Jussi Awards Nominations for the best Finnish films of 2012

PARAS ELOKUVA / BEST PICTURE
Kohta 18 / Almost 18 –  Maarit Lalli
Miss Farkku-Suomi / Miss Blue Jeans – Outi Rousu, Markku Flink
Niko 2 - lentäjäveljekset / Niko 2 - Little Brother, Big Trouble – Petteri Pasanen, Hannu Tuomainen
Puhdistus / The Purge – Maria Avdjuško, Kristian Taska, Jukka Helle, Markus Selin
Vuosaari / Naked Harbour – Pauli Pentti, Liisa Penttilä

OHJAUS
 / DIRECTING
Antti Jokinen  – Puhdistus / The Purge
Maarit Lalli  –  Kohta 18 / Almost 18
Aku Louhimies  –  Vuosaari / Naked Harbour

MIESPÄÄOSA / BEST ACTOR
Samuli Edelmann  –  Tie pohjoiseen / Road North
Vesa-Matti Loiri  –  Tie pohjoiseen / Road North
Eero Ritala  – Kulman pojat

 / Fanatics

NAISPÄÄOSA
 / BEST ACTRESS
Laura Birn  –  Puhdistus / The Purge
Pamela Tola  –  Härmä / Once Upon a Time in the North
Pamela Tola  –  Kaksi tarinaa rakkaudesta / Must Have Been Love

MIESSIVUOSA
 / BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Peter Franzén  –  Tie pohjoiseen / Road Noth
Santtu Karvonen  –  Juoppohullun päiväkirja / Gloriously Wasted
Juha Muje  –  Risto Räppääjä ja viileä Venla

 / Ricky Rapper and Cool Wendy

NAISSIVUOSA
 / BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Laura Birn  –  Vuosaari / Naked Harbour
Niina Nurminen  –  Kohta 18 / Almost 18
Liisi Tandefelt  –  Puhdistus

 / The Purge

KÄSIKIRJOITUS / BEST SCREENPLAY
Matti Kinnunen –  Miss Farkku-Suomi / Miss Blue Jeans
Maarit Lalli, Henrik Mäki-Tanila  –  Kohta 18 / Almost 18
Hannu Tuomainen, Marteinn Thorisson  –  Niko 2 - lentäjäveljekset

 / Niko 2 - Little Brother, Big Trouble

KUVAUS
 / CINEMATOGRAPHY
Tuomo Hutri F.S.C. –  Vuosaari / Naked Harbour
Rauno Ronkainen F.S.C. –  Puhdistus / The Purge
Rauno Ronkainen F.S.C., Harri Räty, Ian Nyman – Kohta 18

 / Almost 18

MUSIIKKI
 / ORIGINAL SCORE
Karsten Fundal – Säilöttyjä unelmia / Canned Dreams
Pessi Levanto  –  Rakkauden rasvaprosentti / Body Fat Index of Love
Stephen McKeon  –  Niko 2 – lentäjäveljekset / Niko 2 - Little Brother, Big Trouble

ÄÄNISUUNNITTELU / SOUND DESIGN
Ivo Felt, Seppo Vanhatalo – Rat King
Micke Nyström – Kaksi tarinaa rakkaudesta / Must Have Been Love
Kirka Sainio  –  Puhdistus / The Purge

LEIKKAUS / EDITING
Benjamin Mercer – Vuosaari / Naked Harbour
Riitta Poikselkä  –  Kovasikajuttu / The Punk Syndrome
Jenny Tervakari, Maarit Lalli – Kohta 18

 / Almost 18

LAVASTUS / PRODUCTION DESIGN
Mikko Pitkänen – Niko 2 - lentäjäveljekset
 / Niko 2 - Little Brother, Big Trouble
Sattva-Hanna Toiviainen – Vuosaari / Naked Harbour
Ulrika von Vegesack – Iron Sky

PUKUSUUNNITTELU / COSTUME DESIGN
Tiina Kaukanen – Vuosaari
 / Naked Harbour
Anna Vilppunen – Puhdistus
 / The Purge
Tiina Wilén – Miss Farkku-Suomi / Miss Blue Jeans

MASKEERAUSSUUNNITTELU / MAKEUP
Marjut Samulin – Miss Farkku-Suomi / Miss Blue Jeans
Marjut Samulin – Vuosaari / Naked Harbour
Riikka Virtanen – Puhdistus / The Purge

DOKUMENTTIELOKUVA
 / DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Kovasikajuttu / The Punk Syndrome – ohjaajat Jukka Kärkkäinen, J-P Passi
Säilöttyjä unelmia / Canned Dreams – ohjaaja Katja Gauriloff
Venäjän vapain mies / Russian Libertine – ohjaaja Ari Matikainen



85th Academy Awards nominations

MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR:
"Amour" - Nominees to be determined
"Argo" - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
"Beasts of the Southern Wild" - Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
"Django Unchained" - Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
"Les Misérables" - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
"Life of Pi" - Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
"Lincoln" - Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
"Silver Linings Playbook" - Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
"Zero Dark Thirty" - Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

BEST ACTOR:
Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook"
Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"
Hugh Jackman in "Les Misérables"
Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master"
Denzel Washington in "Flight"

BEST ACTRESS:
Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuelle Riva in "Amour"
Quvenzhané Wallis in "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Naomi Watts in "The Impossible"

DIRECTING:
"Amour" - Michael Haneke
"Beasts of the Southern Wild" - Benh Zeitlin
"Life of Pi" - Ang Lee
"Lincoln" - Steven Spielberg
"Silver Linings Playbook" - David O. Russell

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Alan Arkin in "Argo"
Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln"
Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Amy Adams in "The Master"
Sally Field in "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway in "Les Misérables"
Helen Hunt in "The Sessions"
Jacki Weaver in "Silver Linings Playbook"

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
"Amour" - Written by Michael Haneke
"Django Unchained" - Written by Quentin Tarantino
"Flight" - Written by John Gatins
"Moonrise Kingdom" - Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
"Zero Dark Thirty" - Written by Mark Boal

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
"Argo" - Screenplay by Chris Terrio
"Beasts of the Southern Wild" - Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
"Life of Pi" - Screenplay by David Magee
"Lincoln" - Screenplay by Tony Kushner
"Silver Linings Playbook" - Screenplay by David O. Russell

ANIMATED FILM:
"Brave" - Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
"Frankenweenie" - Tim Burton
"ParaNorman" - Sam Fell and Chris Butler
"The Pirates! Band of Misfits" - Peter Lord
"Wreck-It Ralph" - Rich Moore

ANIMATED SHORT:
"Adam and Dog" - Minkyu Lee
"Fresh Guacamole" - PES
"Head over Heels" - Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
"Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'" - David Silverman
"Paperman" - John Kahrs

ORIGINAL SCORE:
"Anna Karenina" - Dario Marianelli
"Argo" - Alexandre Desplat
"Life of Pi" - Mychael Danna
"Lincoln" - John Williams
"Skyfall" - Thomas Newman

ORIGINAL SONG:
"Before My Time" from "Chasing Ice" - Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from "Ted" - Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
"Pi's Lullaby" from "Life of Pi" - Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
"Skyfall" from "Skyfall" - Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
"Suddenly" from "Les Misérables" - Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

CINEMATOGRAPHY:
"Anna Karenina" - Seamus McGarvey
"Django Unchained" - Robert Richardson
"Life of Pi" - Claudio Miranda
"Lincoln" - Janusz Kaminski
"Skyfall" - Roger Deakins

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
"5 Broken Cameras" - Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
"The Gatekeepers" - Nominees to be determined
"How to Survive a Plague" - Nominees to be determined
"The Invisible War" - Nominees to be determined
"Searching for Sugar Man" - Nominees to be determined

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:
"Inocente" - Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
"Kings Point" - Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
"Mondays at Racine" - Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
"Open Heart" - Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
"Redemption" - Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

FILM EDITING:
"Argo" - William Goldenberg
"Life of Pi" - Tim Squyres
"Lincoln" - Michael Kahn
"Silver Linings Playbook" - Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
"Zero Dark Thirty" - Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"Amour" (Austria)
"Kon-Tiki" (Norway)
"No" (Chile)
"A Royal Affair" (Denmark)
"War Witch" (Canada)

COSTUME DESIGN:
"Anna Karenina" - Jacqueline Durran
"Les Misérables" - Paco Delgado
"Lincoln" - Joanna Johnston
"Mirror Mirror" - Eiko Ishioka
"Snow White and the Huntsman" - Colleen Atwood

MAKEUP / HAIRSTYLING:
"Hitchcock" - Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" - Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
"Les Misérables" - Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

PRODUCTION DESIGN:
"Anna Karenina" - Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" - Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
"Les Misérables" - Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
"Life of Pi" - Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
"Lincoln" - Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM:
"Asad" - Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
"Buzkashi Boys" - Sam French and Ariel Nasr
"Curfew" - Shawn Christensen
"Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)" - Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
"Henry" - Yan England

SOUND EDITING:
"Argo" - Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
"Django Unchained" - Wylie Stateman
"Life of Pi" - Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
"Skyfall" - Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
"Zero Dark Thirty" - Paul N.J. Ottosson

SOUND MIXING:
"Argo" - John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
"Les Misérables" - Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
"Life of Pi" - Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
"Lincoln" - Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
"Skyfall" - Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

VISUAL EFFECTS:
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
"Life of Pi" - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
"Marvel's The Avengers" - Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
"Prometheus" - Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
"Snow White and the Huntsman" - Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Senses of Cinema World Poll 2012 online

Leos Carax: Holy Motors (FR 2012).

