Compton’s first feature was the autobiographical Stranded, which she wrote, directed, starred in, self-financed and distributed. Released in 1965, the film shares the cinematic experimentation and stylish, youth-centric rebellion of the French New Wave made even more radical by its progressive portrayals of female independence and sexuality, beatnik culture, and discussions of homosexuality. Stranded follows Raina, a young American woman (played by Compton), traveling through Greece with her American lover (Gary Collins), and her French, gay, best friend (Gian Pietro Calasso). Raina partakes in several love affairs rejecting marriage offers for no other reason than she likes her life the way it is. Made just prior to the arrival of second wave feminism, Compton, as writer-director, never judges her on-screen alter-ego the way similar female characters were frequently punished in other films during this era by stigmatizing female sexuality.
You May Also Like
Spike and his sister Anjela live in the Terrordome, a huge ghetto that all the blacks have been forced to live in. Jodie, Spike’s pregnant white girlfriend, ran away from an abusive white boyfriend who, after seeing her with Spike, sets up a trap for her. Spike’s 11-year old nephew Hector dies as a result of this trap, and Anjela, finding the body of her son, goes on a police-killing rampage. Her apprehension sets off tension between Spike and his brother-in-law, as a race war broods inside the Terrordome.
Recently widowed fifty-something Margaux looks to start chapter two. Moving in with her sister, she re-enrolls at university for pursuits she’d never realized. However, Margaux begins to experience another kind of awakening, the compulsions of which begin to take over.
When a western Pennsylvania auto plant is acquired by a Japanese company, brokering auto worker Hunt Stevenson faces the tricky challenge of mediating the assimilation of two clashing corporate cultures. At one end is the Japanese plant manager and the sycophant who is angling for his position. At the other, a number of disgruntled long-time union members struggle with the new exigencies of Japanese quality control.
The thorny relationship between a woman and her retired father worsens after he becomes romantically involved with the housekeeper she hires for him.
The life story of ‘Zen Anarchist’ filmmaker John Milius, one of the most influential storytellers of his generation.
Quitters tells the story of the Raymans, a wealthy Jewish family that’s falling apart. The son, Clark, is a bright and curious high schooler with a talent for manipulation. As his mother May enters treatment for a pill addiction, and he and his father Roger stop getting along, Clark thinks about running away from home. He just needs to decide where to go.
A woman, married and with a child but becoming increasingly distant from her husband who is already cheating on her, reluctantly enters a secret relationship with her neighbor, a teenage boy.
Balcony is the most luxurious members-only clubhouse in town, where investment analyst Stephen comes across millionaire Lucas, stock broker Master Alan and prostitute Milo. He learns the tricks of stock market trading from Master Alan and teaches Milo what he has learnt. Stephen and Milo are thrilled with making easy money in the stock market, but soon realize that it’s Lun to control everything behind the scene…
Overeducated and underemployed, 28 year old Megan is in the throes of a quarterlife crisis. Squarely into adulthood with no career prospects, no particular motivation to think about her future and no one to relate to, Megan is comfortable lagging a few steps behind – while her friends check off milestones and celebrate their new grown-up status. When her high-school sweetheart proposes, Megan panics and- given an unexpected opportunity to escape for a week – hides out in the home of her new friend, 16-year old Annika and Annika’s world-weary single dad Craig.
Mars. Days before Halloween 2071. Villains blow up a tanker truck on Highway One, releasing a deadly virus that kills hundreds. Fearing a bigger, even more devastating biochemical attack, an astronomical reward is offered for the arrest and capture of the person behind the destruction. On the space ship “Bebop,” Spike Spiegel and his crew of bounty hunters (Jet Black, Faye Valentine, Ed and Ein) are bored and short of cash. But with the news of the reward, everything changes….
