Identify This Movie

[bearcuborg]

Could it be this Akerman short?

My man...thanks Knives.

[TheFarmer99]

Can anyone tell me what movie this picture is from?

[Moe Dickstein]

A Nos Amours

[barryconvex]

here's one i can't remember for the life of me, and i'm usually pretty good at tracking down half remembered movies, songs or whatever. i'm pretty sure i saw it in the mid 80s and i thought it was an episode of amazing tales, but it's not. it's about a man (a soldier, i think) lying on a gurney unable to move or speak. various doctors come by and shine a light in his eyes, take his pulse etc and determine he is dead. only he knows he isn't. the whole episode is shot mostly, or entirely, from his POV looking up at the ceiling and we hear his voice narrating the scenario. since he can't move or talk he has to figure out a way to let the doctors know he's not dead before they move him to the morgue and/or bury him...i remember being riveted by it...ring any bells for anyone?

[warren oates]

I'm guessing it's an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode staring Joseph Cotton called "Breakdown."

[charal]

Sounds like JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN the Dalton Trumbo adaptation from the early 70s

[Cold Bishop]

Johnny Got His Gun sounds like the opposite dilemma, namely, the soldier wanting to die.

[Mr Sausage]

here's one i can't remember for the life of me, and i'm usually pretty good at tracking down half remembered movies, songs or whatever. i'm pretty sure i saw it in the mid 80s and i thought it was an episode of amazing tales, but it's not. it's about a man (a soldier, i think) lying on a gurney unable to move or speak. various doctors come by and shine a light in his eyes, take his pulse etc and determine he is dead. only he knows he isn't. the whole episode is shot mostly, or entirely, from his POV looking up at the ceiling and we hear his voice narrating the scenario. since he can't move or talk he has to figure out a way to let the doctors know he's not dead before they move him to the morgue and/or bury him...i remember being riveted by it...ring any bells for anyone?

That would be the giallo A Short Night of Glass Dolls by Aldo Lado.

[Lowry_Sam]

sounds a bit like Jacob's Ladder (1990)

[TMDaines]

here's one i can't remember for the life of me, and i'm usually pretty good at tracking down half remembered movies, songs or whatever. i'm pretty sure i saw it in the mid 80s and i thought it was an episode of amazing tales, but it's not. it's about a man (a soldier, i think) lying on a gurney unable to move or speak. various doctors come by and shine a light in his eyes, take his pulse etc and determine he is dead. only he knows he isn't. the whole episode is shot mostly, or entirely, from his POV looking up at the ceiling and we hear his voice narrating the scenario. since he can't move or talk he has to figure out a way to let the doctors know he's not dead before they move him to the morgue and/or bury him...i remember being riveted by it...ring any bells for anyone?

The first thing that came into my head was the music video for Metallica's One, which features clips from Johnny Got His Gun.

[Lowry_Sam]

One distinction is that Jacob's Ladder is in color, while Johnny Got His Gun alternates betwen b&w and color sequences, but you can check them out on Youtube.

[barryconvex]

I'm guessing it's an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode staring Joseph Cotton called "Breakdown."

i think this is it...the only problem is the episode i saw was in color...was there a reboot of the hitchcock series in the mid-80s? it's definitely not jacob's ladder or johnny got his gun. i know both those movies pretty well, but thank you for the suggestions... the only other thing i remember from the episode was:

SpoilerShow

at the very end when all appears lost and the doctors are about to wheel the man out of the operating room a drop of water appears on the man's cheek. it's obviously a tear and the doctors begin to rethink their position...

That would be the giallo A Short Night of Glass Dolls by Aldo Lado.

i don't think this is it because i saw it on broadcast television in the mid 80s...but after checking the imdb page this movie sounds kind of amazing...thanks for the tip regardless..

[warren oates]

I'm guessing it's an Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode staring Joseph Cotton called "Breakdown."

i think this is it...the only problem is the episode i saw was in color...was there a reboot of the hitchcock series in the mid-80s? it's definitely not jacob's ladder or johnny got his gun. i know both those movies pretty well, but thank you for the suggestions... the only other thing i remember from the episode was:

SpoilerShow

at the very end when all appears lost and the doctors are about to wheel the man out of the operating room a drop of water appears on the man's cheek. it's obviously a tear and the doctors begin to rethink their position...

That moment is either straight from the episode itself, a very close remake or a ripoff. I don't know if there ever was a remake or it was colorized, but here's a Youtube link to the original.

Edit: Here's your 1980's remake and the video.

[barryconvex]

that's it!! thank you warren oates...