There are many "best films of 2012" lists online, all interesting. The largest compilation may be in Senses of Cinema, published on 8 January, 2013.

A long and rambling chain of lists of the best films of the year can be found in Dave Kehr's blog under the headline "Hello, I Must Be Going", launched on 26 December, 2012.

Both sites acknowledge both new films and rediscoveries of classics.

I have copied on my site also
Sight & Sound: The Best of 2012
Academy Awards: Nine foreign film nominees
Village Voice Film Poll 2012
Film Comment: 50 Best Released Films of 2012
Film Comment: 50 Best Undistributed Films of 2012
Cahiers du Cinéma: Le Top Ten 2012

I compiled my own top list originally for Senses of Cinema in early December, covering the films I saw in January-November. I updated it slightly for Dave Kehr's blog, and revised it a bit more in a version of My Best Films of 2012 on my own blog on 1 January 2013.

Finnish lists of the best films of 2012 include:
Kalle Kinnunen: Top Ten
Kalle Kinnunen: Thirteen More
Jutta Sarhimaa: Top Twenty
Jukka Kangasjärvi: The Best of 2012
Sami Pöyry: The Best of 2012
Olli Sulopuisto: The Best of the Finnish Film Bloggers 2012 (15 lists)
Alina Kangasluoma: The Best of 2012
Lauri Ojanen: The Best of 2012 

Amour / Love (2012)

Rakkaus / Amour [Swedish title]. FR/DE/AT © 2012 Les Films du Losange / X Verleih AG / Westdeutscher Rundfunk / France 3 Cinéma / ARD Degeto / Bayerischer Rundfunk / Westdeutscher Rundfunk. P: Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Michael Katz. D+SC: Michael Haneke. DP: Darius Khondji - film editing: LISTO Videofilm - lab: Digimage Cinema - digital cinema supervisor: Tommaso Vergallo - grading: Didier Le Fouest, Willi Willinger. PD: Jean-Vincent Puzos. Cost: Catherine Leterrier. Makeup: Thi Loan Nguyen. Hair: Frédéric Souquet. M (no score music): - Schubert: Impromptu op 90 no 1 - Schubert: Impromptu op 90 no 3 - Beethoven: Bagatelle op 126 no 2 - J.S. Bach / Ferruccio Busoni: Prélude Choral "Ich ruf zu Dir, Herr Jesu Christ" -- perf. on the piano by Alexandre Tharaud - rec. Ircam Centre Pompidou. S: Guillaume Sciama, Jean-Pierre Laforce. ED: Monika Willi, Nadine Muse. C: Jean-Louis Trintignant (Georges), Emmanuelle Riva (Anne) - avec la participation de Isabelle Huppert (Eva). - Supporting C: Alexandre Tharaud (Alexandre), William Shimell (Geoff), Ramón Agirre (le concierge), Rita Blanco (la concierge), Carole Franck, Dinara Droukarova (les infirmières). Loc: Paris. Released by Future Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Janne Kauppila / Saga Wickström. 4K DCP screened at 2K at Andorra, Helsinki, 8 Jan 2013 (preview).

Technical specs from the IMDb: - Camera: Arri Alexa, Cooke S4 and 5/i Lenses - Laboratory: Digimage Cinéma, Paris, France, LISTO Videofilm, Vienna, Austria - Film negative format: ARRIRAW - Cinematographic process: ARRIRAW (source format), Digital Intermediate (4K) (master format) - Printed film format: 35 mm (spherical), D-Cinema - Aspect ratio: 1.85 : 1.

Official synopsis: "Georges and Anne are in their eighties. They are cultivated, retired music teachers. Their daughter, who is also a musician, lives abroad with her family. One day, Anne has an attack. The couple's bond of love is severely tested."

Amour is one of the finest films of recent years, and I would recommend it even to those who hardly ever visit the cinema.

In many of his films Michael Haneke has studied the eruption of violence in a dysfunctional family. He has also studied how violence in social power structures is reflected in a nuclear family. He has taken seriously the trivialization of violence in entertainment fiction. He has also made a case study of sadism and masochism among refined artists in high musical culture.

Amour is a new departure for Haneke. It is a love story of an octuagearian couple, one of them facing mortal illness. There is a tenderness new to Haneke's films. There is a violent act, but violence and cruelty are not among the main themes. Death and love are. Death is the ultimate test of love like in the Song of Songs:

Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
    its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame.

The casting is eloquent with two great stars of la Nouvelle Vague who had their international breakthroughs over 50 years ago. Jean-Louis Trintignant had his breakthrough in Et le Dieu... créa la femme, with Brigitte Bardot.

Emmanuelle Riva's breakthrough took place in Alain Resnais's Hiroshima mon amour as the woman whose first love affair has been with a German soldier during the Occupation and who meets a Japanese architect in Hiroshima. The horrors of Nazism and nuclear destruction are reflected in their intimate affair.

Memories of such characteristic roles in movies that have been in wide circulation for decades add a special depth to the performances, but Haneke is not surfing on past reputations. Instead he focuses on entirely new dimensions of his stars. The youth and the glamour are gone. The bodies are decaying, but the spirit remains. But then even the spirit starts to disappear...

Visually, Amour is a warm, luminous and tender work of art. Amour has been shot digitally unlike Haneke's previous films (including Das weisse Band and Funny Games), but previous films by Haneke have been processed via digital intermediates that have given them a digital look even when the negatives have been photochemical.

Amour has been painted with light, and Darius Khondji's work is refined. I do not find cause to complain about the digital quality. To be sure, Amour has been shot almost entirely in interiors, and the few exteriors are of an urban, built space. The composition is for the big screen. Amour will lose a lot if viewed on a small screen.

My best films of 2012

Sakari Kirjavainen: Hiljaisuus / Silence (FI 2011).

THE BEST NEW FILMS I SAW IN 2012 IN THE ORDER I SAW THEM

Hiljaisuus ([Silence], FI 2011, Sakari Kirjavainen)
Canned Dreams (IE/NO/PT/FR/FI 2011, Katja Gauriloff)

Carnage (FR/DE/PL/ES 2011, Roman Polanski)
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (GB/FR/DE 2011, Tomas Alfredson)
Hugo (US 2011, Martin Scorsese)
A Dangerous Method (DE/CA 2011, David Cronenberg)
Shame (GB 2011, Steve McQueen)
Soundbreaker (FI 2011, Kimmo Koskela)
Eräänlainen rakkaustarina (My Little Window, FI 2011, Lauri-Matti Parppei)
Sodankylä ikuisesti 1-4 (Sodankylä Forever, FI 2010-2011, Peter von Bagh)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (CA/US/FR//DE/GB 2010, Werner Herzog)
The Descendants (US 2011, Alexander Payne)
Les Neiges du Kilimandjaro (The Snows of Kilimanjaro, FR 2011, Robert Guédiguian)
The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! (GB/US 2012, Peter Lord)
Dark Shadows (US 2012, Tim Burton)
A Torinói ló (The Turin Horse, HU/FR/DE/CH/US 2011, Béla Tarr)
Mario Ruspoli, prince des baleines et autres raretés (FR 2011, Florence Dauman)
Side by Side (US 2012, Chris Kenneally; Keanu Reeves)
Carlos I-III (FR/DE 2010, Olivier Assayas) the long version in three episodes, totalling 330 min
Barbara (DE 2012, Christian Petzold)
Cosmopolis (FR/CA/PT/IT 2012, David Cronenberg)
Terraferma (IT/FR 2011, Emanuele Crialese)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (US 2012, Benh Zeitlin)
Moonrise Kingdom (US 2012, Wes Anderson)
Holy Motors (FR/DE 2012, Leos Carax)
Margaret (US 2008/2011, Kenneth Lonergan)
Urbanized (US/GB 2011, Gary Hustwit)
1 Plus 1 Plus 1 - Sympathy for the Decay (FI 2012, Ilppo Pohjola)
Searching for Sugar Man (SE/GB 2012, Malik Bendjelloul)
Sinivalkoinen valhe (When Heroes Lie, FI 2012, Arto Halonen)
Palme (SE/DK 2012, Maud Nycander, Kristina Lindström)
Akkaansilta ([The Akkaansilta Bridge], FI 2011, Juha Rinnekari)
De rouille et d'os (Rust and Bone, FR/BE 2012, Jacques Audiard)

AN INTRIGUING YEAR IN BLOCKBUSTERS
Hunger Games (US 2012, Gary Ross)
The Amazing Spider-Man (US 2012, Marc Webb)
The Dark Knight Rises (US/GB 2012, Christopher Nolan)
Skyfall (GB/US 2012, Sam Mendes)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (US 2012, Bill Condon).
Isn't this a strange list of names for some of the most popular films of the year?
Good directors, experimental elements, bleak visuals, dystopian visions, deranged and broken protagonists, anti-heroes, monsters as identification figures. The Twilight Saga is the most desolate of them all, a turning-point in the mainstream cinema's horror fiction: the identification figure is a monster, the plot is about saving the monster child, and there is practically no "normality" in the story. I was puzzled about the suicide wish fantasy, but I am apparently the only person in the world who sees it that way. - Epic fraud and social injustice were recurrent themes in the year's movies, including Arbitrage (US 2012, Nicholas Jarecki). - Superstorm Sandy seemed prefigured in The Turin Horse, and "after us the flood" imagery appeared in Moonrise Kingdom and Beasts of the Southern wild.

