Passages from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake 1965 16mm film 90minsThis was the first attempt to cinematize the works of Irish author James Joyce. Based more on a stage adaptation by Mary Manning than the Joyce novel itself, the film concentrates on Dublin pubkeeper Finnegan (Martin J. Kelly), who while in the throes of inebriation has a vision of his own death. As the bemused Finnegan lies in his coffin, his friends gather for his wake. The "corpse" tries to cut through the keening and platitudes by probing the innermost thoughts of those closest to him. The surprising aspect of this film is that so much of its difficult text works on screen--a tribute to the loving care of scripter/director/ editor Mary Ellen Bute, who, while preparing this film spent her waking hours picking the brains and burrowing through the resource materials of the James Joyce Society.Although director Mary Ellen Bute’s highly regarded Finnegans Wake (aka Passages from Finnegans Wake) is a unique film that is likely to baffle anyone unfamiliar with James Joyce, it cannot be dismissed merely as a literary exercise. The director was right in claiming that her film was “not a translation of the book but a reaction to it”. It is actually based on a stage play by Mary Manning, who was also responsible for the screenplay. Joyce’s elliptical rhetoric and intricate punning, which might be considered a formidable barrier to the filming of this most opaque of his works, proved to be an attraction to Bute, whose enthusiasm for the ‘visual’ and ‘kinetic’ quality of his language led her to the surprising but well-judged move of running subtitles from the original text to support the dialogue.Visual music pioneer Mary Ellen Bute's final film was also her first feature film. James Joyce's classic story of Irish tavern-keeper who dreams of attending his own wake is brought to the screen with a sparkling energy which highlights its maker's career-long exploration of kinetic abstract animation. Perhaps best described as a 'film poem,' Passages from Finnegans Wake was the first attempt to 'cinematize' the works of James Joyce, featuring the author's highly original language spoken by characters and presented as text on screen.

本片根据真实故事改编。农村孩子石娃（赵强）自幼丧母，与父亲（江化霖）和姐姐（颜丹晨）相依为命的他长到七岁时，为生活所困的父亲再也拿不出足够的钱供他和姐姐同时读书，一把铜勺令成绩优异的姐姐辍学，父亲叮咛石娃好好读书。石娃上初中时，姐姐为给家中节省开支早早出嫁，并从男方出的彩礼钱中挤出一部分供他念书。懂事的石娃刻苦读书，在全国化学奥林匹克竞赛中夺得一等奖第三名的好成绩，并考取了省城师范学校，但此时父亲却在干活时不幸摔伤终瘫痪在床，为了照顾好父亲又不耽误学业，石娃决定背起父亲上学。

影片设定在1995年的东京，主人公高仓宗一郎(山崎贤人 饰)继承亡父之友松下的遗愿研究着等离子蓄电池，并与爱猫皮特和松下之女璃子过着安定平稳的生活。然而，宗一郎却遭到合作伙伴和未婚妻的背叛，自己的公司、正在开发中的机器人和蓄电池都被掠夺，而他自己也被放进冷冻睡眠装置，一觉醒来已来到2025年的东京。在得知爱猫皮特和璃子的死讯后，失去一切的宗一郎决定要跨越30年的时空，进行一场复仇…

该片讲述恐怖主义者（玄彬 饰）与女谈判专家（孙艺珍 饰）之间反复对决的恐怖犯罪题材故事，恐怖分子时时刻刻用各种难以预料的方法进行施压，双方将进行一场激烈的脑力斗争。