Film concert Modern Times (2009 Helsinki, Finlandia Hall / arr. Timothy Brock (2000) / perf. RSO / cond. Carl Davis)

Charles Chaplin: Modern Times (US 1936).

Nykyaika / Moderna tider. US © 1936 Charles Chaplin. M: Charles Chaplin, arr. David Raksin. The original score reconstructed by Timothy Brock (2000). Performed by RSO (Radio Symphony Orchestra), conductor: Carl Davis. Finlandia-talo, 23 Jan 2009. Full house for two performances. - Chaplin's greatest score played beautifully by the RSO. - His musical gift is versatile: the machine world in the opening credits theme, the playful passages in the gag sequences, and the emotional final theme tune that would be later become known as "Smile". It is uttered first like a breath of relief when Chaplin finally meets Goddard, the first woman in his feature films who really seems like the perfect match. (But so were Edna and Mabel in the shorts.) The music keeps growing after the final image, reaching its greatest impact when the screen is dark, just as was the case in City Lights. - It was a pleasure to have a drink with Carl Davis and Paul Wing after the lovely performance.

...

ANTTI ALANEN

PROGRAM NOTE FOR THE RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA HANDBILL 23 JAN 2009

Nykyaika

Modern Times / Moderna tider

Yhdysvallat © 1936 Charles Chaplin. Tuottaja, ohjaaja, käsikirjoittaja: Charles Chaplin. Kuvaus: Roland Totheroh, Ira Morgan. Lavastus: Charles D. Hall, Russell Spencer. Musiikin sävellys: Charles Chaplin. Musiikin sovitus: David Raksin, Edward Powell. Musiikin johto: Alfred Newman. Laulu "Je cherche après Titine" (Duncan, Danirdeff). Pääosissa: Charles Chaplin (tehdastyöläinen), Paulette Goddard (kulkurityttö, "gamine"), Henry Bergman (kahvilanpitäjä), Stanley J. Sanford (Iso Bill ja murtovaras), Chester Conklin (asentaja). 87 min

    Tunnussävel sanoitettiin jälkeenpäin lauluksi "Smile" / "Hymy" (san. Geoffrey Parsons, John Turner).

    Restauroitu laitos (2000) sisältää alkuperäisen musiikin Timothy Brockin uudelleenorkestroimana ja johtamana. Se on julkaistu dvd:llä myös Suomessa (2003).

Charles Chaplin oli ottanut suuren riskin tekemällä Kaupungin valot (1931) mykkäelokuvana, jonka ääniraidalla oli vain musiikkia ja äänitehosteita. Elokuva sai valtavan menestyksen, siitä tuli suositumpi kuin mistään siihenastisesta äänielokuvasta, ja huojentunut Chaplin lähti matkalle maailman ympäri. Matkallaan Chaplin kohtasi suurmiehiä (Gandhi, Churchill, Shaw, Einstein), häntä itseään pidettiin yhtenä maailman merkittävimmistä miehistä, ja hän nousi maineensa huipulle. Chaplin näki nyt omin silmin maailmanlaajuisen laman vaikutuksen. Chaplin itse oli varakas liikemies, joka oli välttynyt laman menetyksiltä myymällä osakkeensa juuri ennen pörssiromahdusta. Palatessaan Yhdysvaltoihin vuonna 1932 Chaplin näki laman ja työttömyyden vain syvenevän. Menossa olivat Yhdysvaltain presidentinvaalit, joissa valituksi tuli F. D. Roosevelt. Chaplinista tuli Rooseveltin ja tämän New Deal -politiikan innokas kannattaja.

Kaupungin valoihin oli huipentunut Chaplinin "mahdottoman rakkauden trilogia". Ankaralla 1930-luvulla chaplinilaista tunteilua alettiin arvostella, ja Charlie otti kritiikin huomioon. Uusi elokuva, joka sai nimekseen Nykyaika, heijastikin ajan todellisuutta. Sen aiheisiin kuuluivat liukuhihnatyö, nälkä, työttömyys ja poliisiväkivalta. Erityisen satiirin kohteena oli F. W. Taylorin tieteellisen liikkeenjohdon menetelmiin perustuva tehdastyö, jossa tehokkuus viedään äärimmilleen. Nykyaika ei ole poliittinen elokuva eikä yhteiskunnallinen analyysi, mutta visiona koneiden aikakaudesta ja vieraantuneesta työstä se on kohonnut tunnuskuvan asemaan. Kuva Charliesta juuttuneena tehtaan rattaisiin on iskostunut historian kirjoihinkin. Yhteentörmäys esineiden ja koneiden kanssa oli alusta pitäen kuulunut Charlien aihepiiriin. Nykyajassa satiiri avartui tietoisesti näyksi – nykyajasta.

Kaupungin valot oli Chaplinin elokuvista kehittynein, hiotuin ja ehjin kokonaisuus. Nykyaika sitä vastoin palasi yhtäältä vanhaan, ja on sanottu, että se on rakenteeltaan kuin kokoelma Mutual-lyhytelokuvia, joiden nimet voisivat olla Tehdas, Vanki, Vartija ja Laulava tarjoilija. Mutta toisaalta Chaplin tarjosi paljon uutta. Komiikka oli jalostunut; André Bazin luonnehtii sitä koruttomaksi, ehdottomaksi ja luontevaksi. Bazin arvioi myös, että Nykyajassa Chaplin eteni pantomiimista balettiin. Uutta oli myös kuvatun ajan kovempi henki; kulkuri oli entistä ankarammin yhteiskunnan armoilla. Ennen kaikkea naispäähenkilö oli uudenlainen. Paulette Goddardin tulkitsema kulkurityttö on aktiivinen selviytyjä, jonka itsenäistä tarinaa seurataan enemmän kuin naispäähenkilöitä Charlien aikaisemmissa elokuvissa, poikkeuksena Nainen Pariisissa. (Elokuvassa tytöstä käytetään sanaa "gamin", mutta Chaplin itsekin korjasi sanan sittemmin oikeaan muotoon "gamine"). Chaplin oli tutustunut Goddardiin vuonna 1932 ja koki tämän kanssa elämänsä siihen asti onnellisimman rakkaussuhteen; tämäkin säteilee elokuvasta. Nykyajassa kulkuri astelee ensi kertaa lopussa taivaanrantaan nainen rinnallaan. Uutta on vielä sekin, että tunnelataus elokuvassa liittyy enemmän naiseen kuin Charlieen.

Chaplin teki Nykyajan vielä kerran uhkarohkeasti mykkäelokuvana. Charlie ei lausu elokuvassaan ainoatakaan vuorosanaa; hän laulaa vain "Titina"-laulun. Musiikki sai sitäkin suuremman sijan. Tunteen mahti Nykyajassa liittyy oleellisesti musiikkiin, ja Nykyaikaan Chaplin loi kunnianhimoisimman musiikkinsa. Chaplin ei osannut nuotteja, mutta hänellä oli säveltämisen lahja. Hänen vahvuuksiaan olivat melodia ja harmonia ja kyky rytmittää musiikki toimintaan. Chaplin valmisteli Nykyajan musiikkia neljän ja puolen kuukauden ajan sovittajinaan David Raksin ja Edward Powell. Pääkumppanina oli David Raksin (1912–2004), sittemmin kuuluisa elokuvasäveltäjä, jolle Nykyaika oli ensimmäinen elokuvamusiikkityö. Myöhemmin hänet opittiin tuntemaan mm. Lauran tunnusmelodian säveltäjänä. Suorapuheisuutensa vuoksi Raksin (23 v) sai saman tien potkut, mutta mietittyään toisen kerran Chaplin palkkasi rehellisen ja innokkaan Raksinin uudelleen, ja rankka mutta onnellinen työ alkoi. Oli valmistettava puolitoista tuntia musiikkia 60 hengen orkesterille. Kohtaukset, eleet ja vivahteet synkattiin sekunnin murto-osan tarkkuudella. Äänitysvaiheessa Chaplinilla oli palkkalistoillaan kokonainen sinfoniaorkesteri kuusi viikkoa. Chaplinilla oli siihen varaa, ja hän maksoi kaiken omasta taskustaan.

Nykyajan musiikki on Chaplinin "vahvin, kompleksisin ja kekseliäin" (Timothy Brock). Se viestittää itsenäisellä tavallaan sanomaa koneellisesta maailmasta. Musiikin tarkoitus ei ole toistaa sitä mitä jo näemme, vaan tuoda elokuvaan uusi ulottuvuus, ja keskeisenä on tunteen maailma. 1930-luvun puolivälin äänitystekniikalla musiikista tuli kuitenkin kuuluviin vain pinta: rytmi, melodia, rakenne ja synkronisuus. Sinfoninen harmonia, syvyys ja vivahteikkuus eivät välittyneet ääniraidalta. Timothy Brock käytti 14 kuukautta restauroidessaan Nykyajan partituurin ja stemmat vuosina 1999-2000, ja tulos oli sen arvoinen. Kun kuulin Brock-sovituksen ensiesityksen Bolognan kaupunginoopperassa 2000, musiikki jäi soimaan mieleen päiväkausiksi. Koskaan Nykyaika ei ole ollut niin sykähdyttävä ja pakahduttava kuin ison orkesterin tulkintana elävässä konsertissa.

Antti Alanen

Richard Leacock and Valerie Lalonde (2009 DocPoint festival)

Valerie Lalonde and Richard Leacock. Photo from: Richard Leacock & Valerie Lalonde: The Paris Years 1989–2009.

It was a pleasure to have coffee with Richard Leacock and Valerie Lalonde, guests of honor of the DocPoint festival, in the lobby of the President Hotel in Helsinki. Richard Leacock is probably the last major direct link to Robert Flaherty, the father of the documentary film.

L'Inde fantôme 2: Choses vues à Madras / Phantom India 2: Things Seen in Madras

Louis Malle: L'Inde fantôme 2: Choses vues à Madras (FR 1969). A festival at the Kapaleeshwar Temple on the outskirts of Madras. The car of the juggernaut.

