Synopsis
The unlikely relationship between a pregnant high school student and a brooding electronics repairman lies at the center of this droll comedy from writer-director Hal Hartley. Intelligent but unconventional, Maria (Adrienne Shelly) has more to worry about than her pregnancy, as her expectant state drives away her boyfriend and triggers a fatal heart attack in her father. Meanwhile, Matthew (Martin Donovan) has his own problems: an abusive father, a heightened sense of morality that prevents him from taking semi-lucrative television repair jobs, and a suicidal streak that causes him to carry around a potentially deadly grenade. The meeting of these troubled minds at first promises to be beneficial for both, but sours as they are forced to interact with each other’s dysfunctional families. As in all of Hartley’s pictures, the narrative is filtered through an amusingly detached sensibility that some may consider an acquired taste.
~ Judd Blaise, All Movie GuideRead More »
1981-1990
-
Hal Hartley – Trust [+Extras] (1990)
1981-1990ComedyDramaHal HartleyUSA -
Giovanni Soldati – L’attenzione (1984)
1981-1990DramaEroticaGiovanni SoldatiItalyThis is a story of love and lust shaded with overtones of incest and lesbianism. Livia is a woman trying to regain the affections of her husband Alberto, whose journalism career takes him away for months at a time – on purpose. What she does not know is that he has an undeniable attraction for their daughter Monica. Livia’s own sexual eccentricities lead her to hire young women to have sex with Alberto while she listens in hiding. When Monica wants to get into the act too, the real truth about her parentage is revealed. (IMDb)Read More »
-
Nick Deocampo – Revolutions Happen Like Refrains in a Song (1987)
1981-1990DocumentaryNick DeocampoPhilippinesPoliticsNarrated by Deocampo in English, the film documents the anti-Marcos revolution, the life of Oliver, a transvestite, child prostitution, and the filmmaker’s own personal history, including his homosexuality, his filmmaking, and his travels abroad.
Read More » -
Jean-François Stévenin – Double messieurs AKA Double gentlemen (1986)
Arthouse1981-1990FranceJean-François Stévenin

Synopsis
In a routine look at what it means to finally leave adolescence behind — even in one’s mature years — this series of mood swings and sequences focuses on two grown men. Francois (Jean Francois Stevenin, the director) and Leo (Yves Alonso) are old friends, and at one point they decide to go out and search for one of their childhood buddies, the brunt of several of their practical jokes. In true form, the men opt for playing yet another practical joke on their friend, but their plans backfire when his wife Helene (Carole Bouquet) comes into the picture instead. Her presence forces them to reconsider their shenanigans in a new light.Read More » -
Vojtech Jasný – Wir (1981)
1981-1990Czech RepublicSci-FiVojtech JasnýDescription
One of the most famous rare TV films ever, the copy is very good.
I think Samyatin’s novel Wir on which this film is based is well known enough among sci-fi fans as the predecessor and inspiration for Brave New World and 1984. In 1981 ZDF adapted this film with Dieter Laser and Sabine von Maydell in the main roles and some clever effects despite obvious budget limitations. I’m as puzzled as all other fans why this film was apparently never shown again, maybe rights issues?
Anyway here it is back for the eyes of the public.Read More » -
Oldrich Lipský – Tajemství hradu v Karpatech AKA The Mysterious Castle In The Carpathians (1981)
1981-1990ComedyCzech RepublicOldrich LipskySci-FiSynopsis:
In the 1800s, a baron, who is the owner of a castle known as The Devil’s Castle and who is also an obsessed opera fan, keeps the body of his favorite diva preserved in a crypt in the castle. In order to keep away potentially nosy visitors, the baron’s mad-scientist assistant, invents all sorts of spooky phenomena in order to give the castle a creepy reputation.Read More » -
Lordan Zafranovic – Ujed andjela (1984)
1981-1990DramaEroticaLordan ZafranovicYugoslavia
A lighthouse keeper lives on an isolated island together with his wife, ailing father and retarded sister. News of a serial killer stalking the isolated lighthouses makes him leave in order to hunt him down. In the meantime, the wife meets a mysterious and seductive stranger.Read More »
-
Alan Rudolph – Choose Me (1984)
USA1981-1990Alan RudolphArthouseRomance
synopsis – AMG:
The lives of five L.A. natives intertwine in this romantic comedy from independent filmmaker and former Robert Altman protégé Alan Rudolph. Eve (Lesley Ann Warren) is a bar owner who has sworn off permanent commitments, seeking only the temporary sexual satisfaction of men. Her roommate Ann (Genevieve Bujold) is her polar opposite. In reality, Ann is secretly the radio sex therapist Dr. Nancy Love, but she has little romantic experience despite her profession. Into their lives comes Mickey (Keith Carradine), a recent mental patient who might be an enigmatic pathological liar. Though she’s powerfully attracted to Mickey, Eve’s kept at arm’s length by her lover Zack (Patrick Bauchau), a married man whose wife (Rae Dawn Chong) also finds Mickey irresistible.Read More » -
Serif Gören & Yilmaz Güney – Yol AKA The Road (1982)
1981-1990DramaPoliticsTurkeyYilmaz Güney and Serif GorenSynopsis:
At a “half-open” detention facility and work camp on the island of Imrali, a group of hopeful, but resigned men ritualistically converge on the entrance of the main penitentiary ward: first, for the disbursement of weekly mail and subsequently, for the eagerly anticipated posting of the list of prisoners authorized for a one-week furlough. A soft-spoken, unassuming man named Yusuf (Tuncay Akça), dispirited by the scarcity of letters from home, seemingly finds his fortune changed when he finds his name among the privileged list of furloughed prisoners. Mehmet (Halil Ergün), a pensive and conflicted man faces his trip to Diyarbakir with great trepidation and anxiety, having found his marriage increasingly strained when his wife begins to question his role in her brother’s death during a bungled robbery.
A vibrant and self-assured young man, Mevlat (Hikmet Çelik), finds his romantic notions to reunite with his fiancée Meral (Sevda Aktolga) thwarted when her family dispatches chaperones in order to prevent the couple from being alone. An idealistic and apolitical man named Omer (Necmettin Çobanoglu) who daydreams of his idyllic life amid the lush, grazing open fields of his beloved village in south-eastern Turkey returns home to the chaotic sight of his town under siege by the military as they attempt to root out suspected insurgents in the closely knit community.Read More »






