Youth

Momma Don't Allow is a celebration by Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz of the free spirit of youth - particularly London's working class youth. The story was contrived to contrast the difference between 'Teddy Boys' and 'Toffs', with the sub-plot being that the 'Teds' were not the flick-knife wielding thugs they were made out to be in the press. The focus of the film is Wood Green jazz-club where Chris Barber, the maestro of 'trad' or 'stomp' jazz, is playing. In the mid-fifties trad jazz was the risqué underground sound of rebellion. Richardson and Reisz used it and its dive-bar image to drive the film along as the Teds see-off the late arrival of the Toffs by being better at socializing, drinking and dancing. The film was paid for by the BFI Experimental Film Fund and according the BFI records cost £425. Momma Don't Allow was Richardson's and Reisz's first contribution to the 'Free Cinema' movement.

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, a generation of youth comes of age. Stach and his friends start with spontaneous acts of defiance, which can prove deadly, but have no organized purpose. Then, while at work as an apprentice, Stach learns elementary Marxian economics from a shop steward. When he sees the valiant and beautiful Dorota, a leader of the Youth Underground, he volunteers. He recruits his friends, and they become a cell in the resistance, tasting courage, discipline, and tragedy. In the background lies the potential conflict between the Communists and the partisans, both anti-Nazi, both Polish, and on their own collision course.

Sukeban Deka III is back. After supporting role duties in the first Sukeban Deka Movie SDIII receives her own film. This one concerns a group of fascist youth cops, and their power hungry leader who intends to overthrow the government. Initially fighting side by side with the youth cops, SDIII grows uncomfortable with their use of excessive force, and quits the team. The youth cops strike back, kidnapping SDIII’s sisters, forcing SDII to form an alliance with the well meaning street punks the cops had so royally busted. What follows are more Yo-Yo and huge explosion action than you can shake a stick at, as SDIII’s and crew attempt to rescue the sisters while thwarting a terrorist attack on Tokyo. Sukeban Deka 2 is a wildly entertaining film, but somehow not in the same league as its predecessor. SDIII may be cuter than SDII, but the fight choreography, pacing, and the development of the primary villian all could have used a bit more work. But like I said, the film is still a blast to watch, and makes quite the nice double feature with Sukeban Deka The Movie.

Inside Straight Edge, a powerful hourlong documentary, explores the two faces of this growing youth culture: positive, tight-knit communities that try to set an example through abstinence; and more militant, fanatical groups that use their intense focus on wiping out substance abuse as justification for violence. Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore narrates the documentary. His presence may help the filmmakers attract an audience interested in a youth movement that’s becoming more prevalent – and harder to define. The term straight edge was first used in 1981 by the punk band Minor Threat. Their 45-second song "Straight Edge", famous for the line, "I've got the straight edge", unintentionally sparked the beginning of a movement focused on self-control and protest.

Cocoon is a warm-hearted science-fiction fable that avoids becoming overly corny thanks to the performances of its mostly senior cast. Wilford Brimley, Don Ameche, and Hume Cronyn are three old-timers who sneak out of their retirement home a few days a week to swim in the large pool on an abandoned estate next door. When the threesome begins to feel curiously younger, they discover strange pods on the floor of the pool. These pods are alien cocoons, which are being pulled from the ocean by a team of extra-terrestrials in human form led by Walter (Brian Dennehy), who has hired a local charter operator (Steve Guttenberg) to assist him. Walter explains to the seniors that energy from the cocoons is restoring youth and vigor to the older men every time they go for a dip. The aliens agree to let the men continue to swim in secret, but of course they can't keep their discovery to themselves….

Ann-Margret stars as Jody Drew, a sweet, sexy psycho-babe on the run from the law. She's escaped from a detention center, stabbed a guard and burned the place to the ground. David Patton (John Forsythe) doesn't know all this. He's just a Senatorial candidate trying to do all the right things. But, Jody makes sure that all the wrong things happen. She twists poor David's life into a knot, first threatening him with a rape charge then, with a little help from her friends, kidnapping him for a Mexican joy ride. Kitten with a Whip is so hot it sizzles… so jazzy it swings. It's the cult classic the century that'll suck you in and knock you out!

In 1886, in the Victorian London, the corrupt Lord Henry Wotton meets the pure Dorian Gray posing for talented painter Basil Hallward. Basil paints Dorian's portrait and gives the beautiful painting and an Egyptian sculpture of a cat to him while Henry corrupts his mind and soul telling that Dorian should seek pleasure in life. Dorian wishes that his portrait could age instead of him. Dorian goes to a side show in the Two Turtles in the poor neighborhood of London and he falls in love with the singer Sibyl Vane. Dorian decides to get married with her and tells to Lord Henry that convinces him to test the honor of Sibyl. Dorian Gray leaves Sibyl and travels abroad and when he returns to London, Lord Henry tells him that Sibyl committed suicide for love. Along the years, Dorian's friends age while he is still the same, but his picture discloses his evilness and corruptive life. Can he still have salvation or is his soul trapped in the doomed painting?

Brian Lackey is determined to discover what happened during an amnesia blackout when he was eight years old, and then later woke with a bloody nose. He believes he was abducted by aliens, and N. McCormick, a fellow player on Brian's childhood baseball team, may be the key as to exactly what happened that night. As Brian searches for the truth and tries to track him down, Neil McCormick takes up hustling and moves to New York, in attempts to forget childhood memories that haunt him. Together, the two of them uncover the terrible truth of the scars they share.

After graduating from high school 19 year old Göran goes to his uncle Anders's farm in the countryside for recreation. It's summer and a lot of work to do at the farm, but he, the city student, isn't accustomed to that. He falls in love with 17 year old Kerstin, and suddenly he is very engaged in country life. Göran is a foreigner, but he quickly blends in with the village youth. They are in a bitter conflict with the vicar, who condemns all their activities as immoral. When the vicar forbids the youth to use the school for their meetings anymore, Anders gives them an old barn, which they start renovating. Kerstin has a strict mother, who in vain forbids her to take part in the youth activities. She goes there with Göran. She is a bit shy, but the romance between them develops step by step, until it is fulfilled a summer night, when they swim naked in a lake. Despite all efforts of Kerstin's parents and the vicar, they cannot stop Kerstin and Göran from meeting each other also when …