1981-1990

  • Pierre Falardeau & Julien Poulin – Elvis Gratton: Le king des kings (1985)

    1981-1990CanadaCinema of QuebecComedyJulien PoulinPierre Falardeau

    Quote:
    A Quebecois Elvis impersonator is disillusioned to find a Chinaman participating in an Elvis contest. He later takes his wife on vacation to the island of Santa Banana.Read More »

  • John Smith – Om (1986)

    1981-1990ExperimentalJohn SmithUnited Kingdom

    The buzzing of an electric razor is replaced by Om chanting as a sharp-looking man gets ready.

    Gary Davis wrote:
    This four minute film explores our response to stereotypes – aural, visual and ideological. Smith signals these stereotypes to the viewer through a chiefly associational system, which deftly manipulates the path of our expectations. The structure is stunningly simple and deceptively subtle. We are taken on a journey from one concrete stereotype to its diametric opposite, as images transform and juxtapose to, ultimately, invert our interpretation of what we see and hear.

    Peter Kubelka, ‘What is Film’ lecture series, National Film Theatre, London 2001, wrote:
    This is hardcore cinema.Read More »

  • John Smith – Shepherd’s Delight (1984)

    1981-1990ExperimentalJohn SmithUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    A satirical exploration of the origins of humor that moves between the absurd and the deadly serious.Read More »

  • Larry Gottheim – Tree of Knowledge (1981)

    Larry Gottheim1981-1990ExperimentalUSA

    Synopsis:
    It started with filming the tree. Something was released in that manner of filming seemingly farthest removed from the procedure of the early films. I first thought a simple ordering of this rich material might be enough, something related to BARN RUSHES […] But the film only came into its form-life with the idea of linking this deep-rooted and far-outreaching tree material with that film on paranoia that had fascinated me for many years. –L. G.Read More »

  • Claude Chabrol – La danse de mort (1982)

    1981-1990Claude ChabrolDramaFranceTV

    Quote:
    Alice and Edgar, nicknamed “The Captain”, lead a rather miserable existence. They are embittered by life and reject each other’s failures. As they approach their 25th wedding anniversary, they are tired and weary of their old daily perfidies that have kept away all those who approached them.

    Quote:
    No doubt, other masterpiece of Claude Chabrol. This director can surprise you a million times in a million forms. This film is dark and sad. Don’t let you breath between scenes. The characters lives in a hard atmosphere, like a desert museum. The museum of a lonely life -or lonely death- like ghosts.Read More »

  • Joji Matsuoka – Bataashi kingyo AKA Swimming Upstream (1990)

    1981-1990DramaJapanJoji MatsuokaRomance

    Kinema Junpo Annual Top Ten of 1990

    Quote:
    Kaoru, a highschool boy, falls in love with a girl, Sonoko, a leading member of his high-school’s swimming club. Though he cannot swim at all, he joins the swimming club to win her heart.Read More »

  • Clifford Choi – Nam yi nui AKA Hong Kong, Hong Kong (1983)

    1981-1990Clifford ChoiDramaHong KongRomance

    A story of the illegal immigrant experience of people from the mainland of China who have made it to Hong Kong for a better life.Read More »

  • Artavazd Peleshian – Nash vyek aka Mer dare aka Our Century (1983)

    1981-1990Artavazd PeleshianEpicShort FilmUSSR

    Google Translate wrote:
    Always processions, to the glory of “our century”, always this impression of a threat which cannot be said, of a rumor which manifests itself, but does not take shape; our century, we will not forget, it is the century of conquests and genocides, the century of all vanities too: men are going to put all their pretensions to the test. They will fight against the determinisms of nature, will fabricate their legend with cross-dressing, intimidating protocols, daring and obstinacy, to leave as testimony only a few images that tirelessly repeat the absurdity of this vocation. instinctive and totalitarian to colonization and occupation of worlds.Read More »

  • Robert Wynne-Simmons – The Outcasts (1982)

    1981-1990ArthouseFantasyIrelandRobert Wynne-Simmons

    Scripted and directed by the writer of The Blood on Satan’s Claw, this eerie folklorish tale is set in 19th‑century Ireland amid an isolated rural community where poverty and superstition are rife. Maura (Mary Ryan), an introverted farm girl suspected of witchcraft, discovers a mystical world of the imagination through ‘a wild, ungodly man’ – the mysterious wanderer Scarf Michael (Mick Lally).

    Billed on release as the first Irish feature film in half a century, but hardly seen in the past 40 years, this uniquely dreamlike directorial feature debut is presented in an acclaimed new 2K restoration by the Irish Film Institute.Read More »

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