Would some of you "filmies" recommend some foreign films?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I haven’t seen a movie thread for a whole two days now and I’m having withdrawal symptoms.

I’ve only just started watching a few foreign films and am getting hooked. Here are a few of my recent favorites:

  1. Tampopo (Japanese – about love, noodles and food. Funny!)
  2. Ma Vie En Rose (French – about gender confusion in a little boy. Funny and touching.)
  3. Cinema Paradiso (Italian – about movies, moviemaking and growing up in a small town in Naples. Great film.)
  4. The Red Throne (Japanese – Akira Kurosawa/Toshiro Mifune film. Kurosawa’s version of MacBeth. Fascinating and well done, especially the part of “Lady MacBeth.”)
  5. Der Blau Engel (German – old film, early thirties. Marlene Dieterich’s first. A great film, and it shows you how good German filmmaking was.)
  6. Was “The Fully Monty” British-made? If so, a vote goes to this film for humor and its gentle satire of male sexuality.

I’d like to add that I don’t like dubbed foreign films. I like to hear the native language.

Got any good ones to tell us about?

2

Life is Beautiful. Definitely in my opinion one of the greatest movies ever made. You can get it either subbed or dubbed.

3

Check out some German stuff. The Germans kicked ass.

THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI
THE LAST LAUGH
SIEGFRIED
BERLIN: PORTRAIT OF A CITY
METROPOLIS
M
THE THREEPENNY OPERA

  • slight break for National Socialism -

Stuff by Herzog, Fassbinder, and Wenders.

For tips on the early stuff, read Krakauer’s FROM CALIGARI TO HITLER (the history of UFA, the German national film company, and one of the first serious books about film as art).

4

You’ve already sampled a bit of Akira Kurosawa, so you should love this one…Rashomon. I stumbled upon it one day on American Movie Classics and was immediately drawn into the story. Ran is considered his masterpice. It’s based on King Lear. Also, Seven Samarui is also considered a classic.

I also recommend Life is Beautiful. very funny film that really touches a chord. I haven’t seen any other Roberto Benigi films, but I have heard some are pretty good.

SWtrictly Ballroom is an Australian film, 1/2 arthouse and 1/2 Dirty Dancing. It should be easy to find at a Blockbuster.

I really dig English films, but can’t think of any off the top of my head at the moment.

5

I thought Pulp Fiction was a pretty decent foreign flick :smiley:

6

I often try to introduce people who are afraid of foreign films with movies anyone would like. I used to run a weekly 'film group, where we’d get together early on Monday evenings and do ‘comparative viewing’ of two films

Le Retour de Grand Blond Homme - French comedy
Compare with “That man with One Red Shoe” (Hollywood version)
(It’s a sequel, but I definitely recommend seeing this one first, and the original later – if ever)

Le Femme Nikita - French thriller (compare with Hollywood version)
Just Brilliant. You’ll never accept the cardboard characters and flash-bang of a Hollywood thriler again.

I see you’ve watched Kurosawa. I haven’t seen as much of him as I’d like, but I think The Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven is a great evening. Samurai vs. Cowboy. I also think that Rashomon can spark some fascinating conversation – its a story told from several viewpoints, what really happened? You decide.

I always contrast the Japanese Tampopo with the Korean 301/302 a very different movie, but even more food obsessed. made me ravenous and made me want to totally renovate my kitchen.

I have heard such good things about “The white desert sun” (Beloye solntse pustyni - Russian) that I’ll suggest it, even though I haven’t seen it, and I’ve never seen a Russian film I’ve liked.

Anyone out there know a good Russian film? Please don’t say ‘Solaris’ - I read the book as a kid, but the movie was slower than a slug buried in lava.

Also, what’s really entertaining in the German scene now? It’s probably my best fluency these days, but no one ever seems to suggest German films.

7

See the original first. One of the best comedies ever made.

Other great foreign films (and we’re all just scratching the surface):

Jacques Tati was one of the greatest comedians in film history. Films to see:
“M. Hulot’s Holiday”
“Mon Oncle”
“Playtime” (note – do not rent the tape of “Playtime”. Watch it only in a theater, preferably in the original 70-mm. The pan and scan and small screen destroy it.).

Ingmar Bergman
“The Seventh Seal”
“Shame”
“Persona”
“Cries and Whispers”
“Smiles of a Summer Night” (his lightest)
BTW, if you want to see this master of dispair handle slapstick comedy, see if you can find “Let’s Not Talk About All These Women” (aka “All These Women”).

Luis Bunuel
“El”
“The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie”
“The Andalusian Dog” (Just to say you had. Shock cinema is nothing new.)

Fellini
“La Strada”
“8 1/2”

*Others
“La Cage au Folles”
“King of Hearts”
“Alexander Nevsky”
“Children of Heaven” (Iranian, and utterly charming)
“The Return of Martin Guerre”
“Lacomb, Lucien”
“Pepi Le Moko”
“The Tin Drum”

8

With all due respect, see Fellini’s La Dolve Vita first.

