1980s

  • Carlos Diegues – Um Trem para as Estrelas AKA Subway to the Stars (1987)

    Drama1981-1990ArthouseBrazilCarlos Diegues

    A moody, noirish film that explores both personal loss and social disintegration in present-day Rio de Janeiro. After his girlfriend disappears with no explanation, saxophonist Vinicius scours the city’s underworld in an attempt to find her. His pleas for help go unanswered by officials and the girl’s parents, and his search becomes more desperate as Vinicius grows to understand the despair and hopelessness of the prostitutes, drug dealers and street people he encounters.Read More »

  • Krzysztof Gradowski – Akademia pana Kleksa AKA Mr Blot’s Academy (1984)

    1981-1990FantasyKrzysztof GradowskiMusicalPoland

    Story:
    A young boy is sent to a boarding school run by an eccentric scientist/magician. He befriends a talking bird named Matt and is told how it lost its human form, Matt was once a boy prince. Touched by the story, our young hero vows to help his feathered friend regain his true identity. The fairytale is based on the eternal conflict between Good and Evil. Good symbolised by Mr Blot means benevolence, understanding of different people and nature. Evil symbolised by Alois Bubble means egotism and thirst for power. But above all Mr Blot’s Academy is always full of fun and humour.Read More »

  • Jean Rollin – Les paumées du petit matin AKA The Runaways AKA The Escapees (1981)

    1981-1990CultFranceJean RollinThriller

    Synopsis:
    Marie and Michelle are escaping from a lunatic asylum. Michelle is a tough girl who knows how to survive on the road, but the extremely shy Marie desperately clings to her until Michelle gives in and promises help. The two get into a lot of trouble which puts their friendship to a test.Read More »

  • Chih-Hung Kuei – Gu AKA Bewitched (1981)

    1981-1990Chih-Hung KueiHong KongHorrorThriller

    In 1981 the Shaw Brothers began to take their terror titles more seriously than ever before and the result was the special effects filled freak show BEWITCHED! Unleashed in HD for the very first time, this sinister and stylish scary movie treat transports its tale of possession and ghostly provocations to Thailand with some scenic shots of Bangkok and a palpable sense of the Southeast Asian country’s reputation for sex, sin and burning sun. You can positively smell the sweat and feel the heat in this suspenseful shocker that has a Hong Kong local experience ghoulish visions and excruciating body horror whilst trying to unravel a mysterious murder. Read More »

  • Krzysztof Gradowski – Pan Kleks w kosmosie AKA Mr. Blob in the Universe (1988) (HD)

    1981-1990AdventureKrzysztof GradowskiPolandSci-Fi

    Mr Ambrosio Inkblot created an Academy where he teaches 24 boys – whose names always start with the letter ‘A’. The building of academy is situated at Chocolate street and is surrounded by huge forest with the wall featuring gates to other fairy-tales. Mr Inkblot teaches the boys with the help of a mysterious starling bird – Matthew – who used to be a boy. But Kleks’ Academy is not a typical school – Mr Inkblot (played by Piotr Fronczewski) interprets dreams, his students throw ink during lessons and talk to heroes of other fairy-tales.Read More »

  • Robert Bresson – L’argent AKA Money (1983)

    1981-1990CrimeDramaFranceRobert Bresson

    Quote:
    In his ruthlessly clear-eyed final film, French master Robert Bresson pushed his unique blend of spiritual rumination and formal rigor to a new level of astringency. Transposing a Tolstoy novella to contemporary Paris, L’argent follows a counterfeit bill as it originates as a prop in a schoolboy prank, then circulates like a virus among the corrupt and the virtuous alike before landing with a young truck driver and leading him to incarceration and violence. With brutal economy, Bresson constructs his unforgiving vision of original sin out of starkly perceived details, rooting his characters in a dehumanizing material world that withholds any hope of transcendenceRead More »

  • Antonio Reis & Margarida Cordeiro – Ana (1982)

    Documentary1981-1990Antonio ReisArthouseMargarida CordeiroPortugal

    SYNOPSIS
    In those days … The legend of milk in the dark house. Interior time. Almost silence. Light. The natural timeless exterior house. Winter. (Three generations: a grandmother, a scientist son who lives in town and on vacation in the village, two children – grandson and granddaughter. Harmonia only broken by the death of Ana ..).Read More »

  • Kei Kumai – Sen no Rikyu AKA Death of a Tea Master (1989)

    Drama1981-1990JapanKei Kumai

    Quote:
    For those unfamiliar with its deep meaning, the Japanese tea ceremony appears to be a long, incredibly boring, basically uneventful ritual process. In contrast, for many of its practitioners it offers the key to understanding how to live life in a meaningful manner, and is in itself a refreshment for the spirit. The tea master Rikyu was a key figure in the evolution of the ceremony, and his teaching lineage continues to the present day. In 1591, as a result of a difference of opinion with the ruling warlord of Japan, Hideyoshi Toyotomi (Shinsuke Ashida), tea ceremony grand master Rikyu (Toshiro Mifune) was forced to commit suicide. Read More »

  • Antonio Reis & Margarida Cordeiro – Rosa de Areia AKA Desert Rose (1989)

    1981-1990Antonio ReisArthouseExperimentalMargarida CordeiroPortugal

    “Marking a stylistically and philosophically turn away from the earlier features, The Sand Rose is Reis and Cordeiro’s most abstract, conceptual and literary work. The film’s collage structure gathers texts from multiple sources – including Kafka and Montaigne – and crafts a world of theatrical artifice far from the documentary inspired naturalism of Ana and Trás-os-Montes. Reis and Cordeiro’s least known film has lingered in obscurity and never recovered from the unfairly negative reviews that resulted in its severely limited release. Reis died less than two years later, just as he and Cordeiro were about to begin an ambitious adaptation of Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Parámo.” —Harvard Film ArchiveRead More »

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