A very surreal video shot behind the scenes during the production of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet in Wilmington North Carolina in 1985 by Peter Braatz.
Tag: 1980s
In this surreal comic confection, a traditional naniwa-bushi singer moves to Prohibition-era San Francisco. He goes in search of Al Capone, whom he mistakenly believes is president, hoping to impress the gangster with his singing and to popularize the art form in the States.
A close-up of Berlin coal carriers from Prenzlauer Berg. No portrayal of heroic workers or progress here. Instead, bright, deeply-felt sketches of rough men and their resolute female boss.
As the Nazis increase their stranglehold in Europe and enter World War II, millions of Jews are senselessly killed. The least likely ally during this time would be a German businessman, especially one who joined the Nazi Party to maintain the status quo. But as this documentary demonstrates, by employing Jews in his factory, Oskar Schindler becomes a hero, saving the lives of hundreds of Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia from the horrors of ethnic cleansing.
Hailed by Susan Sontag as “the most important experimental filmmaker of his generation,” Medea is the Dutch master’s strident, confrontational take on the Euripides tragedy, performed and adapted for stage by Ganci Geraedts and Josee Ruiter.
A surreal odyssey in which a melancholic maidservant crosses paths with a homicidal little boy, travels to a tiny island of pirates and encounters a man with multiple personalities.
The scene is a pre-French Revolution Bastille, where various political prisoners are being held: a woman who was raped and impregnated by the king, a police chief who was accused of selling bad pork, and the Marquis, who was unjustly accused of working for the overthrow of the king. The Marquis is only interested in writing his deviant stories, while his penis yearns for a little action (they argue about this frequently), the prime candidate being the jailer who likes to be buggered. The corrupt priest arranges to have the pregnant woman raped by the Marquis so they can claim the king had nothing to do with it. The priest also steals the Marquis’ manuscripts and publishes them for his own profit. Things come to a head as the people rise up against the tyranny.
Don Pedro, a widowed poet, makes his living penning love letters for those who are too hesitant or tongue-tied to express their heart’s devotion. However, trouble arises when he is hired to scribe sweet nothings to the beautiful Maria, the lady love of a besotted but blundering hot air balloonist named Juan. Before long, the writer falls for the deceived Maria, which results in a troubling love triangle.