Downfall/Der Untergang- covers essentially the same ground as Alec Guinness’s Hitler: the Last Ten Days, but the fact that it is in German and, while ensemble, focuses on his young secretary Traudl Junge as a main character, much brightens it. Guinness was great, but for my money Bruno Ganz is the definitive portrayal of Hitler on screen so far. (His compassion and gentleness when with Blondi or his avuncular affection for his secretaries is actually chilling because it makes him less a supernatural monster and more a human who could do the things he did.) My favorite performance though was Corinna Harfouch as Magda Goebbels- her scene with her daughter Helga, who suspects that the sleeping aid Mama is giving her children isn’t a regular potion (actually it is just to help them sleep, but when they’re soundly sedated she places the cyanide capsule between their teeths) is both wrenching (somehow you actually feel sorry for her) and horrifying.
I saw a really fun Spanish movie the other day called La Comunidad (English title: Communal Wealth) about a woman who moves (sort of) into an apartment building where something about the neighbors is very off… It was a totally lucky selection; I just wanted to see something to brush up on my language listening skills so I grabbed the first okay-looking Spanish movie that I came across at Blockbuster, and it turned out to be a great pick. At different turns it’s tongue-in-cheek cheesy, hilarious, atmospheric, tense, exciting, and downright creepy.
The best one I’ve seen lately is Noche De Reyes. Which, conincidently, is the only non-English movie I saw this year. I’m not good with subtitled movies.
It was pretty amusing, and a little more sureal than I was expecting. The actresses that played the daughters stole the spotlight from the older actors. And to my surprise, I actually recognized one of the actors from another movie I’ve seen. (Fele Martínez is also in Darkness). Plus, it was nice to see a piglet in a dramatic role.
I liked Noche De Reyes, but I learned there’s a big difference between a movie from Spain and one from Mexico or South America. Movies like **The Devil’s Backbone ** are not terribly hard to follow, because the Spanish is enough like I was taught that I can understand most of it even without the subtitles, and spend part of the movie saying “Hey! That’s not what he said!” But I only understood about 2% of the Spanish in this movie! Damn did they talk fast.
The plot was also a bit difficult to follow, given they kept wishing each other Merry Christmas and run away from Santas, but apparently unlike the box implied in both Spanish and English, it doesn’t take place at Christmas but place on twelfth night (night of kings - took until the credits started for me to realize they mean kings as rulers, not a surname. Damn X-Files and Third Watch) and therefore during the first week of January. We don’t really celebrate Epiphany in the US, and no one ever mentioned they think the wise men come like Santa, so it was a bit hard to figure out when it was, and why they were wishing for wise men to bring them presents. I guess I learned something in spite of myself.
If you read Spanish, this is an interesting interview with the makers. One claims it’s the anti-Christmas movie. I don’t think he’s too far off the mark.
Samurai Fiction is too irreverent to be a serious samurai drama, but too serious to be a spoof, either way, it’s a really good film. You’ll see a number of things here that probably were in Tarantino’s head when he made Kill Bill. The soundtrack is also excellent (composed and performed by rock guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei, who stars as the main villain. He also did the famous “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” (for a different movie) that was used in Kill Bill). Director Horiyuki Nakano also made Stereo Future and Akakage (Red Shadow), which share a number of themes and actors, but aren’t quite as good, IMO.
The German Funny Games will freak you out beyond belief. It regularly gets mentioned in the “Most Disturbing Movie Ever” threads.
I watched Survive Style 5+ recently, and it was pretty good, if odd. Not much of a story, but several different storylines going on at once, none of which made a whole lot of sense.
Loved this movie (saw it on circuit), my wife and a friend of mine still bring this up when my movie tastes are under discussion - they hated it.
Recently, I’ve enjoyed: Les Corps Impatients , a drama about a 3-way relationship and terminal illness. I’ve read it’s like Von Trier’s Breaking the Waves, but I haven’t seen that.
Nochnoy dozor (Nightwatch), a Russian occult thriller, part of a trilogy I can’t wait to see the rest of. Very In Nomine or World of Darkness, but it’s the Moskow setting that makes it truly otherworldly to me.
and I really like House of Flying Daggers, but not as much as Hero
The French Arsene Lupin was a bit long, but mainly good fun. Centuries-old mysteries, quests, adventure; all set against France in the late 19th C.
The Greek The Weeping Meadow was very long and slow moving, but wonderful to watch unfold.
And there was a Russian (or maybe Ukranian) film about a boy and his father walking south to the Black Sea coast which I enjoyed.
Can’t remember it’s name though.
I recently caught the South Korean boxing movie “Crying Fist”, which stars Choi Min-shik (“Oldboy”).
It follows two boxers who enter a boxing contest. One is a washed-up silver medalist from the 80s who makes a meager living by letting people punch him for $10. The other is a small-time street thug who gets thrown in jail and picks up boxing to pass the time.
What’s so great about this film is that it’s not clear cut in terms of who should win or lose. Both of these characters evoke sympathy yet at the same time they have serious flaws that make them repulsive at times. No black and white hats in this movie.
Hungarian (I believe) film called Kontrol. Set in a vast underground railway system, and about the workers who live there. So surreal and alien to my experience that it felt like science fiction or fantasy. Also very, very funny in parts.
It was hardly recently, but the best non-English film I have ever seen was El Chacal de Nahueltoro from Chile. Nobody I know, including a few film buffs, has ever heard of it.