L'Inde fantôme: réflexions sur un voyage. 2: Choses vues à Madras
Phantom India: Reflections on a Journey. 2: Things Seen in Madras.
Intian päiväkirja 2: Madrasin näkymiä.
    FR 1969. D: Louis Malle. Brilliant restored version, superb print by AFF / CNC, with e-subtitles by Lena Talvio. 52 min. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 22 Feb 2009. – I saw the beginning: the Car of the Juggernaut. A magnificent scene of religious fervour and mass feeling.

Kekkoslovakia 1

A compilation video by Ilkka Kippola and Jari Sedergren, prepared for this screening. 82 min. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 22 Oct 2009. - The career and times of Urho Kekkonen (1900-1986), President of Finland in 1956-1981. Displayed in the newsreels, showing both the facade, with glimpses behind.
+
Urho Kekkonen. FI 1961. D: Harry Lewing. 37 min. Colour. The official propaganda film for the presidential election. Brilliant colour in the 35mm print.

L'Inde fantôme 5: Regards sur les castes / Phantom India 5: A Look at the Castes (2009 restoration AFF / CNC)

Louis Malle: L'Inde fantôme 5: Regards sur les castes / Phantom India 5: A Look at the Castes (FR 1969).

Intian päiväkirja 5: Kasteista. 

    FR 1969. PC: Nouvelles Editions de Films / ORTF. P: Claude Nedjar. 

    D: Louis Malle. DP: Etienne Becker - shot on 16 mm - colour - blowup to 35 mm. ED: Suzanne Baron. S: Jean-Claude Laureux. Commentary read by: Louis Malle. 

    52 min

    The restored version by AFF / CNC, e-subtitles by Lena Talvio, viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 21 Jan 2009.

Brilliant image in the print, gorgeous for instance in the colourful laundry (dhobi) sequence.

Magisterial. The US development assistance worker. The ancient music instruments. The folkloristic episode. The villagers got used to us. Beyond the routine, the unexpected. The precious cow manure. The carrying of water. 

The strange work patterns lead us to the hidden caste system. For the foreigner, it is incomprehensible, invisible, it is a silent agreement, an unconscious reflex, abolished from the Constitution. Since thousands of years, there are the four castes: 1. Brahmins, 2. Kshatriyas (warriors, nobility), 3. Vaishyas (merchants), 4. Shudras (workers, farmers, service providers, laborers) - and the casteless.

In this village, there were 20 castes. - The terms pariah, untouchable, caste, are invented by Europeans, not used by Indians. - The reality is more complex. - The casteless are called the Harijan (the children of God). The situation is comparable with the one that existed in the Old South of the U.S. between the whites and the blacks. - A young harijan was burned. The police was supposed to intervene, but there was a wall of silence that prevented it. - The greatest victims of the system are its greatest defendants. - The water pipe. The pure and the impure bath-house.

The taboos are losing some of their might, especially in the cities. - How one bathes, eats, smokes. - In the West, the individual is supreme, in India, the relations. - A charming outdoor school on the ceiling of the bath-house. The teachers belong to the brahmin caste. - The blind camel circles the grindstone that mixes the seed.

The concept of the freedom of the individual is unknown. - The man who is the water-lifter: the dharma. The system of exchange. The agrarian communism. Now connected with land ownership. The village goes in debt to the rich. The castes turn into classes.

The mountain tribe who has moved to the plains: isolated, fateless. - Laundry, the dhobi, the ancient way of beating against the rock, without soap. - Even in Madras, there are hundreds of the dhobi, in a precise division of labour. The laundry is ready to be picked up on the same day.

The Aryans, the Greek, the Romans, the Germans - the castes are 3000 years old - they preceded the Aryans. - In Bombay, there is a huge laundry, yet they have the dhobi. - In 1853, Marx predicted that the railway would put an end to the caste system. Instead, it still exists, hampering democracy.

The funeral, a jubileum of death. Death is not even a break in the continuous chain of existence. No punishment is final. The supreme goal is to no longer be born, to merge into the cosmos.

The modernization of agriculture. First, you have to change the consciousness. You need to look at the world in another way. - The traditional sport that resembles wrestling. Nobody follows the rules. The past can be revoked. - Panchayat: the village council. Sarpanch: the village chief. - There is an accusation of theft. But democracy and justice are only for the appearances.

Kansakunnan olohuone / The Living Room of the Nation (in the presence of Jukka Kärkkäinen and Sami Jahnukainen)

Jukka Kärkkäinen: Kansakunnan olohuone / The Living Room of the Nation (FI 2008).

FI © 2008 Mouka Filmi. P: Sami Jahnukainen. D: Jukka Kärkkäinen. Video. 80 min. A Mouka Filmi videotape, English version, with English credits and subtitles by Aretta Vähälä. 

    Viewed at DocPoint opening gala, Bio Rex, 20 Jan 2009. 

    Presented by Jukka Kärkkäinen and Sami Jahnukainen with a performance of bad English and a fine a cappella song of A Thousand Roses. - 

The visual quality of the picture is modest, not far from surveillance video.

Erkko Lyytinen's programme text: "The Living Room of the Nation follows the lives of Finns in their holiest place, the living room. By comparing the protagonist Tero's life to the events taking place in the living rooms of the other characters, the viewer is given a unique window to an essential dimension of Finnishness - how we react to other people's problems and how we talk about our own. "

"The film is a small-scale collection of manifestations of Finnishness. Tero seeks to untangle his relationship with the mother of his unborn child, and a reclusive man tries to sort out his own relationship to life. Their introverted worlds reflect something vulnerable and tender to the outside. "

"It's better to say nothing and to keep things as they are, rather than seek to change and confront one's problems - revealing one's self is admitting weakness. The film combines all the traditional Finnish virtues: forced silence, enacted humility and artificial modesty." (Erkko Lyytinen, translated by Anna Volmari).

This is a feature film about people who are not participating in active daily life: who have retired to their homes, who are almost outcasts, old, weak, sick, disabled, apathetic, mentally ill, etc. All are retired or unemployed. 

It has been quite a feat to approach them and record them on the video with such candour. This film belongs to the same tradition as On the Bowery, and such works carry the same ethical question: the human beings being documented reveal extremely private sides of their circumstances, but are we worthy of their trust? Is there enough dignity in us?

Aesthetically the film belongs to the school of Roy Andersson.

The humanity of the film is affecting, and at the same time I feel embarrassed having been such a voyeur. - AFTERWARDS I was reminded that the people appearing in the film were present in the gala evening, and they approved.

DOCPOINT OPENING GALA

Bio Rex, 20 Jan 2009

The opening gala of the magnificent DocPoint festival, 20-25 Jan 2009.

Rock the Pole: a dance troupe presented a wonderful acrobatic performance around a pole erected in front of the screen. During the official speeches they watched First Blood on a monitor, Rambo wreaking havoc on the police station.

Nyt ja nyt - kuvia Helsingistä ennen ja nyt / Now and Now - Images from Helsinki Before and Now. FI 2008. D: Pekka Uotila. 8 min. Video. A montage of vintage silent Helsinki footage and new footage shot with five vintage hand-cranked cameras. The new footage looks much clumsier. And the point is lost, as it's a video. - Beautiful live music by a string quartet (four young and lovely ladies).

Opening speeches:
- Jari Matala, Executive Director
- Erkko Lyytinen, Artistic Director

The Apollo Prize was given by Mr. Erkki Astala (YLE, Finnish Broadcasting Corporation) to
the Epidem company, dedicated to quality documentary films since 40 years.
- Jaana Wahlforss gave a long, exciting speech
- Kai Salminen gave a shorter speech

The feature film, see Kansakunnan olohuone / The Living Room of the Nation

Ruslan i Ljudmila

Руслан и Людмила / Ruslan ja Ljudmila / Ruslan och Ljudmila / Ruslan and Lyudmila. SU (c) 1972 Mosfilm, released in 1973. D: Alexander Ptushko - from the poem by A.S. Pushkin (1820). DP: Igor Gelein, V. Zaharov - Sovcolor. FX: I. Felintsyn. PD: Jevgeni Serganov. COST: Olga Krutshinina. CAST: Natalja Petrova (Lyudmila), Valeri Kozinets (Ruslan), Vladimir Fedorov (Chernomor). 147 min. A vintage print with e-subtitles in Finnish by Tuulia Lehtonen. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 17 Jan 2009. - A soft Sovcolor print. - The launching film of our The Secret History of Soviet Cinema curated by Lauri Lehtinen and Antti Suonio. - I watched the start only. The film has the sense of the mythical grandeur of a fairy-tale epic, as did Ptushko's Ilya Muromez. It takes place in the mythical 9th-10th centuries of the old Russian principality of Kiev. - The performance was well attended. This film has a new fascination in the era of the new popularity of The Lord of the Rings.

THE FILMS OF MIKA TAANILA 1 + PORI WITH CIRCLE LIVE

Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 17 Jan 2009.

Futuro - tulevaisuuden olotila / Futuro - en framtidsutopi / Futuro - A New Stance for Tomorrow. FI (c) 1998. Kinotar. D: Mika Taanila. 30 min. - A good SES print with English subtitles by Jaana Wiik. - Revisited: the brilliant documentary on the UFO-shaped Futuro house (1968) by Matti Suuronen.

Circle in live concert (Janne Westerlund: guitar, vocals - Mika Rättö: vocals, keyboard, percussions - Tomi Leppänen: drums - Jussi Lehtisalo: bass, vocals - Tuomas Laurila: sound design - Janne Tuomi: percussions) to the film

Pori. FI (c) 1998 Mika Taanila / Kiasma. With inserts from Porin uusi silta (The New Bridge of Pori, Adams Filmi, 1926). A triptych (like Abel Gance's Polyvision) in Cinerama proportions of three 16mm projectors and colour slides. 35 min. - A good print, a perfect performance.
Circle is a many-sided band which has been associated with space rock, experimental music, metal music, post-rock, Krautrock and maybe also neo-psychedelia. Their performance was dynamic and inspired.
The film is a tribute to the seaside city of Pori, mixing old newsreels with new footage, sewer video surveillance imagery, abstract flashes and SMPTE test and leader strip. It starts with the waves of the sea upside down, the seagull in the sky, and the new bridge (of 1926) replacing the old Charlotta. There is footage from a concert at the Yyteri sand beach, showgirls, vapour, night lights, electric towers, the half moon in the sky. The abstract passages are great.

