• Eiichi Yamamoto – Sen’ya ichiya monogatari AKA One Thousand and One Nights (1969)

    1961-1970AnimationEiichi YamamotoEroticaJapan

    Quote:
    This movie is completely wacky. Completely. Wacky. It concerns the story of a poor water seller in Baghdad who stumbles his way through ali baba and his 40 thieves, the tower of Babel, sinbad the sailor, the island of the sirens and many others stories that either i didn’t recognise from the 1001 nights stories or were just made up by the animation team on one of what must have been many acid binges. The film was made in 1969 with a crew of about 15 animators and others (the same names pop up in multiple roles) and is thus forced to employ a number of techniques to cheapen the animation, using still frames incorporating live action shots (for such hard to animate things as the ocean) and shooting live action footage of miniature models for the landscape shots.Read More »

  • Mohamed Malas – Ahlam el Madina AKA Dreams of the City (1984)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaEgyptMohamed Malas

    “Mother, come and see how beautiful Damascus is!”, little Omar cries out to his mother, a young woman drained by mourning. The widely acclaimed, partially autobiographical, Dreams of the City marks the turn towards auteur Syrian cinema, resurrecting the memories of childhood of the working poor. A young widow and her two sons are forced to move from their native Quneytra to Damascus, where her father forces them to fend for themselves. Against the backdrop of successive military coups that punctuated the turbulent 1950s in Syria, Adib, the eldest of the boys comes of age in the vast and overwhelming urban magic of Damascus. The image of mosques, faces and the greenery of Damascus swirl by as Adib witnesses a dizzying and violent day in the city. At last, the wounded child gazes at the full moon; the city shatters against it.Read More »

  • Freddie Francis – Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly AKA Girly (1970)

    1961-1970ComedyFreddie FrancisHorrorUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    Sexy, teenaged, immature Girly and her camera-wielding brother Sonny bring home unsuspecting men to Mumsy and Nanny, where they play games, and if they don’t follow the rules, they’re sent to the angels. One day they bring home a New Friend who has a few ideas for games of his own, though, and he begins to turn the foursome against each other.Read More »

  • Daniel Haller – The Dunwich Horror (1970)

    1961-1970CultDaniel HallerHorrorUnited Kingdom

    Synopsis:
    Dr. Henry Armitage (Ed Begley), an expert in the occult, goes to the old Whateley manor in Dunwich looking for Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee), a student who went missing the previous night. He and Elizabeth, a friend and classmate of Nancy’s, are turned away by Wilbur (Dean Stockwell), the family’s insidious heir, who has plans for the young girl. But Armitage won’t be deterred. Through conversations with the locals, he soon unearths the Whateleys’ darkest secret — as well as a great evil.Read More »

  • Per Blom – Is-slottet aka Ice Palace (1987)

    1981-1990ArthouseDramaNorwayPer BlomQueer Cinema(s)

    Synopsis wrote:
    In a remote Norwegian mountain-area in the thirties, two 12 year old girls Siss and Unn meets. They are friends, but for Unn it is more serious, she admits to have secret and indecent fantasies about her girlfriend.Read More »

  • Margarethe von Trotta – Die Geduld der Rosa Luxemburg (1985)

    1981-1990ArthouseGermanyMargarethe von TrottaPolitics

    Quote:
    In this film, director Margarethe Von Trotta presents an inspiring and impressionistic portrait of the European socialist leader (1870 – 1919) who spent much time in prison as a result of her unpopular political views. In a performance which won her the Best Actress nod at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, Barbara Sukowa reveals Rosa’s multifaceted personality which encompassed a love of nature, a sensitivity to suffering, an unflagging hatred of militarism, and a yearning for peace. After viewing this screen biography, many will no doubt agree with Helen Deutsch’s evaluation of Rosa Luxemburg: “She was too great to be considered ‘only a woman,’ even by her enemies.”Read More »

  • Noboru Tanaka – Hitozuma shudan boko chishi jiken AKA Rape and Death of a Housewife (1978)

    1971-1980DramaExploitationJapanNoboru Tanaka

    There’s a Nobura Tanaka masterpiece lurking behind this lurid title. Today many critics feel Tanaka was the best director in Nikkatsu’s pink film stable, but in the 70s his work was constantly overshadowed by other studio masters like Chusei Sone and Tatsumi Kumashiro. This film was his first major “break-through.” Despite the “objectionable” necrophilia scenes, the movie was applauded by the mainstream press, praised for Hideo Murota’s remarkable performance , and honored by the Japanese Academy of Films and Motion Pictures and Kinema Jumpo as the best film of 1979.Read More »

  • Steven Okazaki – White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007)

    2001-2010DocumentaryHiroshima at 75Steven OkazakiUSAWar

    Synopsis
    As global tensions rise, the unthinkable now seems possible. The threat of nuclear weapons of mass destruction has become frighteningly real. WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN: THE DESTRUCTION OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI, by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki, looks at the reality of nuclear warfare with first-hand accounts from those who survived and whose lives were forever changed by the atomic bomb.Read More »

  • Franc Roddam – Quadrophenia (1979)

    1971-1980DramaFranc RoddamMusicalUnited Kingdom

    Quote:
    London, 1965: Like many other youths, Jimmy hates the philistine life, especially his parents and his job in a company’s mailing division. Only when he’s together with his friends, a ‘Mod’ clique, cruises London on his motor-scooter and hears music such as that of ‘The Who’ and ‘The High Numbers’, he feels free and accepted. However, it’s a flight into an illusionary world.Read More »

Back to top button