| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 6/14/2006 9:02:57 PM | A few French films I like (I started out college as a French major):
-Au Revoir Les Enfants (directed by Louis Malle, 1987)
-Les Roseaux Sauvages (directed by Andre Techine, 1994)
-Le Grand Chemin (directed by Jean-Loup Hubert, 1987)
These two are probably much more 'main-stream,' (you may have seen them already) but I enjoyed them as well:
-La Cage Aux Folles (the original French version, directed by Edouard Molinaro, 1978)
-Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (directed by Jacques Demy, 1964)
(OP, I have also seen 'M'...that is a good one.) | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 12/31/2007 12:06:46 AM | I watched "Lives of others" the other night. This movie had a remarkable amount of layers to it. Set right before the Berlin Wall was torn down when the Stazi Secret Police was after a lot of the artists and free thinkers.
"My Life as a Dog" is a fantastically funny foreign film.
"Whale Rider" and "Bend it like Beckham" are very good, too. Whale rider seems so inspired I had to rewatch it to hear the narration of the making of it.
When you're sick and tired of hollwood mainstream drivel check out the foreign films.  | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 12/31/2007 12:11:46 AM | | Jeux D'enfants, France, it's a beautiful story about 2 children who start playing a game and how their lives are affected as adults. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 12/31/2007 5:31:28 AM | Wow!I was surprised to see this thread surface!
Since I started it I've watched several more foreign films,but I'll just run down a few of my favourites:
"Cinema Paradiso"-recommended here,and it was so good I had a copy ordered to buy it!
"Les Choiristes"- again not technically foreign(French-Canadian),but a fantastic film...a must-see in my books.
"The Italian"-A Russian film about a boy who is set to be adopted by an Italian couple,but runs away to find his birth mother.
"Bye Bye Lenin"-kind of quirky and sweet.
@Random-I've seen both of those movies,and yes,they are both really good,particularly "Whale Rider".Alot of really well-made movies come out of Australia/New Zealand.A few that come to mind:"Muriel's Wedding","Shine",and "Rabbit-Proof Fence".(And the first two "Mad Max" movies..always liked those! ) | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 12/31/2007 1:33:23 PM |
Wow!I was surprised to see this thread surface!
I did a thread search, leafslady. What happened is this. The other night another user started a movie thread basically wanting to find out what other users watch when they are sick of the regular hollywood produced mainstream drivel. I entered a long post only to hit save and watch it go up in smoke. The thread had been killed while I was typing, apparently. So the next day I did a thread search and rementioned the idea of foreign films as an alternative when one is bored of regular films hoping this other user will eventually see it since I couldn't get to them directly due to mail restrictions.
I think my netflix had Bend it like Beckham considered foreign but it's been awhile so I could be wrong about that.
Shine was awesome, rabbit proof fence was pretty good too, never saw muriel's wedding. I think you're observation is spot on about good movies coming out of Au/New Zealand. I don't see a lot from there but which ones do come about have an undeniable amount of charisma about them.
If you like the old B&W type war movies "Das Boot" is a good german submarine movie. Rich in suspense! | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 12/31/2007 5:11:30 PM | | You can see Russel Crowe naked on a horse in Hammers Over the Anvil. Check out the original Norwegian Insomnia - much better ending that the American remake. Check out Old Boy - the Korean film that may have inspired the V Tech killer. It's so cool to see a guy cut out his own tongue! Dirty Pretty Things is a Brit film from a few years ago - a guy pulls a human heart out of a toilet! Watch and find out what it's doing there. There's an obscure Danish film called The Celebration which was shot with a hand held camera. The Host is another cool Korean film that came out last year. Burnt By the Sun is a powerful and depressing Russian film. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/1/2008 10:40:51 AM | | ^^^omg "old boy" was crazy. I myself have a penchant for mira nair films (esp. monsoon wedding) . "Pan's Labyrinth" and "volver" are also amazing films, but there are so many. I think that it's crazy when i hear people say they won't watch a foriegn film because they dislike reading subtitles. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/1/2008 2:10:11 PM | Som peepole kant reed or spel or nutin, so they doesn't like to try to reed subtitles.
I've seen a few dubbed foreign films. Awful! I think people are just going to have to learn to read.
I left out a couple of Kurosawa films- Ran and The Seven Samurai. Again, the ending of the Japanese film is much superior than the American remake - The Magnificent Seven. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/1/2008 2:32:59 PM | Swept Away (NOT the Madonna version; Italian)
The Vanishing (Dutch)
Both are excellent studies on the difference between European films and Hollywood ones. (Not to mention how Madonna can kill almost any film she's cast in...)
