1981-1990

  • Larry Jordan – Sophie’s Place (1986)

    1981-1990AnimationExperimentalLarry JordanUSA

    Synopsis
    Sophie’s Place is a feature-length film in which Jordan used hand-painted collages that gradually transform from the Garden of Eden to the site of Hagia Sophia. It took Jordan 5 years to complete this project. Filmmaker Stan Brakhage called it “the greatest epic animated film”.
    (FILMAFFINITY)Read More »

  • Raoul Ruiz – La ville des pirates AKA City of Pirates (1983)

    1981-1990ArthouseFranceRaoul Ruiz

    Quote:
    Raúl Ruiz’s City of Pirates is (de)composed under the sign of Surrealism, with its trust in ecstasy, scandal, the call of the wild, mystification, prophetic dreams, humour, the uncanny. Given the surprising swerves and disorientations evoking Buñuel and Dalí, and the confidence in a poetic discourse recalling Eluard and Péret, one wonders if Ruiz didn’t elaborate his scenario using the Surrealist mode of automatic writing. Troubled, graceful Isidore – Ducasse and Duncan? – is a purely Surrealist heroine, part Ophelia, Salomé, Bérénice, prone to trances, somnambulism, hysterical seizure, contact with the ‘other side’. Her calm violence links her to the real life murderesses – Germaine Berton, the Papin sisters – exalted by Breton’s circle, and by Jacques Lacan. Indeed, Lacan’s notion of a psychoanalysis in which the analyst stays off his patient’s wavelength, inspired by the idea of ‘surrealist dialogue’ in which paired monologues at cross purposes strike sparks of meaning off each other, underpins the scatty trajectory of Ruiz’s own graphomania, snared this time as the tale of a Pirate’s City.Read More »

  • Tony Silver – Style Wars [+commentary] (1983)

    1981-1990CultDocumentaryTony SilverUSA

    STYLE WARS has become an emblem of the original, embracing spirit of hip hop as it exploded into the world from underground tunnels, uptown streets, clubs and playgrounds. New York’s legendary kings of graffiti own a special place in the hip hop pantheon. This film is regarded by many as the definitive document of the emerging hip hop culture, and the continuing struggle to keep its authentic spirit alive.Read More »

  • Seijun Suzuki – Hana fubuki: Hono ni mau ichiban matoi AKA Storm of Falling Petals: Banner of a Fireman in the Flames (1983)

    1981-1990JapanMysterySeijun SuzukiTV

    Four secret agents investigate a series of mysterious fires in a small town in Edo-era Japan. This is an episode of the TV Series “Oedo Sochi-mo,” which follows the same group of secret agents as they solve a variety of mysteries.Read More »

  • Claude Lelouch – Itinéraire d’un enfant gâté (1988)

    1981-1990AdventureClaude LelouchDramaFrance

    Quote:
    Sam Lion has led a full and successful life. As a young boy, abandoned by his mother, he was adopted by a circus family, where he developed an afinity for big cats. His career as a circus acrobat was cut short by an accident, after which he started a new life in commerce. His revolutionary cleaning products made him a wealthy man, the head of a corporate empire, but his private life was just as eventful. He marred young, had two children, his first wife died tragically, and he re-married. Now in his fifties, Sam has only one wish – to escape. Whilst crossing the ocean in a one-man dinghy, he decides to fake his own death.Read More »

  • Tieli Xie & Yuan Zhao – Hong lou meng AKA A Dream in Red Mansions (1988)

    1981-1990ChinaDramaTieli XieTVYuan Zhao

    Based on the mid-eighteenth century novel by Cao Xueqin, the third version (previous version was 38 episodes) of “A Dream in Red Mansions” (aka Dream of the Red Chamber) is known by many to be the ultimate and best adaptation of the story either on TV or film. It is a story about the tragic love of Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, and the prosperity and decline of the four notable feudal ruling-class families of Jia, Shi, Wang, and Xue. Daiyu is a beautiful and talented girl, but prone to ill health. Baoyu, nonetheless, falls for her over the years and puts up with her sensitivity and ill-tempered personality. They, along with their family-favored and tactful cousin Xue Baochai, reside in the Grand View Garden. The garden was built to honor the visit of Baoyu’s sister, Imperial Consort Jia Yuanchun. Her installment marked the height of the families’ status, prosperity and power. This story also gives praise to the work and revolts of the many servants and nurses in the Grand View Garden. With its beautiful scenery, solid cast ensemble, haunting and superb music score and elegant songs, “A Dream in Red Mansions” remains one of the most beloved and popular Chinese TV-series to date.Read More »

  • Helke Misselwitz – Wer fürchtet sich vorm schwarzen Mann AKA Who’s Afraid of the Bogeyman (1988)

    1981-1990DocumentaryGermanyHelke Misselwitz

    A close-up of Berlin coal carriers from Prenzlauer Berg. No portrayal of heroic workers or progress here. Instead, bright, deeply-felt sketches of rough men and their resolute female boss.Read More »

  • Jean-Claude Rousseau – Jeune femme à sa fenêtre lisant une lettre (1983)

    1981-1990DocumentaryFranceJean-Claude Rousseau

    Jeune femme à sa fenêtre lisant une lettre
    1983, 45 min, super-8

    “Through the window, we cannot distinguish the scene: a street, a canal, a view of Delft, perhaps a port. We are on the inside, with the light pouring in. The maps on the wall are bigger than the paintings, yet we do not know where we are. The woman stands at the window reading a letter. She loses track of location as she reads. She could be anywhere, at any random point on the map. Outside. Through the window, we cannot distinguish the scene: a street, a canal, a view of Delft, perhaps a port. We are on the inside…”(Jean-Claude Rousseau)Read More »

  • Dan Wolman – Nana (1983)

    1981-1990Dan WolmanEroticaExploitationItaly

    Synopsis:
    In Zola’s Paris, an ingenue arrives at a tony bordello: she’s Nana, guileless, but quickly learning to use her erotic innocence to get what she wants. She’s an actress for a soft-core filmmaker and soon is the most popular courtesan in Paris, parlaying this into a house, bought for her by a wealthy banker. She tosses him and takes up with her neighbor, a count of impeccable rectitude, and with the count’s impressionable son. The count is soon fetching sticks like a dog and mortgaging his lands to satisfy her whims. She bankrupts him, arranges the debauching of his wife, and seduces his son on his wedding day. What else can she accomplish before she leaves Paris airborne?Read More »

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