1980s List Discussion and Suggestions (Lists Project Vol. 3)
Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:50 am
VOTING CLOSED. RESULTS CAN BE FOUND HERE.
If you are reading this sentence, you are eligible to participate in our forum's latest decades lists project exploring the films of the 1980s. If you know anyone adventurous enough--on or off the forum--that you think would also enjoy participating, feel free to invite them as well.
Please PM me your list of what you believe are the top 50 films from the decade toward the end of the project. You may feel that you could compile a list of 50 favorite films from this period much earlier than the deadline, but it's still highly recommended that you engage in the discussions here. Don't keep your favorites a secret, and always be open to suggestions from others!
THE RULES
1) Each individual list is to comprise no more or less than 50 films, ranked in your order of preference (with no ties). If you haven't yet seen 50 films from the decade that you think are genuinely great (or even if you have), please take advantage of the resources listed below and participate in the ongoing discussions to find films that you can be proud to put on your list.
2) Any feature film, documentary, experimental film, short film, music video, TV miniseries, TV movie, TV special, or isolated episode from an anthology TV series released in the 1980s (1980-1989) is eligible.
3) The date given on IMDb is the relevant date for determining a film's year of release, even when it's clearly wrong (unless a special case is made below). If the film is not on IMDb and you say it was released during the 1980s, I'll take your word for it.
4) In certain cases, it may be appropriate for films that are technically separate to be combined, or for films that are technically combined to be separated. In such cases, you may vote for either a part or the whole, but bear in mind that all votes will be competing against each other (e.g. a vote for Ivan the Terrible Pt. 1 will not count toward the vote for Ivan the Terrible in the final tally). Generally, if multiple films are allowed to be combined for voting purposes, you should probably vote for them that way unless you are strongly opposed to doing so. The most common cases:
• Single-director multi-part films for which each segment was released separately (e.g. Feuillade's serials, Lang's two-part epics) may be considered as a single film. Films included in trilogies may not be combined.
• Variant edits: For films that exist in multiple versions (e.g. Welles' Mr. Arkadin, Rivette's Out 1), all votes that don't specify a "secondary" version will be counted toward the "primary" version.
• Portmanteau films: Each of the individual segments and the film as a whole are all separately eligible.
We may occasionally need to make a special case related to rule 3 or 4. If you are seriously considering including a film on your list that you have a question about in this regard, bring it up in this thread and we'll iron it out. However, I will not make any further exceptions during the last week of the project.
For more details about rules and procedures, please refer here.
Finally, though it is not strictly required, it is recommended that you include titles for films that you discuss in this thread in bold, as it will help the film titles stick out amidst all of the other information that will inevitably pile up in this thread. If you particularly like a film, you might even highlight it in another color.
ELIGIBILITY – REMINDERS / SPECIAL CASES
The following are examples of multi-part films that are eligible to be voted for as a single film: Heimat, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Dekalog, Shoah, Fanny and Alexander, Manoel on the Island of Marvels, Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources.
Dekalog, A Short Film About Love, and A Short Film About Killing are each separately eligible.
The Terence Davies Trilogy is not eligible, even though IMDb has a separate entry for it. The two '80s films from the trilogy are, of course, separately eligible.
The Living Planet and Eyes on the Prize are eligible as miniseries, even though IMDb calls them TV series.
Histoire(s) du cinéma will be eligible during the 1990s project, so it's ineligible now.
