lorre. Käsikirjoitus: Peter Lorre, Benno Vigny, Axel Eggebrecht. Kuvaus: Vaclav Vich. Lavastus: Franz Schroedten, Karl Weber. Musiikki: Willi Schmidt-Gentner. Leikkaus: C.O. Bartning. Pääosissa: Peter Lorre (tri Karl Rothe), Karl John (Hoesch), Helmut Rudolph (eversti Winkler), Renate Mannhardt (Inge Herrman), Johanna Hofer (rva Herrman), Eva-Ingeborg Scholz (Ursula Weber), Lotte Rausch (Helene), Gisela Trowe (ilotyttö), Kurt Meister (Preefke), Hansi Wendler (sihteeri), Alexander Hunzinger (juoppo), Josef Dahmen (kanttiininpitäjä), Anneliese Witt (puolatar), Georg Siebert (Blaschek), Helmut Eichberg (yliluutn. Bydersach), Peter Ahrweiler (yliluutn. Marquardt), Joachim Hess (luutnantti), Frauke Stephan (sairaanhoitajatar), Hans Schmitz (Paschke) VET 56842 – K16 – 1085 m / 98 min

Saksan elokuvateollisuus, jonka propagandakäytöstä natsi-Saksan käytäntö oli ollut kouluesimerkki, oli liittoutuneille melkoinen huolen aihe. Ensimmäisiä toimenpiteitä olivat pyrkimykset purkaa Ufan kartellimuodostelma ja toisaalta "kasvattaa länsisaksalaisia uuteen demokraattiseen ajattelutapaan". Amerikkalaisten miehittäjien tunteet eivät olleet pyyteettömiä. Tiedettiin, että Ufan tapaisen keskitetyn mahdin nouseminen tuhkasta heikentäisi amerikkalaisten elokuvien pyrkimyksiä Saksan markkinoille; esim. vuokrausvuonna 1951—52 niitä tuotiin 226 kappaletta. Thomas Gubackin mukaan ratkaiseva taistelu käytiin amerikkalaisten ja länsisaksalaisten teollisuusintressien välillä (Variety -lehti arvioi esim. vuonna 1954, että amerikkalaisten voitot Länsi-Saksassa olisivat 13 miljoonaa dollaria); ja vaikka amerikkalaiset tuskin voivat valittaa, he epäonnistuivat UFI:n (Ufan katto-organisaatio) purkamisessa. Vuonna 1956 UFI:n kontrolli siirtyi johtavien talous- ja pankkiiripiirien käsiin. 50-luvun lopulla tuotettiin yli 100 elokuvaa vuodessa, ja maan elokuvateollisuus oli vaurain koko Länsi-Euroopassa.

Luovassa katsannossa asiat eivät olleet yhtä onnellisesti. Ajanvietteen vanhat lajityypit kukoistivat, mutta veltommassa ilmiasussa kuin koskaan. Siegfried Kracauerin Hitleriä edeltävän ajan elokuvista paikallistamat peruspiirteet olivat yhä tunnusomaisia: auktoriteettiusko – oli sitten kysymyksessä upseeri tai suuri kirurgi —, oman aloitekyvyn sammutus, kohtalonusko, alistumisen ja uhrautumisen teemat. Natsismia käsittelevien elokuvien näkökulma oli säännöllisesti epähistoriallinen: rakenteellisia syitä ei käsitelty, saati natsismin jatkuvuuden vaaraa.

Peter Lorren Kadotettu on yksi niistä erittäin harvoista elokuvista, joita fasismia paennut henkilö on ohjannut Länsi-Saksassa. Se on myös yksi niistä erittäin harvoista töistä, joissa fasismin kokemusta käsitellään ilman pelkkänä tärppinä käytettyjä osoittelevia pistoksia katsojan "omaantuntoon". Lotte Eisner on korostanut, että teoksen natsi määrittyy täysin oleilunsa, naurunsa, kielenkäyttönsä perusteella. Hän on vain kerran tappamistilanteessa: muuten aikakautta käsittelevien elokuvien loputtomat Heil Hitler -tervehdykset puuttuvat, samoin niin usein pittoreskeina tehoina käytetyt rauniokuvat. 

Lorre itse näyttelee häiriintynyttä murhaajaa, jolle natsit antavat valtuudet jatkaa tappotoimiaan, koska hänen palveluksensa tiedemiehenä tiedetään sodankäynnin kannalta tähdellisiksi. Kun miehen syyllisyydentunnot kasvavat ja hän tajuaa virallisten tahojen yhteydet rikoksiinsa, hän yrittää kostaa suojelijoilleen. Liittoutuneiden tullessa maahan natsit jakaantuvat korkean tason virkamiehiin, jotka tekevät kauppoja miehittäjien kanssa, ja alemman tason idealisteihin, jotka yrittävät jatkaa taistelua loppuun asti. Koko tarina kerrotaan takau-tumana, joka tapahtuu leirillä: entinen natsi tunnistaa Lorren ja alkaa muistella vanhoja hyviä päiviä. Lopuksi Lorre tekee itsemurhan, koska ei pysty ottamaan vastaan roolinsa todellisuutta. Lorren ohjaus sivuutettiin tylysti ja hän palasi Yhdysvaltoihin rutiininomaisten kauhuelokuvien näyttelijäkalustoon. Kadotettu jäi hänen ainoaksi ohjauksekseen: se on Langin M:n rinnalla Lorren hienoin roolitulkinta, arvokas jatke siihen kriittiseen perinteeseen, joka kukoisti Saksassa Hitleriä edeltävänä aikana ja johon Brechtin teatterin kasvatti Lorre niin elimellisesti kuuluu.   

— Peter von Baghin Elokuvan historiasta (1975) Sakari Toiviainen

Zabriskie Point

US 1970. PC: MGM. P: Carlo Ponti. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. DP: Alfio Contini - Metrocolor - Panavision 1:2,35. PD: Dean Tavoularis. M: Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia. Starring Mark Frechette (Mark), Daria Halprin (Daria). 110 min. A Cinecittà International print. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 27 August 2008. - A beautiful print with perfect colour. - Revisiting the first half hour of Antonioni's first and only American film.