DIGITAL WAS GETTING BETTER
A cold, bleak, and lifeless look was predominant, but there were exceptions. Margaret, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Moonrise Kingdom were shot on 16 mm, and the warm photochemical quality was successfully sustained in the digital intermediate. Skyfall was the first James Bond film shot digitally, but it had a richer look than the two previous ones that had gone through a bleak digital intermediate process.

3D
My best 3D experiences were: Stefan Drössler's updated magisterial illustrated lecture on the history of the 3D, The Amazing Spider-Man, Step Up Revolution, and Life of Pi. I'm still processing The Hobbit in HFR: the image was bright and clear in Tennispalatsi 1 where 3D has often been too dark.

MY FAVOURITE COMEDY PERFORMANCE
Ellen Page as Monica "who knows one line from every poem" in To Rome with Love (US/IT/ES 2012, Woody Allen). I like the combination of satire and tenderness.
AN ANTHOLOGY PIECE IN A COMEDY
Sacha Baron Cohen's speech in defense of dictatorship in The Dictator (US 2012, Larry Charles)

BOOKS OF THE YEAR
David Bordwell: Pandora's Digital Box (E-book, Madison, Wisconsin: The Irvington Way Institute Press, 2012).
Torkell Sætervadet: FIAF Digital Projection Guide. Brussels: FIAF, 2012.

NEW RESTORATIONS AND TOPICAL RETROSPECTIVES
Stefan Drössler: The History of 3D (his touring illustrated lecture, 2012 update)
Universal Pictures Centenary: our tribute was to screen nine Robert Siodmak masterpieces from his film noir cycle
Die Weber (The Weavers, DE 1927, Friedrich Zelnik, 2012 restoration)
Magde dhaka tara (The Cloud-Capped Star, IN 1960, Ritwik Ghatak, 2012 restoration)
Komedie om geld (The Trouble with Money, NL 1936, Max Ophuls, newly restored)
Kalpana (Imagination, IN 1948, Uday Shankar, 2012 restoration)
Lewat djam malam (After the Curfew, ID 1954, Usmar Ismail, 2012 restoration)
Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre (FR 1900, Paul Decauville, 2012 restoration)
Vor fælles Ven / Our Mutual Friend (DK 1921, A.W. Sandberg, 2012 restoration)
Moi syn ([My Son], SU 1928, Yevgenii Cherviakov; Anna Sten, 2011 study dvd)
The Spanish Dancer (US 1923, Herbert Brenon; Pola Negri, newly restored)
The Jiří Trnka 2012 touring show from Naródni filmový archiv (Prague)
Die freudlose Gasse (Joyless Street, DE 1925, G.W. Pabst, the 2012 colour print from Filmmuseum München)
Kevade (Spring, EE-SU 1970, Arvo Kruusement) the Estonian Film 100 touring show in 2012
Pohjalaisia ([The People from Pohjanmaa] / [The People from the Plains], FI 1925, Jalmari Lahdensuo) 2012 restoration

FURTHER DELIGHTS IN FESTIVALS AND ARCHIVAL SCREENINGS
David Golder (FR 1931, Julien Duvivier)
Olivier Assayas retrospective: it is very rewarding to view his films within a short period
The Making Over of Mother (US 1916, Christie Film Co., Horace Davey; Neal Burns and Betty Compson)
Prostoi sluchai (A Simple Case, SU 1932, Vsevolod Pudovkin)
Jenseits der Strasse (Harbour Drift, DE 1929, Leo Mittler)
A Woman of Affairs (US 1928, Clarence Brown; Greta Garbo) with the Carl Davis score
Bab el hadid (Central Station, EG 1958, Youssef Chahine)
Il cammino della speranza (The Way of Hope, IT 1950, Pietro Germi)

Books on my Christmas holiday

Paul Krugman: Satunnainen teoreetikko (The Accidental Theorist, 1998). Translated by Heikki Eskelinen. Helsinki: Tietosanoma, 1999.
Paul Krugman: Lama (The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008; 1999 and 2008). Translated by Jyri Raivio. Helsinki: HS Kirjat, 2009.
Paul Krugman: Lopettakaa tämä lama nyt! (End This Depression Now!, 2012). Translated by Anni Lassila. Helsinki: HS Kirjat, 2012.
Niall Ferguson: Rahan nousu: maailman rahoitushistoria (The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, 2008). Translated by Kimmo Pietiläinen. Helsinki: Terra Cognita, 2009.
Niall Ferguson: Sivilisaatio: me ja muut (Civilization: The West and the Rest, 2011). Translated by Kimmo Pietiläinen. Helsinki: Terra Cognita, 2011.
Markku Kuisma: Rosvoparonien paluu: raha ja valta Suomen historiassa [The Return of the Robber Barons: Money and Power in the History of Finland] . Helsinki: Siltala, 2010.
Tommi Uschanov: Mikä vasemmistoa vaivaa? [What's Wrong with the Left?]. Helsinki: Teos, 2008.
Tommi Uschanov: Suuri kaalihuijaus: Kirjoituksia yhteiskunnallisesta tietämättömyydestä [The Great Cabbage Hoax: Writings on Ignorance about Society]. Helsinki: Teos, 2010.
Fred Halliday: 100 Myths About the Middle East. London: Saqi, 2005.
Henrik Meinander: Suomen historia: linjat, rakenteet ja käännekohdat [The History of Finland: the Trends, the Structures, and the Turning-Points]. Helsinki: WSOY 2006, 2010.
Moshe Lewin: Neuvostoliiton vuosisata (The Soviet Century, 2005). Helsinki: Like, 2008.
Timo Heinonen, Arto Kivimäki, Kalle Korhonen, Tua Korhonen, Heta Reitala, Aristoteles: Aristoteleen Runousoppi: Opas aloittelijoille ja edistyneille. Mitä Runousoppi sisältää ja miten sitä on tulkittu sekä Aristoteleen käsitys onnistuneen runouden sisällöstä, muodosta, historiasta ja päämäärästä).  [Aristotle's Poetics: A Guide to Beginners and to Advanced Students. What Poetics contains, and how it has been interpreted, and Aristotle's conception of the contents, the form, the history and the intention of successful poetry.] Aristotle's Poetics / Περὶ ποιητικῆς, 335 BCE, translated by Kalle Korhonen and Tua Korhonen. Helsinki: Teos, 2012. - An inspired book of lasting value, one of the books of the year.
Rafael Koskimies: Kymmenen tutkielmaa Juhani Ahosta [Ten Studies on Juhani Aho]. Helsinki: SKS: Tietolipas, 1975.
Rafael Koskimies: Novellin teoria ja muita tutkielmia [The Theory of the Short Story and Other Studies]. Helsinki: Otava, 1958.
Jarl Hellemann (ed.): Amerikkalaisia kertojia [American Storytellers]. Helsinki: Tammi, 1959. An anthology with short stories by Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Henry James, Bret Harte, Ambrose Bierce, Stephen Crane, O. Henry, Theodore Dreiser, Gertrude Stein, Sherwood Anderson, Ring Lardner, James Thurber, Dorothy Parker, Katherine Anne Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Erskine Caldwell, William Saroyan, Eudora Welty, J. D. Salinger, and Truman Capote.
Mirjam Polkunen and Pekka Tarkka (ed.): Novelli ja tulkinta [The Short Story and the Interpretation]. Helsinki: Weilin + Göös, 1969. Short stories and interpretations by Guy de Maupassant / Kai Laitinen, Anton Chekhov / Pekka Suhonen, James Joyce / Paavo Lehtonen, Franz Kafka / Jouko Tyyri, Ernest Hemingway / Vilho Viksten, Teuvo Pakkala / Pekka Tarkka, Maria Jotuni / Irmeli Niemi, F. E. Sillanpää / Pekka Tarkka, Joel Lehtonen / Eila Pennanen, Pentti Haanpää / Juhani Niemi, Veijo Meri / Vesa Karonen, Antti Hyry / Vilho Viksten, Eila Pennanen / Eila Pennanen,, Paavo Haavikko / Pekka Tarkka and Vilho Viksten, and Hannu Salama / Vesa Karonen.
Pekka Tarkka (ed.): Novellin parhaita [Great Short Stories]. Helsinki: Tammi, 1971. An anthology of short stories by Heinrich von Kleist, Edgar Allan Poe, August Strindberg, Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Marcel Proust, Thomas Mann, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Junichiro Tanizaki, Ernest Hemingway, Octavio Paz, Jean-Paul Sartre, and J.D. Salinger.
Hannu Mäkelä (ed.): Suomalaisia novelleja 1 [Finnish Short Stories 1]. Helsinki: Otava, 1973. Short stories by Minna Canth, Juhani Aho, Teuvo Pakkala, Arvid Järnefelt, Aino Kallas, Volter Kilpi, Joel Lehtonen, Maria Jotuni, F.E. Sillanpää, Pentti Haanpää, and Toivo Pekkanen.
Hannu Mäkelä (ed.): Suomalaisia novelleja 2 [Finnish Short Stories 2]. Helsinki: Otava, 1973. Elvi Sinervo, Eila Pennanen, Juha Mannerkorpi, Veikko Huovinen, Veijo Meri, Marja-Liisa Vartio, Antti Hyry, Paavo Haavikko, Hannu Salama, Marja-Leena Mikkola, Eino Säisä, Samuli Paronen, Timo K. Mukka, Alpo Ruuth, and Antti Tuuri.

