1971-1980

Proshu slova (1977)

Quote:
The title is a Russian expression meaning “I wish to speak”. This is one of my three favorite Panfilov films which I consider masterpieces, the other two being “Nachalo” and “Tema”; Panfilov wrote this script by himself it seems. It shows, this film is genius. For me, this is honestly one of the most thought-provoking films of my life. Perfectly written. It is about a family woman who was made the mayor of a town. I am mystified by this film. Not since Tarkovsky have I felt this strange spiritual energy, and that’s saying something. This is the last Panfilov film I saw, I’ve seen five others. The incredible world of the characters is what reminds me of a Tarkovsky movie. This movie is about a family. It could be said to be about a lot of things.Read More »

Eliza’s Horoscope (1975)

A story of a frail young ladies’ interest in the zodiac, which could be either beneficial or
detrimental to her romantic pursuits, and as a result, provides a very intriguing and
interesting story. while searching for her soul mate, she experiences bizarre and surreal
events. tommy lee jones’ performance is a tour-de-force of artistry and feeling (read:
drunk and brash).Read More »

21 Hours at Munich (1976)

A dramatization of the incident in 1972 when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound in Munich and murdered eleven Israeli athletes.Read More »

Quote:
A movie like Female Trouble (1974) could be most easily classified as a comedy, but that is selling it short. “Comedy” doesn’t capture the specific satiric edge, the desperate shout, the exaggerated depravity of this film. It’s a loud, abject, offensive, and joyful declaration of self-determination and identity in the face of a world that has no use for anyone outside the norm.Read More »

Bara no hyôteki (1972)
A gunslinger is hired to kill a news photographer. The young ward of the shot photographer discovers the set-up behind the killing – that a laboratory is being set up by a Nazi organization to capture and train talented youth and that the photographer was about to expose it.Read More »

Belorusskiy vokzal (1971)
Moscow, the Soviet Union. Summer of 1956 – eleven years after Hitler Nazis were defeated and buried. Four red army veterans met again at another comrade’s funeral. Aleksei, a writer. Viktor, a factory boss. Nikolai, an accountant. And Ivan, a mechanic. All graying and coping with post war life as best as they could. After the funeral, Nikolai invited his friends to go to his place. They experienced quite a few unexpected adventures on their way, including a bit of time in police custody…and ended up getting another comrade involved in the unplanned reunion. Reference of Belorusskiy Railway Station doesn’t happen until the last minute of the film. That’s where the victorious soldiers returned from war in the Spring of 1945.Read More »

Ogin-sama (1978) Synopsis:
Sen Rikyu is a ceremonial tea master who advises warlord Hideyoshi in sixteenth-century feudal Japan. His daughter, the beautiful Lady Ogin, has an unrequited love for Lord Ukon, who has angered Hideyoshi by becoming a Christian convert. Ogin’s father Rikyu also displeases Hideyoshi by opposing the warlord’s plan to invade China and Korea. When the animalistic Hideyoshi is rejected by Ogin, he threatens her and her father with arrest and worse.

Ogin, a very beautiful young woman, comes to the attention of Hideyoshi, the unifier of 16th century Japan. Her love for another causes her to reject him and precipitates tragedy.Read More »

from the Roberto Curti article at esotika’s site:
“Decolonized Africa as a modern-day Little Big Horn, white men as general Custer’s soldiers: that’s how Cavallone described the concept that spawned Afrika (1973). It’s an uncomfortable, uncommercial premise that shows how little Cavallone cared of commercial issues. The theme is once again that of cultural/political clash, in a country – Ethiopia – that’s experiencing a sort of “new birth” after the end of colonialism. Cavallone echoed the confusion and identity crisis of a whole country with those of a group of Europeans who chose to hide themselves in the Third World rather than solve their existential problems.Read More »

Dispatch (1979)
Quote
‘Dispatch,’ another black-and-white film, begins with oscillating greyish surface modulations that move sideways on the screen, rendering our view a partial window to some larger movement taking place. Geographic graphic ribbings then ascend, and as perceived, the thought occurs we might be watching animated film. A shadow of a truck’s front end appears in movement, then comes gently to a halt: we know this image to be photographed, and yet the texture of the film itself hasn’t changed at all. Further readings of the upwards, downwards, and occasional obliquely graphic movements of the patterns on the screen soon describe to us the vantage point of the camera stationed above some traffic intersection.Read More »