By 1985 Hollywood had still only dabbled in movies about the ‘shame that cannot speak its name,’ and in every case the verdict for the transgressors was regret and misery, if not death. Donna Deitch’s brilliant drama achieves exactly what she wanted, to do make a movie about a lesbian relationship that doesn’t end in a tragedy.
Desert Hearts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 902
1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 14, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley, Andra Akers, Gwen Welles, Dean Butler, James Staley, Katie La Bourdette, Alex McArthur, Tyler Tyhurst, Denise Crosby, Antony Ponzini, Brenda Beck, Jeffrey Tambor.
Cinematography: Robert Elswit
Film Editor: Robert Estrin
Production Design: Jeannine Oppewall
Written by Natalie Cooper from the novel by Jane Rule
Produced and Directed by Donna Deitch
Desert Hearts is a fine movie that’s also one of the first features ever about a lesbian romance,...
Desert Hearts
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 902
1985 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 96 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date November 14, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Helen Shaver, Patricia Charbonneau, Audra Lindley, Andra Akers, Gwen Welles, Dean Butler, James Staley, Katie La Bourdette, Alex McArthur, Tyler Tyhurst, Denise Crosby, Antony Ponzini, Brenda Beck, Jeffrey Tambor.
Cinematography: Robert Elswit
Film Editor: Robert Estrin
Production Design: Jeannine Oppewall
Written by Natalie Cooper from the novel by Jane Rule
Produced and Directed by Donna Deitch
Desert Hearts is a fine movie that’s also one of the first features ever about a lesbian romance,...
- 11/7/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
John Frankenheimer ended a three year hiatus following his 1979 environmental horror/creature feature Prophecy with a commendable martial-arts effort, The Challenge (1982). Starring Scott Glenn in his first lead performance, the curiosity was co-written by John Sayles and also stars Japanese legend Toshiro Mifune (who had previously appeared in Frankenheimer’s 1966 film, Grand Prix). Though it ultimately proves to be a nonsensical narrative in its clash of East meets West and traditional values threatened by the consumer cravings of the modernized world, some fantastic fight sequences (a pre-fame Steven Seagal served as technical advisor) and superb lensing from famed cinematographer Kozo Okazaki mark the title as worthy of recuperation for its conglomeration of vintage components.
In 1982 Los Angeles, a down and out boxer, Rick Murphy (Glenn) is approached to transport a sacred sword to Kyoto in order to restore it to its rightful owner, a master samurai, Toru Yoshida (Mifune). Apparently,...
In 1982 Los Angeles, a down and out boxer, Rick Murphy (Glenn) is approached to transport a sacred sword to Kyoto in order to restore it to its rightful owner, a master samurai, Toru Yoshida (Mifune). Apparently,...
- 3/8/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
What's in Netflix's '80s grab bag? Swoony Merchant-Ivory films; a trio of John Hughes romantic comedies; early films with Sean Penn and Matt Dillon; Oscar-winning turns by Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster and Daniel Day-Lewis; and a few classics you already know by heart.
Mixed in are probably a few critically acclaimed films you've never seen but always meant to, whether it's B-movie fun like "Big Trouble in Little China" or ultra-arty Nc-17 fare like "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover."
(Availability subject to change. DeLorean and pink prom dress not included.)
1. "A Room with a View" (1986) Nr
Helena Bonham Carter is torn between freethinker Julian Sands and stuffy fiancé Daniel Day-Lewis in this sumptuous (and very funny) Merchant-Ivory period romance.
2. "The Accused" (1988) R
It's tough viewing, but Jodie Foster is mesmerizing as a rape victim who faces down her assailants in court.
3. "Bad Boys" (1983) R
Sean Penn...
Mixed in are probably a few critically acclaimed films you've never seen but always meant to, whether it's B-movie fun like "Big Trouble in Little China" or ultra-arty Nc-17 fare like "The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover."
(Availability subject to change. DeLorean and pink prom dress not included.)
1. "A Room with a View" (1986) Nr
Helena Bonham Carter is torn between freethinker Julian Sands and stuffy fiancé Daniel Day-Lewis in this sumptuous (and very funny) Merchant-Ivory period romance.
2. "The Accused" (1988) R
It's tough viewing, but Jodie Foster is mesmerizing as a rape victim who faces down her assailants in court.
3. "Bad Boys" (1983) R
Sean Penn...
- 12/22/2014
- by Sharon Knolle
- Moviefone
In 1983, John Sayles made an uncharacteristically daft film about a married woman discovering herself as a lesbian. The subject was fairly daring for its time, so it’s not surprising that the sex in “Lianna” was limited to tastefully blurry thrashing among tangled sheets. What stands out, though, is the baffling soundtrack, a constant indecipherable murmur in French. Were these exceptionally cultured lesbians? Or maybe women who burst into French when fulfilling their Sapphic potential in New Jersey, or Texas, or wherever it was? Lesbians speak French in the extraordinary new “Blue is the Warmest Color.” That’s because they are French.
- 10/11/2013
- by Ella Taylor
- The Wrap
As a West Virginian, I am mandated by state law to like John Sayles; he did, after all, make one of the definitive films on West Virginia, "Matewan." Truth be told, I'd like him anyway because he's perfectly willing to script big-budget Hollywood pics and funnel that money into his own personal projects. That's meant stuff like "Alligator" (The definitive giant reptile movie, with a great Robert Forster performance) and "The Howling" led to "Lianna" and "Baby It's You," and uncredited rewrites on things such as "Apollo 13" and "Mimic" gave us "Lone Star" and "Casa de los babys."
So the fact that he's signed on to script "Scar Tissue," the HBO series based on Anthony Kiedis' autobiography, makes me feel better about the project. The series tells the story of Kiedis growing up with his father, Spider, a drug dealer to rock stars, in the 1970s. It's the...
So the fact that he's signed on to script "Scar Tissue," the HBO series based on Anthony Kiedis' autobiography, makes me feel better about the project. The series tells the story of Kiedis growing up with his father, Spider, a drug dealer to rock stars, in the 1970s. It's the...
- 2/26/2009
- by Chad
- Planetallstar.com
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