November 1981 wraps up with big swings from Forman and Bogdanovich
We wrap up November 1981 with films from Peter Bogdanovich and Milos Forman, with a fistful of weird slasher films for a little spice.
It seems like we just got started with November 1981 and it's already over.
Months like this become less and less frequent as the decade continues. There were less than fifteen films released for the entire month. At this point, the multiplex hadn't really taken hold, and there just plain weren't as many films coming out. There weren't as many screens, so they didn't need as much product. It also feels like the studios were holding all of their big guns for the holidays until December. Some of those movies were gigantic bombs, and some ended up as Oscar contenders, but they were all seen as potential major hits. November's films... not so much. There's one big swing here, and we'll dig into it, but for the most part, this is Hollywood treading water while they wait for the real holidays to begin.
Our first film we're going to discuss wasn't released widely, and really only got the proper attention when it was restored and re-released recently. It's worth a conversation, though, so let's dive right in...
NOVEMBER 14 (SPECIAL CONVERSATION)
Personal Problems
Vertamae Grosvenor, Carey Barnes, Alan Beckles, Thommie Blackwell, Walter Cotton, Kenny De Louche, William Grant, Vincent Hall, Kip Hanrahan, Andrea W. Hunt, Marshall M. Johnson III, Mizan Kirby, Barbara Montgomery, Niamani Mutima, Ishamel Reed, Michele Wallace, Michael Watts, Sam L. Waymon, John H. Wells, Lester Williams, Margo Williams, Jim Wright
cinematography by Robert Polidori
music by Carman Moore
screenplay by Ishmael Reed
produced by Walter Cotton
directed by Bill Gunn
Not Rated
2 hrs 45 mins
A slice-of-life “video soap opera” about a woman and her friends and family in late ‘70s Harlem.
If you write poetry in your free time, but you spend the vast majority of your time working as a nurse, are you a nurse, or are you a poet? Are we our work, and if we are, then what is it that defines which of our roles is “important”? Is it the thing we are paid the most for? The thing that helps the most people? Or is it the thing that most clearly expresses some truth about our soul?