{"id":96712,"date":"2024-05-15T20:14:03","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T03:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=96712"},"modified":"2024-05-15T20:14:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T03:14:03","slug":"china-is-near-1967","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=96712","title":{"rendered":"China is Near (1967)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;The things you believe in &#8212; which I also believe in &#8212; will never become true.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Poster-207x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"207\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-96713\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Poster-207x300.png 207w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Poster-88x128.png 88w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Poster-186x270.png 186w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Poster.png 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 207px) 100vw, 207px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nIn an upper class Italian family, middle-aged Countess Elena (Elda Tattoli) has an affair with a lower-class man named Carlo (Paolo Graziosi), while Vittorio (Glauco Mauri) &#8212; in love with his young secretary Giovanna (Daniela Surina) &#8212; seeks a shift from teaching to a political career despite having no such skills, and young Camillo (Pierluigi Apr\u00e0) takes a hard-line approach to Socialist politics and sex.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Black Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Class Relations<\/li>\n<li>Cross-Class Romance<\/li>\n<li>Italian Films<\/li>\n<li>Marco Bellocchio Films<\/li>\n<li>Political Corruption<\/li>\n<li>Siblings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAfter wowing the cinematic world with his debut film <a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1810\"><em>Fists in the Pocket<\/em> (1965)<\/a>, Italian director Marco Bellocchio followed up with this political satire also focusing on grown siblings, but with much more intentional digs at structures, class, religion, and corruption. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Serving-Tea.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Serving-Tea-1024x598.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"374\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-96727\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Serving-Tea-1024x598.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Serving-Tea-300x175.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Serving-Tea-128x75.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Serving-Tea-768x449.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Serving-Tea-462x270.png 462w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Serving-Tea.png 1205w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Because I wasn&#8217;t particularly taken with this film, I browsed around on IMDb to see what others thoughts, and saw this informative review by someone with a different opinion. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>This playfully weird, dark satire of, well, everything from over-serious young Marxists, to the Church, to class climbing, to family, to marriage, to abortion to political ambition, to wimpy socialists who don&#8217;t really believe in anything except &#8216;success&#8217; entertained me in a way Bellocchio&#8217;s much better known and more highly praised <em>Fist In His Pocket<\/em> never quite did.<\/p>\n<p>As with that earlier film, this is a very dark comedy, where everyone&#8217;s morals, beliefs and ethics are paper thin and no one is worthy of much admiration. The young Bellocchio had quite a bleak view of human nature, and the shallow, manipulative way we use each other, our sexuality and our emotions. But here, like a Paddy Chayefsky film on acid, we laugh at the darkness at the same time we shudder.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I appreciated this assessment of what one might get out of it (and why) &#8212; though I honestly found it challenging to remain focused on the (intentionally chaotic) storyline; and given that we really don&#8217;t like or admire anyone, there is very little to hold onto. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Telephone.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Telephone-1024x604.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"378\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-96726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Telephone-1024x604.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Telephone-300x177.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Telephone-128x76.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Telephone-768x453.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Telephone-458x270.png 458w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Telephone.png 1220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tonino Delli Colli&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Secretary.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Secretary-1024x609.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"381\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-96725\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Secretary-1024x609.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Secretary-300x179.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Secretary-128x76.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Secretary-768x457.png 768w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Secretary-454x270.png 454w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/China-is-Near-Secretary.png 1220w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though of course Bellocchio fans will definitely want to check it out.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0061483\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1968\/01\/09\/archives\/screen-voting-left-and-living-right-china-is-near-opens-at-the.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/chicagoreader.com\/film\/china-is-near\/\">Chicago Reader Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The things you believe in &#8212; which I also believe in &#8212; will never become true.&#8221; Synopsis: In an upper class Italian family, middle-aged Countess Elena (Elda Tattoli) has an affair with a lower-class man named Carlo (Paolo Graziosi), while Vittorio (Glauco Mauri) &#8212; in love with his young secretary Giovanna (Daniela Surina) &#8212; seeks a shift from teaching to a political career despite having no such skills, and young Camillo (Pierluigi Apr\u00e0) takes a hard-line approach to Socialist politics&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=96712\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96712"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96731,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96712\/revisions\/96731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}