Streetwise (1984)

Martin Bell directs Erin Blackwell, Dewayne Pomeroy and “Little Justin” Reed Early in this intimate documentary following the lives of the kids who live and hustle on the streets of Seattle.

Sad, so sad, but the access is incredible.

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Top Secret! (1984)

Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker direct Val Kilmer, Lucy Gutteridge and Peter Cushing in this spoof of the spy film.

Not as non-stop scattergun as you might have anticipated but there’s an inspired visual gag so perfect every ten minutes or so that is hard to resist. The cow had Natalie in fits of giggles and that makes me very happy

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Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Jim Jarmusch directs John Lurie, Richard Edson and Eszter Balint in this road movie where a New York hipster begrudgingly lets his Eastern European cousin stay with him and then travels across states to see her.

His first proper feature length movie is one of Jarmusch’s best. Lo-fi absurdism where there is heart and meaning hidden between the blanks. Everyone is giving these slow, spaced out performances but it means you cling on to everything unsaid in the interactions. The deadpan hollowness carries weight. There’s also something quite Bukowski-esque in the shitty apartments and desolate streets. Poetry in the bleakness.

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The Brother From Another Planet (1984)

John Sayles directs Joe Morton, Rosanna Carter and Ray Ramirez in this socially conscious sci-fi where a mute alien with the appearance of a black human settles into a new life in Harlem.

Very unassuming, shoestring budget. There is just enough sci-fi action to fill a trailer and the rest is social commentary. Often other characters perform didactic monologues while Joe Morton’s alien humanoid passively listens. Fisher Steven’s subway card sharp and an unlikely seduction are the highlights. This is more a mood than a fulfilling narrative.

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Trancers (1984)

Charles Band directs Tim Thomerson, Helen Hunt and Michael Stefani in this sci-fi adventure where a future cop travels back in time and takes over the body of his Eighties ancestor to catch a killer.

Scrappy. Pre-dates Quantum Leap by 5 years. And is a funky bargain basement rip-off of Blade Runner until we get time travelling. It is totally cartoon-ish and smarter than it needs to be. The kinda movie that could survive the stock cull of a video rental place every year. It has a time freezing gadget gimmick, barely legal Helen Hunt as a love interest punk, a shlubby but likeable anti-hero. Exactly the calibre of schlock title Bret Easton Ellis would name check in The Shards 2.

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