Chung Kuo - Cina parte 1

Chung Kuo - Kiina osa 1 / Antonionis Kina 1 / China 1. IT (c) 1972 RAI. D: Michelangelo Antonioni. SC: Antonioni, Andrea Barbato. DP: Luciano Tovoli - original format? - colour - print 35mm. TV documentary. The whole film 207 min, the first part 76 min. A 35mm Cinecittà print with English subtitles viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 2 September 2008. - A good 35mm print, with full colour, as good as it gets, of a film that was apparently shot on 16mm. - Antonioni's fascinating tv documentary was made when China was barely emerging from the purgatory / hell of the Cultural Revolution, and Antonioni was one of the early witnesses of China's opening. - The documentary is honestly presented as one strictly controlled by the authorities. - It starts on the Tiananmen Square, the children's song "I Love Tiananmen Square", the center of the world, Chung Kuo meaning "the central country". - Antonioni traces faces, gestures, habits. We are conscious of the bans and restrictions imposed on him. - Tai chi. - Caesarean section with acupuncture anaesthesia. - The society of a huge textile factory, with kindergartens, simple homes, work is not hectic. - Art and culture to the masses. - The Great Wall. - The Holy Road of the Spirits. - The Museum of the Revolution. - The life in the land is constant struggle. Visiting farms and markets. - Back in Peking, in the Forbidden City, which has recently been opened. Interminable waiting of the imperial era brings to mind Kafka. - An old woman whose feet were deformed in the old era. - The new Peking, new urbanization. - Tien Tan: the Temple of the Heaven. - Cheng An: the puppet theatre with many puppet musicians.

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.

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.

Se, jie

Lust, Caution / Lust, Caution. US / CN / TW / HK (c) 2007 Hai Sheng Film Production Company etc. P: William Kong, Ang Lee. D: Ang Lee. SC: James Schamus, Hui-Ling Wang - based on the story by Eileen Chang. DP: Rodrigo Prieto. Starring Tony Leung (Mr. Yee), Wei Tang ("Mrs. Mak", Wong Chia Chi), Joan Chen (Mrs. Yee). In Finland the long uncut version 157 min. Released by Sandrew, Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Arto Vartiainen / Ditte Kronström. Viewed at Maxim 1, Helsinki, 9 Feb 2008. A resistance story during the Japanese invasion of China in 1938-1942. Young students plan to assassinate the collaborationist leader, Mr. Yee, by planting a young woman as his mistress, "Mrs. Mak". An elaborate scheme of sex and violence develops. Having recently watched Lubitsch spectacles where the French Revolution and the English Reformation are observed from the viewpoint of the bedchamber I noticed in this film some affinities with them, as well as with Notorious and North by Northwest by Hitchcock. As a Western viewer I would have been interested to learn more about the terrible occupation and the brave resistance, too little known outside China. The sex scenes are powerful but isn't there some imbalance between the epic and the intimate? Anyway, it's another high profile and novel contribution from Ang Lee.

Red Corner

100678 / 16 / US / 1997 / Avnet, Jon / / thriller
Red Corner / Punainen labyrintti. © MGM. D: Jon Avnet. SC: Robert King. DP: Karl Walter Lindenlaub. CAST: Richard Gere (Jack Moore), Bai Ling (Shen Yuelin), Jessey Meng (Hong Ling). 122’. 1,85. MPAA 35271. Rated R = 17. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Anna-Lisa Holmqvist. DIST: UIP Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Thursday 2 April 1998. *** American TV businessman is framed for murder in China while trying to close a huge satellite deal. Caught in the net of Chinese jurisdiction he is helped by a female attorney. The theme of the clash of the cultures is a strong one, and also as a court drama this of course treads new ground.

Xian hunnü

100449 / 12 / CN / 1993 / Xie Fei / / drama

Xian hunnü / Women From the Lake of Scented Souls / Nainen tuoksuvien sielujen järveltä. PC: Tianjin Film Studios; Changchun Film Studios. D+SC: Xie Fei. CAST: Siqin Gaowa (Xiang), Wu Yujuan, Lei Luosheng. 1,66. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Hannele Vahtera. DIST: Kamras Film Group. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Friday 14 November 1997. *** One of the best Chinese films I have seen. The drama of the strong-willed woman brings to mind the Finnish Niskavuori saga. ”In a small village in the Hebei province in northern China Xiang runs a sesame-oil operation. Interest from a Japanese company brings Xiang into contact with a whole world of female independence in contrast to the traditional world she normally inhabits” to quote the BFI CD-ROM. Fine performances, great cinematography are combined with true dramatic force.

Taohua qi xue ji / Peach Blossom Weeps Tears of Blood

/ / CN / 1931 / Poh, Richard / / melodrama
The Peach Girl. PC: Lianhua Film Company. D: Richard Poh. DP: Huang Shaofen. CAST: Ruan Lingyu, Jin Yan. Print from Zhongguo Dianying Ziliaoguan. /20 fps/ 100’. Silent b&w. Piano: Philip C. Carli. Chinese and English titles. Pordenone, Cinema Verdi, Tuesday, 14 October 1997. *** Melodrama about love across the tracks is full of exciting detail on the everyday life. The cinematography is first rate, and Ruan Lingyu is charismatic as the peach blossom girl. The peach tree is withered as we reach the end but the spineless son of the opium-addicted landlady-mother receives the dying heroine’s baby: ”I shall live for her sake”. ”Like teardrops petals from the peach blossoms fall upon her grave”.