Cahiers du Cinéma: Le Top Ten 2012

1. Holy Motors (Leos Carax)
2. Cosmopolis (David Cronenberg)
3. Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola)
4. 4:44 Last Day On Earth (Abel Ferrara)
4. In Another Country (Hong Sang-Soo)
4. Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols)
7. Go Go Tales (Abel Ferrara)
8. Tabu (Miguel Gomes)
8. Faust (Alexandre Sokourov)
10. Keep The Lights On (Ira Sachs)

Cahiers du Cinéma, décembre 2012

Life of Pi (3D)

Ang Lee: Life of Pi (US/CN 2012).

Piin elämä / Berättelsen om Pi. 

    US/CN © 2012 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Dune Entertainment III LLC in all territories except Brazil, Italy, Japan, Korea and Spain. © 2012 TCF Hungary Film Rights Exploitation Limited Liability Company, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Dune Entertainment III LLC in Brazil, Italy, Japan, Korea and Spain. -- Fox 2000 Pictures presents A Haishang Films / Gil Netter production. -- P: Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark. 

    D: Ang Lee. SC: David Magee - based on the novel (2001) by Yann Martel (in Finnish: Piin elämä translated by Helene Bützow, Helsinki: Tammi, Keltainen kirjasto, 2003, fine book jacket design). DP: Claudio Miranda. Post-production: Twentieth Century Fox. DI: Technicolor Hollywood. 3D Technology Provided by CAMERON | PACE Group. PD: David Gropman. AD: Dan Webster. Set dec: Anna Pinnock. Cost: Arjun Bhasin. 

    Makeup and hair: Fae Hammond. Replica and Animatronic Animals Created by Legacy Effects. Visual Effects & Animation by Rhythm & Hues Studios. VFX Compute Provided by CAVE. Visual Effects by MPC. Visual Effects by BUF Compagnie. VFX: CAVE, Moving Picture Company (MPC), BUF Compagne, Crazy Horse Effects, lola | VFX, Rhythm and Hues, LOOK! Effects, Halon Entertainment. SFX: Legacy Effects, Christov Effects and Design. AN department: huge. 

    M: Mychael Danna. S: Philip Stockton. ED: Tim Squyres. 

    C: Suraj Sharma (Pi Patel), Irrfan Khan (adult Pi Patel), Ayush Tandon (Pi Patel at 11-12), Gautam Belur (Pi Patel at 5), Adil Hussain (Santosh Patel), Tabu (Gita Patel), Ayan Khan (Ravi Patel at 7), Mohd Abbas Khaleeli (Ravi Patel at 13-14), Vibish Sivakumar (Ravi Patel at 18-19), Rafe Spall (writer), Gérard Depardieu (cook).

    14.000 jobs were involved in the making of the movie.

    Loc: India: Munar (Kerala), Pondicherry) - Taiwan: Kenting, Taichung - Canada: Montréal (Québec). 

    127 min

    Released by FS Film with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by XXX [somebody's shadow obstructed the view to the screen while this credit fleeted by] / Carina Laurila-Olin. 

    2K DCP viewed on 3D, XpanD, at Kinopalatsi 2, Helsinki, 28 Dec 2012.

Technical specs from the IMDb: - Camera: Arri Alexa, Zeiss Master Prime and Angenieux Optimo Lenses, PACE Fusion 3-D - Laboratory: DeLuxe, Hollywood (CA), USA (prints), Technicolor, Hollywood (CA), USA (digital intermediate), Technicolor, Montreal, Canada (dailies: Montreal). - Film length: 3473 m (Portugal, 35 mm) - Cinematographic process: Codex - Printed film format: 35 mm (spherical) (Fuji Eterna-CP 3514DI), D-Cinema (also 3-D version) - Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 (some scenes), 1.85:1, 2.00:1 (some scenes), 2.35:1 (one scene).

Official presentation in the pressbook: "With Life of Pi, director Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain”; “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) creates a groundbreaking movie event about a young man who survives a disaster at sea and is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery.  While cast away, he forms an amazing and unexpected connection with another survivor… a fearsome Bengal tiger."

"Based on the book that has sold more than seven million copies and spent years on the bestseller lists, Life of Pi takes place over three continents, two oceans, many years, and a wide universe of imagination.  Lee’s vision, coupled with stunning 3D visuals, has turned a novel long thought un-filmable into a thrillingly audacious mix of grand storytelling and powerful and provocative themes."

"Since Mr. Lee came aboard the project almost four years ago, he has worked to create a singular vision of author Yann Martel’s unforgettable tale of courage, perseverance, inspiration and hope.  The film takes us through a young man’s incredible adventure – at turns thrilling and spiritual; harrowing and triumphant; humorous and inspirational."

"In telling Pi’s story, Mr. Lee pushes the boundaries of cutting-edge motion picture technologies.  Life of Pi represents a moment when the science and art of filmmaking have jumped forward, as it did with the visual effects of “Titanic,” the 3D revolution of “Avatar,” and the CGI work in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” which brought unprecedented emotion and depth to the character of Caesar.  And like Caesar, Life of Pi’s Richard Parker is a fully-realized, accessible character, whom you’ll believe was actually on that lifeboat with Suraj Sharma, who portrays Pi."

"Life of Pi is Mr. Lee’s first foray into 3D filmmaking, which he envisioned for this story long before “Avatar” hit theaters.  He uses that tool to expand the scope of the film, immerse us in Pi’s physical journey, and envelop us in the story’s emotional hold. “I wanted the experience of the film to be as unique as Yann Martel’s book,” says Mr. Lee, “and that meant creating the film in another dimension. 3D is a new cinematic language, and in Life of Pi it’s just as much about immersing audiences in the characters’ emotional space as it is about the epic scale and adventure.”"

In Ang Lee's work I love most his early, tenderly satirical "father knows best" trilogy: Pushing Hands, The Wedding Banquet, and Eat Drink Man Woman. Of his later works I have been most impressed by his intimate stories such as Brokeback Mountain.

But I'm full of respect to a film-maker who is always pushing boundaries, surprising us constantily with something unexpected and filming unfilmable books such as Life of Pi. I have not read Yann Martel's novel but I like the philosophical spirit of the film version. I like the ecumenical spirit (Pi has experimented in many religions) and the spirit of tolerance and understanding. Life of Pi the movie has been an incredibly difficult exercise in state-of-the art digital animation, and the result is photorealistically successful. I could not tell the CGI Bengal tiger from a real one.

I was not looking forward to this movie because of the over-sweet stills and the preview trailer the visual quality of which looked corny.

The film is much better than I expected, and it is full of delightful visual insight. Ang Lee and his team celebrate the possibilities of the 3D, and I like the witty and impressive visions such as - The swimming pool - The thunderstorm - The jellyfish - The starry sky - The swarm of dolphins - The staggering high angles at sea - The luminous animal dreams - The tiger alone on the boat - The luminous fruit opened.

Even after seeing the movie I don't like the stills. They don't convey the visual sense of the movie.

In the conclusion we learn that the story about the Bengal tiger and the other animals supposedly surviving on the boat was apparently a fairy-tale, a blanket memory for the true, horrible story of survival and cannibalism on the boat, Pi, himself, being the tiger. 

The visual quality was excellent, and the restrictions and limitations of the digital technology had been used as means of expression. Life of Pi represents 3D aesthetics at its best. Qualities emphasized here are the clarity of the water, the oceaning feeling, the infinite universe, sunlight, luminosity, and incandescence. The unrealism of the digital 3D is used as an aesthetic mode, with influences from Indian visual qulture: the richness of colour, and the delight in naivism. The colour palette is warm (not  cold, not garish unlike often in our early digital transition).

Metsän tarina / Tale of a Forest

Ville Suhonen, Kim Saarniluoto: Metsän tarina / Tale of a Forest (FI 2012).

Sagan om skogen.
    FI © 2012 MRP Matila Röhr Productions. P: Marko Röhr.
    D: Ville Suhonen, Kim Saarniluoto. DP: Hannu Siitonen, Mikko Pöllänen, Teemu Liakka - helicopter shots: Helican Services - additional spring footage: Antti Mikkola - the cuckoo on the tree top: Mauri Koski. Post-production: Generator Post. DCP mastering: Mihkel Mäemets. VFX: Tuomo Hintikka. SC: Ville Suhonen. M: Panu Aaltio. S: Juha Hakanen. Sound studio: Kalevala Studio. ED: Kim Saarniluoto. Narrators: Turkka Mastomäki (father), Christian Ruotanen (son).
    76 min.
    Released by Nordisk Film [I don't remember Swedish subtitles in this screening].
    2K DCP viewed at Tennispalatsi 6, Helsinki, 28 Dec 2012 (day of premiere).

Dedicated to the memory of Pekka Suhonen (1938-2011).

Starring: the bear, the elk, the viper, the owls, the ants, the frogs, the flying squirrel, the Siberian jay, the black woodpecker, the hawks, the lynx, the fox, the European badger, the mouse. I think I saw also the wolverine, the wood grouse (Western capercaillie), the long-tailed duck, the common goldeneye, common wasps, butterflies, the common cuckoo, the viviparous lizard, the slow worm, the European pine marten, the goldcrest, and the long-tailed tit. The grown-up lynx was photographed at Kiteen Eläinpuisto / Kitee Zoo.