9

**
Also, what’s really entertaining in the German scene now? It’s probably my best fluency these days, but no one ever seems to suggest German films.

**

It’s hardly a current film, but I thought Maedchen in Uniform (1931) was an interesting look at authoritarian pre-Nazi Germany as seen from the point of view of boarding school girls.

10

Fair enough, but La Dolce Vita is pretty decent as well.

11

The Vanishing

Not the U.S. wimpified version. This movie will stick with you for the rest of your life.

12
  1. Le Souffle au coeur (Louis Malle)
    2a. Jean de Florette 2b. Manon des sources (Claude Berri)
  2. Himmel über Berlin (Wim Wenders)
  3. Satyricon (Federico Fellini)
13

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Best foreign film I’ve ever seen.

14

I don’t get a chance to watch many foreign films. Used to live with my parents till a bit ago and they didn’t go for them. But I think the Gerarad Depardieu version of Cyrano de Bergerac is the best I’ve ever seen. And I can recommend Ridicule as well. It’s based around the French court and always being witty. I loved it.

15

A lot of people have already listed my favorites, but I’ll say them again. I’m a pushover for Akira Kurasawa, especially:

     Seven Samurai
     Rashomon
     Kagemusha

(Side note: they keep remaking Kurasawa’s films, especially as westerns. Seven amurai was released in the US as The Magnificent Seven originally, until the Yul Brynner remake came out. Yojimbo became a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western. Rashomon was remade as The Outrage with Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Howard a Silva, Claire Bloom, and William Shatner.)

Fritx Lang’s films are excellent, After I saw Giorgio Moroders restored version from 1984 I was blown away. A lot of people aren’t happy with Moroder’s version, but there is at least one more restored version available on videotape. It’s from Kino, and is worth looking up. Don’t watch the usual version of Metropolis. It’s from a very washed out and butchered print, and it’s hard to tell what’s going on.

Fritz Lang’s Die Frau im Mond is also worthwhile. Hermann Oberth was technical advisor to the film, and the scenes of the peparation for the rocket launch look like they actualy filmed a 1930s German rocket launch. (They didn’t, but the special effects are that good).

As long as I’m on foreign silent films, look up Abel Gance’s silent version of Napoleon.

I like the Russian version of War and Peace. It runs about seven hours. Truly an epic. (There is a bastardized version that pares this down to 2 hours. Avoid this like the plague.) The scene recreating the battle of Borodino, where they dressed up what looks like the entire Russian army in 19th century uniforms and placed them in battle formations, is by itself enough to make it worth seeking out.

British comedies fro the early 50s (I can’t recall the studio name) are superb – Alec Guiness, Joan Greenwood, and others starred in The Man in the White Suit, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Lavender Hill Mob, and others.

This doesn’t begin to scratch the surface, but these are some of my favorites.

16

I’ve always been a fan of Krzysztof Kieslowski, director of the Three Color series (Bleu, Blanc and Rouge) as well as De Double Vie de Veronique. Excellent stuff, although you might want to go subtitled unless you’re fluent in French and Polish.

17

Betty Blue The wacky relationship of Betty (Béatrice Dalle) and Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade).

Vagabond The last week in the life of a homeless girl (Sandrine Bonaire).

The Kingdom Lars von Trier’s masterpiece of Danish television shows life – and afterlife – in The Kingdom hospital. “Like ER on acid.”

Ran King Lear set in feudal Japan. Directed by Akira Kurosawa.

Breathless NO!!! NOT THE REMAKE!!! See the original black-and-white version by Jean-Luc Godard.

Ninja Scroll A fine bit of anime about a ronin, a female assassin, a strange old man, and the battle to stop a demon from usurping control of Japan.

Cube This Canadian import didn’t last long. But I really liked it.

I have a few (very few) reviews on my page of pics I liked. http://pw1.netcom.com/~heliboy/reviews.htm

18

Akira Kurasawa has been mentioned a few times so far . You could try “Yojimbo” ( that’s why I picked my name ) , it was re-made as " A fistful of Dollars " and again as " Last man standing "

Off hand you could try .

[ul]
[li]A matter of life and death . ( a absolute British classic )[/li][li]Kind hearts and coronets . ( as above )[/li][li]Brass ( British )[/li][li]Jean de Florete + Manon des sources ( French )[/li][li]Lock , stock and two smoking barrels ( British )[/li][li]Das Boot ( German , IMHO the best submarine flick ever made )[/li]
[/ul]

19

I hadn’t read CalMeacham post . He mentions a few I have mentioned .

Must be good advise then . :smiley:

20

I suddenly remember a recent German film that was very good and will be incredibly easy to find. Run Lola Run (1999) was very interesting and there is an American film called Go that would be good to view the same evening. They have a lot of similarities that make them a good match. (Go is a bit violent and sexual, but not dark, just in case that bothers you)