The following films may be cited as 1980s releases in some places, but not on IMDb, and so are not eligible for this list: Gates of Heaven, Siberiade, Grass Labyrinth, Buffet froid, Autumn Marathon, Tale of Tales, Two Wondrous Tigers, Moscow Distrusts Tears, S'en fout la mort, Sink or Swim, The Guard, Cabeza de Vaca, A Intrusa, Korova, Bashu the Little Stranger, Dias Melhores Virão, Only Yesterday, Chiedo asilo, Twin Peaks: Pilot, L'Enfant secret
The following films are cited as 1980s films on IMDb, and so are eligible for this list, regardless of what anyone else might say: Poto and Cabengo, Stations of the Elevated, The Falls, New York Portrait II, Confidence, Build a House Plant a Tree, How to Live, The Fog, The Beyond, Breaker Morant, Warsaw Bridge, Arrebato, Pièce touchée, Ilha das Flores, Darkness Light Darkness, The Runner, Horse Thief, Merry-Go-Round, Tongues Untied, Freeze Die Come to Life, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Architecture of Doom
RESOURCES
Past Forum Discussions
Discussion from the Forum's Prior 1980s Project
Defending of Sad Pandas from the Forum's Prior 1980s Project
Defending of Sad Pandas from the Forum's First 1980s Project
Discussion from the Forum's Genre List Projects
Discussion from the Forum's Shorts List Project
The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture 1969-Present
100 Russian and Eastern European Classics
Premium Cable Staples Worth Revisiting
Cheesy 1980s Comedies
Forum Discussions of International DVDs
African / Bulgarian / Chinese / Cuban / Czech / Dutch / Finnish / German / Hungarian / Norwegian / Polish / Romanian / South American / Swedish / Turkish / Ukrainian / Yugoslavian
Forum Discussions of Filmmakers Active During the 1980s
Woody Allen / Pedro Almodovar / Robert Altman / Theo Angelopoulos / Michelangelo Antonioni / Dario Argento / Ingmar Bergman / Bernardo Bertolucci / John Boorman / Robert Bresson / Leos Carax / John Carpenter / Claude Chabrol / Chen Kaige / Michael Cimino / Alan Clarke / Joel & Ethan Coen / Larry Cohen / David Cronenberg / Brian de Palma / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / Federico Fellini / Jess Franco / Terry Gilliam / Jean-Luc Godard / Peter Greenaway / Dennis Hopper / Hou Hsiao-hsien / John Huston / Shōhei Imamura / Krzysztof Kieślowski / Alexander Kluge / John Krish / Stanley Kubrick / Akira Kurosawa / Spike Lee / Sergio Leone / Sidney Lumet / David Lynch / Louis Malle / David Mamet / Michael Mann / Hayao Miyazaki / Errol Morris / Kira Muratova / Sergei Parajanov / Arthur Penn / Roman Polański / Satyajit Ray / Alain Resnais / Glauber Rocha / Nicolas Roeg / George Romero / Raúl Ruiz / Martin Scorsese / Ousmane Sembène / Jerzy Skolimowski / Aleksandr Sokurov / Jan Švankmajer / Andrei Tarkovsky / Béla Tarr / Bertrand Tavernier / Jan Troell / François Truffaut / Agnès Varda / Andrzej Wajda / John Waters / Edward Yang / Zhang Yimou
Guides Within This Thread
Do you feel you have an especially informed opinion about the work during the 1980s from a particular director, country, genre, etc.? Many people here would greatly appreciate your taking the time to prepare a guide for navigating through all that's available. (Though they do not necessarily need to be comprehensive.) Guides are especially welcome for extremely prolific directors/movements, or to summarize availability for films (such as shorts) that are often hidden away on releases for other films or only available on the web. Past examples: Director Guide, Country Guide, Genre Guide, DVD Availability Guide
bamwc2 on Spielberg, Verhoeven
Tommaso on Nina Menkes
YnEoS on Rachel Zen
Satori on Duras and Costa-Gavras
AWAITING FURTHER GUIDES
External Resources
A list of films from the 1980s appearing on They Shoot Pictures, Don't They's Top 1000 or Doubling the Canon lists
(This list is by no means comprehensive, but can serve as a good reminder of some of the more prominent films that are eligible from this decade. Conversely, if you love a film that doesn't show up here, that might be a good indicator that it could use an extra push.)