I vinti

The Vanquished / Les Vaincus / [Voitetut] / [De besegrade]. IT/FR 1952. PC: Film Costellazione / S.G.C. P: Paolo Moffa. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. Ass. D: Francesco Rosi. SC: Michelangelo Antonioni, Giorgio Bassani, Suso Cecchi d'Amico, Diego Fabbri, Roger Nimier, Turi Vasile. DP: Enzo Serafin. M: Giovanni Fusco. ED: Eraldo Da Roma. FRANCIA: Jean-Pierre Mocky (Pierre), Etchika Choureau (Simone). ITALIA: Franco Interlenghi (Claudio), Anna-Maria Ferrero (Maria). INGHILTERRA: Peter Reynolds (Aubrey), Fay Compton (Mrs. Pinkerton), Patrick Barr (Kent Watton). 113 min. Original version in French, Italian, and English. The all-Italian dubbed version print from Cinecittà Holding with English subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 26 August 2008. - The opening lecture is about the brutalization after the war, a new form of crime: teenage delinquents from quiet, well-off families, desire to emerge as heroes through crime and violence, deeds blown up by the press. - A bit wooden and conventional direction, Antonioni not yet in full bloom. - In the French episode the blocking of the actors in the wood is already interesting in the same way as Le amiche later. Mocky shot for his false notes. - In the Italian episode there is the chase of the young smuggler, already fatally hurt. - The English episode is the most interesting, apparently inspired by Strangers on a Train: the psychopathic self-centeredness and lack of empathy by Aubrey, the proposal of a diabolic pact, the strangling, the train, the tennis, "the death of a human being is of no importance". The episode also has interesting links with Blow-up (the corpse in the wood, the elusive motive). -
Splendid traditional music by Fusco. - The cinematography of Enzo Serafin cannot be fully appreciated in this duped print with a mediocre definition of light.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Miss Pettigrew - päivä täynnä elämää. GB (c) 2007 Focus Features. D: Bharat Nalluri. SC: David Magee, Simon Beaufoy - based on the novel by Winifred Watson (1938). DP: John de Borman - Super35 - anamorphic - film print 35mm - digital intermediate by Framestore - colour by DeLuxe - Panavision 1:2,35. Music: vintage tunes by Cole Porter ("Anything Goes"), "If I Didn't Care". Starring Frances McDormand (Guinevere Pettigrew), Amy Adams (Delysia Lafosse), Shirley Henderson (Edythe Dubarry), Ciarán Hinds (Joe Blumfeld). A FS Film release print with Finnish /Swedish subtitles by Arto Vartiainen / Ditte Kronström. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 3, Helsinki, 23 August 2008. - Good entertainment set in London on the eve of WWII as the middle-aged nanny becomes the social secretary of a chanteuse. - "I'm an expert on the lack of love". - There is a light touch and elegance in the film that threatens to stay superficial, but there are also moments of real feeling. In the music, the moment of true feeling is "If I Didn't Care". - The career of Joe Blumfeld from socks to brassières. - The Depression ambience of unemployment and soup lines. The recurrent motif of hunger during Miss Pettigrew's day. She eats the cucumber slices in the beauty parlor and tries to get the half-eaten apple from the floor of the railway station. - The happy endings are maybe too pat, but believable at first because of the sincerity of the actors. "I've been looking for you all my life".

Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda / Kung Fu Panda. US (c) 2008 Dreamworks Animations. D: Mark Osborne, John Stevenson. M: John Powell, Hans Zimmer. Original material: digital - ARRI Digital - 35mm film print 1:2,35. Voice talent: Jack Black (Po), Dustin Hoffman (Shifu), Angelina Jolie (Tigress), Ian McShane (Tai Lung), Jackie Chan (Monkey), Seth Rogen (Mantis), Lucy Liu (Viper), David Cross (Crane), Randall Duk Kim (Oogway). A Finnkino (Paramount) release, original English version with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Marko Hartama / Janne Staffans. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 5, 24 August 2008. - Coinciding with the Peking Olympics, a big animation with Chinese themes. The slacker panda conquers the fearsome, devilish snow leopard master, having surpassed the Furious Five (Tigress, Crane, Mantis, Viper and Monkey) led by the guru Shifu. - Visually, the stylized dream beginning and the ending are impressive, but as soon as the main story starts with its more full digital animation, its semi-naturalistic texture feels mediocre. - I liked the Chinese motifs in the animation, but some of the mannerisms of speech and behavior of the current animation boom are getting tedious.

Absurdistan

Veit Helmer: Absurdistan (DE/AZ 2008).

DE / AZ © 2008 Veit Helmer Filmproduktion.
    D: Veit Helmer. SC: Veit Helmer, Zaza Buadze, Gordan Mihic, Ahmet Golbol. DP: Giorgi Beridze – 35 mm – 1:1,85 – print from Babelsberg Kopierwerk. M: Shigeru Umebayashi. LOC: Azerbaidzhan, Georgia.
    Starring Kristyna Malérová (Aya), Max Mauff (Temelko).
    In Russian.
    In the presence of Kristyna Malérová and Max Mauff.
    A Beta Cinema print with English subtitles viewed at Espoo Ciné, Méliès d'Argent series, Tapiolasali, Espoo, 22 August 2008.

This print was oddly bleak, although the the subject would have required at least a normal colour vibrancy or even intensive colour.

Following Timo Kuismin's catalogue text: Veit Helmer returns to Tuvalu's silent film ambience with liberal helpings of magical realism and Kusturica-style dressings. Absurdistan is a fictive no-man's-land somewhere between the new states that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union. There is only one village, whose women start a sex strike because its work-shy lazybones cannot get the only water pipeline repaired. The war of the sexes divides the village into two.

Keywords to the style include naivism, tableau style, and a fuga structure (theme and variations).

Visual humour, rich comical inventions and a funny soundtrack, accented by horn sounds.

