Underplayed Gems

Testament (1983)

Testament poster
Directed by
Lynne Littman
Genre
drama film, disaster film, post-apocalyptic film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 30m
Rated
PG
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 141 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

The film follows a mother in a small California town after a nuclear attack destroys the outside world. She tries to hold her family together as their community slowly falls apart from radiation sickness and loss.

subduedsomberslow-pacedintimatebleakquietly devastatingcharacter-drivenmelancholic

What happens

Testament is a 1983 American post-apocalyptic drama film co-produced and directed by Lynne Littman, written by John Sacret Young, and starring Jane Alexander, William Devane, Leon Ames, Ross Harris, Lukas Haas, Roxana Zal, Kevin Costner, and Rebecca De Mornay. Based on Carol Amen's 1981 short story "The Last Testament", the film focuses on the disintegration of a small suburban community in the San Francisco Bay Area after nuclear war destroys outside civilization. It was one of the first films, along with The Day After and Threads, that portrayed life after a nuclear war, mostly in response to an increase in hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union. Originally produced for the PBS series American Playhouse, it was given a theatrical release instead by Paramount Pictures on November 4, 1983 (although PBS did subsequently air it a year later). Alexander was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.