Directed by Mikko Niskanen • 1972 • Finland
Starring Mikko Niskanen, Tarja-Tuulikki Tarsala, Paavo Pentikäinen
Newly restored by Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project, this long-unsung Finnish classic has been hailed by Aki Kaurismäki as “one of the masterpieces of European Cinema.” A relentlessly gripping drama inspired by actual events, EIGHT DEADLY SHOTS is the magnum opus of writer-producer-director-actor Mikko Niskanen. He delivers a shattering performance as Pasi, a farmer who struggles to support his family through hard labor and who seeks release in alcohol—creating turmoil at home, bringing him into conflict with the law, and leading him on a slow slide toward self-destruction. Presented here in its original four-part format, as made for Finnish television, this monumental vision of everyday human endurance is the rare epic woven from the fabric of ordinary life.
Up Next in 30 Years of The Film Foundation
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After the Curfew
Directed by Usmar Ismail • 1954 • Indonesia
Starring A. N. Alcaff, Dhalia, Netty HerawatyGiving voice to the anguish of a nation fighting for its soul, Usmar Ismail’s AFTER THE CURFEW follows the descent into disillusionment of a former freedom fighter who is unable to readjust to civilian life...
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Redes
Directed by Emilio Gómez Muriel and Fred Zinnemann • 1936 • Mexico
Early in his career, the Austrian-born future Oscar winner Fred Zinnemann codirected with Emilio Gómez Muriel the politically and emotionally searing REDES. In this vivid, documentary-like dramatization of the daily grind of me...
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Touki bouki
Directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty • 1973 • Senegal
With a stunning mix of the surreal and the naturalistic, Djibril Diop Mambéty paints a vivid, fractured portrait of Senegal in the early 1970s. In this French New Wave-influenced fantasy-drama, two young lovers long to leave Dakar for the glamour...
