Top Letterboxd Movies (1980's), a list by Idyllwilde

8.7

/11435/

81

/278/

82

/214/

4.5

/16063/

100

/37/

97

/117/

99

/4/

4.0

age 15+

Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.

90

8.2

/149693/

80

/2532/

80

/1722/

4.5

/224656/

96

/94/

95

/2188/

97

/21/

4.0

Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

89

8.7

/1486712/

86

/41653/

83

/17967/

4.4

/1986377/

93

/174/

97

/42485/

82

/25/

4.0

age 9+

The epic saga continues as Luke Skywalker, in hopes of defeating the evil Galactic Empire, learns the ways of the Jedi from aging master Yoda. But Darth Vader is more determined than ever to capture Luke. Meanwhile, rebel leader Princess Leia, cocky Han Solo, Chewbacca, and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 are thrown into various stages of capture, betrayal and despair.

89

8.1

/70861/

77

/952/

77

/847/

4.4

/70186/

100

/46/

94

/1018/

100

/8/

4.0

age 17+

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

89

8.3

/119738/

82

/2946/

82

/1724/

4.6

/408767/

90

/60/

95

/929/

4.0

age 16+

The invasion of a village in Belarus by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Florya finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.

88

8.4

/1100771/

82

/29799/

79

/13288/

4.2

/1158968/

94

/157/

96

/26533/

86

/17/

4.0

age 11+

When Dr. Indiana Jones – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.

87

8.1

/405858/

78

/5821/

79

/4610/

4.2

/521776/

92

/151/

93

/7166/

90

/28/

4.0

age 17+

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

87

7.9

/122439/

78

/3479/

77

/1922/

4.4

/477967/

92

/150/

89

/3366/

93

/26/

4.0

age 16+

Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.

87

8.4

/285585/

82

/4641/

81

/2406/

4.3

/101514/

98

/55/

96

/2946/

85

/16/

age 15+

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

87

8.5

/1430885/

85

/47175/

83

/21262/

4.2

/2405392/

92

/118/

95

/40116/

88

/27/

3.5

age 10+

Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.

87

8.2

/3548/

81

/165/

75

/64/

4.4

/17109/

100

/12/

4.0

This documentary about teenagers living on the streets in Seattle began as a magazine article. The film follows nine teenagers who discuss how they live by panhandling, prostitution, and petty theft.

87

7.9

/26084/

80

/983/

78

/407/

4.3

/140198/

100

/58/

93

/725/

87

/18/

4.0

In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.

87

8.1

/137885/

80

/3092/

81

/2115/

4.4

/622721/

95

/58/

93

/1253/

81

/13/

4.0

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.

87

8.5

/313838/

84

/4805/

84

/4690/

4.5

/417211/

90

/84/

96

/5148/

80

/21/

3.5

age 14+

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

86

7.9

/82984/

78

/1476/

78

/1452/

4.3

/173331/

95

/65/

93

/2055/

79

/9/

4.0

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.

86

8.0

/38187/

78

/673/

75

/705/

4.2

/49189/

97

/36/

93

/731/

88

/18/

4.0

age 12+

Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.

86

7.9

/10487/

79

/308/

79

/226/

4.2

/46599/

94

/17/

93

/134/

4.0

10-year-old Pixote endures torture, degradation, and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of its members are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old trans hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape and they start to make their living by a life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.

86

8.1

/22185/

81

/567/

79

/416/

4.4

/113171/

100

/11/

91

/86/

An 8-year-old boy must return his friend's notebook he took by mistake, lest his friend be punished by expulsion from school.

86

7.8

/84387/

76

/1378/

75

/985/

3.9

/61380/

98

/45/

92

/1439/

97

/18/

4.0

age 16+

No one expects much from Christy Brown, a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a miraculous event occurs when, at the age of 5, he demonstrates control of his left foot by using chalk to scrawl a word on the floor. With the help of his steely mother — and no shortage of grit and determination — Christy overcomes his infirmity to become a painter, poet and author.

86

8.1

/467307/

79

/8887/

77

/4903/

4.0

/316664/

89

/122/

93

/9634/

92

/16/

4.0

age 17+

As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.

85

8.4

/832850/

82

/24887/

79

/10522/

4.1

/839877/

94

/143/

94

/22899/

84

/23/

3.5

age 15+

Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426.

85

7.6

/7307/

76

/185/

72

/142/

4.2

/25153/

100

/19/

88

/71/

4.0

Two closely-bound, emotionally wounded siblings reunite after years apart.

85

7.7

/11617/

79

/265/

74

/197/

4.0

/27530/

100

/13/

89

/128/

4.0

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1983. In the last and turbulent days of the military dictatorship, Alicia, a high school history teacher, begins to ask uncomfortable questions about the dark origins of Gaby, her adopted daughter.

85

7.9

/34449/

78

/611/

77

/589/

4.3

/85738/

88

/43/

90

/293/

85

/21/

4.0

Alexander, a journalist, philosopher and retired actor, celebrates a birthday with friends and family when it is announced that nuclear war has begun.

85

7.9

/40543/

77

/741/

78

/709/

4.2

/43692/

89

/27/

92

/710/

84

/15/

4.0

Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.

85

7.9

/26835/

77

/1276/

76

/376/

4.2

/65621/

100

/15/

91

/391/

92

/5/

Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run effects of nuclear war on civilization.

85

7.8

/68519/

77

/1884/

74

/931/

4.0

/37019/

96

/53/

90

/1076/

91

/16/

4.0

age 12+

At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings momentous challenges.

