1971-1980

Vincent Canby @ The New York Times, Feb 17, 1972 wrote:
Probably no man, not even Norman Mailer, will ever have the last word on women’s liberation, but until ones does, perhaps the Andy Warhol-Paul Morrissey “Women in Revolt” will do. The movie is called a comedy, but it can be more accurately described as a madcap soap opera whose three manic heroines are played by female impersonators—which may be interpreted as the ultimate put-down of women’s lib, as well as the ultimate endorsement.

More particularly, “Women in Revolt” ( as did “Trash” ) recalls Hollywood movies of the 1930’s and 1940’s, especially those slushy romances in which Alice Faye, Frances Langford and Patsy Kelly compromised everything except their virtue in their pursuit of husbands.Read More »

This adaptation of Giorgi Leonidze’s short stories sees twenty-two episodes coalesce into one phantasmagoric narrative. Set in pre-revolutionary Georgia, it follows a young woman forced into marriage by her village elders despite her love for another man. Drifting poetically from one incident to the next, this gorgeously sustained pastorale from one of Georgia’s great auteurs creates a sense of the rich tapestry of Georgian village life, and the tragic consequences of community dispute.Read More »

The sun shone on Old Trafford on 12th September 1970 as Manchester United beat Coventry 2:0 in a league match. It was not an important victory; that season Man Utd would only be also-rans in the race for the championship. But a record was preserved of the match that is probably unique in the history of film and television. Using eight 16mm cameras, Hellmuth Costard, one of the most important experimental filmmakers in German cinema of the 60s and 70s, followed every move over the 90 minutes of the man in the red jersey with the number 11 – traditionally associated with the conventional outside left, but here worn by the mercurial George Best.Read More »

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Lucio Fulci and Edwige Fenech? Yep, that’s right. Like so many other Italian directors of the time Fulci did a lot of sex comedies so perhaps it was inevitable that at some point he would have crossed paths with one of the leading actresses. In La Pretora (the French release title translates as The Judge and the Whore) Fenech plays twin sisters, one a judge and the other a porn star. Enemies of the judge devise a plan to confuse the two and create problems. Or at least that’s what seems to be happening since there’s no subtitles and they would be helpful in parts. It’s a bit slow going at first but there’s a good bit of Fenech later in the film (the screenshot of Fenech combing her pubic hair kept being deleted by the image host so I left it out). For Fulci fans this is only for completists because it’s not very Fulci-ean and has zero horror elements. It could have been done by numerous directors. Fenech fans, though, will consider it a must.Read More »

Drama of a man who tried to live a new life. Yegor Prokudin (Vasili Shukshin) is a child of a street who grew up in a criminal gang. While he was free, he did not lose his innocent, joyful heart, but many years in prison have taken away his joy in living. The film opens on the occasion of his release from prison. Soon, he discovers love with a village peasant girl, Lyuba (Lidia Fedoseeva-Shukshina), who was lettering him in jail and restores his will to live and fills him with an enthusiasm for rural life. There are dark shadows on his way for better being – his past and his old mother he never visited from childhood times. (Actually, the scene where Lyuba talks to his mother was shooted with non-acting old village women) Their idyll is short-lived, as his former associates will not leave him alone.
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Before the art duo Pierre et Gilles, before fashion photographer David LaChapelle, before the artist Jeff Koons, and before the neo-Pop movement broke, there was director James Bidgood and his film PINK NARCISSUS. A cult classic, it is so considered more for its highly artistic production values than for its narrative.

The film is essentially a piece of gay erotica (more erotic than explicit) about an impossibly handsome young man (played by Bobby Kendall), obsessed with his own beauty and youth, who escapes the realities of street life through intricately choreographed fantasies in which he portrays a Roman slave, a matador, a wood nymph, and a harem boy. Characterized by searingly bright colors and highly stylized visual elements (sets, props, and costumes), Bidgood’s design for the film has been endlessly emulated by commercials and photographers to this day. PINK NARCISSUS is a “must see” for anyone interested in contemporary art, the pre-Stonewall sensibility, or the history of underground film.
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Synopsis:
One-of-a-kind filmmaker-philosopher Terrence Malick has created some of the most visually arresting movies of the twentieth century, and his glorious period tragedy Days of Heaven, featuring Oscar-winning cinematography by Nestor Almendros, stands out among them. In 1910, a Chicago steel worker (Richard Gere) accidentally kills his supervisor and flees to the Texas panhandle with his girlfriend (Brooke Adams) and little sister (Linda Manz) to work harvesting wheat in the fields of a stoic farmer (Sam Shepard). A love triangle, a swarm of locusts, a hellish fire—Malick captures it all with dreamlike authenticity, creating at once a timeless American idyll and a gritty evocation of turn-of-the-century labor.
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Synopsis
The taxidriver Paul and his girlfriend, the journalist Marianne (Solveig Andersson) starts to argue when Paul drags home his father, who is an alcoholic. At a party the bored Paul seduces a willing blonde in the room next to all the other guests. The next morning he wakes up between Marianne and her sister Beryl. The next couple of days are very hectic for Paul, with striptease, women and a meeting with the sadistic Mr X. Beryl escapes Mr X dressed only in a minkfur filled with drugs. Very dangerous…!Read More »

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An extraordinary group of action stars join up together as elite college graduates in the 1950’s who commit perfect financial crimes through legal loopholes. Starring the great Natsuyagi Isao and Chiba Shinichi, along with legendary samurai star Amachi Shigeru. As with all things in life, nothing is perfect. Will justice prevail or is there really a perfect crime? Edge of the seat suspense highlights this superb crime drama!Read More »