1980s List Discussion and Suggestions (Lists Project Vol. 3)

[Tommaso]

Thanks for the reminder, and especially the eligibility list. It may be old hat, but just let me note that Rivette's Merry-Go-Round is technically a 1980s film, even though it was made in 1977 and then shelved only to be released after Pont du Nord in 1981. I'm only mentioning this because I'd have almost forgotten to put it on my list as I always think of it as a 70s film, closely related to "Duelle" and "Noroit" (which it is, actually).

[domino harvey]

I went strong and got burned out on the 80s even though I have boxes of unwatched titles still, but I've gone ahead and submitted my list since I know I'm more focused with working on the War List for right now, with some occasional detours for 90s advance viewings. Like all my lists of late, it skews more American than my previous version of this list, which is due more to my growing interest/exposure/exploration into American trends, output, and themes as I determine what gets watched and what gets looked at more closely. Only 24/50 of my previous 80s list appears again on this ballot. Not too many repeat names here, but as could probably be expected, the most-represented directors on my list are Woody Allen and Jean-Luc Godard with three titles each.

[zedz]

I've submitted an early list too, since I'll be on holiday when it's actually due. I hope I get a chance to improve and revise it, but I've gone with a quick and dirty shuffle as the default in case I don't. Seven directors appear on the list more than once, accounting for thirteen films (take that, maths fans!), and one of them has three films on my list (Hou). I don't know whether five or seven of the films on my list are animated. Seven American films are on my list, but only two of those are Hollywood fiction films. I believe I've already announced the identity and positions of my number one and my number fifty.

[Tommaso]

I hesitate to submit my list yet, even though it's basically finished and I already have a list of 'extra' films which didn't make it on my list, which hasn't been that long since the 30s list. The films that won't make it include the two Carax films, Hou's "City of Sadness", and also Jeles' "The Annunciation", all of which I find pretty great nevertheless. But the 80s seem to have been a particularly rich period of filmmaking indeed, and I'll try to check out a few more films in the coming four weeks. But what I can already say is that there are three directors whose complete output of the decade will be included on my list (two, two, and five films, respectively).

[knives]

Yes, coming in to the list I felt that the old thing about this decade being the weakest for film was true, but I'm finding under the obvious rocks are some truly amazing works with my kicking off most of what I assumed would be sure things at the start.

[YnEoS]

I didn't get to view as much as I had wanted to put together a decent 1980s list, but I look forward to seeing the results. Hoping to get a head start on the v4.0 list project so I'll be able to submit a list for each of the decades the next time around.

[Tommaso]

Yes, coming in to the list I felt that the old thing about this decade being the weakest for film was true, but I'm finding under the obvious rocks are some truly amazing works with my kicking off most of what I assumed would be sure things at the start.

Hehe, this is somewhat similar to the popular saying that the 80s were a terrible period for music. The exact opposite is true if you look beyond the mainstream.

[knives]

I had never heard it applied to music with the saying usually being something along the lines of Thatcher being the best thing to ever happen to pop.

[Tommaso]

Hmm, right, of course. But most people I know think that 80s music is represented by the likes of Kim Wilde, Duran Duran, or Michael Jackson. While I rather have Cocteau Twins, The Passage, Coil and many others in mind. And yes, Thatcher inspired both Paul Weller's Style Council as well as Test Dept. ("Extreme conditions demand extreme responses") to some of their best tracks...

[zedz]

Speaking of 'essence of 80s', I'm working my way through Peter Watkins' The Journey at the moment, and it's incredibly evocative of the era for me. I'd only previously seen bits and pieces of it, but it really is a compendium of (leftist) intellectual preoccupations of the time, for better or worse.

[swo17]

I'm going to have to Spotlight: Mammame by Raúl Ruiz. The copy floating around in the ether looks like it's been soaking in ether for too long, but something glorious still manages to shine through. This is in one sense "just" a filmed performance of a modern dance troupe, so there's no real story or dialogue to speak of (plenty of grunting and chanting though), but I don't think I've ever seen a director make such a film more his own. This is unmistakably an '80s Ruiz film, and, I wager, one of the best (of the nine I've seen anyway, which is still less than one-fourth of his output from the decade!) It obviously couldn't have been just a straight filmed performance, given all the, er, Ruizian ways that he frames and shoots the dancers, as well as an extended finale that breaks from the film's previous reality in a sequence that's as playful and sublime as the ending to Le Pont du Nord. Perhaps most importantly though, the film doesn't suffer from the same "in a similar vein to but not quite as amazing as City of Pirates" ailment that dogs several of his other films, so I don't feel the least bit redundant including it on my list.

Also, notably, Jonathan Rosenbaum called this Ruiz's first incontestable masterpiece. He's only half wrong.