Popo

NL 2008. D: Richard Raaphorst. M: Reyn Ouwehand. Starring Victor Löw (Popo). Digital Betacam. 11 min. Espoo Ciné, Méliès d'Argent series, Tapiolasali, Espoo, 22 August 2008. - This video I watched separately on dvd. - Naturalistic portrait of a clown. This clown does not make children laugh, much rather, they cry. He really has long clown feet. Children do not laugh at the party when he produces a long willy out of a balloon. In his dream he bounces back when he jumps from the ceiling. Actually he is crushed to death. Reyn Ouwehand's music has a magic touch like Nino Rota.

Tres días

3 días / Before the Fall. ES (2008) Maestranza Films / Green Moon España / Pentagrama Films. D: F. Javier Gutiérrez. SC: Juan Velarde, F. Javier Gutiérrez. DP: Miguel Ángel Mora - shot on 35mm film - digital intermediate - print 35mm 1:1,85. Starring Daniel Casadellà (Emilio), Victor Clavijo (Alejandro), Mariana Cordero (Rosa), Ana de las Cuevas (Raquel), Elvira de Armiñán (Clara), Antonio Dechent (Urbano), Eduard Fernández (Lucio). 93 min. A Filmax print with English subtitles. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Méliès series, Louhisali, Espoo, 21 August 2008. - Bleak digital intermediate look. - Quoting the festival catalogue: a giant meteorite is about to collide with the Earth in 72 hours. Apocalypse is imminent. Alejandro decides just to stay drunk. But his mother asks him to help, as the psychopath Lucio plans to murder her four children. - Visually rugged, pared down, with striking inserts, high-contrast, often bleached look. - The main content is brutality towards children. There is a motif of hanging. The film becomes a spectacle for sadistic / masochistic violence. - The psychopath is conquered before the end of the world with a flash and darkness.

Las horas muertas

Killing Time. ES 2007. PC: Basque Films. D: Haritz Zubillaga. 14 min. A Filmoteca Vasca print with English subtitles. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Méliès series, Louhisali, Espoo, 21 August 2008. - The catalogue synopsis: "The caravan vacation of four friends is terminated abruptly as they become targeted by a faceless sharpshooter". - There are strong images in this nightmarish film about an inexplicable siege and massacre in the caravan. Charged close-ups, a feeling of the heat, grainy texture.

Vikaren

The Substitute. DK (c) 2006 Thura Fiction. Premiere: 2007. D: Ole Bornedal. SC: Bornedal, Henrik Prip. DP: Dan Laustsen - shot on 35mm - digital intermediate - color - film print 35mm Panavision 1:2,35. M: Marco Beltrami. Starring Paprika Steen (Ulla Harms, the substitute teacher), Ulrich Thomsen (Jesper), Jonas Wandschneider (Carl), Nikolaj Falkenberg-Klok (Phillip), Emma Juel Justesen (Rikke), Mollie Maria Gilmartin (Lotte), Sonja Richter (Maria). 93 min. Print: Det Danske Filminstitut, English subtitles by Jonathan Sydenham. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Méliès, Cinema Andorra, Helsinki, 22 August 2008. - Video look. - The substitute teacher turns out to be an alien from outer space. - Aliens come to the Earth to learn love and to abduct children. They arrive in the form of energy glimmer and incarnate a chicken farmer's wife, who becomes the highly energetic substitute teacher Ulla Harms. The children soon find out what's going on, but nobody believes them. - "Where I come from there is no love". - Excellent screenplay. The film proceeds dynamically, each scene motivated by the whole. - Top performances. Best of all: Paprika Steen as the surprising alien who terrifies by her wile, not violence. She can read minds, change surroundings, learn new things, conquer the suspicions by laughter and transform into one's dead mother. The gullible father and school psychologist are delicious. The children are excellent, starting with Jonas Wandschneider as Carl, who learns to accept the fact of his mother's death. - The strength of the film is that it is character-based: the people in it touch us, and Ulla terrifies us because she has no empathy. The message of love is ridiculed but it's the bottom of all. - Funny cheesy effects: the clouds opening, Ulla's quick shock metamorphosis, the final battle with the ball which controls Ulla's life force. - Malco Beltrami's music updates expertly B-movie conventions. Also the soundscape is delicious. - The director's forte is his sense of humour. He does not even need gags, he does very well just by setting the camera and directing the actors. There is a fine touch of parody all through the picture. - Young audiences probably will like it. - A film worth revisiting.

Bathing Buddies

Ilkikurinen tikka. US (c) 1946 Universal / Walter Lantz. D: Dick Lundy. Voices: Ben Hardaway (Woody Woodpecker) and William Demarest (Wally Walrus). AN: Paul Smith, Bernard Garbutt. Technicolor. 7 min. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 21 August 2008. - Colour fine in worn print. - Woody is the downstairs neighbour of Wally Walrus, who is taking a bath. With the common pipe connection Woody can completely control Wally's bath. The practical jokes escalate into catastrophe. Woody is still completely wacky.

The Disappeared

GB (c) 2008 Lost Tribe Productions / Minds Eye Productions. D: Johnny Kevorkian. SC: Johnny Kevorkian, Neil Murphy. DP: Diego Rodriguez. M: Christoph Bauschinger. DP: Diego Rodriguez - digital intermediate - 35mm print 1:1,85. Starring Harry Treadaway (Matthew Ryan), Greg Wise (Jake Ryan), Alex Jennings (Adrian Ballan), Finlay Robertson (Jason Saks), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Shelley Cartwright), Ros Leeming (Amy Tyler). 96 min. A Jinga Films print without subtitles. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Méliès series, Cinema Andorra, Helsinki, 20 August 2008. In the presence of Kevorkian and Murphy. - Naturalistic, bleak, cold visual look. - A realistic-looking supernatural horror film, where the ghosts are guides to a true crime (serial child abuse and murder by the man supposedly working for the church). - Most importantly, this is a film about losing one's mental balance. Matthew's psychic health is threatened as he receives strange, ghostly signs of his disappeared little brother. - The London milieu is naturalistically portrayed. - The films treads on the line between reality and nightmare. - The main guides (Amy, Shelley) turn out to be ghosts of the dead. - The nightmare of being buried alive. - The man working for the church talks about lost beliefs, lost faith. - The final vault of the abused and dead children brings to mind the cases in Belgium and Austria. And the scandals of the Catholic church.