Excerpted from the production information: "In a central role are also the trees which are hundreds of years old. Primeval forest is still an awesome experience. In ancient days Finns worshipped forest gods and believed in forest spirits. Assigned by MRP Matila Röhr Productions the nature photographers Hannu Siitonen (Parikkala) and Mikko Pöllänen (Simpele) started a collaboration which resulted in this documentary film. They spent four years preparing the film and of their material 20 hours of pre-edited film were compiled. From this huge source the editor Kim Saarniluoto honed the final movie of 75 minutes. The screenplay was written by Ville Suhonen, and Ville Suhonen and Kim Saarniluoto were the co-directors. The Saga of the Forest is the third documentary film by Hannu Siitonen and Mikko Pöllänen, and the most magnificent of them. One could call it their lifework."

AA: This is a wonderful documentary about the Finnish primeval forest which hardly exists anymore in reality but to which we still have access via tradition and certain national parks. This movie has permanent value because of its many precious sequences, because it covers the four seasons, and because it is an overall review of the inhabitants of the forest. Side by side with the factual documentation there is the mythical dimension conveyed in the narration with references to ancient legends and the pantheistic imagination of great authors. The makers are top experts with a long experience.

The score is fascinating.

The film starts well, and yet some of the most rare and wonderful sequences are at the end: the chick of the goldcrest for the first time alone outside the nest, the long-tailed tit with its ten chicks, the lynx cubs at play, the owl before the time of the autumn colours. - The footage on the bears and the elks is majestic. - The sequence with the ten badgers must have been incredibly difficult to shoot. - Among the wonders are also the shots of the flying squirrels. - I know there are great nature shows every day on television, and I have lost touch of the genre since I don't watch tv. - The Saga of the Forest is the first Finnish theatrical nature documentary feature in 50 years, yet there have been substantial documentary elements in several fiction films by Markku Lehmuskallio (The Raven's Dance) and Raimo O. Niemi (The Boy and the Lynx).

The cinematography is great by its virtues of capturing so many extremely difficult shots of shy animals that we hardly ever get to see live in the forest - and also thanks to a great sense of composition, including in long shots.

The visual quality: compilation quality from different formats, including apparently also video. Occasionally the colour has been sweetened too much in the digital post-production.

Ella ja kaverit / Ella and Friends

Ella och hennes vänner. FI © 2012 Journalist Films. © 2012 Snapper Films. EX: Joseph Scarpinito. P: Juha Wuolijoki. D: Taneli Mustonen. SC: Aleksi Hyvärinen and Timo Parvela - based on the novel Ella ja Äf Yksi (2008) by Timo Parvela. DP: Daniel Lindholm. AD: Sarah Bowen-Walsh. Cost: Henna Saarivuori. Makeup: Saara Räisänen. Song: "Pop Goes My Heart" pres. Isaac Elliot. S design: Kimmo Perkkiö. S mixing: Dan Brennan, Soundtrack NY. ED: Aleksi Raij. C: Freja Teijonsalo (Ella), Artturi Auvinen (Tuukka), Emilia Paasonen (Hanna), Aki Laiho (Samppa), Aura Mikkonen (Tiina), Eetu Julin (Pukari), Jyry Kortelainen (Pate), Eero Milonoff (teacher), Armi Toivanen (headmaster, Pate's mother), Oliver Kivi (Äf Yksi = F1), Kari Ketonen (Isä Yksi = Father 1), Eerika Patrakka (Anna Yksi = Anna 1), Ville Myllyrinne (headmaster of the new school), Pamela Tola (the aunt at the office), Ville Virtanen (the uncle at the office), Tiina Weckström (police sergeant). 81 min. Released by Snapper Films with Swedish subtitles by Saliven Gustavsson. 2K DCP viewed at Kinopalatsi 9, Helsinki, 28 Dec 2012 (day of premiere).

The F1 in the title of the novel on which the movie is based means Formula 1.

Ella and Friends is a hugely popular children's book phenomenon in Finland. There have been 17 Ella novels by Timo Parvela since 1995, plus Ella friend books, compilation volumes, and sound books. This is the first film based on the book series.

Official synopsis: "I am Ella and I am on the second grade. We have a nice class and a nice teacher. Except that we haven't seen the teacher lately because our old school has been closed down and we have been transferred into a new school". (My translation)

Freja Teijonsalo as Ella and the other young performers of her schoolmates and friends are good, and there is a fine, sunny sense of humour in the movie. The Ricky Rapper movies are phenomenally successful, but I prefer the more sober approach in this movie, including the more human performances by the grown-up actors. The story focuses on the children's project to save the old school, and the decisive battle is conducted on a "Formula 1 track". Ella and her friends are woefully incompetent as adversaries, yet they are finally saved thanks to the mysteerimöykky [mystery blob]. A nice feature is the "spoiled scenes" montage during the end credits.

The visual quality, too is more pleasant than in the Ricky Rapper films: no garish colour schemes here.

Film Comment: 50 Best Released Films of 2012

Leos Carax: Holy Motors (FR/DE 2012).

Film Comment, 13 Dec 2012: "over 100 North American colleagues ranked their favorites in two categories: 1) those that received theatrical runs and 2) those viewed this year but not receiving U.S. theatrical distribution in 2012 or 2013. For each ballot, a first-place choice was allotted 20 points, 19 for second, and so on."

50 BEST RELEASED FILMS OF 2012
Holy Motors. Leos Carax, FR/DE
The Master. Paul Thomas Anderson, US
Moonrise Kingdom. Wes Anderson, US
This Is Not a Film. Jafar Panahi & Mojtaba Mirtahmasb, IR
Amour. Michael Haneke. FR/DE/AT
The Turin Horse. Béla Tarr. HU/FR/CH/DE
The Kid with a Bike. Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne. FR/BE
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. Nuri Bilge Ceylan. TK
Lincoln. Steven Spielberg. US
Zero Dark Thirty. Kathryn Bigelow. US
Tabu. Miguel Gomes. PT
The Deep Blue Sea. Terence Davies. GB
Bernie. Richard Linklater. US
Beasts of the Southern Wild. Benh Zeitlin. US
Cosmopolis. David Cronenberg. CA/FR
Barbara. Christian Petzold. DE
The Loneliest Planet. Julia Loktev. US/DE
Silver Linings Playbook. David O. Russell. US
Oslo, August 31st. Joachim Trier. NO
Neighboring Sounds. Kleber Mendonça Filho, BR
Django Unchained. Quentin Tarantino. US
Almayer's Folly. Chantal Akerman. FR/BE
Magic Mike. Steven Soderbergh. US
Argo. Ben Affleck. US
Attenberg. Athina Rachel Tsangari. GR
The Color Wheel. Alex Ross Perry. US
Rust & Bone. Jacques Audiard. FR/BE
Killer Joe. William Friedkin. US
Looper. Rian Johnson. US
Life of Pi. Ang Lee. US
A Man Vanishes. Shohei Imamura. JP
Skyfall. Sam Mendes. US
The Gatekeepers. Dror Moreh. IL
Elena. Andrei Zvyagintsev. RU
Haywire. Steven Soderbergh. US
Damsels in Distress. Whit Stillman. US
Abendland. Nikolaus Geyrhalter. AT
Two Years at Sea. Ben Rivers. GB
How to Survive a Plague. David France. US
Keep the Lights On. Ira Sachs. US
A Burning Hot Summer. Philippe Garrel. FR
Miss Bala. Gerardo Naranjo. MX
Footnote. Joseph Cedar. IL
Compliance. Craig Zobel. US
Alps. Yorgos Lanthimos. GR
Kill List. Ben Wheatley. GB
Farewell My Queen. Benoît Jacquot. FR/ES
In Another Country. Hong Sang-soo. KR
The Dark Knight Rises. Christopher Nolan. US
The Day He Arrives. Hong Sang-soo. KR

Film Comment: 50 Best Undistributed Films of 2012

Film Comment 13 Dec 2012: 50 Best Undistributed Films of 2012

Our Children. Joachim Lafosse. BE/LU/FR/CH
Memories Look at Me. Song Fang. CN
First Cousin Once Removed. Alan Berlier. US
When Night Falls. Ying Liang. KR/CN
Bwakaw. Jun Robles Lana. PH
Gebo and the Shadow. Manoel de Oliveira. PT/FR
differently, Molussia. Nicolas Rey. FR
Peret in France and Algeria. Heinz Emigholz. DE
The Extravagant Shadows. David Gatten. US
Three Sisters. Wang Bing. FR/HK
Dormant Beauty. Marco Bellocchio. IT/FR
Far from Afghanistan. John Gianvito, Travis Wilkerson, Jon Jost, Minda Martin, Soon-Mi Yoo. US
Camille Rewinds. Noémie Lvovsky. FR
Greatest Hits. Nicolás Pereda. MX/CA/NL
small roads. James Benning. US
Everybody in Our Family. Radu Jude. RO/NL
Shepard and Dark. Treva Wurmfeld. US
Hannah Arendt. Margarethe von Trotta. DE
Araf: Somewhere in Between. Yesim Ustaoglu. TK/FR/DE
Thursday Through Sunday. Dominga Sotomayor. CL/NL
Goodbye. Mohammad Rasoulof. IR
After Lucia. Michel Franco. MX
Reconversão. Thom Andersen. PT/US
Tiger Tail in Blue. Frank V. Ross. US
Traveling Light. Gina Telaroli. US
Sun Don't Shine. Amy Seimetz. US
Postcards from the Zoo. Edwin. CN/DE/HK/ID
28.3. Pablo Stoll. UY/AR/DE/CL
The Invisible Ones. Sebastien Lifshitz. FR
Everyday. Michael Winterbottom. GB
Twilight Portrait. Angelina Nikonova. RU
Age Is... Stephen Dwoskin. FR/GB
The Strawberry Tree. Simone Rapisarda Casanova. IT/CA/CU
Here and There. Antonio Mendez Esparza. ES/US/MX
Louise Wimmer. Cyril Mennegun. FR
Outrage Beyond. Takeshi Kitano. JP
Back to Stay. Milagros Mumenthaler. AR/CH
The Final Member. Jonah Bekhor & Zach Math. CA
Kinshasa Kids. Marc-Henri Wajnberg. BE/FR
The War. James Benning. US
Nights with Theodore. Sébastien Betbeder. FR
The Minister. Pierre Schöller. FR
Celluloid Man. Shivendra Singh Dungarpur. IN
Gangs of Wasseypur. Anurag Kashyap. IN
The Dead Man and Being Happy. Javier Rebollo. ES/AR/FR
The Invader. Nicolas Provost. BE
Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang. Laurence Cantet. FR/CA
Donoma. Djinn Carrenard. FR
Me and You. Bernardo Bertolucci. IT
Miss Lovely. Ashim Ahluwalia. IN

Village Voice Film Poll 2012

Long lists are best. This one is copied from the Village Voice website; there are some inconsistencies, as certain films appear twice.

