Chinese Boxes is a 1984 British-West German crime mystery thriller film directed by Chris Petit and starring Will Patton and Robbie Coltrane.[1][2] The film was partially German funded.[3]
| Chinese Boxes | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Chris Petit |
| Written by | L. M. Kit Carson Chris Petit |
| Produced by | Chris Sievernich |
| Starring | Will Patton Robbie Coltrane |
| Cinematography | Peter Harvey |
| Edited by | Fred Srp |
| Music by | Günther Fischer |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Palace Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 87 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom West Germany |
| Language | English |
Plot
editThis article needs a plot summary. (July 2024) |
Cast
edit- Will Patton as Marsh
- Gottfried John as Zwemmer
- Adelheid Arndt as Sarah
- Robbie Coltrane as Harwood
- Beate Jensen as Donna
- Susanne Meierhofer as Eva
- Jonathan Kinsler as Alan
- L. M. Kit Carson as Crewcut
- Chris Sievernich as Snake
- Chris Petit as Gunsel (uncredited)
- Michael Büttner as Policeman
- Jochen von Vietinghoff as Supplier
Production
editFilming for Chinese Boxes was filmed in East Berlin during 1984. The film's score was composed by a Stasi informer who also lived in East Berlin.[4]
Release
editChinese Boxes premiered on 29 November 1984 in the United Kingdom.[citation needed] Years later the movie was screened in 2013 as part of Petit's Museum of Loneliness project, also in the United Kingdom.[5]
Reception
editCritical reception was generally favorable.[6] Derek Malcolm reviewed Chinese Boxes for The Guardian, commenting that it "looks good and is at least lively".[7] The Independent remarked that the movie was "a quintessential Eighties riddle-thriller with a hint of Godard's Made in USA in its comic-strip flatness: it features a showdown in a paper-pulping yard, a foretaste of Petit's later preoccupation with pulped and discarded culture."[8]
Chinese Boxes has also received a 2013 review from Chris Darke in Sight & Sound.[9]
References
edit- ^ "Chinese Boxes". Time Out. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
- ^ "Mr. Big goes over the wall". The Guardian (Newspapers.com). May 11, 1985.
- ^ Sargeant, Amy (2019-07-25). British Cinema: A Critical and Interpretive History. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 276. ISBN 978-1-83871-476-5.
- ^ "Border zones: 'Berlin in the 1980s was like an advert for hedonism'". the Guardian. 2016-07-12. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
- ^ "The Museum of Loneliness film night". Prototype. 2013-10-03. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
- ^ Davison, Norman (November 1, 1985). "Anarchy, but it's fun galore". The Journal Newspapers.com.
- ^ Malcolm, Derek (June 20, 1985). "Love cast in a bitter mould". The Guardian (Newspapers.com).
- ^ "Man on the outside". The Independent. 2004-10-09. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
- ^ "Sight & Sound: the February 2013 issue". British Film Institute. Retrieved 2022-03-24.