Le Devoir

BG (c) 2007 Panache Productions etc. D+SC: Ariane Lippens. Starring Jonty Toosey. 35mm, no dialogue. 8 min. A La Big Family print viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Mélilès series, Cinema Andorra, Helsinki, 20 August 2008. - A man wakes up in a dirty prison pit and fights for food with a cat. The final twist: he is a research sample of a humanoid, and we witness an endless multitude of humanoids in the same task.

Chrysalis

FR (c) 2007 Gaumont / TF1. D: Julien Leclerq. SC: Julien Leclerc, Nicolas Peufaillit, Franck Philippon, Aude Py. DP: Thomas Hardmeier - shot on Panasonic AG-DVX100, negative: 35mm and video - digital intermediate - 35 mm print 1:2,35. M: aria from Lakmé. Starring Albert Dupontel (David Hoffmann), Marie Guillard (Marie Becker), Marthe Keller (Prof. Brügen), Mélanie Thierry (Manon Brügen), Claude Perron (Miller), Alain Figlarz (Dimitri Nicolov / Danis Nicolov), Patrick Bauchau (Charles Becker). 94 min. A CCV print with English subtitles. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Méliès series, Andorra, Helsinki, 20 August 2008. - Digital intermediate look: ugly, gray, cold, and dirty, almost monochrome. - A futuristic neo noir thriller with an Europol detective tracking down smugglers. - A vision of the future where state of the art surgery can change not only people's looks but also their minds. Memory can be changed and transferred. Bodies and souls can be switched. Manipulation of the brain is also used as a method of torture. Chrysalis is the method of digitizing memory. - The brutal action includes sadistic violence and gratuitous, prolonged beatings. There is a psychotic feeling in the violence. - In the end the policeman whose memory has been drained refuses the memory clip: the man I used to be scares me. I'm not sure I want him back.

Kaukosaaren kirous

Curse of the Remote Island / En fjärran ös förbannelse. FI 2008. PC: Indie Films. P: Tomi Riionheimo. D: CHRZU. Animation: Jan Andersson. M: Lauri Hannu, CHRZU, Vauhtihirmu. B&w 35 mm. 16 min. No dialogue. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Méliès series, Andorra, Helsinki, 20 August 2008. - A weird animation about Sir Void who chases his runaway moustache in the jungle.
A grotesque parody of the television world escalates into splatter. The remote control is used to manipulate time itself. The soundtrack is mixed with oldie-style sound effects.

[*REC]

[*REC] / [*REC]. ES (c) 2007 Castelao Productions. D: Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza. DP: Pablo Rosso - shot on video - blowup to 35mm 1:1,85. Starring Manuela Velasco (Angela). 85 min. A Finnish release print by Future Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Saliven Gustavsson. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Méliès series, Louhisali, Espoo, 20 August 2008. - Intentional video look. - Innocuous reality tv reportage about firemen turns into an all-out zombie massacre. This belongs to the current zombie cycle of films where the newsreel or industrial camera look is meant to trigger an instinctive feeling of authenticity. Basic visual devices: handheld camera, interrupted takes, camera artefacts. The colour palette is pallid and cold. The main setting is a Barcelona tenement building, where an elderly woman is suffering from some terrible infection. The rabies-like condition spreads immediately via saliva. The film-makers sketch strong vignettes of the inhabitants of the house, of many ages and various ethnic groups. The final shock awaits in the penthouse. Before that, maximum horror has already been in evidence with relentless screaming, bloodletting, panic, and hysteria.

Endlose Sekunden

Perpetuating Seconds. DE (c) 2007 RAKETEfilm Produktion. D+SC: Holger Borggrefe. Starring Nicole Unger, Iliria Sina, Frank W. Reidock. Digital Betacam. 15 min. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Prix Méliès series, Louhisali, 20 August 2008. - Ugly video look. - The device to turn back time. Childish and mean revenge story between women.

Jääkärin morsian

Jägarens brud / [The Yagher's Bride]. FI 1931. PC: Sarastus. D: Kalle Kaarna. Based on the music play by Sam Sihvo (1921). DP: Heikki Aho and Björn Soldan. Starring Tauno Palo (Martti), Hanna Taini (Sabina), Ella Eronen (Sonja Strand). 101 min. The almost complete print found in Michigan by the AFI in 1998. Silent film with a full music score and some song inserts, Finnish / Swedish intertitles. Viewed in Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 20 August 2008. - Tauno Palo Centenary. - The first film appearance of Finnish cinema's hero number one. - I checked the first half hour of the uneven film with three strong starring debut performances: Tauno Palo, Hanna Taini, Ella Eronen.