FILM  / VOTES  / MENTIONS
The Master    333    46
Zero Dark Thirty    296    43
Holy Motors    295    46
Moonrise Kingdom    233    38
This Is Not a Film    186    28
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia    174    26
Amour    168    28
The Turin Horse    128    18
Lincoln    121    19
Tabu    115    19
The Deep Blue Sea    102    20
The Kid with a Bike    92    16
Beasts of the Southern Wild    92    17
Oslo, August 31st    92    17
The Loneliest Planet    88    15
Cosmopolis    83    14
Django Unchained    80    13
Bernie    73    14
Silver Linings Playbook    65    12
Rust and Bone    58    8
Argo    51    10
Barbara    51    8
Almayer's Folly    48    8
Neighboring Sounds    41    7
Magic Mike    40    9
Keep the Lights On    38    9
Attenberg    37    7
How to Survive a Plague    36    9
The Cabin in the Woods    33    6
Goodbye First Love    31    5
5 Broken Cameras    30    5
Looper    29    7
Wuthering Heights    29    7
Life of Pi    28    6
Killer Joe    28    5
Kill List    28    5
Elena    28    5
It's Such a Beautiful Day    25    5
The Gatekeepers    24    4
The Imposter    24    4
Your Sister's Sister    24    5
Abendland    23    4
Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present    22    4
Alps    21    4
Miss Bala    20    3
Oki's Movie    20    4
The Grey    20    4
Compliance    20    5
The Color Wheel    20    6
The Raid: Redemption    17    3
Killing Them Softly    17    3
The Perks of Being a Wallflower    17    5
A Burning Hot Summer    16    2
God Bless America    16    2
Two Years at Sea    15    4
Sister    14    3
Les Misérables    14    2
Dark Horse    13    4
Safety Not Guaranteed    13    4
Anna Karenina    13    5
The Dark Knight Rises    13    4
Girl Walk//All Day    12    5
The Queen of Versailles    12    3
Haywire    12    3
Not Fade Away    12    2
Resident Evil: Retribution    11    2
Room 237    11    3
The Comedy    11    3
Generation P    10    1
The Hole    10    1
4:44 Last Day on Earth    10    2
Bachelorette    10    2
The Day He Arrives    10    3
Take This Waltz    10    3
Jiro Dreams of Sushi    10    2
Skyfall    10    3
Footnote    9    3
The Invisible War    9    2
The Waiting Room    9    2
Wreck-It Ralph    9    2
Caesar Must Die    8    1
Domain    8    1
In Another Country    8    1
Max et les ferrailleurs    8    1
The Forgotten Space    8    1
The Secret World of Arrietty    8    1
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning    8    1
Detropia    8    2
The Sessions    8    3
Unforgivable    8    2
Searching for Sugar Man    8    2
Middle of Nowhere    8    2
Las Acacias    8    2
Keyhole    8    2
Brave    7    1
Casa de mi Padre    7    1
Dark Shadows    7    1
Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters    7    1
Headhunters    7    1
Margaret: Director's Cut    7    1
Damsels in Distress    7    3
The Hunger Games    7    2
Prometheus    7    2
Farewell, My Queen    7    2
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry    7    2
Far from Afghanistan    6    1
Perfect Sense    6    1
Cloud Atlas    6    2
Goon    6    2
I Wish    6    2
Klown    6    2
The Paperboy    6    2
Starlet    6    3
Photographic Memory    5    1
ParaNorman    5    1
Only The Young    5    1
John Carter    5    1
Found Memories    5    1
For a Good Time, Call...    5    1
End of Watch    5    1
El Velador    5    1
Boy    5    1
Bestiaire    5    1
Planet of Snail    5    1
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The IMAX Experience    5    1
Side by Side    5    1
Dredd    5    3
Ted    5    2
Sleepless Night    5    2
Only the Young    5    2
Wanderlust    5    1
V/H/S    5    1
The Tall Man    5    1
The House I Live In    5    1
The Avengers    5    1
The Amazing Spider-Man    5    1
Crazy Horse    4    1
Detention    4    1
Girl Model    4    1
In the Family    4    1
Sleep Tight    4    1
Vamps    4    1
Beasts Of The Southern Wild    3    1
Damsels In Distress    3    1
Laurence Anyways    3    1
Let The Bullets Fly    3    1
Monsieur Lazhar    3    1
Red Hook Summer    3    1
Savages    3    1
The Three Stooges    3    1
21 Jump Street    3    2
Samsara    3    2
A Royal Affair    2    1
Bonsái    2    1
Chronicle    2    1
Ginger and Rosa    2    1
On the Road    2    1
Project X    2    1
Ruby Sparks    2    2
This Is 40    2    2
Promised Land    1    1
Liberal Arts    1    1
It's the Earth Not the Moon    1    1
Flight    1    1
Beyond the Black Rainbow    1    1
Beloved    1    1
Quartet    1    1
Robot & Frank    1    1
Tchoupitoulas    1    1
The Flat    1    1
The Kill List    1    1
The Pruitt-Igoe Myth    1    1
This Must Be the Place    1    1
United In Anger    1    1
You Are Here    1    1
Bad Fever    1    1

Ekspressioita / Expressions (2012–2013 exhibition at Sara Hildén Art Museum)

Franz Marc: Drei Katzen / Three Cats (DE 1913). Gemälde. Öl auf Leinwand. 72 x 102 cm. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. Photo from Wikipedia.

Ekspressioita / Expressions. Näyttely saksalaisesta ekspressionismista [An Exhibition on German Expressionism], [1907-1923], 15.9.2012–13.1.2013. Curator: Riitta Valorinta. Commissioner: Raimund Stecker (LehmbruckMuseum), Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere, viewed on 22 Dec 2012.

Catalogue: Sarianne Soikkonen, Riitta Valorinta (ed.): Ekspressioita / Expressions. Writers: Riitta Valorinta, Jari Martikainen, Raimund Stecker, Denise Wendel-Poray, Christian Meyer, Lars Holmström. Capsule biographies of Alexander Archipenko, Ernst Barlach, Heinrich Campendonk, Otto Gutfreund, Erich Heckel, Oswald Herzog, Alexej von Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Käthe Kollwitz, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Jacques Lipchitz, August Macke, Franz Marc, Otto Mueller, Emil Nolde, Hermann Max Pechstein, Christian Rohlfs, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Arnold Schönberg. Full colour illustrations of the entire exhibition and a lot of bonus illustrations. Tampere: Sara Hildénin taidemuseo, 2012.

Official introduction: "The autumn exhibition of the Sara Hildén Art Museum presents the works of the major German expressionist artists from a century ago. The museum held an exhibition of graphic art by members of the group Die Brücke in 1993. The present Expressions exhibition shows the works of the most important artists not only of this group but also of the group Der Blaue Reiter. The artists exhibited include Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Wilhelm Lehmbruck, Franz Marc, Heinrich Campendonk, Erich Heckel, Alexej von Jawlensky, Käthe Kollwitz, August Macke, Otto Mueller, Hermann Max Pechstein, Christian Rohlfs, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Arnold Schönberg and Emil Nolde."

"One of the gems of the exhibition is Franz Marc's famous masterpiece Three Cats (1914). The expressionists favoured subjects taken from nature and animals, through which they strove to express the lost connection between Man and Nature. Their yearning for Nature is manifested in their works in the form of animals, landscapes and gardens. Emil Nolde, in particular, painted many lusciously coloured garden scenes, several of which are on display in this exhibition. The tone for the exhibition as a whole is set by Wilhelm Lehmbruck's Kneeling Woman, one of the major works of expressionist sculpture."

"A collaborating partner for the exhibition has been the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna, which has loaned paintings by the composer Arnold Schönberg (1874–1951) as well as supplementary material related to his music. The Expressions exhibition has been assembled in cooperation with German art museums, in particular those of the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen. The main collaborating institution has been the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, and loans have also been received from Tampere's twin city Essen."

"In the 1930s, the Nazis declared expressionism a degenerate form of art; they confiscated works of art and banned painters from working. Many of the expressionists fought in the First World War, and some of them fell at the front. Thus the oeuvre of many of them remained rather small, and these works of a major period in the history of art often form part of the core of art museums’ standing exhibitions. They are loaned only in exceptional circumstances, and for this reason, too, this exhibition is a unique event. Altogether about a hundred paintings and sculptures will be on display, and the Sara Hildén Art Museum is producing a richly illustrated guide to the exhibition. An English-language audio guide will also be available."

