Art House Cinema
Art House films are critically-acclaimed movies that don't necessarily cause a stampede at the box-office. These so-called 'minor' works are generally seen only at Film Festivals or a few selective theatres, but they stay in the mind, for better or worse. Below is a list of films in Alice's Collection that for one unexplained reason or another, generally didn't quite get the exposure they may have deserved when originally released.
Enjoy finding many of cinema's 'gems' in this section.
Right: Peter Greenaway's 'The Baby Of Macon'.
Testimony (1987)
7.1/10
Director: Tony Palmer
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Terence Rigby, Ronald Pickup
The enthralling study of the life and times, the artistry and the anguish of the Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich - a Russian who fell from grace... Read more
The Fringe Dwellers (1986)
6.8/10
Director: Bruce Beresford
Starring: Kristina Nehm, Justine Saunders, Bob Maza
Ancient traditions clash with white civilisation as we are shown the trials and tribulations of a young, ambitious Aborigine woman named Trilby and he... Read more
Round Midnight (1986)
7.4/10
Director: Bertrand Tavernier
Starring: Francois Cluzet, Dexter Gordon, Sandra Reaves-Phillips, Lonette McKee, Herbie Ha...
Bertrand Tavernier's exquisite homage to jazz - the moving story of a black jazz musician (sax great Dexter Gordon) in 1959 Paris, struggling to creat... Read more
The Sacrifice (1986)
8.1/10
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Valerie Mairesse
Andrei Tarkovsky's epitaph, a dark and complex film about redemption and nuclear holocaust, filmed inexile from his native Russia in Sweden, and starr... Read more
Down By Law (1986)
7.8/10
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Starring: Ellen Barkin, Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, John Lurie, Tom Waits
Jim Jarmusch's follow-up to his immensely successful "Stranger Than Paradise" stars Tom Waits, John Lurie - and in a treasure of a performance, Robert... Read more
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
7.4/10
Director: Hector Babenco
Starring: William Hurt, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga
Two prisoners in a Latin American jail, one a Spartan revolutionary leader (Raul Julia), the other a movie-obsessed homosexual (Best Actor Academy Awa... Read more
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985)
7.9/10
Director: Paul Schrader
Starring: Ken Ogata
Paul Schrader's visually stunning, collage-like portrait of acclaimed Japanese author and playwright Yukio Mishima (played by Ken Ogata) investigates... Read more
Mala Noche (1985)
6.7/10
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Ray Monge, Tim Streeter, Doug Cooeyate
Writer/director Gus van Sant's debut feature, adapted from Walt Curtis' autobiographical novel. Living an isolated life in Portland, Oregon, slacker s... Read more
Trouble In Mind (1985)
6.7/10
Director: Alan Rudolph
Starring: Keith Carradine, Kris Kristofferson, Lori Singer, Genevieve Bujold, Joe Morton,...
The lives of an ex-con, a coffee-shop owner, and a young couple looking to make it rich intersect in the fictional and hypnotic Rain City. With Kris K... Read more
Bliss (1985)
7/10
Director: Ray Lawrence
Starring: Lynette Curran, Barry Otto, Helen Jones
Noticed by its absence for a number of years, this outrageous and daring Australian film stars Barry Otto as Harry Joy, a wistful Sydney advertising m... Read more