Cecilie

DK (c) 2006 Nimbus Rights. Premiere: 2007. P: Stine Spang-Hansen. D: Hans Fabian Wullenweber. SC: Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel. DP: Jacob Kusk - shot on 35mm film - digital intermediate: Digital Lab - color - 35mm film print 1:2,35. Starring Sonja Richter (Cecilie Larsen), Claus Riis Östergaard (Mads Larsen), Anders W. Bethelsen (Per Hartmann), Kurt Ravn (Karsten Levinsen), Lars Mikkelsen (Lasse N. Damgaard). 93 min. Print: Det Danske Filminstitut with English subtitles by Steve Schein. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Méliès d'Argent, Louhisali, Espoo, 19 August 2008. - Distressingly obvious digital intermediate look in the print. - A horror film with paranormal themes, ghostly apparitions and the question of reincarnation. Subtexts: sexual violence, basic trust, facing a traumatic past. - The hypersensitive Cecilie returns from a psychiatric hospital after a shock following a rape experience two years ago. Cecilie and her husband move to a new house in the suburb. She works again as a teacher on the ninth grade, but the shock syndromes start again. Her husband and others see her as mentally unbalanced, paranoid, and suicidal. But her experiences are based on reality, and at midpoint the story becomes a paranormal crime mystery story. A decades-long cycle of serial killings of young girls is revealed. - The film has some affinity with Hideo Nakata's films, with inexplicable ghosts giving leads to real crimes. - The strength of the film is in its actors' powerful interpretations, especially Sonja Richter is absolutely convincing in her extremely demanding role. All the rest support her perfectly. - The two most powerful sequences are the scene of the hypnosis and the school disco scene. - Also an impressive setpiece is the freezing bathtub. Husband thinks Cecilie tried to commit suicide, but there are the freezing marks on her legs... - More generally, the film is successful in conveying a feeling of nightmare in the everyday. - It hits important subtexts in dealing with modern-day sexual violence. It is seen totally from Cecilie's viewpoint. The monsters remain shadow-like. - As a depiction of psychotherapy the film deals with the question of medicalization. Medicine has been effective with Cecilie, and when she stops taking them, the hallucinations return. The scene with the alternative psychiatrist, "the scientist of eternity" Damgaard, is shown as weird, and his success belongs to the fantasy dimension of the story. - The visual look of the film is consistently bleak, pale, emphasizing cold colours. The digital intermediate treatment is a kiss of death to its visual world. Although the mystery is solved and Cecilie is cured from her nightmares which reflected reality, the counterforce of light and life remains weak.

Occupations

Episode from: Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence.
DK 2007. PC: Zentropa. D+SC: Lars von Trier. Featuring Jacques Frantz, Lars von Trier. Original in English. 3 min. Print: Det Danske Filminstitut. Viewed at Espoo Ciné, Méliès d'Argent, Louhisali, Espoo, 19 August 2008. - A splatter provocation with Lars von Trier meeting an annoying businessman in the premiere of his film. After an interminable monologue the businessman asks about von Trier's occupation. "I kill".

Gente del Po

IT 1943/1947. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. 12 min. Print: Scuola Nazionale di Cinema / Cineteca Nazionale. English subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 19 August 2008. - Antonioni's first film, shot in 1943 and released in 1947. A documentary on a barge on the River Po, carrying sacks of grain, with a family of husband, wife and daughter living in it. Una vita dura. Navigating is not easy, it requires skill, we see moving bridges, a horse on the horizon, hay-making, an old mill. The river gives also a dream of mobility. People as silhouettes on the horizon. Young people flirt. The daughter falls ill, is tenderly cared for. There is a rising wind, a storm, the water rises, the earth gets muddy, the village is at the mercy of the water, the sweet water of the Po, and the bitter of the Adriatic Sea. - A dignified entry in the cinema's venerable river boat subgenre.

Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! / Mamma Mia! GB / US /DE (c) 2008 Universal / Internationale Filmproduktion Richter. EX: Benny Andersson, Tom Hanks, Mark Huffam, Björn Ulvaeus, Rita Wilson. D: Phyllida Lloyd. SC: Catherine Johnson based on her musical book. DP: Haris Zambarloukos - shot on 35mm film (Kodak Vision2) - digital intermediate - Panavision anamorphic 1:2,35. M: the ABBA songbook. M: Benny Andersson (new score). Starring Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Christine Baranski - Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Firth - Amanda Seyfried, Dominic Cooper. 108 min. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Jaana Wiik / Saliven Gustavson (also all lyrics well translated). Released in Finland by Finnkino. Viewed at Tennispalatsi 6, 16 August, 2008. - Digital intermediate look partly annoying.
"I Have A Dream"
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) [instrumental]"
"Honey, Honey"
"Money, Money, Money"
"Mamma Mia"
"Chiquitita"
"Super Trouper"
"Dancing Queen"
"Our Last Summer"
"Lay All Your Love On Me"
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"
"Voulez-Vous"
"SOS"
"Does Your Mother Know"
"Slipping Through My Fingers"
"The Winner Takes It All"
"Under Attack" (instumental)
"Knowing Me, Knowing You" (instrumental)
"I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do"
"When All Is Said And Done"
"Take A Chance On Me"
"Mamma Mia (Reprise)"
"Waterloo" all 6 adults
"Than You For The Music" special arr.
"Does Your Mother Know" special instr.
"I Have A Dream (Reprise)"
Excellent new arrangements from the ABBA songbook carry this energetic and joyous musical. The actors perform the songs with feeling and "with their hearts full". They reinterpret the well-known songs and bring new life to them. There is a fine balance in the dynamics of the story from joy to sorrow, from action to meditation. The film meets the expectations of camp and kitsch but just in passing and as a joke, as in the final "Waterloo" reunion. Kitsch is transcended. The feeling is true, and there is a good sense of the absurd. - Daringly, the story is set in Greece, on Aphrodite's island, but the classic setting does not lead to the exposure of an inherent emptiness of the pop songs but rather elevates them. - My favourite numbers of the film: "Chiquitita", "S.O.S.", and "Take A Chance On Me", all with surprising emotion. - This is one of the films with the theme of the cancelled wedding. The young ones back off; Streep and Brosnan are hitched, instead. - The mystery of the three fathers is left unresolved and unmoralized. - The friendship of the three 50-something women resembles the one in Sex and the City the movie. - The original ABBA films were indifferent or dreadful. The Australian homages (Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla The Queen of the Desert) had spirit. This is the definitive ABBA movie.

