[<<] 1989 [>>]
Related: 1980s
Films: Monsieur Hire (1989) - The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) - sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
Literature: Lipstick Traces, a Secret History of 20th Century (1989)
Tian'anmen Square, Bejing, China, 5 June 1989: "The Unknown Rebel" single-handedly halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour.
An East German security guard faces off with West Berliners sitting atop the Soviets' infamous Berlin Wall. Within hours after the photograph was taken Nov. 10, 1989, West and East Berliners joined in tearing down the 28-year-old barrier.
King Tubby shot
In 1989, reggae artist King Tubby he was shot dead outside his home. The murderer has never been brought to justice.Berlin Wall falls
On November 9th, 1989, the wall dividing east and west Germany opens in Berlin, ending the Cold War. Germany is reunified in 1990.House, techno and post-disco
- Jerry Edwards - I am somebody
- French Kiss by Lil' Louis
- Jungle Brothers - I'll House You
- Frankie Knuckles present Satoshi Tomiie - Tears (feat. Robert Owens)
- Sueno Latino - Sueno Latino (E2-E4 reinterpretation)
- 808 State - Pacific State
- Symbols and Instruments - Mood (Mark Farina)
- Octave One - I Believe
- Ten City - Where Do We Go
- Black Box - Ride On Time
- Frankie Knuckles - Your Love/Baby Wants To Ride
- S'Express - "Theme from S'Express"
- Mr Fingers - What about this Love
- Steve Poindexter - Work That Mutherfucker
- R-Tyme - R-Theme
- Psyche - Crack Down
- Owens, Tomiie, Knuckles - Tears
- Technotronic - Pump Up The Jam
More films
- Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Woody Allen [Amazon US]
Some critics and filmgoers have hailed this 1989 comedy-drama as Woody Allen's best film, and while that's certainly open for debate, a good case can be made that it's the most ambitious and morally complex of Allen's films. It's the kind of movie that provokes heated philosophical debate about the role of God in our lives, the nature of guilt, and the circumstances that would allow a seemingly good, law-abiding family man and successful professional (Martin Landau) to commit a murder with no risk of being caught. Could you live with yourself under those conditions? Allen explores this complicated issue in the context of an extramarital affair that Landau's mistress (Anjelica Huston) threatens to expose, while developing a second story about a documentary filmmaker (Allen) who reluctantly makes a film about his brother-in-law (Alan Alda), a TV sitcom producer whose vanity is seemingly unlimited. From serious crimes to misdemeanors of personal behavior, Allen ties these stories together to create a provocative and unsettling study of divergent moralities and the price we're willing to pay to preserve our personal comfort and happiness. It's a sobering film, but a fascinating and funny one as well, unfolding like a thriller in which the question is not whodunit but rather, would you do it if you knew you could get away with it? --Jeff Shannon for amazon.com - Parents (1989) - Bob Balaban [Amazon US]
In Parents, director Bob Balaban deconstructs our Father Knows Best perception of '50s suburbia, skewing it via moody cinematography and Angelo Badalamenti's sinister score. Ten-year-old Michael Lamele (Bryan Madorsky) thinks his parents (Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt) are cannibals. His constant fear of his folks and their supposedly evil doings begin to warp his view of the world, and he starts seeing a social worker to confront his problems. Are they merely childhood fears intensified by an overactive imagination, or do Michael's parents really crave human flesh? Much in the way that David Lynch approached the sinister underside of small-town America in Wild at Heart, so too does Balaban challenge our notion of the 'burbs as an escape from the harsh reality of the city. If anything, Michael's parents show their true colors once they become wrapped up in the materialistic, socially predatory world of suburban life. Vastly underappreciated, Balaban's Parents is one of those rare modern horror films that uses psychology to freak you out rather than tossing buckets of blood at you (although there are a few in the film, given its theme). This is one horror film that stands up, and deserves repeated viewings. --Bryan Reesman for Amazon.com - Santa Sangre (1989) - Alejandro Jodorowsky [Amazon US]
"Santa Sangre" is a shockingly original film. It is brilliantly written, performed and directed. It is amazing how much director Alejandro Jodorowsky packs into this visceral masterpiece. There are so many story threads and connections and characters and each never lapses. The visual style of the movie is also haunting, with images that are unforgettable. There are moments when Jodorowsky's film takes on the impression of a dream (or nightmare). There is surrealism, drama, violence and romance mingled so brilliantly that there are reminders of the great Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel. The actors are incredibly good and the film has a passion that flows in the imagination of its construction. There are moments of spectacle that are unrestrained and truly impact, like a scene where an elephant's coffin is tipped over onto a garbage dump and is ripped open by starving scavengers. And there is the haunting sequence in a graveyard where the spirits of past victims rise out to haunt the main character. In a time of such tame work, "Santa Sangre" shows true filmmaking passion and the daring art of a great director. You know a director is great when out of such violence and chaos he can still sustain a sweet love story. "Santa Sangre" is a masterpiece. --Alci Rengifo, amazon.com - Dead Calm (1989) - Phillip Noyce [1 DVD, Amazon US]
