1981-1990

  • Jean-Jacques Andrien – Australia (1989)

    Drama1981-1990FranceJean-Jacques Andrien

    Synopsis :
    Australia is about Edouard Pierson, a Belgian-born wool dealer who emigrated to Australia after World War Two. The movie actual takes place in Belgium as he returns to his homeland to assist his family with their wool business. Edouard was left a single father after his girlfriend died and when he goes to Belgium he leaves behind this young girl, whom his family don’t know about. He meets a beautiful woman, Jeanne, another single parent, and an intense relationship develops. Edouard’s relationship with his family has its ups and downs and many secrets are revealed before the movie’s conclusion ties everything together.Read More »

  • Pyotr Todorovsky – Interdevochka AKA Intergirl (1989)

    1981-1990DramaPyotr TodorovskyRomanceUSSR

    Intergirl is a film adaptation of the eponymous book by Vladimir Kunin, set in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in the time of “perestroika” during the 1980s. Tatyana is a beautiful Russian nurse who is underpaid at her hospital job, so she turns a prostitute catering to international tourists. She becomes well paid in dollars, and helps her ailing mother to survive. Tatyana’s international clients enlighten her about the life in other countries, so she accepts a marriage in order to escape from the grim Soviet reality. But even being married to a decent man abroad, she still suffers from being labeled as an ex-Soviet prostitute, and her new life is full of new troubles.Read More »

  • Patrick Tam – Xue zai shao AKA Burning Snow (1988)

    Drama1981-1990EroticaHong KongPatrick Tam

    Synopsis:
    A young woman is forced to marry an older man who runs a roadhouse saloon. She is constantly being raped by her husband, a drunken loutish brute. She harbors a young man wanted by the police in a murder case, and soon the fugitive and the young wife have a torrid affair as she continues to hide him from the authorities.Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – Une flamme dans mon coeur AKA A Flame in My Heart (1987)

    1981-1990Alain TannerArthouseDramaFrance

    Quote:
    A very unusual, quietly intense experience, the film’s beating heart is Myriam Mézières, who co-wrote the script and is in every scene. Never afraid to appear ridiculous, she gives her all to the role, whilst Tanner (with whom she had a relationship) coolly observes from a distance through the soft, hazy grain of 16mm. The film unfolds in a dreamlike manner as the protagonist Mercedes slides from passionate, sensitive actress towards an increasingly fragile and needy state, suffering from a hunger that can only be satiated by pure, ceaseless love.Read More »

  • Alain Tanner – La vallée fantôme (1987)

    1981-1990Alain TannerArthouseDramaFrance

    Quote:
    An ageing writer Paul is determined to make a film but he cannot decide on the subject or location. Instead, he chooses to concentrate his efforts on finding the actress who will star in the film, believing that she will define the lead character and content of the film. He recruits a young man, Jean, to try to find an Italian actress, Dara, whom he has lost sight of. Jean finds Dara in a small Italian town, serving in a modest restaurant, but she refuses to return to acting…Read More »

  • Lynne Margulies & Joe Orr – I’m from Hollywood [+commentary] (1989)

    1981-1990ComedyDocumentaryJoe OrrLynne MarguliesUSA

    Quote:
    Performance footage and interviews combine to offer a hilarious look at controversial comedian Andy Kauffman’s surreal journey into the world of professional wrestling. He had kept Americans in stitches as a featured player on the hit television sitcom Taxi, but Kaufman would single-handedly destroy his small-screen career when he went on television to taunt Memphis-based professional wrestler Jerry “The King” Lawler”, and challenged females to fight him in the ring. As Kaufman put every ounce of his energy into taunting Lawler, his abrasive form of comedic performance art alienated the fan-base that had so ardently supported him during his days as lovable, squeaky-voiced cabbie Latka Gravas on the series that propelled him to stardom. In this documentary, fans are offered a rare glimpse into the genius of a comic who was so effective at duping the audience that many assumed his diagnoses with terminal cancer was just another warped gag.Read More »

  • Aleksandr Kajdanovsky – Zhena Kerosinschika AKA Kerosene Salesman’s Wife (1988)

    1981-1990Aleksandr KaydanovskiyArthouseDramaUSSR

    Rich imagery and political allegory enliven an already complex story in this late Soviet-era mystery/drama. In the story, a government investigator has come to town to look into the validity of bribery charges that were brought against an official there. In the meantime, we discover that a twin and his brother have been engaged in a kind of very close warfare. One twin was a medical doctor, and was married to a beautiful woman. The second twin was interested in bedding the wife, and had no feeling for his brother. Thus, he impersonated him in the hospital, and openly engaged in medical malpractice of the grossest sort, resulting in a patient’s death. The first twin lost his career and was forced to support himself by going door to door selling kerosene. The second (and clearly sociopathic) twin, naturally, became an important figure in the activities of his local soviet.Read More »

  • John Hough – The Incubus (1981)

    1981-1990HorrorJohn HoughUSA

    Quote:
    In a small town, Roy Seeley and his girlfriend Mandy Pullman are camping by the lake. Out of the blue, they are attacked and Roy is murdered while Mandy is violently raped. Dr. Sam Cordell is impressed with the violence and realizes that Mandy has had the uterus ruptured. Then the librarian Carolyn Davies is also violently raped and murdered. Lieutenant Drivas believes that the women have been raped by a gang while Sam and Sheriff Hank Walden believe that only one man did. The snoopy reporter Laura Kincaid is always interfering with the investigation and Sam has a love affair with her. Meanwhile the young Tim Galen, who dates Sam’s daughter Jenny Cordell, discloses that he has premonitory visions of the deaths, but his grandmother Agatha Galen tries to convince him that he has nothing to do with the murders. But when Jenny learns about his dreams, she summons her father, Laura and they discover a supernatural secret about the Galen’s family.Read More »

  • Irakli Kvirikadze – Motsurave AKA The Swimmer (1981)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaGeorgiaIrakli Kvirikadze

    Review from Bloomsbury Foreign Film Guide by Ronald Bergan and Robyn Karney:
    Three generations of a family – grandfather, father, grandson – are obsessed with swimming. This passion destroys the first two, while the middle-aged surviving member tries to keep it at bay.
    Made in Georgia, this is an original piece of work, constructed as a film within a film, and shot asdistinct segments intercut with the activities of the crew which is supposed to be making it. Grandfather’s tale is photographed in sepia, intriguingly beautiful and lyrical; son’s episode is black and white, and redolent with the atmosphere of the postwar Stalinist period; grandson’s story takes place on the contemporary film set and is in colour. There is little dialogue, voice-over commentary being largely used, and it is difficult to appreciate why the film’s release was withheld for a few years. An interesting, often absorbing curiosity, that falls apart in the third segment.Read More »

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