The Wrestler

Painija / The Wrestler. US (c) 2008 Off the Top Rope / Wild Bunch. EX: Vincent Maraval, Agnès Mentre, Jennifer Roth. P: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin. D: Darren Aronofsky. SC: Robert D. Siegel. DP: Maryse Alberti - shot on S-16mm - 2K digital intermediate - color - 2,35:1. "Round and Round" perf. by Ratt / Rat Attack. "The Wrestler" by and perf. by Bruce Springsteen. CAST: Mickey Rourke (Randy "The Ram" Robinson), Marisa Tomei (Cassidy), Evan Rachel Wood (Stephanie Robinson). 115 min. A Cinema Mondo release with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Mökkönen / Saliven Gustavson. Viewed at Tennispalatsi 10, 17 Jan 2009. - An intentional low definition look with heavy grain sustained in the digital intermediate. - A companion piece to Darren Aronofsky's masterpiece Requiem for a Dream. That film was about addiction. This is about performance as a masochistic show. The Ram is a show wrestler at the end of his career. His best friend Cassidy is a stripper. - The film is about dignity, pride and humanity in circumstances where those qualities would be least expected. - Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei are magnificent in their brave performances. The braver feat is how they expose their characters' soul rather than flesh. - The film belongs to the tradition of The Set-Up (Robert Ryan), Somebody Up There Likes Me (Paul Newman), Fat City (Stacy Keach) and The Raging Bull (Robert De Niro), but this is a different game and an original approach. - Also in this film the theme of addiction is essential.

Sjećaš li se, Dolly Bell / Do You Remember Dolly Bell?

Emir Kusturica: Sjećaš li se, Dolly Bell / Do You Remember Dolly Bell? (YU 1981). Ljiljana Blagojević (Dolly Bell).

Сјећаш ли се Доли Бел? / Muistatko Dolly Bellin? / Kommer du ihåg Dolly Bell? YU 1981. PC: Sutjeska Film, Televizija Sarajevo. D: Emir Kusturica. SC: Abdulah Sidran. DP: Vilko Filac. M: Zoran Simjanovic. LOC: Sarajevo. CAST: Slavko Stimac (Dino Zolje), Slobodan Aligrudic (father), Ljiljana Blagojević (Dolly Bell), Mira Banjac (mother), Boro Stjepanovic (Cvikeras), Zika Ristic (Cica). 110 min. A SFI print deposited by Sandrews with Swedish subtitles by Kajsa von Hofsten. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 15 Jan 2009. - A beautiful print. - My favourite Kusturica film of the ones I have seen. It is the coming-of-age story of the 16 year old Dino who loves music, gets attracted to the young prostitute whom he shelters in his dovecote, and fights violently with her pimp. - Kusturica is a pupil of Jiri Menzel, and this film has also been compared with young Fellini (I vitelloni). - His film is totally original in its rhythm, vitality, feeling for life, community, family, how he portrays the authoritarian father, the Communist ideal, and the discovery of sex. It is satirical both about the party bureaucracy and the white slave trade conducted by the pimp. The most moving scene is the one where Dino has to witness Dolly Bell being taken by a row of sex-starved youngsters. He is crying in the rain.

MARKKU LEHMUSKALLIO: SHORT FILMS

Four documentary films.
Pohjoisten metsien äänet / De nordliga skogarnas ljud / Sounds of the Northern Forests. FI 1973. 14 min
Mies jolla on kahdet kasvot / Mannen med två ansikten / The Man With Two Faces. FI 1974. 19 min
Elämän tanssi / Livets dans / The Dance of Life. FI 1975. 15 min
Mikä mies metsuri / Skogsarbetaren / The Lumberjack. FI 1977. 19 min
16mm. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 14 Jan 2009.
Beautiful colour in Pohjoisten metsien äänet, slightly faded in Mies jolla on kahdet kasvot, OK in Elämän tanssi and Mikä mies metsuri.
Markku Lehmuskallio is the artist of the people and the nature of the North. He makes both documentary and fiction films.
Sounds of the Northern Forests shows us the elks, the cranes, the hawks, the eagles, the fighting wood grouse, the reindeer, the owls, the swans, startled by the sounds of the chainsaw and the screaming jet.
The Man With Two Faces portrays the last wanderer of the forest, the Laplander, who meets swans making love and rearing their offspring.
The Dance of Life shows the man with eyes and hands tied in the forest, experiencing the courtship of the wood grouse and other birds of the forest.
The Lumberjack is the story of two schoolchildren preparing an essay of the modern lumberjack, so completely different from the lumberjack of the past. The modern lumberjack is well educated, versatile, an expert with huge forest machines, pretty independent in executing a clear cutting, living in populated centers, commuting to the forest with cars, working all year round in different aspects of the forest business.

Blackout

FI (c) 2008 Filmiteollisuus. EX: Jorma Reinilä, Aleksi Bardy, JP Siili. P: Olli Haikka. D+SC: JP Siili. DP: Jarkko T. Laine. AD: Päivi Kettunen. COST: Helena Paavilainen-Takala. M: Lauri Ylönen. S: Juha Hakanen. ED: Jyrki Levä. LOC: Helsinki University Hospital (HUS, Helsinki). CAST: Petteri Summanen (Pekka Valinto), Jenni Banerjee (Laura Koskimies), Irina Björklund (Anne Hartela), Ismo Kallio (Ismo Valinto), Lena Meriläinen (Hanna Kajaste), Mikko Kouki (Juha Pasanen), Mari Perankoski (Mari Koski), Mikko Leppilampi (Kari Tuikkanen), Eppu Salminen (Arto Suominen), Risto Kaskilahti (Risto Vierikko), Miitta Sorvali (ward sister), Hannu-Pekka Björkman (Aleksi Partio), Asko Sarkola (director of the hospital). Released by FS Film. Viewed at Tennispalatsi, 9 Jan 2009. - A digi-mastered look, bleak, ok in close-ups and medium shots in the hospital, not good in nature scenes. - An interesting and original thriller to the obsessive amnesia trend of 2000s cinema (the Bourne films, Mies vailla menneisyyttä, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Memento). The man wakes up from coma with a long nail in his brain and has totally forgotten certain things, including his wife, and who tried to kill him. His father (Ismo Kallio) suffers from dementia / Alzheimer's disease. He is estranged from his wife who is a minister (Irina Björklund) but gets support from an ex-policewoman who now studies the law (Jenni Banerjee). - It is a suspense thriller with serious moral and social themes. The hospitals are overcrowded. Medicine develops fast, and cures are possible that had been impossible before. How long shall a person's life be prolonged in borderline cases? Must a doctor be a killer (of the old and the hopelessly ill) in order to save lives? - This is a film based on solid performances of the actors. Only the talented Irina Björklund seems lost in this picture.

Changeling

Clint Eastwood: Changeling (US 2008) with Angelina Jolie as Christine Collins.

Vaihdokas / Changeling (SE). 

    US © 2008 Universal. P: Clint Eastwood, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Robert Lorenz. 

    D+M: Clint Eastwood. SC: J. Michael Straczynski. DP: Tom Stern - shot on 35mm - digital intermediate - 2,35:1 - color. PD: James J. Murakami. COST: Deborah Hopper. ED: Joel Cox, Gary Roach. LOC: California. 

    CAST: Angelina Jolie (Christine Collins), John Malkovich (Gustav Briegleb), Jeffrey Donovan (J. J. Jones), Colm Feore (James E. Davis), Jason Butler Harner (Gordon Northcott), Amy Ryan (Carol Dexter). 

    144 min. 

    Released by Finnkino with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Jaana Wiik / Janne Staffans. 

    Viewed at Tennispalatsi 3, 9 Jan 2009.

A digi-mastered look, bleached, pared down, visually not of the best Clint Eastwood standard.

Another strong Clint Eastwood film. He has been at his best in this decade (Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, two Iwo Jima films). 

Changeling would be unbelievable if it weren't a true story of a woman who's son is kidnapped and who receives via the police another boy who isn't hers. Then a farm is discovered with the corpses of 20 murdered boys. And still many years later a boy believed lost is found who tells what happened.

This is the story of a heroic mother who refuses to give up, is put into an insane asylum, and, still fighting, causes changes in the police system and in legislation.

It is good to see Angelina Jolie in a role that is powerful in a completely different way than Lara Croft. 

There is a convincing period feel (1928-1935).

In the music I enjoy the jazz for horns, but strings are dragging. 

Clint's tempo is slow, refreshingly so in comparison with ultra-fast cutting in some current films, yet the film might be brisker.

There is a special sting in Eastwood making a film about LAPD as the most corrupt police department and our protectors as brutalizers.

Rööperi

Aleksi Mäkelä: Rööperi (FI 2009). Peter Franzén (Krisu). Samuli Edelmann (Tomppa).

Rödbergen

FI © 2009 Solar Films. P: Markus Selin, Jukka Helle. 

    D: Aleksi Mäkelä. SC: Marko Leino – based on the novel Rööperi – rikoksen vuodet 1955–2005 (2005) by Harri Nykänen and Tom Sjöberg. DP: Pini Hellstedt – 2,35:1 – color. PD: Pirjo Rossi. COST: Tiina Kaukanen. MA: Riika Virtanen. M: Kalle Chydenius. S: Jyrki Rahkonen. 

    CAST: Samuli Edelmann (Tomppa), Peter Franzén (Krisu), Kari Hietalahti (Kari), Pihla Viitala (Monika), Kristo Salminen (Arska), Jasper Pääkkönen (Korppu), Hiski Grönstrand (Pera), Tommi Rantamäki (Sale), Juha Veijonen (Koistinen), Pekka Valkeejärvi (Uki), Pirkko Mannola (Tyyne), Leena Uotila (Tompan äiti), Santeri Kinnunen (Teukka), Kalle Holmberg (Lindström). 