85

8.3

/404845/

81

/6489/

83

/5836/

4.2

/277678/

86

/56/

93

/3956/

75

/20/

4.0

age 18+

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

84

8.0

/480468/

82

/15180/

77

/4930/

4.1

/965747/

93

/147/

94

/37196/

78

/20/

3.5

age 9+

In this enchantingly cracked fairy tale, the beautiful Princess Buttercup and the dashing Westley must overcome staggering odds to find happiness amid six-fingered swordsmen, murderous princes, Sicilians and rodents of unusual size. But even death can't stop these true lovebirds from triumphing.

84

8.2

/7087/

79

/166/

72

/115/

4.1

/11024/

96

/27/

94

/282/

3.5

age 14+

Harvey Milk was an outspoken human rights activist and one of the first openly gay U.S. politicians elected to public office; even after his assassination in 1978, he continues to inspire disenfranchised people around the world.

84

7.9

/8968/

78

/250/

75

/145/

4.1

/21878/

91

/22/

91

/204/

77

/14/

4.0

The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.

84

7.6

/15479/

76

/383/

73

/346/

4.1

/75838/

100

/26/

85

/133/

4.0

Mona Bergeron is dead, her frozen body found in a ditch in the French countryside. From this, the film flashes back to the weeks leading up to her death. Through these flashbacks, Mona gradually declines as she travels from place to place, taking odd jobs and staying with whomever will offer her a place to sleep. Mona is fiercely independent, craving freedom over comfort, but it is this desire to be free that will eventually lead to her demise.

84

7.9

/16290/

79

/487/

78

/332/

4.4

/98678/

79

/72/

90

/267/

84

/15/

4.0

A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.

84

7.7

/6000/

78

/267/

78

/403/

4.0

/23993/

100

/22/

90

/81/

87

/14/

3.5

A young shepherdess and a chimneysweep plan to get married and escape the clutches of a tyrannical king in love with her, assisted by the guile of a cheeky mockingbird, the king's archenemy.

84

8.1

/27864/

77

/468/

77

/403/

4.1

/53813/

95

/22/

93

/199/

19-year-old Tomek whiles away his lonely life by spying on his opposite neighbour Magda through binoculars. She's an artist in her mid-thirties, and appears to have everything - not least a constant stream of men at her beck and call. But when the two finally meet, they discover that they have a lot more in common than appeared at first sight...

84

8.1

/34228/

80

/478/

76

/416/

4.2

/24194/

100

/7/

96

/259/

3.0

In this luminous tale set in the former Yugoslavia, Perhan, an engaging young Romany with telekinetic powers, is seduced by the quick-cash world of petty crime that threatens to destroy him and those he loves.

84

7.8

/80955/

74

/1246/

74

/1117/

4.0

/85988/

92

/59/

90

/1335/

90

/12/

4.0

age 15+

Between two Thanksgivings, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.

84

7.6

/93963/

75

/2763/

75

/1658/

4.1

/390213/

90

/70/

87

/1215/

89

/9/

4.0

Desperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman.

84

7.7

/231287/

77

/10731/

75

/6023/

4.0

/414077/

96

/76/

85

/13278/

83

/15/

4.0

age 12+

'Toon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly raised when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect.

84

8.4

/1209251/

81

/29593/

82

/18472/

4.2

/2841750/

84

/111/

93

/28528/

68

/26/

4.0

age 15+

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.

83

7.5

/29027/

74

/798/

72

/404/

3.9

/38849/

97

/32/

89

/773/

82

/16/

4.0

age 17+

In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.

83

7.8

/63099/

76

/1327/

74

/796/

3.9

/33452/

91

/45/

91

/1094/

76

/18/

4.0

age 16+

New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg is on assignment covering the Cambodian Civil War, with the help of local interpreter Dith Pran and American photojournalist Al Rockoff. When the U.S. Army pulls out amid escalating violence, Schanberg makes exit arrangements for Pran and his family. Pran, however, tells Schanberg he intends to stay in Cambodia to help cover the unfolding story — a decision he may regret as the Khmer Rouge rebels move in.

83

7.8

/62868/

75

/1035/

74

/924/

4.0

/52738/

92

/50/

91

/1184/

77

/10/

4.0

age 14+

A renowned ophthalmologist is desperate to cut off an adulterous relationship…which ends up in murder; and a frustrated documentary filmmaker woos an attractive television producer while making a film about her insufferably self-centered boss.

83

8.1

/29069/

78

/561/

77

/597/

4.0

/22109/

93

/28/

95

/783/

75

/13/

3.5

In a rural French village, an old man and his only remaining relative cast their covetous eyes on an adjoining vacant property. They need its spring water for growing their flowers, and are dismayed to hear that the man who has inherited it is moving in. They block up the spring and watch as their new neighbour tries to keep his crops watered from wells far afield through the hot summer. Though they see his desperate efforts are breaking his health and his wife and daughter's hearts, they think only of getting the water.

83

8.3

/1000589/

82

/20252/

82

/12652/

4.1

/1387619/

78

/82/

93

/30667/

65

/9/

4.0

age 18+

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.

83

7.9

/466977/

77

/19247/

75

/11739/

3.8

/1165016/

99

/146/

72

/1318882/

92

/30/

4.0

age 7+

An alien is left behind on Earth and saved by the 10-year-old Elliott who decides to keep him hidden in his home. While a task force hunts for the extra-terrestrial, Elliott, his brother, and his little sister Gertie form an emotional bond with their new friend, and try to help him find his way home.

83

8.1

/480087/

80

/11038/

78

/6287/

4.2

/1035399/

92

/66/

94

/13407/

75

/20/

age 14+

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, but they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.

83

7.8

/9831/

73

/192/

75

/191/

4.0

/10810/

93

/15/

88

/99/