Spoorlos ( The Vanishing) is one of the most disturbing films you'll ever want to see - especially for it's stunning ending.
Another one is the French film, "Trois hommes et un couffin " , which was Disneyfied into "Three men and a baby". Again, the entire brilliance of the initial film was destroyed by coating it in cotton candy.
What I like about European films, generally, is the amount of "air" in them. There's not frenzied need to make a film like some amusement ride, and "jolt" the audience with some emotional cattle prod (or explosion) every five minutes.
Some of the Chinese films are quite amazing , as well :
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero ( a beautifully shot film, imho) , etc
La Bella Vita was another brilliant, almost Chaplinesque film. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/1/2008 3:48:20 PM |
Som peepole kant reed or spel or nutin, so they doesn't like to try to reed subtitles.
actually i was referring to people i know for which reading is not an issue.
this thread reminded me of another film "Rosetta" that i completely fell in love with. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/1/2008 5:45:41 PM | Watched City of Lost Children last night -- very very good, especially considering when it was made. Still a little too much on the surreal side. Like a disney movie on acid. Usually most foreign films are very realistic, just supergood stories.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon didn't work for me, either. I know it got all kinds of raves but it didn't work as a MA film nor an art film -- it should have picked one or the other and stuck with it. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/9/2008 10:12:14 AM | | I love foreign films, especially from Japan. Some of the greatest and most influential directors of all time come from there (Akira Kurosawa, Yasujiro Ozu, Kenji Mizoguchi, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Mikio Naruse, etc.). Kurosawa is probably my favorite Japanese director; his films are the epitome of cinematic prowess. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/10/2008 1:20:49 AM | Wow. Where to start.
Anything by François Truffaut. "Weekend" is particularly bizarre. Aything by Claude Lelouch.
French films I find to be a bit of a crapshoot. When they're good they're unbelievable ("Amelie") when they're bad you want to gouge your eyes out ("Ma Mere", "Irréversible").
Anything with Audrey Tauton. Anything made in France that is. She hasn't been in a bad movie. Anything with Jean Reno, expecially Empire des loups, L' (" Empire of Wolves), Rivières pourpres, Les ("Crimson Rivers") and Rivières pourpres II - Les anges de l'apocalypse ("Crimson Rivers 2"). I'm not sure he's ever been in a bad movie either.
Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot. Anything with/by Jaques Tati. Chocolat. Babette's Feast.
Any movie made or set in Iceland. There's not many but they're all great. There's one Japanese/Iclandic co-production that's really good whose name escapes me. Beowulf is good too.
Anything by Pedro Almodóvar (Spanish). Also "Open your eyes" the precurser to "Vanilla Sky". Also Sin noticias de Dios ("Don't tempt me"). It's a bit (a wee bit) like "Dogma".
I can't recall ever seeing a bad Italian film. Pane et Tulipani stands out in my mind the most. Io non ho paura ("I'm not scared") was really good too.
Anything by Ingmar Bergman.
Like Water for Chocolat (Mexican).
Stuff from Australia and New Zealand is worth seeking out: Breaker Morant, Dons party, The Last Wave, Goodbye Pork Pie, Eagle vs. Shark (just released) as well as the others mentioned in previous posts. If you can stomach it, watch Gallipoli, and cue up a copy of The Pogues version of "And the band played waltzing Metilda". Try to ignore The Cars that Ate Paris. It's not good.
German Cinema is coming back well too: Amelie and Jaguar is very good, and The Lives of Other is SO good a lot of people on imdb consider it the best film ever made. I'm not sure I disagree.
http://imdb.com is your best resource for finding other stuff you like once you latch on to an actor or director. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/10/2008 8:44:13 AM | La Haine, absolutely fantastic movie about inner city french kids
Der Untergang, German movie telling the last days of Hitler before the ruskie took berlin
Dobermann, surreal crazy french comic book action flick
Thats all i can remember off the top of my head | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/10/2008 3:47:47 PM | GADJO DILO is my most favorite foreign movie, you must see this film!!!
and anything by Pedro Almodovar is sure to please  | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/10/2008 6:45:48 PM | Agree with most of the films listed here as well as: City of Lost Children, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Cinema Paradiso, Life Is Beautiful, Rashomon, Repulsion, if you liked Muriel's Wedding much of the same cast appears in Ballroom Dancing and a wonderful little film (whose title I can't find) about putting on a Mozart opera in an insane asylum, Brazil, and The Professional.
