After the Rehearsal (1984)

Efter repetitionen

1984 | Sweden | Ingmar Bergman | ★★★★★

Starring Erland Josephson, Lena Olin, and Ingrid Thulin, Ingmar Bergman's After the Rehearsal is a powerful, psychologically probing made-for-television chamber drama, filled with intense close-ups, furrowed brows, and affecting performances.

---

"In this psychological romantic drama from Ingmar Bergman, theatre director Henrik Volger (Erland Josephson) is struggling to stage a play by August Strindberg. Staying behind after rehearsals to work, Henrik talks with aspiring actress Anna (Lena Olin), who he has just cast in the production. It transpires that Henrik was once involved with her late mother, Rakel (Ingrid Thulin), and Anna's visit causes him to reminisce about their doomed relationship, and about the nature of his own closed-off emotional state." Tartan

See also:
Stotty's 1980s Favourites

Klipperty Klöpp (1984)

1984 | UK | Andrew Kötting | ★★★★★

The incomparable Andrew Kötting's hilariously bizarre, bizarrely hilarious Klipperty Klöpp is an absurdist experimental short film, comprised of a scuzzily shot performance piece accompanied by ironic commentary and incongruous music.

---

"Shot by Leila McMillan, (ongoing collaborator and lover) with 8 rolls of Super 8 mfa, the film is perhaps my first. A post punk piece of pagan sensibility, complete with bestiality, buggery and boundless energy, the film combines frenetic performance in a field with a monotonous one take recital and tune full songs. Perhaps inspired by Beckett and as a reaction to some of the preciousness of the Land Art tradition as exemplified by Richard Long and Hamish Fulton." Andrew Kötting

See also:

Stotty's 1980s Favourites

Diana (1984)

1984 | UK | Andrew Davies | ★★★★

Andrew Davies's ten-part adaptation of R.F. Delderfield's epic novel Diana is a wonderfully entertaining roller coaster of a love story, packed with memorable performances and surprising (if occasionally faintly ridiculous) turns of plot.

---

"Childhood friends Jan and Diana couldn't be more different. Beautiful, fierce and unfathomably wealthy, Diana is the only daughter of a formidable businessman. Country boy Jan is a penniless orphan. The unlikely friends spend a charmed and unconventional childhood together, but Diana's highborn destiny soon pulls her away from her life in the West Country, and all that makes her happy. Blossoming in the 1920s and ending after WWII, the fierce friendship between children from opposite sides of the tracks softens to love until life interrupts, forcing them into conflict and a betrayal that will haunt both their futures." Simply Media

Cheers (1982-93)

1982-93 | USA | James Burrows, Glen Charles, & Les Charles | ★★★★★

Set in a lively Boston bar owned by a former sportsman, James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles's rightly venerated Cheers is a consistently warm and witty sitcom, packed with memorable episodes, cracking dialogue, and decidedly loveable characters.

---

"Laid-back Sam Malone, a former relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, owns and runs Cheers, a cozy bar in Boston. He hires smart, uptight -- and jilted -- Diane Chambers as a server, out of sympathy, but their attraction causes constant bickering. Wacky characters fill the bar: sarcastic waitress Carla, beer-loving accountant Norm, know-it-all postman Cliff. When Diane leaves Boston much later, Sam sells the bar, buys a boat and sails the world, but his boat sinks, so he returns. New, ambitious manager Rebecca Howe hires him back, but they love to hate each other too." IMDb

See also:

Stotty's 1980s Favourites

Standard Gauge (1984)

1984 | USA | Morgan Fisher | ★★★

American experimental filmmaker and artist Morgan Fisher's Standard Gauge is a mildly diverting autobiographical found-footage documentary.

---

"Standard Gauge is an autobiographical film that examines Morgan Fisher’s work as an editor in the film industry. The film goes through scraps of rejected material along with commentary on the meaning of all the scrapped images. This film is an account and critique of the processes of meaning within film production through an examination of both materialism and the institution of film itself." TMDb