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.

Desperate Measures

100675 / 16 / US / 1998 / Schroeder, Barbet / action
Desperate Measures / Piinaavat hetket. © Mandalay Entertainment. D: Barbet Schroeder. SC: David Klass. DP: Luciano Tovoli. CAST: Michael Keaton (Peter McCabe), Andy Garcia (Frank Conner), Marcia Gay Harden (Samantha Hawkins). 100’. 1,85. MPAA 34792. Rated R = 17. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Janne Staffans. DIST: Columbia Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Wednesday 1 April 1998. *** San Francisco cop Andy Garcia can only help his terminally ill son with bone marrow transplant from psycho killer Michael Keaton. Non stop overkill of spectacular action. The title of the film is more apt than the producers might want it to be.