If you love film, you likely have been to a repertory screening at some point in your life. The chance to watch an older movie, on the big screen, with a crowd as in love with the opportunity to watch a movie in theatres, maybe for the first time, or maybe to recapture that sense of wonder of when you first saw it. The idea of repertory showings of movies still exists, but it’s also become corporatized through Fathom Events and their annual TCM series. That’s not inherently a bad thing (it’s how I finally watched “Vertigo” and “Jaws” on the big screen), but it also takes away some of the pleasure of going to an art house theatre like Atlanta’s The Plaza, which constantly has older films on tap, as well as special showings; my experiences with “The Crow” and “The Shining” there are unmatched.
This year, I’m going to lean a lot into my favorite genre of all-time, science fiction, for this year’s entries in this series. Films I haven’t seen. Films that are overdue for review. And I’m even going to try to watch some classic TV series I haven’t before. Our bookend filmmaker had to be a fitting one, and though he’s most known for horror, John Carpenter has done plenty in this genre, starting with our first film for 2026, his 1988 satire, “They Live”.
Next up, I go back into Afrofuturism with Lizzie Borden’s 1983 film, “Born in Flames”.
Viva La Resistance!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
“Born in Flames” (1983)- A
“Born in Flames” is very much a film reflecting on the civil rights movements for African-Americans and women that were prevalent in the culture of the ’60s and ’70s, and yet, it was impressively prescient in the white male backlash that we’re seeing now, and was growing at the time. One sees the sexism and racism in the white male characters in this film, and you can make a beeline to the MAGA movement. And yet, while Lizzie Borden’s film is depressing in how it saw the future, it is an energetic and entertaining piece of filmmaking.
Borden sets her film in a future New York, a decade after a “social-democratic war of liberation,” where women and Black men and women struggled for some sense of equality with white men. And yet, while politicians and newscasters give lip service to equality, the fight is not over. They’ve painted radical groups for change as terrorists, and downplay white male violence towards women. (Sound familiar yet?) Throughout the film, we watch as a group of women continue the fight for equality by any means necessary because they are not being heard otherwise.
This is a film that is considered a work of Afrofuturism, and one can definitely see the commonalities between it and other films that I’ve reviewed in the genre. It very much falls into the subgenre of dystopian science fiction, as well, even though everything about it screams 1980s New York. While “Born in Flames” doesn’t have the production design of a “Blade Runner” or “The Matrix,” what it does accomplish is putting us in an anxious state about the world we’re watching unfold. This is where a low-budget approach fits beautifully into the world Borden is creating. Sometimes, the best effects are the ones limitations in resources inspire a filmmaker to create.
A few characters standout- a radio personality named Honey (played by Honey); one of the leaders, Isabel (played by Adele Bertei), and Zella Whlie (a big picture representation of the movement’s leadership, played by Florynce Kennedy). We also get Adalaide Norris (Jean Satterfield), who is labeled a domestic terrorist, arrested when they come into the city, and dies in prison in an apparent “suicide.” Nothing about her death feels like it was of her own hand, and it sparks the actions of the third act in the film, which includes an act against a New York staple that might be difficult to witness now, but also looks at how spectacle is sometimes needed for rebellion to get its point across. “Born in Flames” has a lot of ideas, and narrative, for its 80 minute run time, and we are captivated every step of the way.
Previous “Repertory Revue” Films
“They Live” (1988)
“Starship Troopers” (1997)
“Welcome II the Terrordome” (1995)
“Battledream Chronicle” (2015)
“Born in Flames” (1983)
See Brian’s list of 2009 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2010 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2011 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2012 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2013 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2014 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2015 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2016 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2017 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2018 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2019 “Movies a Week” here.
See Brian’s list of 2020 “Repertory Revues” here.
See Brian’s list of 2021 “Repertory Revues” here.
See Brian’s list of 2022 “Repertory Revues” here.
See Brian’s list of 2023 “Repertory Revues” here.
See Brian’s list of 2024 “Repertory Revues” here.
See Brian’s list of 2025 “Repertory Revues” here.