"The exhibition has been supported by the Ministerium für Familie, Kinder, Jugend, Kultur und Sport des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen and the German and Austrian Embassies in Finland."

This excellent exhibition on expressionism alone is a sufficient reason to visit Tampere. Expressionism is a central and winding concept in art (it can be argued that it exists everywhere in all periods), but this exhibition focuses on the core of German expressionism as manifested in Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter and their contemporaries in Germany.

They were among the first great German revolutionaries of modern art. Die Brücke (Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Emil Nolde, etc.) brought an original inner vision to images of nature and the naked form, also emphasizing visions of society and political protest. Der Blaue Reiter (Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, August Macke, Paul Klee, Arnold Schönberg, etc.) withdrew from society and sought spiritual and cosmic values, their manifesto being Kandinsky's book Concerning the Spiritual in Art.

The selection is versatile and provocative. We get to see the elements of nature in the sensual nude sunbathing views of  Die Brücke and abstract forms in the watercolours of Wassily Kandinsky. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner impresses with bold strokes and unrealistic colours. Hermann Max Pechstein's acrobats have been selected as the poster motif of the exhibition. Franz Marc's cats are among the most memorable paintings.

A striking feature of the exhibition is the sculptures: by Otto Gutfreund (Don Quixote), Ernst Barlach (The Walker), Käthe Kollwitz (Mother and Two Children), Alexander Archipenko (The Sitting Woman: A Woman with a Cloth), and Jacques Lipchitz (The Sitting Man with a Guitar).

Special emphasis is given to Arnold Schönberg, the great composer, pioneer of new music, and teacher of other great composers. Schönberg, a close friend of Kandinsky, also exhibited with Der Blaue Reiter as a painter. There are many of his drawings and oil paintings on display in Tampere. Schönberg's series of self-portraits, visions and Blicke [looks / gazes] belongs to the most haunting in 20th century art. His abstract art is original and compelling. Schönberg, always obsessed with numbers, also created brilliant sets of bridge card decks with watercolour. Schönberg was a professional in everything he did. If these card decks would be put into production, I'd be a buyer.

The Sara Hildén Museum, surrounded by its sculpture park, always elevates the artworks on display. Today was a bright and sunny day in snowbound Tampere, and from the large museum windows there were beautiful views towards Lake Näsijärvi. Alas, some paintings were covered by reflecting glass. For those studying the exhibition via the catalogue only: the catalogue illustrations do not do justice to the haunting colours of the paintings and the watercolours. The extraordinary radiation of the images is not conveyed via the catalogue illustrations. But the photographs of the sculptures and the black and white artworks are very good.

The catalogue is worth reading. It examines expressionism as a crossover phenomenon in the arts, mostly visual art, literature, music, opera, and theatre.

Cinema is mentioned but fleetingly. Also in the cinema expressionism was Germany's first breakthrough into the forefront of modern art. Although there was only a handful of purely expressionistic films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, there was a continuing haunting expressionistic dimension in German cinema until 1933 (The Last Will of Dr. Mabuse, still a direct reflection of Caligari). The impact continued in the French cinema of the 1930s, in the film noir in Hollywood in the 1940s, and in world cinema to this day (The Dark Knight Returns, Tim Burton, Aleksandr Sokurov's Faust, etc.).

The National Rifle Association blames Hollywood

The Newtown shooting in Sandy Elementary School (Newtown, Connecticut) on 14 December, 2012, with 28 casualties, including 20 little children, has shocked the world. There have been strong and responsible reactions from the U.S. government.

The most perplexing reaction is the one from National Rifle Association yesterday: the NRA attacks Hollywood and demands armed guards to schools.

Violence has been a central and disturbing theme in drama since Greek tragedy. It is a mission of artists to face the most difficult conflicts of existence, matters of life and death. Certainly it is always a good idea to fight glorificiation and trivialization of violence, ideas that violence and revenge are solutions to life's problems, concepts of violence as cool and entertaining, and views of killing as fun.

But it is interesting that genres like horror have been banned in countries such as Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia with appalling records of actual everyday violence.

In Japan there is a culture of media violence and little real violent crime.

NRA's reaction is a paragon of hypocrisy.

I copy as a historical document Variety's article on the NRA reaction.

Variety 21 Dec 2012
NRA blames Hollywood for Newtown shooting
Org's exec VP blasts the media, calls for armed guards at schools
By Jill Goldsmith, Rachel Abrams
Posted: Fri., Dec. 21, 2012, 9:12am PT

The National Rifle Assn. broadsided Hollywood at a press conference Friday, laying the blame for the Newtown, Conn., school shootings on violent entertainment and singling out videogames as "a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry."

"In a race to the bottom, many conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate, and offend every standard of civilized society, by bringing an even more toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty right into our homes," said NRA executive VP Wayne LaPierre. "And then they all have the nerve to call it entertainment. But is that what it really is? Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?"

The MPAA declined to respond to LaPierre's comments directly, but directed reporters to Thursday's statement from topper Chris Dodd, who said that the industry was "ready to be part of the national conversation" about gun violence.

In the wake of last Friday's shootings, Hollywood has canceled various events and altered the scheduling of some television programming. Paramount delayed the Pittsburgh premiere of "Jack Reacher," 20th Century Fox canceled festivities around its preem of "Parental Guidance" and the Weinstein Co. axed its red carpet event and afterparty for Tuesday's premiere of "Django Unchained."

The Demand a Plan campaign -- an advocacy group launched by Mayors Against Illegal Guns in response to this summer's shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado -- released a 90-second PSA on Friday that included the participation of dozens of industryites, including Beyonce Knowles, Jessica Alba, Jon Hamm and Chris Rock.

Friday's attack reignited the rhetoric as the nation searches for answers after the murder of 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, including 20 children, at the hands of a gunman who took his own life. The issue of the nation's gun control laws emerged as pressing topic in the immediate aftermath, but the NRA did not respond publicly until Tuesday, when it issued a statement saying it was "prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."

In light of Friday's press conference, that statement surprised some observers. Among the org's proposed solutions is the suggestion of having armed guards in the nation's schools, which the org described as the "only way" to stop gun violence in that realm.

LaPierre directed much of his vitriol at the vidgame business.

"There exists in this country, sadly, a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people. Through vicious, violent videogames with names like 'Bullet Storm,' 'Grand Theft Auto,' 'Mortal Combat,' and 'Splatterhouse.'

"Here's one, it's called 'Kindergarten Killers,' " he continued. "It's been online for 10 years. How come my research staff can find it, and all of yours couldn't or didn't want anyone to know you had found it?"

His words -- and suggested remedies -- sparked outrage and ridicule on social media, and disappointed those who had hoped for some concession on gun control from the agency that's had an iron grip on national policy for decades.

LaPierre wants more guns, not fewer, calling for a police officer in every school: He said the NRA will develop a model school shield program with former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) leading the effort.

"Politicians pass laws for gun-free school zones, they issue press releases bragging about them," he said. "They post signs advertising them. And, in doing so, they tell every insane killer in America that schools are the safest place to inflict maximum mayhem with minimum risk."

"The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is to have a good guy with a gun," LaPierre concluded.

National debates on gun violence and the media have yielded mixed results on capital hill.

After the 1999 Columbine shooting, the Federal Trade Commission ordered a number of inquiries into the marketing of violent entertainment to children.

The first, issued in 2000, called for the industry to stop advertising violent content to people under the age of 17 and suggested sanctions for non-compliance. By the following year, the FTC commended the film and gaming industries for changing their advertising practices and found a "general" compliance in the film biz not to run trailers for R-rated movies ahead of G- and PG-rated films.

But reviews of the music industry were less glowing, and the FTC found "virtually no change" to the marketing of explicit content in its third report in 2002.

Media orgs have long maintained that links between real and fictional violence are weak and inconclusive at best -- a view contradicted by the American Medical Assn., the American Psychological Assn. and the American Academy of Pediatrics. After Columbine, for instance, the AAP issued a statement that cited "well over 1,000 studies" that made a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children.

"The conclusion of the public health community, based on over 30 years of research, is that viewing entertainment violence can lead to increases in aggressive attitudes, values and behavior, particularly in children," the org said.

The MPAA's ratings system has been evolving since the 1980s. In 1984, the MPAA created the PG-13 label in response to outrage over the PG rating assigned to "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." In 1990, the org introduced "descriptors" -- explanations for any given rating that accompany each one on a film's advertisement. But there have been numerous calls for changes to the volunteer system since.

Contact Jill Goldsmith at jill.goldsmith@variety.com

Jim Emerson, 20 Dec, 2012: great memo of facts. The links below are also from Mr. Emerson's site.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2012/12/just_some_facts.html#more

Spinsanity 19 Nov, 2002, fact-checking Michel Moore's Bowling for Columbine
http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20021119.html

Poynter 21 Dec, 2012, fact-checking the NRA comments 
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/199112/factcheck-nra-blames-media-for-gun-violence/

Nine foreign language films shortlisted for Academy Awards

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, press release 21 Dec 2012

Austria, "Amour," Michael Haneke, director;
Canada, "War Witch" / Rebelle, Kim Nguyen, director;
Chile, "No," Pablo Larraín, director;
Denmark, "A Royal Affair" / En kongelig affære, Nikolaj Arcel, director;
France, "The Intouchables" / Intouchables, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors;
Iceland, "The Deep" / Djúpið, Baltasar Kormákur, director;
Norway, "Kon-Tiki," Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors;
Romania, "Beyond the Hills" / Dupa dealuri, Cristian Mungiu, director;
Switzerland, "Sister" / L'Enfant d'en haut, Ursula Meier, director.