Myrsky

Stormen / Stormheart. FI (c) 2008 Stormheart. D: Kaisa Rastimo. SC: Rastimo, Marko Rauhala - based on an idea by Rauhala. DP: Tuomo Virtanen - digital intermediate - 35mm film print. M: J.S. Bach: Cantata 147 part 10; Pelle Miljoona. LOC: Hämeenlinna. Starring Ronja Arvilommi (Muru), Laura Malmivaara (mother), Janne Virtanen (father), Sara Tammela (Minttu), Antti Väre (Romppu). In Finnish, some scenes in German and Russian, with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Markus Karjalainen. [After the relentless onslaught of several previews of forthcoming digital animations I was already exhausted.] Released by Buena Vista International Finland. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 1, Helsinki, 16 August 2008. - The digital intermediate look partly disappointing. - A strong and original idea for a film about childhood. In 1989, as the Berlin Wall falls, thousands of Caucasian Shepherd Dogs are executed, but one little puppy is rescued into a Finnish family. Called Storm, it becomes the pet of the little daughter Muru. But as it grows into its full size, following its nature, it obeys only Muru and becomes the menace of everybody else. - The connections between the family world and the world of history are effective, with scenes in the beginning in Berlin, and the ovcharka scenes towards the end in the Caucasus. - In the most startling scene of the film, the family home becomes a mini-East-Berlin, with little Muru as the guard in front of the Wall, complete with an East German military cap. - There are two excellent films to compare with: Cujo, based on the novel by Stephen King (the car siege is included also here), and The White Dog directed by Sam Fuller, where the young girl also faces the shocking truth about a dog bred to kill. Kaisa Rastimo does very well in the comparison. - "Good night, all dead animals of the world".

Giliap

Roy Andersson: Giliap (1975).

Giliap.
    SE © 1975 Sandrew.
    D+SC: Roy Andersson. DP: John Olsson – Eastmancolor – 1:1,66. Starring Thommy Berggren (Giliap), Mona Seilitz (Anna).
    137 min.

[This film had been seen in Finland only on TV in 1981 and in Walhalla screenings in 1976.]

Official Finnish premiere without subtitles at an open-air night screening at 22.00 in Kesäkino Engel, 15 August 2008. [Focus problems in the open-air screening.]

Roy Andersson's second feature film received so crushing reviews that it took 25 year for the director to make his third feature film, Sånger från andra våningen.

Now it is easy to see that much of the vision of his recent films is already present in Giliap. There is much in common with early cinema: static shots, long takes.

The boy (given the nickname Giliap) comes to serve as a waiter in the restaurant of Hotel Busarewski (in a small town? or in a small district of a city?). He meets the young waitress Anna, who is more interested in contacting him than he is in her. One of their mates, The Count, has a gun and plans robbery. Anna leaves Busarewski and moves to a sea resort hotel. Giliap follows her, but so does The Count...

The film is not story-driven. It is anti-dramatic and non-psychological. Much rather it is a meditative experience.

Helsinki, ikuisesti

[Helsingfors, för evigt][Helsinki Forever]. FI (c) 2008 Illume. P: Jouko Aaltonen. D+SC: Peter von Bagh. ED: Petteri Evilampi. Format: Digibeta. 75 min. Helsinki Festival Gala Premiere, presented by Jouko Aaltonen, in the presence of many members of the team. Digibeta projection in Bio Rex, 15 August 2008. - A personal, poetic compilation essay about Helsinki, with inserts, paintings, artworks, poems, etc. from ca one hundred artists. - The icebreaker comes to Helsinki a hundred years ago. - The Sokos traffic circle as the magical center of the city as seen by many film artists, most hauntingly by Eino Ruutsalo. - How a person moves, how a star brings a special feeling to the milieu. - Heikinkatu / Mannerheimintie (the main street of Helsinki) is never finished. - Kino-Palatsi the most magnificent cinema in Finland (demolished in 1965) where the everyday was transformed into holiday. - Munkkiniemi and Leif Wager, Katajanokka and Nyrki Tapiovaara, Punavuori and Ventti-Ville. - The Kafkaesque vision of Tulio in Olet mennyt minun vereeni (You Have Gone Into My Blood). - The 1930s, the last decade when big bands played in restaurants. - Urban solitude. - The Zeppelin over Helsinki a hundred years ago, when the newsreel photographer's camera was as big an attraction as the flying miracle. - The Market Square in the movies. - The Senate Square in the movies: The February Manifesto, the people's demonstration crushed by mounted Cossacks in 1899 (fiction reconstruction), the turning-points of 1918, 1929, 1931, 1940, 1956 with big crowds. - So-called war criminals convicted in 1946. - The Dostoyevskyan view of the queue to the state-monopoly alcohol store. - The sportsmen and their quasi-holy veneration by impossibly large crowds. Paavo Nurmi bringing the torch to the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, "the last real Olympics". - The swimming beach of Hietalahti. - The worker's district Kallio: Tauno Palo (Onni pyörii / Luck Turns). Sacy Sand brings rock'n'roll into Finnish movies in 1957. The symbolic landmark Pitkäsilta (The Long Bridge) connecting Unioninkatu (the street of power) to Siltasaarenkatu (the street of workers). Visions of the Hakaniemi Square. The utopia breathing from the pavement. The bygone days of a common First of May celebration. The left-wing parties' parade in the snow, shot by Mikko Niskanen (Lapualaismorsian). And the students' "after the party" mood also shot by Niskanen. - The Parliament House and Le Grand Circus du Nord. - The central depots (Makasiinit) from 1860 until 2006, dubbed "The Heart of the Nation" by Antti Peippo in his final film. - The legendary Kämp, hotel and restaurant, the spirits of Sibelius and Leino still there. - Havis Amanda, the Aphrodite of Helsinki. - The best Finnish musical SF-Paraati, shot in 1939, during the last summer of peace, with the most beautiful camera movement over Helsinki (the view of Ansa Ikonen). - The sea and the sky. The fountains and the parks. - The Railway Square: Täältä tullaan elämä (1980 by Tapio Suominen). The record of Risto Jarva of the cavernous building site of the Makkaratalo ("The Sausage Building"): a symbol of concrete brutalism. - Red prisoners on their way to the Suomenlinna fortress island 90 years ago: history looking at us. - Before this, the best Helsinki film was Yhdeksän tapaa lähestyä Helsinkiä (Nine Ways to Approach Helsinki, directed by Jörn Donner, with remarkable cinematography by Pirjo Honkasalo). Now Peter von Bagh's film rises to the same level. - This inspiring film would deserve to be processed and made available on 35mm film, as a tribute to the many magnificent cinematographers on display.