There are several occasions when this rousing Australian thriller from 1987 should have ended with a well-placed shot from a speargun or a stronger knot of rope, but you don't think about these nit-picky details when you're being scared out of your wits. In a role that catapulted her to international stardom, Nicole Kidman plays a young wife who's joined her husband (Sam Neill) on a yachting trip to recover from the tragic death of their son. Far out to sea, they encounter a sinking ship with one survivor (Billy Zane, ten years before Titanic), but inviting him aboard turns out to be a very bad mistake. While Neill attempts to salvage the sinking boat, Kidman is fighting for her life against the psychotic Zane--a villain so creepy that you eagerly look forward to his demise. By the time that moment arrives director Phillip Noyce has resorted to a typical slasher-movie climax (proving that no boat should be without a flare gun), but until then Dead Calm is a nail-biting thriller that's guaranteed to keep you in a state of nail-biting suspense. To accommodate the widescreen compositions on the open ocean, the DVD offers the film in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio. --Jeff Shannon for amazon.com - Drugstore Cowboy (1989) - Gus Van Sant [1 DVD, Amazon US]
Gus Van Sant made his name with this offbeat story of a small group of drug addicts who heist pharmacies to feed their habit. Matt Dillon completely broke with his juvenile persona as Bob, the grungy ringleader and jittery mastermind of a junkie crew. With his frustrated wife Dianne (Kelly Lynch), his loyal partner, the easygoing Rick (James Le Gros), and Rick's juvenile girlfriend Nadine (Heather Graham in an early role), Bob plots ingenious heists and spends the rest of his days sitting around the house getting high. When the heat becomes too intense in Portland, the quartet hits the road for small-town drug stores and hospitals, but when their luck runs out it does so in grand fashion. Set in the Pacific Northwest of 1971, Van Sant so effortlessly re-creates the period that you'd think the film was a time capsule--except for the attitude. Van Sant refuses to moralize and lines his sympathies behind his characters. They're no heroes, but Van Sant can't cast them as villains either. His low-key direction concentrates on the flavor of day-to-day life for a crew of junkies living from fix to fix. Even his drug imagery is inventively placid, a dreamy set of floating visions that suggests their own disembodied states. James Remar costars as the dogged police detective Gentry and cult author William S. Burroughs makes a memorable appearance as the aging junkie Tom the Priest. --Sean Axmaker for amazon.com [...] - Communion (1989) - Philippe Mora [1 DVD, Amazon US]
Was author Whitley Strieber telling the truth about extraterrestrial visitations in his bestselling book, Communion? Perhaps no one can really prove or disprove it, making the enigma of Strieber himself more interesting than his allegations. That's precisely the angle taken by this film adaptation, in which Christopher Walken's richly eccentric performance becomes a fascinating portrait of something more important than rumors of alien abduction--that is, human resistance and surrender to transformation. The script does an end run around the deductive process and research Strieber employed in his book to substantiate his claims. Instead, the story concentrates on the impact of those experiences on Strieber's own psyche: the disbelief, the repressed memories, the mounting helplessness and futility as the years go by.
Walken makes it all terribly compelling, from his childlike compliance to the diminutive aliens who turn up in his home at night to an unexpected story climax in which Strieber demystifies the little buggers on his own surprisingly comic terms. The supporting cast is terrific, including Lindsay Crouse as Strieber's concerned wife, Frances Sternhagen as a doctor, and Joel Carlson as Strieber's son. This is not an offering that panders to today's alleged abductees, but rather a study of a sole survivor who finds his peace on his own terms. --Tom Keogh [...] - Life and Nothing But (1989)- Bertrand Tavernier [1 VHS, Amazon US]
Philippe Noiret turns in an unforgettable performance as a French Army Officer given the thankless task of not only uncoverning the identity of all the dead of the post World War One battlefields but also the shell-shocked who reveal not their names but only speak in phrases or silly songs. On top of all of that the powers that be come up with the idea of honoring an 'Unknown Solider' and ask our hero to provide one - an order that flies in the face of his assignment to return France's fallen sons to their loved ones. Also into Noiret's lap fall two women, one a humble teacher, the other a society lynchpin, who it becomes clear are searching for the same man. Noriet is no more impressed by the money or connections of the one than he is by the brass of the General Staff, but as a lonely man he finds himself increasingly drawn to her, but will his shy professionalism allow him to make a move? Wry humor and touching performances make this an important film that expresses the most depressing fact of all: Noriet cares more for the dead he must identify than their commanders cared about them when they were alive. - john lease for amazon.com [...] - Time of the Gypsies (1989) - Emir Kusturica [Amazon.com]
In 1989, Emir Kusturica earned even more accolades for Time of the Gypsies, a penetrating but magical look into gypsy culture and the exploitation of their youths. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emir_Kusturica [Apr 2005] - Slaves of New York (1989) - James Ivory [Amazon US]
