Charles Bukowski

Writing

Charles Bukowski

Born — Died

1920-08-16 — 1994-03-09

Place of birth

Andernach, Germany

Known for

Writing

Credits

33 titles

Henry Charles Bukowski was a German-American poet, novelist, and short-story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambiance of his home city of Los Angeles.

Known for

Apostrophes poster
8.5

Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.

Apostrophes

1975

Barfly poster
6.9

Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But, they like each other's company—and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.

Barfly

1987

Tales of Ordinary Madness poster
6.0

Poet/lecturer Charles Serking awakens from his alcoholic haze long enough to take a bus back to L.A. and plunge into an orgy of drink and sexual depravity.

Tales of Ordinary Madness

1981

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président poster
7.2

In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

2022

Cold Moon poster
6.3

Simon and Dede are best friends: two aimless drunks who spend their days getting sloshed and any other available time getting laid. Simon is living on unemployment benefits in a trailer parked near his sister's apartment. Dede works at a fish-packing plant on the night shift. Neither man is sensitive, young, or good looking. However, their sang-froid (literally, "cold blood," referring to a quality of imperturbability) stands them in good stead as they go about their seedy lives, picking up one woman and having sex with her on the beach, or when Simon calmly has sex with a prostitute in front of the woman's brother. In the past, a bizarre necrophiliac situation led to Simon experiencing his only sense of what it might be to truly love someone.

Cold Moon

1991

Bukowski: Born Into This poster
6.8

Director John Dullaghan’s biographical documentary about infamous poet Charles Bukowski, Bukowski: Born Into This, is as much a touching portrait of the author as it is an exposé of his sordid lifestyle. Interspersed between ample vintage footage of Bukowski’s poetry readings are interviews with the poet’s fans including such legendary figures such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Joyce Fante (wife of John), Bono, and Harry Dean Stanton. Filmed in grainy black and white by Bukowski’s friend, Taylor Hackford, due to lack of funding, the old films edited into this movie paint Bukowski’s life of boozing and brawling romantically, securing Bukowski’s legendary status.

Bukowski: Born Into This

2003

Film credits

2020s · 3 titles

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président poster
7.2

In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

2022

Daedalus poster
10.0

"Fly too high and you will burn, go too low and you won't breathe." A 7 day vlog during the summer of 2023, a story of dreamers and drowners.

Daedalus

2024

On Life poster
NR

Henry Charles Bukowski (born Heinrich Karl Bukowski; August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994) was a German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles. His work addresses the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women, and the drudgery of work. Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over 60 books. The FBI kept a file on him as a result of his column, Notes of a Dirty Old Man, in the LA underground newspaper Open City. In 1986 Time called Bukowski a "laureate of American lowlife".Regarding Bukowski's enduring popular appeal, Adam Kirsch of The New Yorker wrote, "the secret of Bukowski's appeal. . . [is that] he combines the confessional poet's promise of intimacy with the larger-than-life aplomb of a pulp-fiction hero."

On Life

2021

2010s · 4 titles

2000s · 4 titles

1980s · 3 titles

1970s · 4 titles

Series credits

Behind the camera

Barfly poster
6.9

Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But, they like each other's company—and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.

Barfly

1987

Tales of Ordinary Madness poster
6.0

Poet/lecturer Charles Serking awakens from his alcoholic haze long enough to take a bus back to L.A. and plunge into an orgy of drink and sexual depravity.

Tales of Ordinary Madness

1981

Cold Moon poster
6.3

Simon and Dede are best friends: two aimless drunks who spend their days getting sloshed and any other available time getting laid. Simon is living on unemployment benefits in a trailer parked near his sister's apartment. Dede works at a fish-packing plant on the night shift. Neither man is sensitive, young, or good looking. However, their sang-froid (literally, "cold blood," referring to a quality of imperturbability) stands them in good stead as they go about their seedy lives, picking up one woman and having sex with her on the beach, or when Simon calmly has sex with a prostitute in front of the woman's brother. In the past, a bizarre necrophiliac situation led to Simon experiencing his only sense of what it might be to truly love someone.

Cold Moon

1991

Metamorphosis poster
NR

A short film based on the poem by Charles Bukowski.

Metamorphosis

2022

My Old Man poster
8.0

A boozy writer hammers away on his Underwood, recalling a childhood in which his abusive father kicked him out of the house for writing short stories. Based on the poem by Charles Bukowski.

My Old Man

2004

Sitting on a Fire Escape Eating Eggs poster
NR

While sitting on a fire escape eating eggs, a drunkard watches a human body fall past him impacting on the sidewalk below. He runs to tell his girlfriend only to find that she does not believe his tale.

Sitting on a Fire Escape Eating Eggs

2015

All Women Are Named Kiki poster
5.0

Plot is about a man who’s been in his apartment ever since his wife left him. Evening after evening he’s getting drunk and calls a hot line girl called Kiki... Srdjan Dragojevic's student film.

All Women Are Named Kiki

1991

Death is Smoking My Cigars poster
NR

Death follows a poet for his whole life, being a parasite to the poet.

Death is Smoking My Cigars

2021

The Laughing Heart poster
5.0

From a Charles Bukowski poem

The Laughing Heart

2013

Bukowski at Bellevue poster
8.0

In the spring of 1970 Charles Bukowski took his first plane trip for a poetry reading at Bellevue Community College in Washington state. That he was videotaped by two students apparently was later forgotten, but the tapes were recently rediscovered and have been released by Black Sparrow press. "Bukowski at Bellevue" gives us a fascinating glimpse of the man before he had to be concerned with how celebrity and financial security were affecting him. (It is said that this was only his fourth public reading.) This is Bukowski, then about 50, taken straight. No games, no irony, no self-consciousness--just an ordinary-looking guy, maybe hung over, sitting before a small group of students reading his work with gusto, humor and sensitivity. A man who clearly had lived the marginal life he wrote about with passion and at times a lyrical, even mystical beauty.

Bukowski at Bellevue

1970

Son of Satan poster
7.7

It’s not always easy when you are a kid. Bullying, cussing, growing up. It’s all a part of life. Adaptation of the Charles Bukowski story.

Son of Satan

2004

No artwork available
NR

An unseen narrator reads Bukowski's poem over footage of traffic, shopping and nature.

Let It Enfold You

—