Lain mukaan

Enligt lagen / [By the Law]. FI 1956. PC: Fennada. P: Mauno Mäkelä. D+SC: Roland af Hällström - based on the short story by Minna Canth (1889). DP: Esko Töyri. M: Tauno Pylkkänen. Starring: Eila Peitsalo (Maria Toikka), Matti Oravisto (worker Ville Toikka), Fritz-Hugo Backman (boss Ephraim Oppman), Elvi Saarnio (Katri), Pentti Viljanen (foreman Peltonen). 76 min. A vintage print with Swedish subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 13 August 2008. - Hällström's last film closes the circle with his first film: both are based on prominent women author's texts, and both are relevant for feminism. - The inflammatory short story of Minna Canth was first published as a private publication only. Based on a true case in Kuopio, it is an account of a conviction of a worker for attempted manslaughter of the big boss who had sent him on an errand of two weeks in order to access his young and beautiful wife. - This could be the stuff of exaggerated melodrama, but Minna Canth and Roland af Hällström work against the expectations. The approach is restrained. Ville and Maria keep silent in the court, not provoked by the distortions of the prosecutor. Ville is sent to three years of hard labour. In the evening the boss appears at Maria's home. With him, a bottle of wine more sparkling than ever. - Fennada quality production at its best.

La Maman et la putain

Äiti ja huora / Mamman och horan. FR 1973. D+SC: Jean Eustache. DP: Pierre Lhomme - shot on 16mm - 35mm blowup print. Starring: Jean-Pierre Léaud (Alexandre), Bernadette Lafont (Marie), Francoise Lebrun (Veronika), Isabelle Weingarten (Gilberte), Jacques Renard (friend). 220 min. Vintage print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 12 August 2008. - Revisiting the beginning of this spellbinding film of the flaneur's éducation sentimentale post-1968 in the cafés of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Deux Magots, Flore) and among fascinating women. Still magical.

Kautokeino-opprøret

Kautokeinon kapina / Kautokeino-uppröret. DK / NO /SE (c) 2007 Rubicon Films. Premiere: 2008. D: Nils Gaup. SC: Nils Isak Eira, Nils Gaup, Reidar Jönsson, Pelone Wahl. DP: Philip Øgaard - shot in Super 35 (35mm) - digital intermediate - print 35mm 1:2,35. Starring Anni-Kristiina Juuso (Elen Hetta), Mikael Persbrandt (Ruth), Mikkel Gaup (Aslak Hetta), Asle Mathis Gaup (Mathis Hetta), Michael Nyqvist (Lars Levi Laestadius), Bjørn Sundquist (parson Stockfleth), Peter Andersson (Bucht), Jørgen Langhelle. In Saami, Swedish, and Norwegian. 100 min. Released in Finland by Sandrew, with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Anitra Paukkula / Joanna Erkkilä. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 7, 9 August 2008. - There is a flat digital intermediate look in this print. - An interesting and original historical epic on the Kautokeino rebellion in ca 1850 (also the subject of the opera Aslak Hetta by Armas Launis). - Merchants oppress Laplanders exploiting their alcohol addiction that has become epidemic, and bereave them of their reindeer as payment. - The great revivalist parson of the Northern Lutheran church, Laestadius, inspires a spiritual awakening in the village, to the dismay of the merchants. The conflict leads into violent protest and capital punishment to the rebels. - The true story contains new, good and strong material for an epic film. Unfortunately the direction (also of actors), cinematography, and music are wooden. - The basic content of the story feels true, but there is the question of coarse simplification of the processes of justice and law enforcement. The atavistic, primitive aspects of the Laplanders are ignored. - Michael Nyqvist gives a strong performance as Laestadius. - This film is fascinating but not perfectly realized.

The Bank Job

Pankkikeikka / Bankstöten. GB (c) 2008 Baker Street. D: Roger Donaldson. SC: Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais. DP: Michael Coulter - shot digitally with Arriflex D-20 - via digital intermediate - anamorphic 35mm film print in 1:2,35. Music selections include: T-Rex: "Get It On" and The Storys: "Money". Starring Jason Statham (Terry Leather), Saffron Burrows (Martine Love), Stephen Campbell Moore (Kevin Swain), Daniel Mays (Dave Shilling), James Faulkner (Guy Arthur Singer), Alki David (Bambas), Michael Jibson (Eddie Burton), Georgia Taylor (Ingrid Burton), David Suchet (Lew Vogel), Peter De Jersey (Michael X). 111 min. Released in Finland by Nordisk, Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Saliven Gustavson. Viewed at Tennispalatsi 4, 9 August 2008. - Cinematography immaculate, without a jarring digital intermediate impact. - If The Asphalt Jungle is the template to the big caper film, and I soliti ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street) the original parody, The Bank Job at first looks like a variation of the parody, with a gang of amateurs planning the big caper without skill and without realizing what it's all about. - But the burglars have unexpected luck and unluck. - The safety deposit boxes of the small but prestigious bank contain all sorts of highly sensitive material, including the ledger of the porn king Lew Vogel detailing bribes paid to police officers, and compromising photographs and films of Princess Margaret and officials in high places, trump cards of the chic radical and drug smuggler Michael X. - Supposedly inspired by true events in September 1971, reportedly the biggest heist in British history.

Once

Once / Once. IE (c) 2005 Samson Films / Summit Entertainment. D+SC: John Carney. Cinematography: Sony HVR-Z1 video > transferred to film 35mm print in 1:1,85. omposers, lyricists, stars: Glen Hansard (Irish streetsinger-guitarplayer) and Marketá Irglová (Czech pianist). 85 min. Released in Finland by Cinema Mondo, with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Mökkönen / Joanna Erkkilä. Viewed at Tennispalatsi 5, 9 August 2008. - Disappointing video blowup. - Unpretentious, honest, affectionate, low-key story of a young Irish street singer meeting a young Czech pianist lady.