    130 min

    Released by Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution with Swedish subtitles by Markus Rautiainen. 

    Viewed at Kinopalatsi 1, 9 Jan 2009.

A digimastered look, emphasis on the blue and the brown, a little shabby.

Underworld Helsinki.

Based on the novel by the crime expert, journalist and writer Harri Nykänen, on the true story of Tom Sjöberg, of organized crime in alcohol, robbery, theft, drugs, porn, smuggling, violent assault, murder, etc. in the district of Punavuori / Rödbergen known in the Helsinki slang as Rööperi.

The film has it both ways: it both shows that crime doesn't pay and glorifies crime. Krisu perishes with heroin addiction. Kari is an imbecile. Monika dies broken-hearted. Tomppa loses his child.

Yet it makes these characters bigger than life, using slow motion and music. Aspects of the story may be polished and idealized. There is certainly a lot of interesting stuff. I laughed at the scene in which the criminals learn that keskiolut (middle-strength beer) has been certified for sale in grocery stores. "Don't they have any morals?" they ask, aware of a loss of a lucrative black market product. Probably the richest exploration of a life of crime in a Finnish film.

Elegy

Isabel Coixet: Elegy (US 2007) with Penélope Cruz (Consuela Castillo) and Ben Kingsley (David Kepesh). The Finnish title Kauneuden valta means The Power of Beauty. 

Kauneuden valta / Elegy – skönhetens makt. 

    US © 2007 Lakeshore. D: Isabel Coixet. SC: Nicholas Meyer – based on the novel The Dying Animal (2001) by Philip Roth. DP: Jean-Claude Larrieu – 1,85:1 – color. LOC: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 

    CAST: Ben Kingsley (David Kepesh), Penélope Cruz (Consuela Castillo), Patricia Clarkson (Carolyn), Dennis Hopper (George O'Hearn), Deborah Harry (Amy O'Hearn), Peter Sarsgaard (Kenneth Kepesh). 

    108 min

    A Future Film release with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by JS.

    Viewed at Kinopalatsi 5, Helsinki, 5 Jan 2009. 

A digi-mastered look, not grating, as the film is based on close-ups and medium shots of people. – There are parallels to The Human Stain: the male protagonist is a senior professor, and the female protagonist is a young woman who faces a crisis. The affair between the two is both profoundly fulfilling and deeply disturbing. The professor's breast fetish is not exaggerated in the movie, but Penélope Cruz's charms are wonderfully displayed. Among other things, the film is a celebration of her beautiful breasts. For the female viewer, Ben Kingsley's naked body is in perfect shape, he could be 30 years old. – The professor has always been emotionally immature. One of the big themes of the story is that reaching maturity is still possible at an advanced age. – All performances are good. Patricia Clarkson is the professor's grown-up lover. Dennis Hopper and Deborah Harry are the couple who are his best friends. Peter Sarsgaard plays the perennially frustrated son.

Isabel Coixet: Elegy (US 2007) with Penélope Cruz (Consuela Castillo). A story of breast cancer. Consuela wants to enjoy the pleasures of her breasts to the full before mastectomy. 

LE TEMPS DES CERISES (CHANSON FRANCAIS) IN THE CINEMA

Wikipédia: "Le Temps des cerises est une chanson de 1866, paroles de Jean-Baptiste Clément, musique d'Antoine Renard. Cette chanson est si fortement associée à la Commune de Paris que, dans les esprits, elle fut écrite pour elle."

Quand nous en serons au temps des cerises (Quand nous chanterons le temps des cerises)

Et gai rossignol et merle moqueur
Seront tous en fête
Les belles auront la folie en tête
Et les amoureux du soleil au cœur
Quand nous chanterons le temps des cerises
Sifflera bien mieux le merle moqueur

Mais il est bien court , le temps des cerises
Où l'on s'en va deux cueillir en rêvant
Des pendants d'oreilles
Cerises d'amour aux robes pareilles (aux larmes pareilles)
Tombant sous la feuille en goutte de sang
Mais il est bien court le temps des cerises
Pendants de corail qu'on cueille en rêvant

Quand vous en serez au temps des cerises
Si vous avez peur de chagrins d'amour
Evitez les belles
Moi qui ne crains pas les peines cruelles
Je ne vivrai pas sans souffrir un jour
Quand vous en serez au temps des cerises
Vous aurez aussi des chagrins d'amour

J'aimerai toujours le temps des cerises,
C'est de ce temps-là que je garde au cœur
Une plaie ouverte
Et Dame Fortune en m' étant offerte
Ne saura jamais calmer ma douleur (Ne pourra jamais fermer ma douleur)
J'aimerai toujours le temps des cerises
Et le souvenir que je garde au cœur

This song has been popular in the movies, most famously in:
Casque d'or (Jacques Becker, FR 1952)
Prominently also in:
Le Temps des Cerises (Jean-Paul Le Chanois, FR 1937)
Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000 (Alain Tanner, CH/FR 1976)
Kurenai no buta / Porco Rosso (Hayao Miyazaki, JP 1992)
Juha (Aki Kaurismäki, FI 1999)

P.S. 14 Aug 2011: My favourite interpretation of "Les Temps de cerises" is by Cora Vaucaire.

Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000 / Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000

Alain Tanner: Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000 /  Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (CH/FR 1976).

Jonas täyttää 25 vuonna 2000 / Jonas fyller 25 år 2000. 

    CH/FR © 1976 Citel Films etc. 

    D: Alain Tanner. SC: John Berger, Tanner. DP: Renato Berta - Eastmancolor. M: Jean-Marie Sénia. "Le Temps de cerises" (1866, L: Jean-Baptiste Clément, M: Antoine Renard). ED: Brigitte Sousselier, Marc Blavet. 

    LOC: Geneva. 

    CAST: Jean-Luc Bideau (Max Satigny), Rufus (Mathieu Vernier), Miou-Miou (Marie), Jacques Denis (Marco Perly), Dominique Labourier (Marguerite Certoux), Roger Jendly (Marcel Certoux), Myriam Mézières (Madeleine), Myriam Boyer (Mathilde Vernier). 

    115 min. 

    A vintage print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Satu Laaksonen / Maya Vanni. 

    Viewed at Cinema Orion, 1 Jan 2009.

Beautiful colour (warm and vibrant) in the print screened.

    Revisited: Alain Tanner and John Berger's masterpiece on the legacy of the 1960's counterculture. It's about utopia, idealism, activism, thinking differently, sometimes naively, even destructively. It's about social awareness, ecological thinking, agriculture, raising children, new kinds of human relations, and tantra sex. Eight main characters, all around 30 years old, all with names starting with Ma-. In the music track, the piano passages (by Jean-Marie Sénia?) are lovely.

The Adventures of Woody Woodpecker 4

Pistol Packin' Woodpecker (1960), D: Paul J. Smith
Southern Fried Hospitality (1960), D: Jack Hannah
The Bird Who Came to Dinner (1961), D: Paul J. Smith
Franken-Stymied (1961), D: Jack Hannah
Poop Deck Pirate (1961), D: Jack Hannah
Sufferin' Cats (1961), D: Paul J. Smith
Woody's Kook-Out (1961), D: Jack Hannah
Home Sweet Home Wrecker (1962), D: Paul J. Smith
Rock-a Bye Gator (1962), D: Jack Hannah
Room and Bored (1962), D: Paul J. Smith
(c) Universal, PC: Walter Lantz Productions, P: Walter Lantz.
Vintage prints, perfect Technicolor, 1,2:1, viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 25 Dec 2008.
No sign of tiredness in the continuing Woody Woodpecker saga. My favourite of these was Franken-Stymied. Seen in programmes like these the repetitiveness of the mutual destruction formula becomes grating.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Henry Selick: The Nightmare Before Christmas (US 1993).

Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas / Painajainen ennen joulua / Mardröm före jul. 

    US © 1993 Touchstone Pictures. P: Tim Burton, Denise Di Novi. D: Henry Selick. SC: Caroline Thompson – based on the subject and characters by Tim Burton. DP: Pete Kozachik – Technicolor – 1,66:1. Digital effects: Ariel Velasco Shaw. AN: Eric Leighton. Characters: Bonita De Carlo. M: Danny Elfman. ED: Stan Webb. Characters: Jack Skellington, Sally / Shock, Dr. Finkelstein, Oogie Boogie, Santa Claus. 76 min. A vintage print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Eirik Udd. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 25 Dec 2008. – A beautiful print with good, full colour. Interestingly there are a lot of warm, soft hues. – Revisited: the puppet animation masterpiece based on the concept of Tim Burton and directed by Henry Selick. – It is in verse. – When Shrek was released, it was seen as Anti-Disney, but Disney, themselves, did it better here. – I liked the film even more this time.

Batman (1989, Tim Burton)

Tim Burton: Batman (US 1989). "I kind of like this one, Bob, leave it". War on culture: the Joker's (Jack Nicholson) rampage of destruction at the Flugelheim Museum in Gotham City to the sound of Prince's "Partyman" on the ghetto blaster. Francis Bacon's Figure with Meat (1954) is the only work saved.

Tim Burton: Batman (US 1989). At the end of the rampage, the Joker meets Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger). Between the two raving lunatics, Batman and Joker, Vicki Vale represents the last refuge of the sensitive individual. Kim Basinger conveys an inconsolable sense of solitude similar to Diane Keaton's presence in The Godfather cycle.