Directors would be: Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut, Hitchcock, Terry Gilliam and Roman Polanski | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/10/2008 7:54:24 PM | "Be With Me " VEry minimum dialogue, some called it pretentious, but I have never seen anything as sad and as beautiful, ever........
the best foreign film I have seen this year...10 stars!
(give me a minute, and I can think of at least 5 more must see foreign movies)
The Last Metro ........'87? François Truffaut, and starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu
Wings of Desire (also lacking a lot of dialogue) 1988
dang, I'll come back better prepared..thanks for the references everyone! (have seen most of those mentioned, all agreed, very good!) | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/10/2008 9:07:30 PM | all thread participants,
what a treat. thanks to leafslady for posting it and random entry for the gravedigging. i do have some strong opinions on the matter. in no particular order,
leafslady, as/re ingmar bergman, i found that his films lost their vibrance and originality as they went to colour. at this point his films just brought up the same recurrent themes over and over again for the rest of his career. i believe he died this past year, rest in peace. and as/re aus/NZ films, a charming action/comedy starring noah taylor comes to mind, entitled "he died with a falafel in his hand", a very endearing tale. you may want to revisit the first "MAD MAX" film in its original version. it is little known that this film is dubbed for the US market and loses much of its charm as a result. i believe the DVD is the original AUS version, and the only true way to experience this cult classic. enjoy.
random entry, as/re hollywood mainstream drivel, this is what has always attracted me to foreign and independent film throughout life. as opposed to the hollywood moneymaking machine, films that are produced independently or with government funding or simply in developing nations, focus their priority on expression of an idea rather than making the most money possible. however it is possible to achieve both aims; and martin scorcese and the movi "taxi driver" is a good example of commercial success without compromise, though the decision was made to desaturate the colours in the final bloody confrontation sequence to avoid losing the "R" rating; perhaps this would not have happened were it an independent film.
mu2freighter (sd40s or sd70s?) i must disagree regarding roberto benigni; i find his work for the most part as irritating as any cinema i have ever had to watch. i would describe what i have seen of him to be "non-acting" as he relies almost completely on dialogue. i could not force myself to watch his antics in "life is beautiful" for more than ten minutes, literally. on and on and interminably on with the nonstop motormouth dialogue. perhaps this is cultural; however, i do enjoy italian cinema as a rule, and would recommend michelangelo antonioni's "the passenger" (1975) with jack nicholson, a lesser known but absolutely brilliant intrigue piece.
hunter b, as/re "lola rennt" (run lola run) perhaps it would interest you to know that franka potente is an accomplished pop artist as well as actress, and was very involved with the film's soundtrack. she was also supporting actress in "the bourne identity" alongside matt damon.
montreal guy, regarding endings, i challenge you to watch the film "dancer in the dark" with bjork gudmondsdottir (yes, bjork the singer, and icelandic coincidentally) if you want to see an ending that will truly wrench your soul inside out. oddly this film is set as a musical, and each scene was shot with no less than 100 cameras, and post-production took longer and cost more than the shooting of the film itself. this was presumably done to deal with bjorks personality, i seriously doubt she had the patience to do more than one take of any sequence. what an incredible artist she is, thankfully.
oh_bugger, regarding french cinema, "la haine" (hate) is one of my favourites, and i favour french cinema as a rule. odd that an_earthling complains of subtitles, i myself insist on it; having french as a second language. my take is that if you understand the base language, the subtitle can present to you a secondary perception of the dialogue, and you can occasionally relish in the subtle differences and double entendres that would be lost in dubbing. take for example my most very favourite film of all, "rouge baiser" (red kiss) with charlotte valandrey. the film is about a young fifteen year old malcontent (our heroine) who falls for a magazine photographer and ultimately has to choose between her young values and the man she loves (she is a communist and regularly attends rallies, in 1952 france, and the magazine he works for is very anti-communist). rouge baiser literally translated means "red kiss" but also means lipstick in french. so the title has this little double entendre which nods both at the young girl's budding sexuality and the communist beliefs she has to forsake in order to cultivate her romance with the photographer, which ends so perfectly and so poignantly.