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Opening Gala

CN 2008. D: Zhang Yimou. Global hdtv transmission watched at normal definition on Finnish YLE TV2, 8 August 2008, with Finnish commentary. The cultural-historical gala some 70 min before the parade of the 204 national teams. - Zhang Yimou has selected a Romantic concept to his global gala ("One World - One Dream"), with a message of universal brotherhood, an emphasis on childhood, peaceful cultural achievement (music, writing, painting), the joy of sport available to all (tai chi), the concept of "Olympics for the people". - The gala starts with breathtaking aerial views and wonderful montages of traditional Chinese life. A focus on the great Chinese inventions (powder, fireworks, the sun dial, the compass, navigation, printing, the production of paper, the use of ink, silk design, the kite) and cultural traditions (Confucius, traditional music, tai chi). The giant's footsteps from the square of the celestial peace to the olympic stadium (the Bird's Nest). 2008 drummers sing the Confucian welcome call, in friendship to strangers. Star clusters transform into circles of dreams, flying fairies lift the five olympic circles. I joined in the Chinese national hymn, "The March of the Volunteers". The whole city is lit with all-time fireworks. Among the imagery: the Great Wall, peach blossoms (love of peace), the return of the 800 terracotta warriors, the Silk Road, 08.08.08 the lucky day in China, luminous acrobats create huge patterns of stars and birds, taigonauts (Chinese astronauts) defying gravity, the giant globe emerges as in a space odyssey, and acrobats become globetrotters doing cartwheels in impossible angles, folk dances in many forms, colours and masks. "True China does not quite look like this", was the deadpan comment of the female Finnish commentator. - Manipulations revealed afterwards: the small girl's voice dubbed by another singing girl; images of fireworks partly previously shot footage on better weather.

The Dark Knight

Christopher Nolan: The Dark Knight (US 2008) with Christian Bale as Batman.

Yön ritari. US  © 2008 Warner Bros. D: Christopher Nolan. Based on the characters created by Bob Kane. DP: Wally Pfister – Digital Intermediate – 1:2,35 film print.
    C: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Heath Ledger (The Joker), Aaron Eckhart (DA Harvey Dent / Two-Face), Michael Caine (Alfred), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes), Gary Oldman (Gordon), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox).
    Viewed at Bristol, released by Sandrew, Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Janne Staffans.

An obvious digital intermediate look, alas.

Already hailed by some as the film of the year. Certainly a strong fantasy film verging on horror, a picture that probes the vigilante theme, about the fascination of bypassing the legal instruments of justice. The cast is strong, but Heath Ledger stands out as the psychotic villain of pure evil.

The Tim Burton revival of the Batman world gave us Batman Returns, one of the greatest fantasy films ever.

Christopher Nolan consolidates his status as the great contender to Burton. His world is darker, more serious, better storywise; Burton is the greater creator of visual imagery.

Jack Nicholson created an outlandish Joker; Heath Ledger gives us one of the most frightening and disturbing monsters in film history.

A problem with all these films is their streak of sadism; we are invited to enjoy their joy of torture, disfigurement and destruction.

I recently saw again the complete Dirty Harry films; there is a significant parallel with Batman. Also the acknowledgement that the exposure to violence, even in the service of justice, is brutalizing.

Baise-moi

Pane mua / Baise-moi (SE). FR 2000. PC: Le Studio Canal+, Pan Européenne. D+SC: Virginie Despentes, Coralie Trinh Thi - based on the novel by Despentes. DP: Benoît Chamaillard, Julien Pamart - shot on video - transferred to a 35mm film print - color - 1:1,85. Starring Raffaëla Anderson (Manu), Karen Bach (Nadine). 77 min. Finnish subtitles only. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 6 August 2008. - I watched the start of this naturalistic outburst of hardcore sex, vulgar language and general contempt of the dignity of life. Ugly video look.

Arkiston aarteet 2008 4: Tampere naisten kaupunki 2 / [Treasures from the Archive 2008 4: Tampere, the City of Women 2]

Skatter ur arkivet 2008 4: Tammerfors, kvinnornas stad 2. Compiled for Tampere Film Festival 2008 by Raimo Silius and Lauri Tykkyläinen. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 6 August 2008.
Talvista muotia Tampereella. [Winter Fashions in Tampere]. FI 1955. ca 9 min. - Armi Kuusela and Gil Hilario in the grip of blatant product placement.
Välähdyksiä Miss Eurooppa -kilpailuista Helsingissä. [Glimpses of the Miss Europa Contest in Helsinki].
Ajan Kuvastin 42 - Miss Suomi kilpailut 1958. [Ajan Kuvastin 42 - Miss Suomi Contest 1958]. FI 1958. 11 min. Ironic commentary written by Jukka Virtanen read by Mai-Brit Heljo and Mauno Hyvönen. Starring Pirkko Mannola at 19.
Tampere tekstiilejä tekee. [Tampere at Work with Textiles]. FI 1958. D: Allan Pyykkö. 8 min. Tampere here the big center of textile industry, with Finlayson, Lapinniemi, Klingendahl, Suomen Trikoo, and PMK. Colour faded in the print seen.
Kolmen kaupungin kasvot: Tampere. [The Faces of Three Cities: Tampere]. FI 1962. PC: Suomi-Filmi. D: Matti Kassila. The Tampere episode 30 min. This is an interesting documentary essay with focus on industry, the theatre and literature. Memorable glimpses of The Unknown Soldier at the Pyynikki Summer Theatre, views of Mikko Mäkelä, Eino Salmelainen, and Väinö Linna.
Balladi Sallista. [The Ballad of Salli]. FI 1982. PC: Elovalkia. D+SC+ED: Hannu Peltomaa. Based on the poem "Surullinen laulu Ronganojan Sallista" by Viljo Kajava, composed by Harri Tuominen. Starring Eeva-Riitta Salo and Kari Väänänen, sung by Monna Kamu and Pekka Aarnio. 24 min. Strong atmosphere of the beginning of the 20th century in the workers' district Kyttälä.