Batman. US 1989. PC: Warner Bros. D: Tim Burton. SC: Sam Hamm, Warren Skaaren - based on the characters created by Bob Kane. DP: Roger Pratt. M: Danny Elfman. Songs: Prince. Cast: Michael Keaton (Bruce Wayne / Batman), Jack Nicholson (Jack Napier / Joker), Kim Basinger (Vicki Vale), Michael Gough (Alfred), Billy Dee Williams (Harvey Dent). 122 min. A 35 mm print with Finnish / Swedish subtitles viewed at Finnish Film Archive, Orion (Tim Burton retrospective), 19 Dec 2008. - Print clean but not bright. - Revisited: the first movie of the current Batman cycle, interesting to compare with The Dark Night. - Jack Nicholson is great as the Joker, but Heath Ledger is more profoundly shocking. Billy Dee Williams is Harvey Dent but without the Two-Face aspect of Aaron Eckhardt. Kim Basinger is charming and sensitive, but she is denied the opportunity to be active and important; this was corrected in Burton's next Batman film, in the way Michelle Pfeiffer took over the Catwoman character. - Great Tim Burton touches all through the picture.

SUOMEN ELOKUVA-ARKISTO

FINLANDS FILMARKIV

PROGRAM NOTE BY OTTO SUURONEN

Batman

Batman / Batman

 

Yhdysvallat 1989. Tuotantoyhtiö: Warner Bros. Pictures, The Guber-Peters Company, PolyGram Pictures. Tuotannonjohto: Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan. Tuottaja: Peter Guber, Jon Peters. 

    Ohjaus: Tim Burton. Käsikirjoitus: Sam Hamm & Warren Skaaren, Sam Hammin tarinan ja Bob Kanen hahmojen pohjalta. Kuvaus: Roger Pratt. Animaatio: Martin Gaskell. Lavastus: Peter Young (set decoration), Anton Furst (production design), Terry Ackland-Snow, Nigel Phelps & Leslie Tomkins (art direction). Erikoistehosteet: John Evans. Puvut: Bob Ringwood, Tony Dunsterville. Ehostus: Lynda Armstrong & Nick Dudman (meikit), Janet Jamison, Rick Provenzano & Barry Richardson (hiukset). Musiikki: Danny Elfman. 

    Laulut: PRINCE: ”The Future”, ”Vicki Waiting”, ”Electric Chair”, ”Partyman”, ”Trust”, säv. Prince. ”Scandalous”, säv. Prince & John L. Nelson. PERCY FAITH & HIS ORCHESTRA: ”Theme From A Summer Place”, säv. Max Steiner. HILL BOWEN & ORCHESTRA: ”Beautiful Dreamer”, säv. Stephen Foster. “There’ll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight”, säv. Joe Hayden & Theodore A. Metz. ”Serenade no. 13 in G, K. 525 (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik), 2nd Movement”, säv. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 

    Leikkaus: Ray Lovejoy. Ääni: Tony Dawe, Eddy Joseph. 

    Pääosissa: Michael Keaton (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Jack Nicholson (Jack Napier/Joker), Kim Basinger (Vicki Vale), Robert Wuhl (Alexander Knox), Pat Hingle (James Gordon), Billy Dee Williams (Harvey Dent), Michael Gough (Alfred Pennyworth), Jack Palance (Carl Grissom), Jerry Hall (Alicia Grissom), Tracey Walter (Bob), Lee Wallace (pormestari), William Hootkins (Eckhardt), John Dair (Ricorso), Christopher Fairbank (Nic), George Roth (Eddie), Kit Hollerbach (Becky).

    Helsingin ensiesitys: 20.10.1989, Arena 1, Studio 3, Forum 1, Formia 1, Rex – maahantuoja: Warner Bros. Entertainment Finland Oy – video- ja dvd-levitys: Musiikki Fazer (VHS), Sandrew Metronome Distribution Finland Oy, Warner Home Video (DVD) – televisioesityksiä: 19.2.1995 YLE TV1, 7.8.1996 YLE TV1, 6.6.1998 YLE TV2, 3.9.1999 YLE TV2, 28.3.2002 MTV3, 10.5.2002 Subtv, 27.12.2003 MTV3, 17.9.2004 MTV3 – VET 96257 – K16>(2001)K15 – 3470 m / 122 min

 

“Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

– Jack Nicholson (Jokeri) elokuvassa Batman (1989)

Bob Kanen luoma Batman on länsimaisen populaarikulttuurikuvastomme kiistatta tunnetuimpia hahmoja. Sarjakuvien maailmasta Batman siirtyi ensimmäisen kerran valkokankaalle jo 1960-luvulla, kun camp-huumorin keinoin kulttimaineeseen noussut Lepakkomies-televisiosarja muuntui elokuvaksi vuonna 1966. 1980-luvun lopussa Batman koki kuitenkin reinkarnaation yön ritarina, ensin Frank Millerin sarjakuvan (The Dark Knight) kautta ja lopulta Tim Burtonin ohjaaman elokuvan myötä. 

   

Warnerin tuottaman suurhankkeen käsikirjoituksen muokkautuminen lopulliseen muotoonsa vei runsaasti aikaa ja tuotannollisia kustannuksia, sillä alkuperäinen Tom Mankiewiczin versio ei kelvannut ohjaaja Burtonille, vaan hän palkkasi uudeksi käsikirjoittajaksi Sam Hammin. Lopulta Hammin versiotakin kutsuttiin muokkaamaan aiemmin jo Beetlejuicessa (1987) Burtonin kanssa yhteistyötä tehnyt Warren Skaaren, joka siirsi tarinan kauemmaksi alkuperäissarjakuvista.

   

Lavastaja Anton Furstin Gotham City on mahtipontinen työnäyte, film noir-henkinen helvetti ajattomassa tilassa ja paikassa. Tummanpuhuvan kierolla huumorilla hurmaava sarjakuvafilmatisointi osoittaa myös ohjaajansa taidon rakentaa vastakkainasettelua sisäänpäin suuntautuneen Batmanin ja selvästi teatraalista esiintymistä korostavan Jokerin välille. Runsaiden yksityiskohtiensa suhteen Burtonin ensimmäinen Bat-man on myös selvä kunnianosoitus saksalaisille ekspressionisteille.

   

Näyttelijöistä Michael Keaton luo ristiriitaisen henkilöhahmonsa vähäeleisin kääntein ja Kim Basingerin esittämä valokuvaaja Vicky Vale jää pinnalliseksi, väkinäistä romantiikkaa elokuvaan tuovaksi hahmoksi. Shown varastaa kuitenkin kiistatta Jack Nicholson, jonka roolisuoritus Jokerina tuo elokuvaan musikaalin elämänilon käänteisenä, kuoleman nautinnon.

   

Batman oli menestys jo ennen ilmestymistään, sillä tehokkaan mainonnan ansiosta se ansaitsi 750 miljoonan dollaria jo pelkästä oheistuotemyynnistä. Siitä tuli ensimmäinen elokuva, joka saavutti ensimmäisissä kymmenessä päivässä ensi-iltansa jälkeen 100 miljoonan dollarin rajan ja tuotti lopulta maailmanlaajuisesti 411,35 miljoonaa dollaria. Aikalaisarvioissa sitä kritisoitiin liiallisesta synkkyydestä sekä groteskiudesta ja Burtonin henkilöohjauksen nähtiin keskittyvän monien mielestä liiaksi Jokeriin. Kolme vuotta myöhemmin Tim Burton jatkoi ohjaajana mestarillisella jatko-osalla Batman paluu (Batman Returns, 1992).

– Otto Suuronen 16.12.2008

Tilinteko

Uppgörelse / The Final Arrangement / [Un règlement de comptes] / [The Final Account]. FI (c) 1987 Villealfa. P: Aki Kaurismäki. D: Veikko Aaltonen. SC: Veikko Aaltonen, Aki Kaurismäki. DP: Timo Salminen - Eastmancolor - 1:1,85.
Live performance: Markus Allan: "Syyspihlajan alla".
Oldies records: "Rattaanpyörä" perf. Ilkka Rinne and Rytmi-yhtye. "Harmaat silmät" perf. Henry Theel. "Pieni kukkanen" perf. Laila Kinnunen. "You Are My Thrill" perf. Billie Holiday. "Pojat" perf. Laila and Ritva Kinnunen.
Jussi Björling tracks: "Du är min hela värld", "Tra voi belle".
Hymn at the church: Hymn 440 "Jo vääryys vallan saapi".
Filming locations: Suodenniemi, Kankaanpää, Lavia (in the middle between Tampere and Pori).
Cast: Juhani Niemelä (Kalervo Mäkinen, "Nieminen"), Esko Nikkari (Timo Varjola, mayor), Kaija Pakarinen (Leena Palo), Seppo Mäki (Reidar). 72 min. An excellent vintage print with perfect colour. At Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 17 Dec 2008. - Two men commit grand burglary. Varjola murders the two drivers of the mail bus and tries to kill his companion, Nieminen. Seven years after, Nieminen, on leave from the prison, returns to the town where Varjola is now mayor, a father, and a pillar of society (church, Lions Club, etc.). - An interesting film in the Villealfa canon. Veikko Aaltonen has a good grip on the ironic, laconic, antirealistic Melville style of the crime movie. There is a good steady cinematic drive all through the picture. The collaboration with the cinematographer Timo Salminen is perfect and functional. There are also affinities and touches common to the Villealfa school, such as 1) the terse, telegraph-style dialogue, 2) the almost autistic passivity of the male protagonist, 3) the man is also passive towards the woman, 4) the imagery and the colour scale are strong and recognizably like Salminen's work with Aki Kaurismäki, 5) the importance of music records and the jukebox, 6) Kekkonen, 7) the final insane act of violence of the passive protagonist. - The most lively figures are Esko Nikkari as the former robber and murderer, now a pillar of the society, soon promised a career as a minister of justice, and Kaija Pakarinen as the hairdresser who needs to take the initiative in seeking male company. - Veikko Aaltonen, himself, has stated that the screenplay was unfinished. The film was shot in ten days. - Well made but does not finally quite make enough sense.

CHI MI FRENA IN TAL MOMENTO (DONIZETTI: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR)

Jean Renoir: Madame Bovary (FR 1934). Léon Dupuis (Daniel Lecourtois) and Emma Bovary (Valentine Tessier) at the opera: Photo: Gaumont / CNC.