another reason i adore this film, is further to the real life of the starring actress, charlotte valandrey. she was just shy of 18 when this film was shot in 1985, and soon after was entangled with a drug-addicted jazz musician. she contracted HIV from him and was diagnosed in 1987. she still lives, and although she has had heart replacement surgery and takes over 30 pills a day to survive, has had a daughter (HIV negative) and written a book about her experiences entitled "l'amour dans le sang" (love in the blood) which although unavailable in translated form is one of the most inspiring autobiographies i have ever read. (perhaps i am biased as my late uncle also contracted HIV from tainted blood in a transfusion also in 1987...) it guided me through a troubling period in my life and i would recommend it to anyone who is comfortable reading french.
i own this, and a few other french titles in my meager library, among them "monsieur hire" and "sans toit ni loi" (vagabond) both starring sandrine bonnaire. rent these two films if you want to see a demonstration of sandrine bonnaire's incredible range during her prime. her depiction of a filthy vagrant in her last few weeks of life couldnt be more contrasted against her depiction of a vulnerable and curious young woman being willingly spied on by the voyeuristic m. hire.
also, if you are in canada and have a membership with blockbuster, mongrel media has released several films under the label "the festival collection" and are grouped in a special section. many of the titles mentioned by previous posters are available under this label. my experience with these films has been generally positive, with few exceptions.
phew. i hope this adds fuel to the wonderful discussion in this thread. regards. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 1/11/2008 4:19:59 AM |
ingmar bergman, i found that his films lost their vibrance and originality as they went to colour. at this point his films just brought up the same recurrent themes over and over again for the rest of his career.
How on earth can you not be impressed to death with Saraband?
Mad Max was good, but The Road Warrior was great.
I just saw Yo Yo Cop Girl. Set in Japan, a teenager becomes a special agent for the police dons a sailor suit and armed with a lethal yo yo goes after terrorists at a high school. The last scene is intense as there's another cop, gone bad and she has a yo yo too. God I hope there's a sequel. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 3/25/2009 11:56:46 PM | I've watched so many foreign films over the years but give me anything with Gerard Depardieu.................
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was very annoying and way too long. There have been much better Asian films. I preferred The Curse of The Yellow Flower. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 3/26/2009 12:06:32 AM | Fanny and Alexander-- a long and fabulous Ingmar Bergman film.
An Affair of Love -- the crappy English language title for Les Liaison Pornagraphique --which is a pretty crappy French title--with Serge Lopez and Nathalie Baye. Romantic and odd.
Intimate Strangers-- I loved Fabrice Lucchini in this. Also romantic and odd. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 3/26/2009 9:28:55 AM | Luv em!! Among my favorites classic foreign films which I highly recommend:
Les Diaboliques ( French film w/ subtitles thankfully).... Stars one of my fav actresses Simone Signoret a classic femme fa tale .. She conspires along with her best friend to murder the friends philandering husband ., even tho it's Simone is having an affair with him!! lol... timeless classic
The Rose Tattoo- (Italian film ) Not really a "foreign film" but made in Italy starring the striking Sicilian actress Anna Magnani ( an overlooked stunner who I think has more sex appeal than Sophia Loren) also has Burt Lancaster as a burly truck driver who unwittingly falls in love with her..but incurs her disdain since she mistakenly thinks he tried to push up on her teen aged daughter!
lol
Pixote ( Brazilian flick w/ subtitles ).. A coming of age flick centered around this young adorable lil Brazilian boy born into stark poverty and living on the streets of Brazil.. struggling to survive.. raw gritty and shocking scenes..
This flick has been etched in my mind for years- absolutely loved it !!
City of God ( Brazilian w/ subtitles) My second afv Brazilian film next to Pixote..
A graphic and disturbing no holds barred depiction of the gangs in a poverty stricken neighborhood in Brazil... rough stuff and very entertaining.. | |
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| Calling all foreign film enthusiasts
Posted: 3/26/2009 9:48:37 AM | Alice in the Cities (Alice in den Staaten) by Wim Wenders. A kind of 70s road movie about a photographer landed with looking after a young girl.
Aguirre, Wrath of God. Kinski rotating on a raft down the amazon. Documentary about the film's production is just as good as the film, including Kinski firing a pistol at other actors.
Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux Sans Visage). Georges Franju's 50s horror/love story, weird and beautiful.
Mouchette. Robert Bresson film about an adolescent girl.
Les Valseuses. Brilliant French movie . http://www.amazon.co.uk/Valseuses-VHS-G%C3%A9rard-Depardieu/dp/B00004CN5W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1238085866&sr=1-2
Knife on the Water. Polanski's first film, made while at fim school I think. Two men sparring over a woman on a boat.
Some Pasolini, Fassbinder, and Luis Bunuel's Exterminating Angel is good. | |
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