Some other late recommendations:

Housekeeping (Bill Forsyth)
This is unfortunately one of those movies about a free spirit who raises the children put in her care in a quirky, unconventional way, but what sets this one apart is how dangerous and alienating her methods are shown to be, so that when people from around town start to show concern for the children near the end, they don't come across as mere cookie-cutter bad guys. And yet, because this is a Forsyth film, the reckless mother figure here is an incredibly warm and likeable character, and there are plenty of wonderful moments of understated comedy throughout.

Times Square (Allan Moyle)
I could have sworn that someone from the forum recommended this film before, but I'm not seeing that now when I perform a search. (If nothing else though, now I know where one of tarpilot's old avatars came from!) Anyway, aside from all of the radio DJ stuff with Tim Curry that bears no resemblance to reality, this seemed to me like a very true-to-life depiction of early '80s teen angst (which I can say with some authority since I was two years old at the time), aided in no small part by a fantastic, heartrending performance from Robin Johnson (in a breakout role that didn't take her very far, though she did land a part in After Hours) and a great pop/rock/punk soundtrack to boot.

Alpine Fire (Fredi Murer)
This Swiss film follows a small family closed off from the world on their secluded, scenic farmland, passing the time by doing chores and occasionally engaging in incest. So far so good. But nothing to prepare you for the ending, which features a deeply haunting visual idea reminiscent of Parajanov or Ilyenko.

The Asthenic Syndrome (Kira Muratova)
Over films that criticize political leaders through harsh and biting comedy (e.g. the pretty great Repentance), I think I prefer a film like this, which posits that everyone (even you, reading this right now) is irredeemably terrible. In spite of all of the memorable comedic moments, the images that stick with me most are from the infamous "idyllic lovemaking sculpture" scene, which turns out to be several shots of eager, lanky men lumbering over an open frame, followed by a single shot of a defenseless woman cowering in a corner. We are all monsters.

[knives]

Though I can't compare it to the Ruiz, based on your comments it sounds like you should check out De Palma's Dionysus from the '60s which likewise is 'just' a filmed theater performance, but done in a way that is remarkably De Palma all the way.

[swo17]

Some quick thoughts on a couple of your spotlights:

Sleepwalk (Sara Driver)
I really like the feel of this film, which is exactly what you would expect given the Jarmusch and Tom Waits connections. And I absolutely love the score. Otherwise though, I do kind of feel like I already have these bases covered with the combination of Magdalena Viraga (bad acting elevated to high art) and Warsaw Bridge (a free associative cinematic dream). So I'm not sure I'll have room for it on my list, but I definitely second the recommendation.

The Annunciation (András Jeles)
And by the same token, I feel like I already have these bases covered with...um, no, nothing actually. A fever dream of the history of mankind as narrated by Li'l Satan to Li'l Adam and Eve as part of the knowledge gained by partaking of the forbidden fruit, this film seems to exist more or less in its own universe, evidenced in part perhaps by its only being available to us as a relic that's turned up somehow on YouTube or a bootleg DVD (keep an eye out for it on eBay!). I've seen other films from this director, which were clearly made in the country of Hungary, on the planet Earth, but I'm convinced that this one had to have been made during a brief stint when Jeles was in exile on another planet. So anyway, it's unique, sure, but is it also amazing? The answer to that question is a resounding yes, and a detailed reasoning for this can be found (as the guy from Warsaw Bridge would say) in the 100 minutes' worth of frames that constitute the film. I seriously hope everyone here has at least given this film a chance. It is a spotlight title after all, and there are only 16 of them this time around, so if you haven't made time to watch all of them that are available to you...well, you still have about 3-1/2 weeks to rectify this.

[FerdinandGriffon]

Kaneko Shusuke's Summer Vacation 1999. Ostensibly set in 1999, the film is very distinctly from 1988, and the setting most closely resembles the 1940s, though with the intermittent appearance of technology that is simultaneously futuristic and functionally outdated (including an enormous record player with about four times the necessary number of moving parts). But the title is just the first of many misdirections; the characters are adolescent boys, but played by young women; their names are Japanese, but the architecture and customs depicted are distinctly European; innocent childish games are the covert expressions of sexual obsession and suicidal impulses. At times I was reminded of Somai's Typhoon Club, Sugii's Night on the Galactic Railroad and Bioy Casares' The Invention of Morel, but the sheer unlikeliness of the particular components of Summer Vacation 1999 make it almost frustratingly unique: one really doesn't know what to do with it, what to relate it to, how to regard it except as a bizarro relic of some yet to be recovered errant point in the space-time continuum. That doesn't change the fact that I loved watching it. Looking over Shusuke's filmography, it seems to mostly be made up of mainstream-ish manga adaptations and kaiju flicks. Can anyone recommend other films of his past or pre- SV'99? I have very little experience with kaiju (really just the original Godzilla and the first Ultraman series) and am reluctant to take a risk on these without strong urging.

I also recommend Momus' lovely 1992 homage, with sampled dialogue and a Britishized title, Summer Holiday 1999.