"Chi mi frena in tal momento" is the great sextet in Gaetano Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), based on the novel by Walter Scott: Parte seconda (Il contratto nuziale). Atto primo, quadro secondo - Arturo attende trepidante la promessa sposa all'altare. Lucia viene, e la cerimonia nuziale è sconvolta dall'inattesa irruzione di Edgardo ("Chi mi frena in tal momento").
During the first half of the 20th century it became the symbol of opera and culture in popular cinema, also in cartoon parody.
- Georges Mendel: Film artistique chantant: Lucia di Lammermoor (FR 1908) - magnificent early sound film in widescreen - the grand sextet - Chanté par Enrico Caruso - Messieurs Journet, Scotti, Daddi - Mesdames Sembrich et Severina - avec accompagnement d'orchestre.
- Howard Hawks: Scarface (1932) - Scarface's murder anthem
- Jean Renoir: Madame Bovary (1934) - Madame Bovary's encounter with culture
- George Cukor: Little Women (1933) - Jo's cultural awakening
- Tex Avery: I Love to Singa (1936) - Owl Jolson is taught to sing opera
- Walt Disney: Willie the Operatic Whale (1946) - a signature tune at the Met
- Tex Avery: Little 'Tinker (1948) - proof of the singing skunk's refinement

Scarface

Arpinaama / Scarface - Chicagos siste gangster. US (c) 1932 The Caddo Company. Presented by Howard Hughes. D: Howard Hawks. SC: Ben Hecht (screen story); Seton I. Miller, John Lee Mahin, W. R. Burnett (continuity and dialogue) - based on the novel Scarface (1930) by Armitage Trail. DP: Lee Garmes, L.W. O'Connell. AD: Harry Oliver. M Directors: Adolph Tandler, Gus Arnheim. "Chi mi frena in tal momento" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor: Scarface's whistled theme song before murder. "Some Of These Days" and "A Mighty Rough Road" pres. by Ann Dvorak. S: William Snyder. ED: Edward Curtiss. Cast: Paul Muni (Tony [Antonio Camonte]), Ann Dvorak (Cesca [Camonte]), Karen Morley (Poppy), Osgood Perkins ([Johnny] Lovo), C. Henry Gordon (Guarino), George Raft ([Guino] Rinaldo), Vince Barnett (Angelo), Boris Karloff (Gaffney), Tully Marshall (Managing editor), [Gus Arnheim and his Cocoanut Grove orchestra].
Versions: 90, 95 or 99 min. The shortest is definitive - without the police introduction, the moralistic newsroom scene and the ending with trial and hanging - thank you for this information, Todd McCarthy, your mail 13 June 2008.
The Universal 2003 dvd release includes the police introduction and the moralistic newsroom scene but has the street shooting ending, 90 min at 25 fps plus as an extra the alternative ending (henchman instead of Scarface shot on the street, trial and execution of Scarface by hanging, 10 min)
BFINA print of the Universal 1980 reconstruction with the police introduction and the original ending (maybe not with the moralistic newsroom scene, but my mind may have wandered), duration 93 min
Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 14 Dec 2008.
This was the best print I have ever seen of this film. The print was without splices and scratches and apparently in good condition. However, there was a slightly dark veil over the image, as if the print had been painstakingly struck from a challenging master.
THE WORLD IS YOURS - COOK'S TOURS. Revisited: the gangster classic clearly inspired by Sternberg, as can be seen from the Lee Garmes footage in the beginning.

Young and Innocent

Nuori ja viaton / Ung och oskyldig. GB 1937. PC: Gaumont British Picture Corporation. P: Edward Black. D: Alfred Hitchcock. SC: Charles Bennett, Edwin Greenwood, Anthony Armstrong - dialogue: Gerald Savory - based on the novel A Shilling for Candles (1936) by Josephine Tey. DP: Bernard Knowles. AD: Alfred Junge. M: Louis Levy. ED: Charles Frend. CAST: Nova Pilbeam (Erica Burgoyne), Derrick De Marney (Robert Tisdall), Percy Marmont (Col. Burgoyne), Edward Rigby (Old Will), Mary Clare (Erica's Aunt), John Longden (Det. Insp. Kent), George Curzon (Guy), Basil Radford (Erica's Uncle). 80 min. A fine 1989 print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 10 Dec 2008. - Fine definition. - Revisited the first half an hour of a delicious less-known Alfred Hitchcock movie. - The quarrel of the married couple. The jealousy of the husband to his star actress wife. The thunderstorm at the coast. The blinking of the eye. The woman's corpse thrown by the waves to the beach. The scream of the women and the seagulls. The headlines. - The innocently suspected man gets an incompetent lawyer and escapes to defend himself, and reluctantly the police chief's daughter comes to help him. - Relaxed humoristic observations in a film that is not too tightly strung. This was an age when hurry was not ubiquitous, and there were still personalities around. - Heikki Nyman asks whether this film is a thriller at all, and prefers Lesley Brill's characterization of a "comic romance of false accusation". - I like the setpieces (the mine, the mill, the children's party) of this rambling film.

MP – minä pelkään

Pekka Hyytiäinen: MP – minä pelkään (FI 1982).

MP – jag är rädd / [MP – I Live in Fear].
    FI 1982. PC: Lähikuva Oy. D+SC: Pekka Hyytiäinen. DP: Petteri Kotilainen – shot on 16 mm – colour and b&w – released on 35 mm – the director's last will: the 16 mm print is definitive.
    C: Liisa Halonen (mother), Pekka Valkeejärvi (father), Heta Hyytiäinen (Mari, their young daughter), Matti Kanerva (soldier).
    83 min.
    A 16 mm print viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 10 Dec 2008

Pekka Hyytiäinen in memoriam (he died in January 2008). He directed three totally original feature films, of which this is the last.

This film got only 302 spectators during its term of release, so we, though not many, were a significant part of the total audience of the film which has never been telecast or released on home formats.

The print has a soft quality and the colour looks faded, but this seems to have been the case already at the release.

It begins and ends without an image, with a male voice.

It's a poet's vision of the fear of war. A family retreats at their country house, incessant sounds of military exercises are heard day and night.

Nightmares and visions of warfare are intercut with the story of the family's stay.

There is a lone soldier in the wood nearby, and he makes an attempt to rape the mother, interrupted, as he cannot sustain erection.

A cinematic stream of consciousness.

There is some affinity with Ingmar Bergman's Skammen.

The film would deserve to be much wider known, with friends of experimental film, to begin with. It is marred by its substandard technical and visual quality (in a Jack Smith kind of way).

Häät (1986)

Bröllopen / The Wedding. FI (c) 1986 TTK / ETL1. D+SC: Esa Illi. DP: Eero Könönen. Lights: Perttu Leppä, Mauno Haapala. S: Jaska Ojala, Jaakko Virtanen. ED: Outi Hyytinen. CAST: Tarja Heinula (bride), Martti Suosalo (groom), Konsta Mäkelä ( Markku), Jori Halttunen (Janne), Jaakko Virtanen (the man leaning on a cab). 7 min. The comic story of a failed wedding on an army leave.

Pee-wee's Big Adventure

Pee-ween suuri seikkailu / Pee-wee's stora äventyr. US 1985. PC: Aspen Film Society / Warner Bros. Pictures. D: Tim Burton. SC: Phil Hartman, Paul Reubens, Michael Varhol. M: Danny Elfman. CAST: Paul Reubens (Pee-wee Herman). 91 min. A print avec sous-titres francais viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 9 Dec 2008. - Ok print, slightly worn, colour slightly diluted, we screened it at 1,37:1. - Revisited: the beginning of Tim Burton's first feature film, already mad, stylish, absolutely crazy, about Pee-wee's quest of his lost bicycle.

Frankenweenie (1984)

Tim Burton: Frankenweenie (US 1984), his 30 min short with Barret Oliver as Victor Frankenstein.

US 1984. PC: Walt Disney Productions. P: Rick Heinrichs, Julie Hickson. D: Tim Burton. SC: Lenny Ripp. DP: Thomas E. Ackerman – b&w – 1,66:1. M: Michael Covertino, David Newman.
    C: Barret Oliver (Victor Frankenstein), Shelley Duvall (Mother Frankenstein), Daniel Stern (Father Frankenstein), Paul Bartel (Mr. Walsh).
    30 min.
    A Walt Disney Company print screened once with special permission at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 9 Dec 2008.

A slightly dark and soft print, a slight unintended tint in b&w. We screened it at 1,37:1, but then twice mikes were briefly visible. – Revisited: the wonderful short, already a perfect Tim Burton movie. – The IMDB synopsis: "When young Victor's pet dog Sparky (who stars in Victor's home-made monster movies) is hit by a car, Victor decides to bring him back to life the only way he knows how. But when the bolt-necked "monster" wreaks havoc and terror in the hearts of Victor's neighbors, he has to convince them (and his parents) that despite his appearance, Sparky's still the good loyal friend he's always been. Written by Kathy Li". – A delicious variation on the Frankenstein theme. There is a new twist after the conflagration at the mill: the "monster dog" saves the boy, and the whole neighbourhood joins forces to jump-start the dog with the power from their car engines. Attractive music.

Vincent

Tim Burton: Vincent (US 1982). Art direction and puppets by Rick Heinrichs.

US 1982. PC: Walt Disney Productions. D+SC: Tim Burton. B&w, 1,37:1. AN: Stephen Chiodo. AD+puppets: Rich Heinrichs. Narrator: Vincent Price. Animation. 6 min. A 35 mm Walt Disney Company print by special permission screened once at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 9 Dec 2008. - A slightly dark and soft print. - Revisited: the perfect prelude to Tim Burton's oeuvre. - IMDB plot synopsis: "Young Vincent Malloy dreams of being just like Vincent Price and loses himself in macabre daydreams which annoys his mother." - High contrast visual style, angular shapes, Vincent Price reciting Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" in his regal voice.

