Raging Bull (1980)
I guess it's needless to debate the merits of this Scorsese movie, it was an instant classic. I remember seeing it for the very first time, when it was released in Germany, expectations were high, of course, but we were unprepared for a black-and-white film with such relentless boxing scenes. It's typical for Scorsese to highlight another character you wouldn't want to encounter in real life, but hardly anyone has done it with such expertise like he did in this movie.
L'argent (1983)
By the time L'argent, Robert Bresson's last movie, was released I had managed to see nearly his complete oeuvre and I was already a great admirer of his work. Although he had already made a string of masterpieces this movie seemed to be a summary and radicalization of the techniques he had developed over the decades, especially his way of not showing the main events in the image, but only bits and parts.
Although this to me was the very essence of Robert Bresson being an avantgarde artist it was enormously shocking to see the audience at the Cannes film festival booing at the old man, when he received a special prize. Once again it is true that most people will not recognize real art, but rather go by short-lived fashions.
There's a fine review of the movie here.
The Gold Diggers (1983)
I have only seen The Gold Diggers once, I wasn't able to get it for our film club cinema (the other members were against playing it), and I've been trying to get a copy on DVD to re-assess my initial opinion. However, I have now read that Sally Potter retracted the movie due to the bad reviews it got at the time. To me it was a masterly formal experiment, a perfect (albeit quite feminist) image-music phantasmagoria, beautifully photographed and with wonderful music by Lindsay Cooper.
Hakkari'de Bir Mevsim (1983) aka A Season in Hakkari
In the early 80s there was a wave of great New Turkish movies in German cinemas, and the works by Erden Kiral and Yilmaz Güney were all very promising and excellent examples. I especially love Kiral's A Season in Hakkari about a dedicated young teacher who is punished by being sent to work in a very remote mountain village and how he copes with the conditions and the seclusive townspeople. It is an intense anthropological study full of love for the people and their simple way of life.
Sans soleil (1983)
This beautiful filmic essay by Chris Marker is one of my all-time favourite movies, I've watched it numerous times ever since. At the time Sans Soleil was probably mistaken for another fashionable hodgepodge of pretty images like the extremely successful Koyaanisqatsi from a year before, and I assume that's how it got a theatrical release at all. However, Marker's movie is a complex, thoughtful, sometimes melancholic essay full of remarkable insights, a cinematic experience far beyond the mainstream and superior to the artsy-fartsy independents so popular in those days.
Saraba hakobune (1984) aka Farewell to the Ark and Goodbye Ark
Similar as with The Gold Diggers I have only seen this movie by Shuji Terayama once and can only remember what a strong impression it made on me. The plot is taken from an episode out of Gabriel García Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude, an incestuous love story between 2 cousins. A synopsis, however, does no justice to this work which is complex, full of unusual images and highly enjoyable nevertheless. I really need to see this one again.
Blue Velvet (1986)
Need I explain? When it was released I watched it 3 times in a row, I was completely overwhelmed, Lynch exceeded my expectations. An instant classic!
Do ma daan (1986) aka Peking Opera Blues
I guess this was the movie that introduced the west to modern Asian cinema. Although I had seen quite a lot of Asian movies by then, Peking Opera Blues opened up a whole new world of cinema to me. This film by Tsui Hark is endlessly exciting with 3 gorgeous female leads, Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung and Sally Ye. all names I've remembered since.
Dead Ringers (1988)
David Cronenberg is one of my favourite directors, one who has pushed the limits of contemporary horror as far as he could. Dead Ringers is one of his best, this time he has omitted the drastic horror scenes for more 'subtle' effects. But this perverse amour fou story is all the more disturbing.
Neco z Alenky (1988) aka Alice
The Czech director Jan Svankmajer is a legend within the genre of animation, but little known to the general public. Alice was his first feature, and it pretty much sets new marks to what can be achieved within animation. Never abandoning his surrealist sensitivity his re-telling of Alice in Wonderland is both magical and slightly disturbing. Nothing for kids!
