Category: 1980s
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In the 1970s, it was common for thrillers to depict New York City as a hive of scum and villainy. Taxi Driver (1976) is perhaps the most famous example of this. But while Taxi Driver is now regarded as a modern classic for portraying the chaotic mind of a Vietnam War veteran struggling to forge…
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Grave of the Fireflies (1988) defines itself as a relentlessly grim film from start to end. The opening scene sees siblings Seita and Setsuko run frantically through Kobe as it is firebombed, and while they make it out alive, they are nevertheless terrified. When Seita learns that their mother died during the attack, he and…
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Akira Kurosawa pulls off a perfect Japanese adaptation of Shakespeare in this beautiful classic. Hunters stand on rolling hills in the Japanese countryside. One finds three boars in the distance. They mount. They pursue. And soon, all three are dead. The main conflict in Akira Kurosawa’s Ran is not political, or even dynastical. It is,…
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Invasion U.S.A. might be one of the most ridiculous movies I’ve ever seen, but it was also ironically one of the most fun. There was something invigorating about what I was seeing onscreen, even though I knew it would be incredibly dangerous and traumatizing in real life. Although it wasn’t as stylish as Natural Born…
BEYOND THE FRAME 