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Chinese Boxes (1984)

Director: Christopher Petit

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From Time Out Film Guide

Langdon Marsh (an expatriate American played with the charm of early Nicholson by Patton) is trapped in a ghostly, neon-streaked Berlin after the sudden deaths of his heroin-smuggling associate and a teenage girl. A bar-owner friend and a mysterious 'customs' man (Coltrane performing an Orson Welles cameo ahead of his years) both offer Marsh a way out, but only as a pawn in their duplicitous, gun-toting game. With an excess of plot staving off any safe resolution, the reduction of character psychology to a guiltless state of wonder proves a virtue. Despite the contingencies of low-budget filming - bold colour camera-work and blatant post-synchronisation - there is more fun to be had here than in the current British infatuation for the 'Laura Ashley school of film-making'.

Author: DT 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Christopher Petit

Producer: Chris Sievernich

Cast: Will Patton, Gottfried John, Adelheid Arndt, Robbie Coltrane, Beate Jensen, Christopher Petit full cast

Duration: 87 mins


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