Borges Meets Hitchhiker’s Guide How Greenaway surprises. Here is an early work that is rich in ways that in later works seem submerged. The concept: A ‘Violent Unexplained Event’ occurs at 11:41 PM GMT, 14 June, People experience physical changes, often transitioning to birds. 92 new languages appear, and 92 birdnames are embossed in some… Continue reading The Falls (1980)
Tag: f1980
Films released in 1980
Altered States (1980)
A Beautiful Mind Another director would have been better for this material in my mind. The production is off: the effects, the drama and the love story all fail. But the idea behind the story… the idea, that has power and is enough to keep you sitting through this. The idea is that certain scientists… Continue reading Altered States (1980)
Jane Austin in Manhattan (1980)
The Chosen I am usually offended, retroactively offended by Ivory – Jhabvala films. They have a quiet, deep consistency that draws respect the same way a cathedral does. But the uncomplicated emotional links and the sentimental world in which they exist gets to me, and taints dreams for days afterward. Good news. Here is that… Continue reading Jane Austin in Manhattan (1980)
The Jazz Singer (1980)
No Jazz I like to see remakes, because in many cases you experience two films at once: the film you are watching of course, and the one you recall. Usually that prior one is pretty good. In this case, it IS pretty good, and historically important too. It was the first popular talkie, and not… Continue reading The Jazz Singer (1980)
Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession (1980)
Doubts that Bind Love is internal. It is sustained by questions of doubt, tension, expectation. The solidity of the hand is strengthened by the slipperiness underfoot. So suppose you wanted to make a film about the fields that animate your anchor relationships. You couldn’t do what everyone else does: deal with the tokens: the looks,… Continue reading Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession (1980)
Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (1980)
People Cat I am interested in genre mixing. It is a common thing, especially with various humor components. The gore branch of horror and the porn branch of the sex film try to be mixed here. I say gore rather than zombies because though zombies appear, the form is not that of a zombie flick.… Continue reading Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (1980)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson: King of Blackmailers (1980)
Europe in Disguise This is a Russian TV production, closely following the Conan Doyle stories. Comments that I have seen accept it as a good version, mostly on the basis of the characterisations. But I find it dreadful, and credit two influences. The first is my understanding of the role the Holmes stories played and… Continue reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson: King of Blackmailers (1980)
The Stunt Man (1980)
Citizen Crane There are quite a few movies like this, films that reference films and that also aver that the drama within can bend the reality without. The kernel of this idea was ‘Citizen Kane’ but it seemed to flower after John Fowles published ‘The Magus’ and the Beatles followed his lead. This one has… Continue reading The Stunt Man (1980)