Live Poll: Back to 1989

I'll add Fire Walk with Me for now.

But when does it start to be relevant that a film is set during the decade that preceded? 

If a film is released in 1992 and is supposed to be set in 1989, it doesn't make any difference for the viewer, for a 1992 viewer, 1989 is only "three years before"... it's like the film "Shampoo" made in 1975 and depicting the 1968 revolution, you see the film you think it's set during the 70s. 

I think the poll should focus on movies that were made a reasonable amount of time after 1989 and where it took quite an effort to get the 80s look... maybe movies made after 1994 or 1995... I don't know.

"Do The Right Thing" stands out for me as the best depiction of 1989,  that it was made in 1989 might have helped a little...

ElMo my five cents on this as a filmmaker: three years or more already make a difference. Really. I'm making my first feature film for 12 years now and midway through we decided that setting should be 2013 (until then it was rather abstract: a year in which we were hoping to release would suffice... Until we knew we're in such a deep mess we can't really project a release date until it's done). Reason for that being, among other plot inconveniencies, the fact that by 2016 it already took a significant amount of work to make it look like what we've shot before. I can swear there wasn't a single planned shot filmed after 2016 that not required some adjustment be it costumes, cellphones, years on the currency, expiration dates on close-ups of food etc. I imagine even when you actually have budget, script supervisor has loads of work when film is set a few years before and yet it will still only get them enough to barely pass and goofs section on IMDb will go off the charts. 

For rather specific reasons I hope to set my next movie in 2014 and I'm working on that already because making a movie about 2014  feels a lot like making a period piece for me, including the script stage. On the surface differences are minor, but if setting is anywhere near real it already requires some level of attention to detail to mask the fact. Maybe it's the speed of modern world (it contributes, definitely), but watching a lot of movies from 1989 lately I can tell it took people some amount of effort to make a movie about 1989 in 1992 look somewhat authentic. Effort which for many people will go unnoticed because most just naturally asume "Twin Peaks" and later installments take place in the 90's. It isn't and starting with 1992 replicating the same feel probably required a lot of effort on filmmakers' part.  

To be honest, what I got from your point is that you're lucky enough to talk about making movies and having them released, at least you had the guts to turn your dreams into projects and your projects into realities... if only for that, I applaud you.

I get your point, I've written dozens of scripts whose effect depend on the absence of technological advances that exist right now, one my best creations have been turned obsolete because of the rise of the smartphone, but I think times have changed more drastically from say 2010 to 2015 than from 1988 to 1993 (except politically).

Also maybe you shouldn't embarrass yourself with anachronistic details no one will notice, it's all to your credit to be perfectionist but even "The Godfather" had its share of goofs... a producer once told me that it's not about making things realistic but plausible, if the viewer can buy it, just go with it, focus on the essential.

I'm not her to give you advice, if anything, you should give me some, but I know being a perfectionist can be a burden and maybe you could make your films faster if you allowed yourself a few shortcuts on some technicalities... 

I get the point about when the films were made, but I'm not sure I need to be too strict. It's not necessarily about level of difficulty. It would even be interesting to add Do the Right Thing. I think it was shot in 1988, so setting it in 1989 is a choice.

ElMo, thanks for the advice, anyhow. It's just that film, to be honest: it became so idiosyncratic and personal that each shot is a small miracle and a small torture. :) In one case I took some time to correct the expiration date on a mineral water bottle, despite bottle's label is painfully handwritten. Paradoxes like that are at the film's core at this point... It will be a very weird movie.

I really hope that following films, given the experience on this one, will be made much, much faster. I actually hope to make at least two a year. :) 

I hear you loud and clear...

I have also a that film in mind, something that's been stewing in my mind for ten years... honestly I don't dream of a career, only of telling that story, I'll make that possible even if it takes 10 more years... by any -honest- means necessary lol. If I manage to achieve that, I guess I'll die happy :)

Not that it matters, some make it at 20, some at 30, some at 60... but may I ask how old you are and when did you start taking your goals seriously? 

Thanks for sharing:)

ElMo, I'm 27 (that age when it could be still and just or already) and pinpointing the date when I started to take things seriously is hard... But probably 2007. It was the year when that idea came to me, when I got my first camera and when I've started what I now call "studio". It's more that in the sense of what was called in the USSR "creative association", as we're more of an art collective than filmmaking venture (although I hope that in a few years we will be both, much more effectively). 

I sincerely hope that this 12-year travesty of a production is not a mangum opus and is actually a start, because as of now I have at least 388 (I've rechecked the list) big ideas (for features, books, series, etc.) and I hope to have most of them done in some way in my lifetime. Considering that some ideas came into fruition already it doesn't seem that far fetched, but it's also clear that cutting the corners will be needed: some will become movies-within-movies (it's actually a great way to have two ideas done in one movie) and some probably just result in short stories. 

Man, you've got all my respect and admiration... 27 is the age when I started nurturing dreams like an idiot instead of taking the big and risky step!

I considered The Central Park Five, but added the mini-series instead of the documentary. I'm more tempted to add the Ceausescu film as it would represent another political event of 1989.

Feel free to use these for a suggestion of your own, if you wish.

I like this poll. I was still a teenager in that times and remember 1989 was celebrated euphoric because of the wall the people of the German Democratic Republic teared down. But it also ragged our country somehow. After the rush attitudes collided. There was a very wrong managment of the developement funds for the east, which were misused by some dubious people. They built industrial facilities, which never were used. And after that no one had the guts to buy them. Millions of DM (Deutsche Mark, the currencies at that time, before the €uro came.) from the German state budget leaked through opaque channels. But that's only Germany.

Look at the more eastern east. 'Lord of War' might have been a good option. Even though it does play in '89 only for a short time. It's just a sequence of the movie, but leaned on an actual story. I voted for 'Goodbye Lenin'. :D