[sostark69]

Here's one I've been trying to figure out for months: I saw it in the late 80's, I'm pretty positive it was on PBS. The thing is--whatever it was, it had to have been influenced by Tarkovsky's "Stalker." I tried Visitor of a Museum and that came very close but still did not contain the scene I remember. I was looking at the polish film "On the Silver Globe," but I don't think that's it, either...but again, it comes very close.
Here's the scene: A man--perhaps two men?--is walking through a vast hinterland. It looked to be mountainous terrain, if I remember correctly, almost like Afghanistan or something. It's very windy, there's so much wind the audio sounds distorted, almost as if a jet is taking off. There's huge flashes of lightning streaking down from the sky and it seems like everything is lit by a weird, blue light. Anyway, the man reaches some sort of entrance point to a secret chamber--it's almost like the Room, situated in "the zone" in Tarkovsky's 'Stalker'--and manages to get inside. All I can remember at this point is the man is intent on getting some object(made of glass?) that's hanging from the ceiling of the chamber. So he reaches up, straining as hard as he can. The object is like 30 feet above his head and you're thinking to yourself "there's no way he can reach it, he's wasting his time." But then the camera angle switches and you're looking straight down at the man from the ceiling, as he's reaching up. And somehow he manages to grasp the object! It's like he either grew in stature or the ceiling lowered itself, but really it's just a trick camera angle, or something to that effect. That's all I remember, I couldn't finish watching it as I had to go somewhere or do something, I can't remember what. But it was very odd, enchanting cinema--or at least that's the way it seemed to me at the time. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated...Thank You, Jon:)

[Buttery Jeb]

With the recent posts of Mike Jittlov's Wizard of Speed and Time, I got to thinking of another short film that uses similar movie tricks. I remember seeing it on TV in the early 1980s, so it was probably made around the same time as Jittlov's film. It's was about a man who finds himself wildly out of sync in terms of time. I remember one scene has him walking across a hallway, and getting mowed down repeatedly by people coming and going at regular intervals; and the ending has him climbing a clock tower to hold the hands back, and getting swung around and flung away instead.

[Antares]

The film I'm looking for is Japanese, probably released about 10 years ago. I saw it reviewed on Ebert's show and have always wanted to see it, but now I can't remember the name. I remember a scene where the lead actor is playing a cello, and he works in either a mortuary or a morgue and he readies bodies for burial. The story basically revolves around the perception of death. Any help would be appreciated with the title. Thanks.

[warren oates]

I'm guessing it's Departures.

[domino harvey]

It is for sure

[Antares]

I'm guessing it's Departures.

That's it, and my library has it. Thanks

[Costas]

Very sketchy details on this one - hopefully someone can help. I'm trying to think of an American or Canadian low budget drama from early/mid 90s. I saw it on the UK's Channel 4 and there were plenty of ads for it in the week leading up to its showing. Pretty sure it was had a one word title like 'Falling' or something like that. The lead actor (20s I'd guess) looked really like Andrew McCarthy, but it was definitely not him. I think there was a younger female character in there too. It had a very grey colour palate. Someone in the film may have had some kind of medical or psychological condition. I was young and remember not even particularly enjoying it (it was slow and not a lot happened) but for some reason it popped into my head recently and now it's driving me nuts. Any help would be appreciated.

I finally found out that the film was Hal Hartley's 'Trust' and another mystery is solved.

[warren oates]

Very sketchy details on this one - hopefully someone can help. I'm trying to think of an American or Canadian low budget drama from early/mid 90s. I saw it on the UK's Channel 4 and there were plenty of ads for it in the week leading up to its showing. Pretty sure it was had a one word title like 'Falling' or something like that. The lead actor (20s I'd guess) looked really like Andrew McCarthy, but it was definitely not him. I think there was a younger female character in there too. It had a very grey colour palate. Someone in the film may have had some kind of medical or psychological condition. I was young and remember not even particularly enjoying it (it was slow and not a lot happened) but for some reason it popped into my head recently and now it's driving me nuts. Any help would be appreciated.

I finally found out that the film was Hal Hartley's 'Trust' and another mystery is solved.

Maybe Hartley's really not for you, but I hope you'll give Trust another try sometime. If only because that description above is so off in so many ways that it's no wonder nobody who read it could help you. Trust is pretty solidly a comedy, even if the characters have serious problems like teen pregnancy (Maria), dangerous anger management issues/suicidal depression (Matthew) and existential loneliness (pretty much all the characters). It's also a way more colorful and eventful film than you remember. Anyway, the film stuck with you for some reason and there's a perfect opportunity to revisit it in the great looking new Blu-ray out from Olive Films.

[Costas]

Maybe Hartley's really not for you, but I hope you'll give Trust another try sometime. If only because that description above is so off in so many ways that it's no wonder nobody who read it could help you. Trust is pretty solidly a comedy, even if the characters have serious problems like teen pregnancy (Maria), dangerous anger management issues/suicidal depression (Matthew) and existential loneliness (pretty much all the characters). It's also a way more colorful and eventful film than you remember. Anyway, the film stuck with you for some reason and there's a perfect opportunity to revisit it in the great looking new Blu-ray out from Olive Films.

I intend revisiting it for sure. Being no more than 14 when I watched it, a lot of it likely sailed over my head.

[Frumaster]

What is the movie in Crimes and Misdemeanors that Woody and the little girl see in the theater? It has Miriam Hopkins in it, saying something about being "thrown aside like a squeezed lemon".

[Black Hat]

I'm a big fan of the early 80s Scottish band The Associates but have no idea what film someone used to edit with one of their best songs.