1981-1990

  • Ivan Passer – Haunted Summer (1988)

    1981-1990DramaIvan PasserThe Cannon GroupUSA

    This film delves into an unusual get-together by Percy Shelley (Eric Stoltz), his lover Mary Godwin (Alice Krige), her half-sister Claire (Laura Dern), Lord Byron (Philip Anglim), and his companion, Dr. John Polidori (Alex Winter). During one summer, these poets and their admirers talk about evil, deride the conventional mores of the times, go sailing, smoke opium, and generally celebrate the imaginations and the life of the senses. Ivan Passer directs this beautifully photographed literary drama based on Anne Edward’s 1972 novel. In a very fluid and dreamlike way, Haunted Summer explores some of the dangers and a few of the exhilarations of living in an ivory tower world of art. Krige steals the film with her deft and nimble portrait of the woman who would eventually write Frankenstein.Read More »

  • Michel Lemoine – Marilyn, mon amour (1985)

    1981-1990EroticaFranceMichel Lemoine

    Mitsy is a young actress who looks like Marilyn. While shooting her new movie, she falls for Dan. But she caught him in an orgy. Disillusioned, she flees the set to take refuge with Renato in a villa on the shores of Lake Como.Read More »

  • Mohamad Reza Aalami – Noghteh Zaf aka Weak Spot (1983)

    1981-1990IranMohamad Reza AalamiThriller

    Based on novel by Antonis Samarakis (1919–2003)

    The masterpiece of the Greek writer Antonis Samarakis, To Lathos (The Flaw, 1965), was eerily prophetic of the military dictatorship that was shortly to be established in his native land. The novel, translated into English by Peter Mansfield and Richard Burns, in 1969, dealt with the fate of a suspect detained in an unspecified police state; a plan is devised to make him attempt to escape, thereby proving his guilt, or confess to his anti-state crimes under interrogation.Read More »

  • Jirí Barta – Poslední lup AKA The Last Theft (1987)

    1981-1990AnimationCzech RepublicJirí BartaShort Film

    A sarcastic story about a thief who becomes the victim of his own victims. His victims come from the other world and take his most precious possession – his blood. The phantasmal atmosphere of the film is achieved through artificial animation coloring in a motion picture.Read More »

  • Danièle Huillet & Jean-Marie Straub – Trop tôt/Trop tard AKA Too Early, Too Late (1981) (HD)

    1981-1990ArthouseDanièle HuilletDocumentaryGermanyJean-Marie Straub

    Synopsis
    Featuring a justly infamous, even startling opening sequence with a tilted camera pointed out the window of a moving car that keeps driving and driving around a famous traffic circle (forget the name) in Paris for 10 odd minute – a continual 360 that never catches a glimpse of its axis, too perfect – TOO EARLY, TOO LATE is a singular meditation and extended visual metaphor on the theme of revolution (get it??) shot in a variety of locations and cities with a Marxist voice-over reading from famous selections on the subject. Quite unlike anything else you’ll see and while obviously not what you’d call entertainment, some of the shooting once you get outside the city is breathtakingly beautiful. Are they trying to implicate us in this collective indifference to social ills by growing absorbed in the natural beauty of the surroundings? I’m not sure, but certainly Straub/Huillet’s subtle avant-garde combo filmwork is among the most underappreciated in German and, indeed, international cinema.Read More »

  • Filip Bajon – Magnat AKA Magnate (1987)

    1981-1990DramaFilip BajonPoland

    Quote:
    Film traces the fascinating saga of princely Polish dynasty in years 1900-1935. In 1900 Prince Hans von Teuss entertains Emperor Wilhelm II with a bison hunt at his palatial residence. He finds out many years later that his wife was emperor’s lover and divorces her. In the ’20s, during the Silesian uprisings, Prince’s son Konrad befriends foreman’s son. In 1932, the Prince, now married to younger Marisca, becomes paralyzed and confined to wheelchair. His diabolical elder son takes over the ruined estate and unknown to his father becomes associated with Hitler’s supporters.Read More »

  • Nobuhiko Ôbayashi – Tengoku ni ichiban chikai shima AKA The Island Closest to Heaven (1984)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaJapanNobuhiko Obayashi

    A high school girl travels to the island of New Caledonia and has magical adventures.Read More »

  • Francis Leroi – Charlotte, mouille ta culotte AKA Looking Good (1981)

    France1981-1990EroticaFrancis Leroi

    The young-mischievous Charlotte organizes naughty encounters for her parents so she can spin the perfect love with her chosen one in the big family mansion.

    Starring: Julia Perrin, Marilyn Jess, Cathy Stewart, Sophie Abélaïd, Étienne Jaumillot, Jean-Claude Baboulin & Daniel Trabet.Read More »

  • Bob Fosse – Star 80 (1983)

    1981-1990Bob FosseDramaUSA

    from allmovie:
    Director Bob Fosse’s fact-based tale of Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratton’s short life and gruesome death focuses less on Stratton (Mariel Hemingway) than on her husband-manager, sleazoid pornographer and all-around failure Paul Snider (Eric Roberts, ideally cast). He sees the young beauty as his meal ticket and sets out to pimp her in the adult entertainment business. He marries her and appoints himself her career manager; soon after, she attracts the attention of Playboy executives and wins a spot in the magazine. As her success increases however, so does Snider’s alienation as he finds himself left out in the cold. His jealousy begins to consume him; she spurns him on the advice of her new friends; he goes berserk and confronts her. The same murder-suicide inspired the made-for-television Death of a Centerfold. This was choreographer/filmmaker Bob Fosse’s final film.Read More »

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