Hitlerjunge Quex

Hans Steinhoff: Hitlerjunge Quex (DE 1933) starring Jürgen Ohlsen. "A film about the spirit of sacrifice of the German youth".

DE 1933. PC: Ufa. P: Karl Ritter. 

    D: Hans Steinhoff. SC: K. A. Schenzinger; Bobby E. Lüthge – based on the novel by Schenzinger. DP: Konstantin Irmen-Tschet. AD: Artur Günther. M: Hans-Otto Borgmann. Theme song written for this film "Unsere Fahne", lyrics : Baldur von Schirach (it became the official HJ song). S: Walter Tjaden. ED: Milo Harbich. 

    Loc: Berlin-Müggelsee, Seddinsee bei Berlin, Anhalter Bahnhof.
    C: Heinrich George (Father Völker), Berta Drews (Mother Völker), Jürgen Ohlsen (Heini Völker), Claus Clausen (Bannführer Kass), Ramspott (Kameradschaftsführer Fritz Doerries), Helga Bodemer (Ulla Doerries), Hermann Speelmans (Communist Agitator Stoppel), Rotraut Richter (Gerda), Karl Meixner (Fanatical Communist Wilde), Hans Richter (Franz), Ernst Behmer (Kowalski), Hans-Joachim Büttner (Doctor), Franziska Kinz (Nurse). 92 min.
    This film has been banned in Germany since 1945. It was never released in Finland and has been screened in our country only at the film archive screening 13 Feb 1976 at Cinema Bristol (thank you, Leena Suvanto, for this info).
    A Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung print screened by special permission of Auswärtiges Amt with e-subtitles in Finnish by AA and and introduction by Pasi Nyyssönen in Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 9 Dec 2008.

AA: A beautiful print.

The Hitler-Jugend film supervised (n.c.) by Baldur von Schirach.

There were three Nazi propaganda feature films produced in the "Kampfzeit", the period of the struggle. This, the third, portrays Nazis as the ideal for the young. They defend themselves against Communist violence with self-discipline and in a spirit of sacrifice. There is no racism in this picture.

Although this was the only of the three that was unreservedly approved by the Nazi leaders, it was reportedly in active circulation only for one year. Already by the end 1934 its line was old-fashioned.

Steinhoff (1882–1945), a talented and experienced director, advanced to the top of the industry on the basis of this film. Let's first state that this is a film to legitimize the brutal, anti-democratic, militaristic, and racist coup of the Nazi movement.

For an explicit propaganda film, the film has interesting features.

1) Visually it is strongly linked to the great tradition of the Weimar cinema, although Nazis fought Weimar culture as decadent.

2) One of the main locations is the Rummelplatz, the pleasure garden, so important in German since Caligari and before. It is portrayed in an inventive and original way.

3) The role of the Moritatensänger is interesting as a social commentator and the popular poet of dark deeds.

4) The lucrative Swiss army knife has an interesting symbolic role. It is a recurrent motif, always with a different meaning.

5) Heinrich George is at his best as the Communist father, a complex and powerful role. He's seen as a figure of elemental power, with a capacity to tenderness and empathy but also to brutality, misled by the Communists. The classic scene is when he hears his son sing the HJ song and teaches him the Internationale manually, slapping his face to the rhythm of the song! There is a direct link to his Franz Biberkopf in Piel Jutzi's version of Berlin-Alexanderplatz.

6) Berta Drews is very moving as the mother. The double suicide sequence is the film's most forceful, three minutes without dialogue, with powerful music theme by Hans-Otto Borgmann in the otherwise non-stop talking movie. It brings to mind Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück, also by Piel Jutzi.

7) Stoppel (Hermann Speelmans) the Communist agitator is an interesting fellow, with lucrative and humoristic characteristics.

8) Rotraut Richter is attractive and believable as the Communist seductress Gerda.

9) And Jürgen Ohlsen (1917–1994) as Quex, a difficult role, is perfect. This was his first film in a film career of only two feature films.

10) All other Nazis are bland.

11) The "Unsere Fahne" theme song sounds more engaging here than in Triumph des Willens.

A remarkable work in the history of German cinema justifiedly banned as the legitimation of a murderous movement.

Oliver Twist (Roman Polanski 2005)

Roman Polanski: Oliver Twist (FR/GB/CZ 2005).

Oliver Twist / Oliver Twist. 

    FR/GB/CZ © 2005 Oliver Twist Productions LLP. P: Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde, Roman Polanski. 

    D: Roman Polanski. SC: Ronald Harwood – based on the novel by Charles Dickens (1838). DP: Pawel Edelman – shot on Super 35 mm – digital intermediate – 35 mm print – 2,35:1. PD: Allan Starski. M: Rachel Portman. ED: Hervé de Luze. Studio: Barrandov (Prague). 

    CAST: Barney Clark (Oliver Twist), Ben Kingsley (Fagin), Jamie Foreman (Bill Sykes), Harry Eden (Artful Dodger), Leanne Rowe (Nancy), Edward Hardwicke (Mr. Brownlow), Ian McNeice (Mr. Limbkins), Mark Strong (Toby Crackit), Jeremy Swift (Mr. Bumble). 

    130 min

    The NFI / Columbia Norway release print with Norwegian subtitles by Harald Ohrvik viewed at Finnish Film Archive, Orion, Helsinki, 7 Dec 2008.

A print without signs of wear, the image slightly too dark and soft.

Film Indexes Online synopsis: "Adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel. Young orphan Oliver Twist escapes from the workhouse and working for an undertaker and runs away to London. There he is taken under the wing of Fagin, who operates a gang of young thieves, and is taught to steal."

In Polanski's oeuvre, this can be seen as a companion piece to The Pianist: the ordeal of the protagonist, the survival against all odds. In Ronald Harwood's oeuvre, this can be seen as a part of a trilogy with Ivan Denisovich, and The Pianist; all share similarities of imagery and situations of humiliation and terror.

Charles Dickens' second novel has been filmed some 20 times. David Lean's version (1948) is still superior. Both Lean and Polanski were inspired visually by Gustave Doré's London: A Pilgrimage (1872).

The lush Romantic score by Rachel Portman can be compared with the composers of Hollywood's Golden Era.

Polanski's special emphasis is on the terror of the 10-year old protagonist, with whom he could identify, having been a Holocaust fugitive in Nazi-occupied Poland at the same age. Another special emphasis is Fagin's death row agony. No clue to Fagin's Jewishness.

The Fall

The Fall / The Fall. IN/GB/US (c) 2006 Googly Films. Presented by: David Fincher, Spike Jonze. D: Tarsem - based on Yo Ho Ho (BG 1981, D: Zako Heskija). DP: Colin Watkinson - shot on 35mm film in Super35 - Laboratoire LTC (Paris) - 4K digital intermediate - released on 35mm at 1,85:1. Duboi effects. M: Beethoven: 7. Symphony, etc. LOCATIONS: Agra Fort, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India; Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India; Andaman Islands, South Pacific, Pacific Ocean; Argentina; Bali, Indonesia; Brazil; Cambodia; Cape Town, South Africa (hospital scenes); Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic (Blue bandit jumps from bridge); Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India; Chile; China; Egypt; Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India; Fiji; Himalayas, Nepal; Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA; Italy; Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India (blue city); Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, India; Maldives; Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India; Namibia; Paris, France; Prague, Czech Republic; Romania; Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia; South Africa; Turkey; Valkenberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa (Hospital). CAST: Catinca Untaru (Alexandria), Justine Waddell (Nurse Evelyn / Sister Evelyn), Lee Pace (Roy Walker / Blue Bandit), Kim Uylenbroek (Doctor / Alexander the Great), Aiden Lithgow (Alexander's Messenger), Sean Gilder (Walt Purdy), Ronald France (Otto). 122 min. Released by Scanbox Entertainment Finland with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Jaana Wiik / Saliven Gustavson. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 5, Helsinki, 6 Dec 2008.

Brilliant visual look does not betray its digital intermediate. - Four years in the making, in 28 countries, without CG effects, financed by Tarsem, himself. - A 1915 Hollywood stuntman has broken his legs and needs morphine. He tells a fairy-tale to a little girl. It's wild and weird and a framework to some of the most breathtaking locations around the world, such as the Blue City in Jodhpur. - Cinema of attractions, indeed. Tarsem has been for 20 years a master of music videos and commercials. He made The Cell (2000), and this is his second feature. His strength is imagery, colour and music. His is not narrative cinema. But with his next feature films, one might hope, not traditional storytelling, but more structure or continuity or symphonic drive. And as with Paradjanov's Sayat Nova, shorter is better if one builds on separate, brief, stunning visual units.

The Great Flamarion (Finnkino 2008 dvd)

Anthony Mann: The Great Flamarion (US 1945) starring Erich von Stroheim (The Great Flamarion), Mary Beth Hughes (Connie Wallace) and Dan Duryea (Al Wallace).

Antti Alanen

Suuri Flamarion

Helsingin Sanomat: Dvd-klassikko

The Great Flamarion. USA 1945. O: Anthony Mann. N: Erich von Stroheim, Mary Beth Hughes, Dan Duryea. Mustavalkoinen, 1,33:1, mono, 78 min. Finnkino (The Great Hollywood Classics) 5.12.2008.

