93 articles
House of Sleeping Beauties
House of Sleeping Beauties (Nemureru Bijo, 眠れる美女) is Yasunari Kawabata's 1961 novella about old men sleeping beside drugged young women, adapted into films including Vadim Glowna's 2006 German Das Haus der schlafenden Schönen.
In the Wild Mountains (野山)
In the Wild Mountains (野山, Ye shan) is a 1985 Chinese drama by Yan Xueshu, Xi'an Film Studio, adapted from Jia Pingwa's novel Jiwowa renjia; two Shaanxi farming couples divorce and remarry during rural reform, winning the 1986 Golden Rooster Best Picture.
Interrogation (1982 film)
Przesłuchanie (Interrogation), 1982 Polish political drama by Ryszard Bugajski; Stalinist-era cabaret singer Tonia Dziwisz jailed and tortured to sign a false confession; banned seven years, premiered December 1989, Krystyna Janda won Cannes Best Actress 1990.
Kisapmata
Kisapmata (In the Blink of an Eye) is Mike de Leon's 1981 Filipino psychological horror film based on Nick Joaquin's true-crime report "The House on Zapote Street," starring Vic Silayan and Charo Santos, read as a Marcos dictatorship allegory.
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985 film)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (O Beijo da Mulher Aranha), 1985 Héctor Babenco drama adapted from Manuel Puig's novel, starring William Hurt and Raul Julia as cellmates; Hurt won Cannes and Oscar Best Actor.
Kuei-mei, a Woman (我这样过了一生)
Kuei-mei, a Woman (我这样过了一生, 我這樣過了一生) is a 1985 Taiwanese drama by Chang Yi, adapted from Xiao Sa's novella Xiafei zhi Jia, starring Yang Hui-shan; it won four 1985 Golden Horse Awards and spans 25 years of a mainlander woman's life in Taipei.
La Colmena
La Colmena: 1951 postwar Madrid novel by Camilo José Cela, censored in Spain and first published in Buenos Aires, and its 1982 Mario Camus film adaptation that won the Berlin Golden Bear.
Legend of Tianyun Mountain (天云山传奇)
Legend of Tianyun Mountain (天云山传奇), 1980 Shanghai Film Studio drama directed by Xie Jin from Lu Yanzhou's novella; first Chinese film on the Anti-Rightist Campaign's excesses, first Golden Rooster Best Feature Film winner.
Making Love
Making Love is a 1982 American drama directed by Arthur Hiller, starring Michael Ontkean, Kate Jackson, and Harry Hamlin, about a married doctor confronting his attraction to men.
Mandala (만다라) (1981 film)
Mandala (만다라, 1981) is Im Kwon-taek's drama about two Buddhist monks, Beob-wun and Ji-san, based on Kim Seong-dong's novel; it won the 1981 Grand Bell Best Director award, screened at Berlin 1982, and ranks second in Korean film history polls.
Mommie Dearest (film)
Mommie Dearest is a 1981 American biographical drama directed by Frank Perry, starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford and Diana Scarwid as her daughter Christina, adapted from Christina Crawford's memoir.
Mon oncle d'Amérique
Mon oncle d'Amérique (My American Uncle) is a 1980 French film by Alain Resnais, written by Jean Gruault from Henri Laborit's behavioral theories, interweaving three lives with scientific commentary; it won the Cannes Grand Prix Spécial du Jury.
On Golden Pond (1981 film)
On Golden Pond is a 1981 American comedy-drama film directed by Mark Rydell, starring Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, and Jane Fonda as a family reconciling at a lake.
Ordinary People
Ordinary People (1980) is Robert Redford's directorial debut drama, adapted from Judith Guest's novel, about the grieving Jarrett family; it won four Oscars including Best Picture and made 20-year-old Timothy Hutton the youngest Supporting Actor winner.
Out of Africa (film)
Out of Africa is Sydney Pollack's 1985 romantic drama based on Karen Blixen's 1937 memoir, starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in colonial Kenya; it won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Paris, Texas (film)
Paris, Texas is Wim Wenders's 1984 Palme d'Or road movie, scripted by Sam Shepard, starring Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, and Dean Stockwell, photographed by Robby Müller with a Ry Cooder score, and restored in 4K in 2024.
Permanent Vacation
Permanent Vacation (1980) is Jim Jarmusch's debut feature, a $12,000 NYU thesis film following drifter Allie Parker through decaying Manhattan; rejected at NYU, honored at Mannheim, later a Criterion extra on Stranger Than Paradise.
Personal Best
Personal Best (1982) is Robert Towne's directorial debut, a sports drama starring Mariel Hemingway and real athlete Patrice Donnelly as lovers and Olympic pentathlon rivals; released Feb 5, 1982 by Warner Bros.
Places in the Heart
Places in the Heart is Robert Benton's 1984 TriStar drama set in Depression-era Waxahachie, Texas, starring Sally Field as widow Edna Spalding. It won two of seven Oscars, including Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.
Ragtime (film)
Ragtime (1981), also known as Miloš Forman's Ragtime, is an American drama adapted from E.L. Doctorow's 1975 novel, starring James Cagney and Howard E. Rollins Jr., with eight Oscar nominations and an 85% Tomatometer.
Repentance (1984 film)
Repentance (Monanieba, მონანიება) is Tengiz Abuladze's 1984 Georgian allegory of Stalinism, in which a dead tyrant's corpse is repeatedly exhumed; shelved until glasnost, it won the 1987 Cannes Grand Prix and six Nika Awards.
Return of the Secaucus 7
Return of the Secaucus 7 (also Return of the Secaucus Seven) is John Sayles's 1980 independent debut drama about seven former 1960s radicals reuniting in New Hampshire, made for about $60,000 and inducted into the National Film Registry in 1997.
Rumble Fish
Rumble Fish is a 1983 American drama film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, adapted from S. E. Hinton's novel and starring Matt Dillon and Mickey Rourke.
Sauve qui peut
Sauve qui peut, also released as Every Man for Himself and Slow Motion, is a 1980 French-Swiss drama directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Jacques Dutronc, Nathalie Baye, and Isabelle Huppert.
Shoot the Moon
Shoot the Moon is a 1982 divorce drama directed by Alan Parker, written by Bo Goldman, starring Albert Finney and Diane Keaton, set in Marin County, shown in competition at Cannes 1982.
Smithereens (1982 film)
Smithereens is Susan Seidelman's 1982 American independent debut drama, starring Susan Berman, Brad Rinn, and punk icon Richard Hell; shot on 16 mm in downtown New York, it was the first American indie to compete for the Palme d'Or at Cannes 1982.
Sophie's Choice (film)
Sophie's Choice (1982), Alan J. Pakula's adaptation of William Styron's novel, stars Meryl Streep as Holocaust survivor Sophie Zawistowska opposite Kevin Kline and Peter MacNicol; Streep won the Best Actress Oscar.
Special Bulletin
Special Bulletin (1983) is an NBC television drama directed by Edward Zwick and written by Marshall Herskovitz, a simulated live newscast of nuclear terrorism in Charleston, S.C.; it won four Emmys.
Star 80
Star 80 (1983) is Bob Fosse's final film, a biographical drama starring Mariel Hemingway and Eric Roberts as Dorothy Stratten and Paul Snider, whose 1980 murder-suicide it dramatizes; released by Warner Bros., it earned Roberts a Golden Globe nomination.
Suburbia (film)
Suburbia is a 1983 American drama thriller, the debut feature of writer-director Penelope Spheeris, starring Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne, and Flea, about teenage runaways squatting near Los Angeles.