The Eighties

MOVIE #1,961 • SCORE 6/10 • 09.12.24
SERIES: ALBERT & AKERMAN

This one was difficult to track down, and I fear this will soon become a common occurrence as I make my way through the rest of Akerman’s output, which includes a lot of random shit and just eight more features.

We open on a black screen paired with voiceover of a woman repeating the same line over and over (“at your age, grief soon wears off”) with another voice giving her direction. This goes on for close to three minutes before we cut to rehearsals for Golden Eighties, Akerman's 1986 musical which will be part of the 22nd film duo I review for this series. I couldn’t find any information* as to why this came out a full three full years BEFORE the finished film proper, but I’m happy to chalk it up to the many mysteries of Akerman. When you think she’s gonna zig, she, well, zags (folks).

What at times feels like a DVD extras featurette is stretched out past 70 minutes. This transitions from the rehearsal space into more established movie sets as we see that, yes this is in fact a musical, a quirky, interesting-looking one at that. I really would have liked to have seen this AFTER Golden Eighties but release date chronological order is king in the land of such arbitrary decrees. I think this has a lot to say about the artifice of filmmaking, although doesn’t a musical (of all genres) already screams that at you? I'm not certain the point needed compounding, but it’s fun to see Akerman out in front of the camera doing her thing and actually singing a bit…


* a random Letterboxd provided the only clue: “It’s a (seemingly) random assortment of behind-the-scenes from rehearsals for Chantal’s The Golden Eighties, but for the explicit purpose of getting funding for that movie (it had not officially begun production yet).” Other sources have cited this as a ‘making of’ of the actual film, so…

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CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ MOVIE #1,960 - (YOU ARE HERE) - MOVIE #1,962 ⫸

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This is a making of a musical, with Chantal Ackerman behind and in front of the camera. It is mostly a collection of clips, talks, directions, and lectures, with the camera capturing the whole adventure. It was released on May 15, 1983.