2014 Doubling the Canon update
National lists
LoveHKFilms.com's 101 Hong Kong Films from the 1980s
Cahiers du Cinema's Top 10 lists for the decade
AWAITING FURTHER SUGGESTIONS
Recommended Reading
AWAITING SUGGESTIONS
FORUM MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS
Is there a film you love that you fear is under most people's radar? Try shining a light on it! To inaugurate a film into the spotlight section, just follow these three simple steps:
1. Make a post about the film discussing why you find it so exceptional.
2. Clearly indicate that you wish the film to be one of your spotlight titles.
3. Direct others to where the film can be found.
I'll keep track of all the spotlight titles here so that they can be easily referenced. You're welcome to have more than one spotlight title, but try not to have too many more, so it's manageable for everyone to be able to see them all. Remember: This might be the only time someone goes out on a limb to take one of your recommendations, so make it count!
Everyone is strongly encouraged to give each of these films the same chance that you would hope others would give your own spotlight titles.
Alphabet City (Amos Poe) (knives)
The Annunciation (András Jeles) (domino harvey)
True Stories (David Byrne) (matrixschmatrix)
Interrogation (Ryszard Bugajski) (bamwc2)
Chameleon Street (Wendell Harris) (bamwc2)
Long Arm of the Law (Johnny Mak) (Cold Bishop)
Betrayal (David Hugh Jones) (Black Hat)
Sleepwalk (Sara Driver) (Black Hat)
Nadine (Robert Benton) (domino harvey)
The Terrorizer (Edward Yang) (zedz)
Camp De Thiaroye (Ousmane Sembene) (thirtyframesasecond)
Cycling the Frame (Cynthia Beatt) (Tommaso)
Oro, Plata, Mata (Peque Gallaga) (the preacher)
Return to Oz (Walter Murch) (Feego)
Thunder (Takashi Itō) (swo17)
Mammame (Raúl Ruiz) (swo17)
The Sword (Patrick Tam) (Cold Bishop
AWAITING FURTHER SUGGESTIONS
DESPERATELY SEEKING SO AND SO
Is there a film you're dying to see but you've exhausted all possible avenues for finding it and still come up short? List it here and perhaps some kind soul will be able to direct you to a copy by PM. Please limit listings here to only a few films that you're most desperate to see.
knives is seeking:
Cat Chaser (Ferrara) uncut, and in correct AR
ANYONE ELSE?
***Please PM me if you have any suggestions for additions to/deletions from this first post.***
If you are reading this sentence, you are eligible to participate in our forum's latest decades lists project exploring the films of the 1980s. If you know anyone adventurous enough--on or off the forum--that you think would also enjoy participating, feel free to invite them as well.
Please PM me your list of what you believe are the top 50 films from the decade toward the end of the project. You may feel that you could compile a list of 50 favorite films from this period much earlier than the deadline, but it's still highly recommended that you engage in the discussions here. Don't keep your favorites a secret, and always be open to suggestions from others!
THE RULES
1) Each individual list is to comprise no more or less than 50 films, ranked in your order of preference (with no ties). If you haven't yet seen 50 films from the decade that you think are genuinely great (or even if you have), please take advantage of the resources listed below and participate in the ongoing discussions to find films that you can be proud to put on your list.
2) Any feature film, documentary, experimental film, short film, music video, TV miniseries, TV movie, TV special, or isolated episode from an anthology TV series released in the 1980s (1980-1989) is eligible.
3) The date given on IMDb is the relevant date for determining a film's year of release, even when it's clearly wrong (unless a special case is made below). If the film is not on IMDb and you say it was released during the 1980s, I'll take your word for it.
4) In certain cases, it may be appropriate for films that are technically separate to be combined, or for films that are technically combined to be separated. In such cases, you may vote for either a part or the whole, but bear in mind that all votes will be competing against each other (e.g. a vote for Ivan the Terrible Pt. 1 will not count toward the vote for Ivan the Terrible in the final tally). Generally, if multiple films are allowed to be combined for voting purposes, you should probably vote for them that way unless you are strongly opposed to doing so. The most common cases:
• Single-director multi-part films for which each segment was released separately (e.g. Feuillade's serials, Lang's two-part epics) may be considered as a single film. Films included in trilogies may not be combined.
• Variant edits: For films that exist in multiple versions (e.g. Welles' Mr. Arkadin, Rivette's Out 1), all votes that don't specify a "secondary" version will be counted toward the "primary" version.
