port or control. Despite difficulties in raising neces-
sary funds, many directors enjoy the opportunities
for experimentation and artistic self-expression. A
new era of growth for independent films began in
1980, when Robert Redford established the Sun-
dance Institute; in 1985, he initiated a platform for
exhibition of independent films. Insisting that diver-
sity was the basis of independent films, Redford be-
gan opening doors to films by women, as well as Afri-
can Americans and other minorities who had little
voice in mainstream cinema. The success of Steven
Soderbergh’ssex, lies, and videotape, Nancy Savoca’s
bitingly satirical look at an Italian American wed-
ding inTrue Love, and Michael Lehmann’s dark
comedyHeathers—all in 1989—began a trend to-
ward older viewers gravitating to smaller films that
continued beyond the decade.
Numerous talented directors prefer to be inde-
pendents. John Sayles, who began his career with
The Return of the Secausus 7in 1980 and completed
seven other independent films before the end of the
decade, remained a first-rate director of films about
communities and outsiders. David Lynch, whose
eccentric avant-garde filmEraserheadappeared in
1979, went on to releaseThe Elephant Man(1980),
Dune(1984), andBlue Velvet(1986). The latter film,
whose main character, Jeffrey Beaumont, unexpect-
edly journeys through the dark underside of Ameri-
can culture, was widely interpreted as a criticism of
the false nostalgia being purveyed by many main-
stream Hollywood films. John Waters, whose under-
ground, “trashy” films of the 1970’s had a cult follow-
ing, began to make more mainstream films in the
1980’s, includingPolyester(1981) andHairspray
(1988). John Jarmusch began his career directing
strange but innovative films in 1984 withStranger
than Paradise.
Independent films provided opportunities for
women directors previously denied voices. Susan
Seidelman directed four films in the 1980’s:Smither-
eens(1981),Desperately Seeking Susan(1985),Making
Mr. Right(1987), andShe-Devil(1989), all stories
dealing with personal identity and relationships.
Lizzie Borden made two radically feminist films in
the 1980’s:Born in Flames(1983), a militant film in
which women form an army and attempt to take over
the media, andWorking Girls(1986), a day in the
life of a prostitute working in a Manhattan brothel.
Kathryn Bigelow began her genre- and gender-
bending films in the 1980’s withThe Loveless(1982),
a return to the biker movies of the 1950’s, andNear
Dark(1987), a vampire Western of cinematic and
technical brilliance.Neo-Noir During the 1980’s, the genre film noir,
having originally defined the post-World War II cine-
matic landscape as a murky universe plagued with
mystery, violence, and betrayal, made its comeback
as an expression of the moral confusion of the
1980’s. Although utilizing color, portable cameras,
and occasionally striking special effects, neo-noir
films—so named for their capacity to reappropriate
past noir forms for contemporary purposes—began
in 1981 with Lawrence Kasdan’sBody Heat. Despite
its reworking of the dark, black-and-white 1940’s
noir in color, the film proved no less concerned with
exploring the underside of the American Dream. It
was essentially a loose remake ofDouble Indemnity
(1944), one of the most influential noirs of the
1940’s in which a man, seduced by a woman into kill-
ing her husband for insurance money, is betrayed by
her, leading to the deaths of both. InBody Heat,
Mattie, a modern femme fatale, seduces a seedy law-
yer into killing her wealthy husband, while she takes
the money, escapes to an exotic land, and leaves him
to face life in prison.
While other 1980’s neo-noirs depicted men who
were seemingly at the mercy of women—for exam-
ple, Adrian Lyne’sFatal Attraction(1987), wherein
a married man’s secret one-night stand backfires
when the scorned woman terrorizes his family—
several films pursued the figure of the successful, in-
dependent woman. InBetrayed(1988), Debra Winger
plays an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) infiltrating a white supremacist organization.
In Bob Rafelson’sBlack Widow(1987), Winger again
portrays an FBI agent, pursuing a gorgeous femme
fatale (Theresa Russell) who killed her husbands
for their money. The film explores the agent’s sex-
ual attraction to the glamorous murderer. In David
Mamet’s independent directorial debut,House of
Games(1987), a female psychoanalyst who has been
fleeced by a male con artist turns the tables on
him. One notable variation of this pattern is the fig-
ure of the “homme fatal,” appearing in Richard
Marquand’sThe Jagged Edge(1985), in which Glenn
Close plays a lawyer hired to defend a charming,
wealthy man accused of murdering his wife; she is
convinced of his innocence until he attempts to kill
her.372 Film in the United States The Eighties in America