[Michael Kerpan]

I recommend Both Kaneko's neo-Gamera series and his Death Note 1 and 2. I'd love to see more of his work. Has his Summer Vacation come out on (subbed) DVD?

[FerdinandGriffon]

Thanks Michael. And no, I watched the film through back channels. Very annoyed that I missed a nearby 35mm screening a few months ago.

[Michael Kerpan]

BTW -- Gamera 3 and Death Note 2 are the best of the Kaneko films I've seen, but seeing the preceding films is pretty essential, I suspect. His neo-Godzilla film is also decent.

[FerdinandGriffon]

Good to know. If there was a subtitled copy of his first Gamera I'd probably start there, but since there isn't, I'll fast-forward to the Death Note films. I have a second hand familiarity with the manga.

By the way, what do you make of Summer Vacation 1999's ending?

Spoiler

Is the film a Marienbad-ish loop, a plastic narrative doomed to infinitely repeat itself, or are the protagonists in fact ghosts, re-enacting or working out their lived traumas and eventual suicides in some limbo-purgatory, similar to Klossowski's The Baphomet?

[Michael Kerpan]

The Gamera set was available dirt cheap last time I looked. (Newegg still has the set for $10.00).

Kaneko was given a pretty free hand in adapting the Death Note manga. I think his conclusion is more moving than the source.

Never seen Summer Vacation, alas.

[The Narrator Returns]

I'm hoping September is up to snuff so I can extend that streak into Crimes and Misdemeanors, though I fully realize that outcome is highly unlikely, given that not even extreme Woody Allen apologists have any use for September.

September (Woody Allen, 1987) And I know why the apologists can't go to bat for it. This is the movie people who hate Interiors saw in it, a stuffy, airless chamber piece about vaguely-defined characters going off into well-written but contextfree monologues. I will give it that the Elaine Stritch stuff is very good (Stritch really sinks her teeth into the movie's best monologue, about getting older), and I agree with knives that it is beautiful, but if I'm looking to watch a serious Allen movie from this time period, I'm reaching for Another Woman 10 times out of 10.

[swo17]

L'Argent (Robert Bresson)
I had an epiphany rewatching this last week: It's not just about money, but paper. This is the thing that takes us that one depersonalizing step away from face-to-face interaction that either enables or perhaps encourages our worst behavior against others, whether it's counterfeit money that we pass off to others not caring about the consequences, a letter that breaks devastating news that should really be delivered in person, or a bureaucratic justice system that considers its hands tied in following certain protocols instead of recognizing each accused person's individual circumstances and giving each case the personal touch. Elsewhere, paper makes clear the distance between people, like the disinterest between the rich parents and their spoiled child (whose only interactions seem to be to either withhold or provide money), the Robin Hood character who claims to be a man of the people despite doing so through isolating antisocial behavior, or the pictures of loved ones that take their place after you've been separated from them. Taking this idea of depersonalization out to its logical extreme, we begin to see each other not as people, but as mere receptacles of money, worth more for the cash in the drawer than, say, the kindness that we're willing to show a stranger. These are the same arguments that people are making now about modern technology, but this dark, selfish side of human nature has always been there, latching itself onto one thing or another.

Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (Éric Rohmer)
Are you having trouble choosing between the six comedies and proverbs? Would you believe me if I said that you could have them all in one film? (One of these adventures is really three, so there you go.) All of the episodes that make up this film are in turns charming, whimsical, thought-provoking, and profound, ending with small but powerful moral victories. And for this particular jaunt through the Rohmerverse, you couldn't ask for two more adorable guides.

Manoël on the Island of Marvels (Raúl Ruiz)
When you last heard me gushing about Ruiz, I hadn't yet gotten around to rewatching this little island of marvels. Let me correct that now. I read in a review somewhere that in making a children's film, Ruiz had to distill his dreamlike wanderings into their essence, leaving us with his most accessible and purely Ruizian film. I think I agree with this, as Manoël now seems like the easy answer for anyone asking where to start with Ruiz. (I mean, other than the fact that the only way to see it is off a rip from an old Australian TV broadcast.) So many wonderful images and digressions throughout--when you look up "imagination" in the dictionary, it should play you this movie.

Pee Wee's Big Adventure (Tim Burton)
And speaking of children's films...I haven't seen any praise for this one so far. You guys are aware that this is the '80s list, right? Do I need to call a town meeting about this?

[domino harvey]

I've been waiting for Pee Wee's Big Adventure to price drop but I'm eager to revisit it (and looking forward to that crazy Blu-ray set of his TV show). I can't remember if I voted for L'argent this round but it's def one of my favorite Bressons.

[swo17]

[domino harvey]

Ha! I suspected I did. Just goes to show how arbitrary most of this ranking process is!

[bamwc2]

Swo, it's not going to make my list, but as someone who grew up watching his Saturday morning television show I'll always love it. However, I am afraid that I'll be a little creeped out the next time that I watch it since one of the BMX kids grew up to be a murderer who was repeatedly featured on America's Most Wanted before being caught.