Kaksi mestaria, Erich von Stroheim ja Anthony Mann, kohtasi toisensa pienen budjetin elokuvassa Suuri Flamarion. Sen tuotti Billy Wilderin veli W. Lee Wilder Republic-yhtiön levitykseen, ja se on joutunut sittemmin public domain -asemaan, minkä vuoksi sitä voi levittää jokainen, jolla on hallussaan kopio. Kopioiden laatu vaihtelee, ja tällä kertaa taso ei ole huono eikä hyvä. Stroheim oli uransa loppusuoralla ja joutui ottamaan vastaan Hollywoodissa hullujen mestarien rooleja. Aina hän toi silti liukuhihnaelokuviinkin persoonallista kosketusta ja arvokkuutta. Mann oli uransa alkusuoralla, eikä hän ollut vielä löytänyt vahvoja lajejaan (film noir, western, eepos). Niinpä käsillä oleva elokuva on melko rutiinimainen triangelidraama sirkusartistien maailmasta. Stroheim esittää mustasukkaista mestariampujaa, joka vajoaa mestaruuden huipulta rähjäiseksi maankiertäjäksi. Vicki Baumin novelliin perustuva elokuva on nöyryytyksen johtavan yksipuolisen rakkauden tarina, joka tuo mieleen elokuvaklassikot Varietee ja Sininen Enkeli. Kilpakosijaa esitti Dan Duryea, vaikuttava film noir -kasvo. Elokuvassa on joitakin visuaalisesti vaikuttavia jaksoja, kuten se, missä Stroheim harjoittelee tähtäilyä hohtaviin heilurimaaleihin. Elokuva ei tullut aikoinaan teatterilevitykseen Suomessa, mutta se on lähetetty muutaman kerran YLE:n TV2-kanavalla.

AILA MERILUOTO: LAURI VIITA, LEGENDA JO ELÄESSÄÄN (A MEMOIR)

Helsinki: WSOY 1974. Third edition, pocket book, 2008, with cover photographs from the motion picture Putoavia enkeleitä. - I'm grateful for the film for the inspiration to read this wonderful book. One of my favourite books of all times, in any language, is L. Onerva: Eino Leino (1932). Both are written by a female poet on a male poet. Neither avoids the terrible issues of madness and alcoholism. Both give insight to the inspiration of the genius. Both are labours of love.
I have been impressed by the short film Lauri Viita - rakentaja (1962), where Lauri Viita unforgettably recites his poem "Alfhild". The short film tells more about him than Putoavia enkeleitä.
Meriluoto reports that in his later years Viita recorded poems in a mannerist way, which was unlike his original, fresh way. It would be interesting to know to which period the short film's recital belongs.

Putoavia enkeleitä / Falling Angels

Heikki Kujanpää: Putoavia enkeleitä / Falling Angels (2008) with Elena Leeve (Helena the daughter) and Tommi Korpela (Lauri Viita).

Fallande änglar
    FI © 2008 Blind Spot Pictures. P: Petri Jokiranta, Tero Kaukomaa.
    D: Heikki Kujanpää. SC: Sami Parkkinen, Heikki Kujanpää, Heikki Huttu-Hiltunen – based on Aila Meriluoto's memoir book Lauri Viita – legenda jo eläessään (1974). DP: Harri Räty – digital intermediate DFF.
    C: Elena Leeve (Helena), Tommi Korpela (Lauri), Elina Knihtilä (Aila), Oiva Lohtander (Lars Djupsjöbacka), Juhani Niemelä (Hermanni), Hannu Kivioja (Juha Mannerkorpi), Erica Pitkänen (Helena at 5-6), Tiina Pirhonen (Svea), Antti Litja (the publisher), Taisto Oksanen (the publisher's son), Taneli Mäkelä (Aila's father), Jaana Pesonen (Aila's mother).
    102 min.
    Released by Sandrew Metronome Distribution Finland with Swedish subtitles by Joanna Erkkilä.
    Viewed at Kinopalatsi 2, Helsinki, 5 Dec 2008.

A shoddy digital intermediate look, unpleasant colour gamut dominated by a dull brown.

"When you create, create a world" (Lauri Viita). Motto of the film.

I loved Pieni pyhiinvaellus / The Little Pilgrimage (1999), Heikki Kujanpää's cinema debut feature, one of my favourite Finnish films of the last ten years, and one of my favourite Pohjanmaa films of all times.

Lauri Viita and Aila Meriluoto are two great and widely loved poets of the post-WWII era in Finland.  Kujanpää's theatre production of Falling Angels was acclaimed in Q Theatre in Helsinki in spring 2005, and my wife Laila confirms that it was a powerful production full of poetry. Now there is the cinema film of the same subject and based on the same cast (TK, EK). But unfortunately there is something wrong now. Poetry is missing.

The Digital Chain of the Movie from the Shooting to the Screen (2008 Seminar at the Finnish Film Foundation)

Andrew Stanton: WALL·E (US 2008).

At the Auditorium of the Finnish Film Foundation, a great seminar organized by Mr. Harri Ahokas.

MODERATOR IN THE MORNING: MR. PETRI SIITONEN
The Digital Convergence / Mr. Pekka Korpela, Talvi Digital
Digital Shooting from the Viewpoint of the Cinematographer / Mr. Rauno Ronkainen, FSC
Digital Shooting: The Equipment, the Opticals, the Media / Mr. Artturi Mutanen, Elokuvakonepaja
The Processing of the Image in Post-Production / Mr. Olli Leppänen, Digital Film Finland
Digital Cinema: Colour Definition / Mr. Marko Terävä, Generator Post
RED Workflow / Mr. Petri Siitonen, Talvi Cinema
Sound in the Digital Production Chain / Mr. Pekka Karjalainen, Meguru
Direct Digital Prints / Mr. Nils Jörgen Kittilsen, Nordisk Film Post Production (Oslo)

MODERATOR IN THE AFTERNOON: MR. HARRI AHOKAS
Digital Viewing Copy: Mastering and Manufacture / Mr. Mihkel Mäemets, Digital Cinema
Digital Projection and 3-D Presentations in the Cinema / Mr. Ari Saarinen, Finnkino
The Requirements for a Digital Cinema / Mr. Marko Röhr, Bio Rex Cinemas
The Digital Process of a Finnish Movie from the Viewpoint of the Producer / Mr. Lasse Saarinen, Kinotar
Finnish Digital Copies from the Viewpoint of the Distributor / Mr. Petri Viljanen, Nordisk Film
The Viewpoint of the Cinema Projectionist / Ms. Riitta Haapiainen, SES Auditorium
Digital Cinema from the Viewpoint of the Spectator / AA
Conclusion / Harri Ahokas

Nära livet / So Close to Life (D-Cinema)

Ingmar Bergman: Nära livet / So Close to Life (SE 1958). Eva Dahlbeck (Stina Andersson), Ingrid Thulin (Cecilia Ellius), Bibi Andersson (Hjördis Pettersson). Photo: Stiftelsen Ingmar Bergman.

Elämän kynnyksellä.
    SE 1958. PC: Nordisk Tonefilm. D: Ingmar Bergman. SC: Ulla Isaksson – based on her short stories. DP: Max Wilén. Starring: Eva Dahlbeck (Stina Andersson), Ingrid Thulin (Cecilia Ellius), Bibi Andersson (Hjördis Pettersson). With: Barbro Hiort af Ornäs (Brita, nurse), Erland Josephson (Anders Ellius, Cecilia's husband), Inga Landgré (Greta Ellius, Anders' sister), Gunnar Sjöberg (Nordlander, chief physician), Max von Sydow (Harry Andersson, Stina's husband), Ann-Marie Gyllenspetz (Gran, curator). 84 min.
    D-Cinema released by Europe's Finest, in Finland with Bio Rex Distribution and Pirkanmaan Elokuvakeskus, with English subtitles.
    Viewed in Bio Rex 3, Sello, Espoo, 3 Dec 2008.

The first D-Cinema release of a classic film in Finland. First screened in Finland on 2 and 3 Dec, 2008. I was the only spectator in the second screening of the film that was screened without advertising.

The D-Cinema presentation was good, very close to a 35 mm screening. There was a real black, the picture was ultra-sharp. Better than 16 mm, better than Blu-Ray. The presentation did justice to the film.

This is a film shot completely in interiors, with few people, with many medium shots and close-ups. Last summer I saw many vintage Bergman prints which looked like they have been struck from the negative. It would be interesting to compare a good 35 mm presentation with D-Cinema of The Seventh Seal.

Maciste all'inferno

Maciste helvetissä / Den ondes besegrare. IT 1925. PC: Fert-Pittaluga (Torino). D: Guido Brignone. SF: Segundo de Chomón. Starring Bartolomeo Pagano (Maciste). The restored edition with Desmet colour by The Lumière Project (1993): Cineteca del Comune di Bologna / Det Danske Filmmuseum with materials from Cinemateca Brasileira. 2450 m /20 fps/ 107 min. A DFI print with e-subtitles in Finnish by Lena Talvio viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 2 Dec 2008. - A great print and a great job of restoration with apparently very challenging materials, but it looks consistent. The Desmet method makes the tinting look too heavy and overbearing to my taste. The speed could at least here and there be even slower than 20 fps, probably sometimes 16 fps. But for the total rhythm and duration 20 fps might be best. - Not one of the best Maciste films, this looks older (even 15 years older) than it is with its exaggerated gestures. - Maciste is a farmer who defends his neighbour, the single mother Graziella, from the attack of the devils. The devils suggest a pact with Maciste. But his curse banishes him to Hell. There the kiss of a woman turns a man into a devil, himself. Maciste becomes a devil in chains, but the Christmas prayer of Graziella's son releases him back to Earth. - Fellini's early favourite enchants with its childish naivety and grandiose visions of spectacle.

Ei kukaan ole saari / No Man Is an Island (dvd)

Sonja Lindén: Ei kukaan ole saari / No Man Is an Island (FI 2006). Krister Lindén.

FI © 2006 Screenday Films. P+D: Sonja Lindén. DP: Peter Flinckenberg – shot on 16 mm – screening materials digital. M: Mahler, jazz. Loc: Saimaa. 40 min. Dvd (available also in English) viewed at home, Helsinki, 1 Dec 2008. – A masterpiece. – Four seasons during the last year of an old man's life. He lives alone with the cat Eino on an island at lake Saimaa, fully equipped, in daily telephone contact with his wife who is at hospital. He prepares to die, leaving humoristic instructions about everything, even preparing his coffin. In the last image he rows away into the lake and vanishes into the mist. – Beautifully shot, with full command of the natural light, fine scenes of nature, interesting close-ups, nothing fancy, just the mastery of simplicity. – Fine views of nature are challenging in this digital transitional age, but here they look good even on dvd and did on Digibeta projection at Orion, where I saw half of this two weeks ago.