This movie gives a humorous and honest portrayal of the "elite" arts community in NYC, as well as a basic love story. It is particulary funny if you've ever been privy to those (arts related persons) with inflated self-worth or self-esteem. One of my favorite visual parts is during the group softball game when you get a look at the makeshift uniforms the arts community has come up with-- I guarantee you won't be able to stop laughing during parts of this scene... Also, Bernadette Peters' Broadway acting legacy shines throughout the flick. I'm about to sound like an Imposters perfume box, but.... If you liked the movies The House of Yes, Desperately Seeking Susan, and Welcome to the Dollhouse ... you'll like this! -- Reviewer: butterflygrrrl, amazon.com
CDs
- I (1989) - A.R. Kane [1 CD, Amazon US]
1. A Love From Outerspace 2. Crack Up 3. What's All This Then? 4. Snow Joke 5. And I Say 6. Conundrum 7. Honeysuckleswallow 8. In A Circle 9. Miles Apart 10. Pop 11. Spook 12. Sugarwings 13. Down 14. Supervixens 15. Insect Love 16. Catch My Drift 17. Hello 18. Timewind 19. Off Into Space 20. Yeti 21. Long Body 22. Fast Ka 23. Mars 24. Back Home 25. Sorry 26. Challenge
" I " by a.r. kane is , like most of their work quite unique but definitely odd! now, odd is not a bad thing...basically i heard many times from reviews. etc that they were a shoegazer band (like cocteau twins, my bloody valentine, slowdive...etc.) but when i heard this album i was puzzled. this sounds like a confused band that just do whatever style of music they want and add some possible noise or shimmery guitar at infrequent times...it took some time, but when you're bored, you will occupy yourself in some way and this album started to make sense. for example: " miles apart" sounds like a radio friendly pop song but once the chorus comes, tons of noisy guitar spirals throught he speakers. it sounds like an accident, but a good one at that...i may be making no sense, but regardless...buy this cd. ...the vocals sound a lot like arthur lee of love and if you like the above mentioned groups, you cant go wring...dont get discouraged if the music doesnt make sense... -- reviewer for amazon.com - 3 Feet High and Rising (1989) - De La Soul [1 CD, Amazon US]
1. Intro 2. Magic Number 3. Change In Speak 4. Cool Breeze On The Rocks 5. Can U Keep A Secret 6. Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge) 7. Ghetto Thang 8. Transmitting Live From Mars 9. Eye Know 10. Take It Off 11. Little Bit Of Soap 12. Tread Water 13. Potholes In My Lawn 14. Say No Go 15. Do As De La Does 16. Plug Tunin (Last Chance To Comprehend) 17. De La Orgee 18. Buddy (Ft Jungle Brothers/Q-Tip) 19. Description 20. Me Myself And I 21. This Is A Recording 4 Living In A Fulltime Era (L.I.F.E.) 22. I Can Do Anything (Delacratic) 23. D.A.I.S.Y. Age 24. Plug Tunin (Original 12 Inch Version) 25. Freedom Of Speak (We Got Three Minutes) 26. Strictly Dan Stuckie 27. Jenifa (Taught Me) (12 Inch Version) 28. Skip To My Loop 29. Potholes In My Lawn (12 Inch Version) 30. Me Myself And I (Oblapos Mode) 31. Ain't Hip To Be Labeled A Hippie 32. What's More (From Hell On 1st Ave Ost) 33. Brain Washed Follower 34. Say No Go (New Keys Vocal) 35. Mack Daddy On The Left 36. Double Huey Skit 37. Ghetto Thang (Ghetto Ximer) 38. Eye Know (Know It All Mix) 39. Magic Number (Chad Jackson Hip Hop Version)
De La's debut represented a new path for hip-hop, a reaction to conventions that had turned into clichés. It was friendly and playful enough to cross over to a pop audience (thanks to Prince Paul's production, which found the funk hiding inside Steely Dan and "Schoolhouse Rock"), but complicated and tough enough to be hugely influential in the hip-hop world. Cryptic but ecstatic, and sometimes sexy (especially the ingenious double-entendre "Buddy"), Trugoy and Posdnuos's lyrics invented a "new style of speak," dense with self-invented slang and metaphors. The hits, including "Say No Go" and "Me Myself And I," are delightful, but the little sketches and sound-experiments between them make the whole disc flow effortlessly. --Douglas Wolk for amazon.com
The Quincunx (1989) - Charles Palliser
In search of my time in Indonesia.
The Quincunx (1989) - Charles Palliser [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Charles Palliser (born 1947) is an American-born, British-based novelist.
In the 1970s and 1980s, he lectured in modern literature and creative writing at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and Rutgers University in New Jersey. During this time, he wrote two plays and, over a period of twelve years, his epic first novel The Quincunx.
Published in 1989, The Quincunx was a surprise hit. Set in 19th century England, it charts the fortunes over a number of years of a single mother and her young son, through the eyes of the latter. Through a complex web of scheming and conspiracies by relatives and others, they fall from relative wealth to poverty and eventual destitution. The book is notable for its accurate and evocative portrayal of English life at the time, covering the breadth of society from the gentry to the poor and from provincial villages to metropolitan London and dealing with the eccentricities of Victorian English land law. Towards the end of the book it is revealed that the narrator may not be as objective as the reader probably assumes.
Palliser has subsequently published two more novels and one collection of short stories. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Palliser [Jul 2006]
See also: literature - 1989