Reviews

This documentary film was made by Antonioni during a Stay of five weeks in China invited by the Chinese government. In the soon 70' there was scarcely any information of China, so this was the oportunity to take a look to this country. Antonioni as the narrator says it at the beginning: "We have just wanted to get a picture of China, we can't offer more". The film shows a lot of faces and tries to show the custom, gestures of the Chinese. It is apparently rather neutral politically, but some clues show that Antonioni felt the repression existing in China. But it is also very interesting as an Antonioni film: it was made between "Zabriskie Point" and "The passenger", his final and definitive masterpiece. In those years, Antonioni changed some of his opinions about cinema and these aspects are very interesting to see in Chung Kuo.

Chabrol, after a few years of disappointments, is back on the good path. This film is very stylish and very intriguing and although the script is the poorest part of the film the directing, the oppressing atmosphere, the contra-climaxes and the performances are remarkable. Chabrol knows the mechanism of thriller like few, consequently he uses them and plays with the spectator as Hitchcock liked to do. Chabrol is clever enough to learn from Hitchcock, not to copy him. The scenes at the piano were specially well filmed. It is not easy to capture the effect of classical music on screen. A interesting film about the psychological frontier between good and evil, not at the level of Chabrols masterpiece "La cérémonie" but still worth watching.

This film is masterpiece in Surrealistic art. I would range it directly after "Un chien andalou" by Luis Bunuel. I say this because the plot in the film is so stupid, the reactions and motivations of the characters so contradictory, the settings so badly explored the time so unprecisely shown, that I think that no one could have made this film wanting it to be serious and romantic. Either it is the best Surrealistic film or a very, very bad movie...

This rather unpopular and unknown film of Eastwood is a serious essay on film making. The fear of a creative artist of his own work is brilliantly exposed in this hidden masterpiece. Eastwood's performance of the stubborn and paranoical film director is one of his best ones. People who only see this movie as a reference to "African Queen" have missed the real depth of it. Film is usually seen as an escape from reality, Eastwood shows us, that fiction can also be quite tough and hard for its creator.

I was rather surprised when I saw this love story. I found it very moving, serene and very inspired in all aspects. The perfect balance between main plot (the relationship of Douglas and Novak) and substories (writer, Douglas' wife, neighbours) is amazing. The culmination of the film is the final scene in the recently finished house that architect Douglas has designed. A very big bravo for Novak and Douglas performances, two (still) living legends. If there were only films like this in the cinemas now...