• Portmanteau films: Each of the individual segments and the film as a whole are all separately eligible.
We may occasionally need to make a special case related to rule 3 or 4. If you are seriously considering including a film on your list that you have a question about in this regard, bring it up in this thread and we'll iron it out. However, I will not make any further exceptions during the last week of the project.
For more details about rules and procedures, please refer here.
Finally, though it is not strictly required, it is recommended that you include titles for films that you discuss in this thread in bold, as it will help the film titles stick out amidst all of the other information that will inevitably pile up in this thread. If you particularly like a film, you might even highlight it in another color.
ELIGIBILITY – REMINDERS / SPECIAL CASES
The following are examples of multi-part films that are eligible to be voted for as a single film: Heimat, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Dekalog, Shoah, Fanny and Alexander, Manoel on the Island of Marvels, Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources.
Dekalog, A Short Film About Love, and A Short Film About Killing are each separately eligible.
The Terence Davies Trilogy is not eligible, even though IMDb has a separate entry for it. The two '80s films from the trilogy are, of course, separately eligible.
The Living Planet and Eyes on the Prize are eligible as miniseries, even though IMDb calls them TV series.
Histoire(s) du cinéma will be eligible during the 1990s project, so it's ineligible now.
The following films may be cited as 1980s releases in some places, but not on IMDb, and so are not eligible for this list: Gates of Heaven, Siberiade, Grass Labyrinth, Buffet froid, Autumn Marathon, Tale of Tales, Two Wondrous Tigers, Moscow Distrusts Tears, S'en fout la mort, Sink or Swim, The Guard, Cabeza de Vaca, A Intrusa, Korova, Bashu the Little Stranger, Dias Melhores Virão, Only Yesterday, Chiedo asilo, Twin Peaks: Pilot, L'Enfant secret
The following films are cited as 1980s films on IMDb, and so are eligible for this list, regardless of what anyone else might say: Poto and Cabengo, Stations of the Elevated, The Falls, New York Portrait II, Confidence, Build a House Plant a Tree, How to Live, The Fog, The Beyond, Breaker Morant, Warsaw Bridge, Arrebato, Pièce touchée, Ilha das Flores, Darkness Light Darkness, The Runner, Horse Thief, Merry-Go-Round, Tongues Untied, Freeze Die Come to Life, Crimes and Misdemeanors, The Architecture of Doom
RESOURCES
Past Forum Discussions
Discussion from the Forum's Prior 1980s Project
Defending of Sad Pandas from the Forum's Prior 1980s Project
Defending of Sad Pandas from the Forum's First 1980s Project
Discussion from the Forum's Genre List Projects
Discussion from the Forum's Shorts List Project
The Alternate Oscars: Best Picture 1969-Present
100 Russian and Eastern European Classics
Premium Cable Staples Worth Revisiting
Cheesy 1980s Comedies
Forum Discussions of International DVDs
African / Bulgarian / Chinese / Cuban / Czech / Dutch / Finnish / German / Hungarian / Norwegian / Polish / Romanian / South American / Swedish / Turkish / Ukrainian / Yugoslavian
Forum Discussions of Filmmakers Active During the 1980s
Woody Allen / Pedro Almodovar / Robert Altman / Theo Angelopoulos / Michelangelo Antonioni / Dario Argento / Ingmar Bergman / Bernardo Bertolucci / John Boorman / Robert Bresson / Leos Carax / John Carpenter / Claude Chabrol / Chen Kaige / Michael Cimino / Alan Clarke / Joel & Ethan Coen / Larry Cohen / David Cronenberg / Brian de Palma / Rainer Werner Fassbinder / Federico Fellini / Jess Franco / Terry Gilliam / Jean-Luc Godard / Peter Greenaway / Dennis Hopper / Hou Hsiao-hsien / John Huston / Shōhei Imamura / Krzysztof Kieślowski / Alexander Kluge / John Krish / Stanley Kubrick / Akira Kurosawa / Spike Lee / Sergio Leone / Sidney Lumet / David Lynch / Louis Malle / David Mamet / Michael Mann / Hayao Miyazaki / Errol Morris / Kira Muratova / Sergei Parajanov / Arthur Penn / Roman Polański / Satyajit Ray / Alain Resnais / Glauber Rocha / Nicolas Roeg / George Romero / Raúl Ruiz / Martin Scorsese / Ousmane Sembène / Jerzy Skolimowski / Aleksandr Sokurov / Jan Švankmajer / Andrei Tarkovsky / Béla Tarr / Bertrand Tavernier / Jan Troell / François Truffaut / Agnès Varda / Andrzej Wajda / John Waters / Edward Yang / Zhang Yimou