I guess it's needless to debate the merits of this Scorsese movie, it was an instant classic. I remember seeing it for the very first time, when it was released in Germany, expectations were high, of course, but we were unprepared for a black-and-white film with such relentless boxing scenes. It's typical for Scorsese to highlight another character you wouldn't want to encounter in real life, but hardly anyone has done it with such expertise like he did in this movie.
L'argent (1983)
By the time L'argent, Robert Bresson's last movie, was released I had managed to see nearly his complete oeuvre and I was already a great admirer of his work. Although he had already made a string of masterpieces this movie seemed to be a summary and radicalization of the techniques he had developed over the decades, especially his way of not showing the main events in the image, but only bits and parts.
Although this to me was the very essence of Robert Bresson being an avantgarde artist it was enormously shocking to see the audience at the Cannes film festival booing at the old man, when he received a special prize. Once again it is true that most people will not recognize real art, but rather go by short-lived fashions.
There's a fine review of the movie here.
The Gold Diggers (1983)
I have only seen The Gold Diggers once, I wasn't able to get it for our film club cinema (the other members were against playing it), and I've been trying to get a copy on DVD to re-assess my initial opinion. However, I have now read that Sally Potter retracted the movie due to the bad reviews it got at the time. To me it was a masterly formal experiment, a perfect (albeit quite feminist) image-music phantasmagoria, beautifully photographed and with wonderful music by Lindsay Cooper.
Hakkari'de Bir Mevsim (1983) aka A Season in Hakkari
In the early 80s there was a wave of great New Turkish movies in German cinemas, and the works by Erden Kiral and Yilmaz Güney were all very promising and excellent examples. I especially love Kiral's A Season in Hakkari about a dedicated young teacher who is punished by being sent to work in a very remote mountain village and how he copes with the conditions and the seclusive townspeople. It is an intense anthropological study full of love for the people and their simple way of life.
Sans soleil (1983)
This beautiful filmic essay by Chris Marker is one of my all-time favourite movies, I've watched it numerous times ever since. At the time Sans Soleil was probably mistaken for another fashionable hodgepodge of pretty images like the extremely successful Koyaanisqatsi from a year before, and I assume that's how it got a theatrical release at all. However, Marker's movie is a complex, thoughtful, sometimes melancholic essay full of remarkable insights, a cinematic experience far beyond the mainstream and superior to the artsy-fartsy independents so popular in those days.
Saraba hakobune (1984) aka Farewell to the Ark and Goodbye Ark
Similar as with The Gold Diggers I have only seen this movie by Shuji Terayama once and can only remember what a strong impression it made on me. The plot is taken from an episode out of Gabriel García Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude, an incestuous love story between 2 cousins. A synopsis, however, does no justice to this work which is complex, full of unusual images and highly enjoyable nevertheless. I really need to see this one again.
Blue Velvet (1986)
Need I explain? When it was released I watched it 3 times in a row, I was completely overwhelmed, Lynch exceeded my expectations. An instant classic!
Do ma daan (1986) aka Peking Opera Blues
I guess this was the movie that introduced the west to modern Asian cinema. Although I had seen quite a lot of Asian movies by then, Peking Opera Blues opened up a whole new world of cinema to me. This film by Tsui Hark is endlessly exciting with 3 gorgeous female leads, Brigitte Lin, Cherie Chung and Sally Ye. all names I've remembered since.
Dead Ringers (1988)
David Cronenberg is one of my favourite directors, one who has pushed the limits of contemporary horror as far as he could. Dead Ringers is one of his best, this time he has omitted the drastic horror scenes for more 'subtle' effects. But this perverse amour fou story is all the more disturbing.
Neco z Alenky (1988) aka Alice
The Czech director Jan Svankmajer is a legend within the genre of animation, but little known to the general public. Alice was his first feature, and it pretty much sets new marks to what can be achieved within animation. Never abandoning his surrealist sensitivity his re-telling of Alice in Wonderland is both magical and slightly disturbing. Nothing for kids!
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