The 1983 Mini-List

[swo17]

ELIGIBLE TITLES FOR 1983

VOTE THROUGH MAY 31

Please post in this thread if you think anything needs to change about the list of eligible titles.

[therewillbeblus]

Swo, can you please add Holy Flame of the Martial World (Chun-Ku Lu)?

[swo17]

Added

[domino harvey]

Swo, can you please add L'Ami de Vincent?

[swo17]

Added

[yoshimori]

Double-feature (performance deathmatch?) for everyone:

Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley in Tender Mercies / Theresa Russell in Eureka

But my favorite '83 is undoubtedly Family Game.

[domino harvey]

Added

Merci! L'ami de Vincent is a film that's really stayed with me since I saw it. Philippe Noiret is called upon by his longtime friend Jean Rochefort to investigate which of Rochefort's exes is out to kill him. Along the way, a more universal theme emerges of how unknowable the people in our lives, even those closest to us, truly are, as Noiret discovers in his journey that contrary to his assumptions, he knows nearly nothing about his best friend. A great exploration of how so many friendships we have as adults are shallow and surface-level by design

[Solaris]

Missing Australian classic BMX Bandits - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085204/

[swo17]

Added

[Solaris]

thanks
also missing Ermanno Olmi's Camminacammina https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083713/

[swo17]

Added

[knives]

Got the cheat sheet in relatively early. Have my own recs of additions in waiting though.

[knives]

There’s a pair of completely unrelated Japanese films I’d love to see added to the list.

Gosha doesn’t change his style for Geisha, but the story is a far cry from the world of machismo he usually traffics in. It shows a straightforward looking brutalism that never feels punishing. In a way the film reminds me a bit of how Imamura changed the way that women are depicted in Japanese film during the ‘60s though replacing his anarchic spirit with ice.

The other film is deceptively minor in appearance, yet stunning all around. Unico in the Island of Magic takes Tezuka’s character so cute and full of pluck and essentially says what if every delightful thing about the Shoju genre’s success was born out of deep loneliness.

[swo17]

Added

[the preacher]

Missing darlings:
Balkan ekspres/Balkan Express/Branko Baletic
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085215/
Cross Creek/Martin Ritt
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085380/
Da qiao xia mian/Under the Bridge/Shen Bai
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0356499/
El harrif/The Street Player/Mohamed Khan
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327835/
Karnal/Of the Flesh/Marilou Diaz-Abaya
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312863/
Olivia/Ulli Lommel
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082841/

[knives]

Before this week my limited exposure to Barbara Hammer had me assuming she was a limited artist navigating her own attractions. Bent Time sent me down a massive rabbit hole showcasing one of the most outstanding talents of mid-20th century experimentalism. Really, in the seven films I sampled her thesis seems to be defining objects in space which I suppose makes this title a tad humourous.

Bent Time turned out to not even be the best film of hers from 1983. So far that title seems to go to Stone Circles which I ask Swo to please put on the list. It’s just so interesting to have a film recognizing ancient structures which we are used to for their intended purpose, lots of light play, while also thinking of them as exotic and bizarre.

[swo17]

I've added that and most of preacher's requests. I should note that Olivia was eligible for the 1981 list but no one voted for it then. I don't know how much that might have been because people weren't aware it was eligible. (I believe domino's a fan of it too?) My understanding is that the film was made in 1981 but not released until 1983. I'm not aware if it was suppressed in some way to cause the delay. Failing that, it probably more properly belongs to 1983 anyway. Does anyone have more information about this?

[domino harvey]

I do like Olivia, but not enough to vote for it in any year it's eligible

[the preacher]

C'mon, Olivia is the perfect example of Hitchcock-De Palma-80s slasher natural evolution... directed by a Warhol and Fassbinder disciple.

[domino harvey]

It does feature a death-by-toothbrush, so I guess there's always that going for it