Rakkauden rasvaprosentti / Body Fat Index of Love

Eukonkanto (wife-carrying) is a sport originating in Sonkajärvi, Finland. Mikko Nousiainen (Stigu) and Miina Maasola (Elisa) as the partners doing their best to avoid a meaningful relationship.

Kärlekens BMI.
    FI © 2012 Matila Röhr Productions. P: Ilkka Matila.
    D: Mikko Kuparinen. SC: Laura Immonen, Hannamaija Matila. DP: Jani Kumpulainen. DCP mastering: Tommi Gröhn. AD: Antti Nikkinen. Cost: Johanna Lehtinen. Makeup: Kata Launonen. Hair: Taina Mansner. VFX: Sami Haartemo, Eetu Niininen. M: Pessi Levanto. S: Pekka Karjalainen. ED: Jukka Nykänen. Casting: Tutsa Paananen (as Tutsa Virtanen), Pia Pesonen.
    C: Mikko Nousiainen (Stigu), Miina Maasola (Elisa), Kristo Salminen (Karri), Johanna Kokko (Saara), Hanna Vahtikari (Maisa), Jarkko Niemi (Nicke), Antti Virmavirta (Stigu's father), Kaija Pakarinen (Stigu's mother), Mari Perankoski (Susanna), Emilia Sinisalo (Anna), Sanna-Kaisa Palo (Raija). Loc: Helsinki, Sonkajärvi. 99 min.
    Released by Nordisk Film with Swedish subtitles by Hannele Vahtera.
    2K DCP viewed at Kinopalatsi 7, Helsinki, 21 Dec 2012.

The official synopsis from the production information: "Timo 'Stigu' Mertala is an award-winning and acclaimed designer at the advertising agency Ilmiö [Phenomenon]. Women have come and especially gone from his life since Stigu is always at work. Lately Stigu has been struck by the strange feeling that something is missing."

"One day Stigu meets Ella Sadeoja and has an instant crush. Since Ella, too, seems interested, Stigu believes everything will change at once. The hope lives but for a moment since Ella does not want commitment, openness or even Facebook friendship but merely sex. Stigu agrees because he believes that Ella is not being serious. Stigu is in the wrong. Ella's only passion and destination is to establish a vintage clothes boutique. Ella's dream has already been shipwrecked once because of relationship tangles, which is why she has decided to stay clear of them by all means."

"Ella and Stigu have a regular date on Wednesdays. Ella is satisfied, and Stigu lies to her that this is what he wants too, although he is pondering frantically how to tell about his feelings without scaring Ella away. Suddenly Stigu receives a boost through his job. Ella and Stigu land into a joint advertising project for Väestöliitto / The Family Federation on durable relationships."

"The task is challenging since Ella does not believe in the subject and Stigu does not know anything about it. To achiveve her goal Ella wants to get the project over and done with as soon as possible, while Stigu sees in it an opportunity to wake up Ella's dormant feelings."

"During a voyage everything is possible because the quest into the secrets of relationships leads Ella and Stigu to the most beautiful spot in the summer of Finland, to the place where the measure of the man and the woman is finally taken: to the Sonkajärvi wife carrying (eukonkanto) world championship contest. The time is running out, and Stigu goes too far in his attempt to win Ella on his side... " (My translation.)

AA: The screenwriters are experienced professionals of Finnish daily soap operas. The concept is familiar from recent romantic comedies: a man and a woman commit themselves "to sex only" but this solemn commitment is soon doomed to fail because they fall in love. There is no harm in the familiarity. Many comedies are based on well-known concepts, and only the general framework in this movie is familiar.

Mikko Nousiainen and Miina Maasola are talented actors, but in this film they do not seem to have committed themselves to anything. They go through the motions but do not seem to believe in their characters. Neither do we in the audience.

The best performances are by Antti Virmavirta and Kaija Pakarinen as Stigu's father and mother. Their scenes convey a true sense of humour and love. Their contribution to the story is essential and believable.

The other best aspect of the movie is the satire – the satire on advertising – on instrumental sex – and on utter egoism as personified in Stigu.

Memorable features:
– The advertising business: tulos tai ulos (results or out)
– Recycling and stealing as the modus operandi in the advertising business
– Sex as as a chore: 45 minutes a week seems to be enough to satisfy a woman
– The sex scenes are sexless
– Stigu's standing among his friends: his neglect of his girlfriends is legendary
– The biggest laughter is when the friends hear about Stigu's current project to create an ad spot for The Family Federation on durable relationships
– Stigu gets to face his utter egoism and lack of empathy.
– "Mitteepä sitä ehjee korjoomaan" ("Don't fix it if it ain't broke" in the Savo dialect).

No problem with the digital presentation in close-ups and interiors, but the nature looks denatured, and long exterior shots in general do not look so good.

Take This Waltz

Sarah Polley: Take This Waltz (CA 2011) with Michelle Williams (Margot) and Seth Rogen (Lou).

Take This Waltz / Take This Waltz. 

    CA/ES/JP © 2011 Joe's Daughter. P: Susan Cavan, Sarah Polley. 

    D+SC: Sarah Polley. DP: Luc Montpellier. DI: Technicolor Toronto. PD: Matthew Davies. AD: Aleksandra Marinkovich (as Aleks Marinkovich). Set dec: Steve Shewchuk. Cost: Lea Carlson. Makeup: Leslie Ann Sebert. Hair: David R. Beecroft.  SFX: Laird McMurray. VFX: Rocket Science VFX - Robert Crowther. Daniel's art: Balint Zsako (water colours). M: Jonathan Goldsmith. S: Jane Tattersall. ED: Christopher Donaldson. Casting: John Buchan, Jason Knight. 

    C: Michelle Williams (Margot), Seth Rogen (Lou), Luke Kirby (Daniel), Sarah Silverman (Geraldine), Jennifer Podemski (Karen), Diane D'Aquile (Harriet), Vanessa Coelho (Tony). 

    Loc: Canada: Cape Breton, Louisbourg (Nova Scotia), Little Portugal in Toronto (Ontario). 

    116 min. 

    Released by Cinema Mondo with Finnish / Swedish subtitles.

    2K DCP viewed at Kinopalatsi 8, Helsinki, 21 Dec 2012.

Now in Vienna there's ten pretty women. There's a shoulder where
Death comes to cry. There's a lobby with nine hundred windows.
There's a tree where the doves go to die.
- Federico García Lorca

The name of the movie refers to the song (1988) by Leonard Cohen written to the poem "Pequeño vals vienés"/ "Little Viennese Waltz" by Federico García Lorca (1930).

Technical specs from the IMDb: - Camera: Panavision Genesis HD Camera - Laboratory: Technicolor, Toronto, Canada (dailies) - Source format: Digital - Cinematographic process: Digital Intermediate - Printed film format: 35 mm, D-Cinema - Aspect ratio: 1.85:1.

Official synopsis: "When Margot (Michelle Williams), 28, meets Daniel (Luke Kirby), their chemistry is intense and immediate. But Margot suppresses her sudden attraction; she is happily married to Lou (Seth Rogen), a cookbook writer. When Margot learns that Daniel lives across the street from them, the certainty about her domestic life shatters. She and Daniel steal moments throughout the steaming Toronto summer, their eroticism heightened by their restraint. Swelteringly hot, bright and colorful like a bowl of fruit, Take This Waltz leads us, laughing, through the familiar, but uncharted question of what long‐term relationships do to love, sex, and our images of ourselves."

Sarah Polley: “Life has fantastic moments of absolutes, moments where you believe absolutely something, and those moments should be really enjoyed. My general belief is that every decision is ambiguous and it is rare that a decision is clearly right or wrong. Sometimes it can feel that way and those are interesting moments that stand out for me. But I think we are all just muddling through. You never know how a decision will end up so you never know what the right one is. To me, the only real truth is in ambiguity.”

AA: A happily married woman is inexplicably drawn to her lover. Everything has been fine, but there is something inside that has been unfulfilled.

There is an assured approach in the film to the elusive nature of instincts, feelings, and emotions. It's about tenderness and love. It's about a woman's two loves, but it's not a triangle drama (even less a triangle tragedy).

This is a performance-driven movie, and the performances are fine. Especially Michelle Williams is truly radiant here, at her best. This is one of the finest performances of the recent years.

I like the score by Jonathan Goldsmith. There are exciting passages in it.

Memorable features: - The historical enactment of the flogging of an adulterer - The marriage of the couple has turned into camaraderie in five years, and perhaps something of the erotic tension has disappeared - The struggling artist working as a rickshaw man - The martini scene ("I want to know what you'd do to me") - The naked shower scene is a beautiful anthology piece - "The storm": the sudden revelation about the state of the marriage ("I'd thought you'd be there when I die") - The practical joke about the cold water in the shower was supposed to be revealed when the couple has turned 80.

Luc Montpellier's cinematography is ambitious (see the lengthy report beyond the jump break), much of it based on available sunlight, with different modes of stylization. In the scenes of falling in love and making love there is a gliding, waltzing camera movement.

The visual quality: the sweetening button has been slightly overused in the digital post-production to my taste.