Guides Within This Thread
Do you feel you have an especially informed opinion about the work during the 1980s from a particular director, country, genre, etc.? Many people here would greatly appreciate your taking the time to prepare a guide for navigating through all that's available. (Though they do not necessarily need to be comprehensive.) Guides are especially welcome for extremely prolific directors/movements, or to summarize availability for films (such as shorts) that are often hidden away on releases for other films or only available on the web. Past examples: Director Guide, Country Guide, Genre Guide, DVD Availability Guide
bamwc2 on Spielberg, Verhoeven
Tommaso on Nina Menkes
YnEoS on Rachel Zen
Satori on Duras and Costa-Gavras
AWAITING FURTHER GUIDES
External Resources
A list of films from the 1980s appearing on They Shoot Pictures, Don't They's Top 1000 or Doubling the Canon lists
(This list is by no means comprehensive, but can serve as a good reminder of some of the more prominent films that are eligible from this decade. Conversely, if you love a film that doesn't show up here, that might be a good indicator that it could use an extra push.)
2014 Doubling the Canon update
National lists
LoveHKFilms.com's 101 Hong Kong Films from the 1980s
Cahiers du Cinema's Top 10 lists for the decade
AWAITING FURTHER SUGGESTIONS
Recommended Reading
AWAITING SUGGESTIONS
FORUM MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS
Is there a film you love that you fear is under most people's radar? Try shining a light on it! To inaugurate a film into the spotlight section, just follow these three simple steps:
1. Make a post about the film discussing why you find it so exceptional.
2. Clearly indicate that you wish the film to be one of your spotlight titles.
3. Direct others to where the film can be found.
I'll keep track of all the spotlight titles here so that they can be easily referenced. You're welcome to have more than one spotlight title, but try not to have too many more, so it's manageable for everyone to be able to see them all. Remember: This might be the only time someone goes out on a limb to take one of your recommendations, so make it count!
Everyone is strongly encouraged to give each of these films the same chance that you would hope others would give your own spotlight titles.
Alphabet City (Amos Poe) (knives)
The Annunciation (András Jeles) (domino harvey)
True Stories (David Byrne) (matrixschmatrix)
Interrogation (Ryszard Bugajski) (bamwc2)
Chameleon Street (Wendell Harris) (bamwc2)
Long Arm of the Law (Johnny Mak) (Cold Bishop)
Betrayal (David Hugh Jones) (Black Hat)
Sleepwalk (Sara Driver) (Black Hat)
Nadine (Robert Benton) (domino harvey)
The Terrorizer (Edward Yang) (zedz)
Camp De Thiaroye (Ousmane Sembene) (thirtyframesasecond)
Cycling the Frame (Cynthia Beatt) (Tommaso)
Oro, Plata, Mata (Peque Gallaga) (the preacher)
Return to Oz (Walter Murch) (Feego)
Thunder (Takashi Itō) (swo17)
Mammame (Raúl Ruiz) (swo17)
The Sword (Patrick Tam) (Cold Bishop
AWAITING FURTHER SUGGESTIONS
DESPERATELY SEEKING SO AND SO
Is there a film you're dying to see but you've exhausted all possible avenues for finding it and still come up short? List it here and perhaps some kind soul will be able to direct you to a copy by PM. Please limit listings here to only a few films that you're most desperate to see.
knives is seeking:
Cat Chaser (Ferrara) uncut, and in correct AR
ANYONE ELSE?
***Please PM me if you have any suggestions for additions to/deletions from this first post.***