1595 – Fallen Angels (1995)

timespace coordinates: 1995 urban, nighttime Hong Kong

Fallen Angels is a 1995 Hong Kong drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai, starring Leon Lai, Michelle Reis, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Charlie Yeung, and Karen Mok. As with the filmmaker’s other features, plot takes a back seat to mood.

Originally conceived by Wong as the third story for 1994’s Chungking Express, it was cut after he decided that it was complete without it. He instead decided to develop the story further into its own feature film and borrowed elements of Chungking Express, such as themes, locations and methods of filming. Wanting to also try to differentiate it from Chungking and to try something new, Wong decided along with cinematographer Christopher Doyle to shoot mainly at night and using extreme wide-angle lenses, keeping the camera as close to the talents as possible to give a detached effect from the world around them.

In an interview, Wong had this to say:

…To me, Chungking Express and Fallen Angels are one film that should be three hours long. I always think these two films should be seen together as a double bill. In fact, people asked me during an interview for Chungking Express: “You’ve made these two stories which have no relationship at all to each other, how can you connect them?” And I said, ‘The main characters of Chungking Express are not Faye Wong or Takeshi Kaneshiro, but the city itself, the night and day of Hong Kong. Chungking Express and Fallen Angels together are the bright and dark of Hong Kong.” I see the films as inter-reversible, the character of Faye Wong could be the character of Takeshi in Fallen Angels; Brigitte Lin in Chungking could be Leon Lai in Fallen Angels. All of their characters are inter-reversible. Also, in Chungking we were shooting from a very long distance with long lenses, but the characters seem close to us.

In the Village Voice, J. Hoberman wrote:

The acme of neo-new-wavism, the ultimate in MTV alienation, the most visually voluptuous flick of the fin de siècle, a pyrotechnical wonder about mystery, solitude, and the irrational love of movies that pushes Wong’s style to the brink of self-parody.

wiki   /   imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1578 – The Goonies (1985)

spacetime coordinates: 1980’s “Goon Docks” neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon

The Goonies is a 1985 American adventure comedy film co-produced and directed by Richard Donner  based on a story by executive producer Steven Spielberg.

In the film, a band of kids who live in the “Goon Docks” neighborhood of Astoria, Oregon, attempt to save their homes from foreclosure and in doing so, they discover an old treasure map that takes them on an adventure to unearth the long-lost fortune of One-Eyed Willy, a legendary 17th-century pirate. During the adventure, they are chased by a family of criminals who want the treasure for themselves.

In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

A Goonies level pack for Lego Dimensions was released on May 9, 2017. The pack includes a Sloth minifigure and constructable Pirate Ship and Skeleton Organ, and unlocks a bonus level that adapts the plot of the film.  (wiki)

Proposed sequels and adaptations

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1570 – An American Pickle (2020)

spacetime coordinates: Schlupsk, Eastern Europe 1919 > present-day Brooklyn

An American Pickle is a 2020 American comedy-drama film directed by Brandon Trost (in his solo directorial debut) and written by Simon Rich, based on his 2013 short story “Sell Out”. The film stars Seth Rogen as an Ashkenazi Jew in the 1920s who gets preserved in a vat of pickles and wakes up in modern-day New York City, and attempts to fit in with the assistance of his last remaining descendant (also played by Rogen). Sarah Snook, Jorma Taccone, and Maya Erskine also star. (wiki)

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1567 – Archive (2020)

spacetime coordinates: 2038.  halfway up a snow-capped mountain near Kyoto at a secret facility codenamed ‘The Garden’

Archive is a 2020 British science fiction film written and directed by Gavin Rothery, in his directorial debut. It stars Theo James, Stacy Martin, Rhona Mitra, Peter Ferdinando and Toby Jones. Set in the dystopian future of 2038, the film follows a scientist who is trying to advance artificial intelligence a step further than human-beings all while bringing his wife back from the dead. (wiki)

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1565 – True History of the Kelly Gang (2019)

spacetime coordinates: colonial Australia 1867 – 1870s – 1880

True History of the Kelly Gang is a 2019 bushranger film directed by Justin Kurzel, written by Shaun Grant, and based upon the 2000 novel of the same name by Peter Carey. A highly fictionalized account of the life of bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly, the film stars George MacKay, Essie Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Charlie Hunnam and Russell Crowe. (wiki)

Its unusual approach won’t be for all viewers, but True History of the Kelly Gang takes a distinctively postmodern look at Australia’s past. (rottentomatoes)

imdb   /   reckless-kelly-1993/

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“Such is life”

1560 – Relic (2020)

!DISTURBING CONTENT!

Relic is a 2020 Australian horror drama film directed by Natalie Erika James in her directorial debut, from a screenplay by James and Christian White. It stars Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin and Bella Heathcote. (wiki)

A woman links her mother’s increasingly volatile behavior to an evil presence at their family’s decaying country home.

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1558 – Class of 1999 (1990)

spacetime coordinates: In 1999, special areas known as “free fire zones” have discouraged police from entering out of fear. Seattle‘s Kennedy High School is in the middle of a free fire zone, thus the Department of Education Defense (D.E.D.), a pilot special government agency, has been notified. Working with MegaTech head Dr. Bob Forrest, an experiment begins where three former military robots have become android educators.

Class of 1999 is a 1990 American science fiction action thriller horror film directed by Mark L. Lester. It is the director’s follow-up to his 1982 film Class of 1984. (wiki)

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