Foreign Films

[themostepotente]

A few weeks ago, charlotteschaos and I were discussing our love of foreign films. Here are mine in no particular order.

1.) Raise the Red Lantern (Chinese) Directed by Zhang Yimou

My love for Gong Li knows no limits.

2.) Fairwell My Concubine (Chinese) Directed by Kaige Chen

3.) Seven Samurai (Japanese) Directed by Akira Kurosawa

4.) La Femme Nikita (French) Directed by Luc Besson

5.) A Better Tomorrow (Chinese) Directed by John Woo

Before JW got all shitty and Hollywood :P

6.) Pan's Labyrinth (Spanish) Directed by Guillermo del Toro

7.) Ichi the Killer (Japanese) Directed by Takashi Miike

All kinds of fucked up.

8.) Au Revoir, Les Enfants (French) Directed by Louis Malles

9.) Le Pacte des Loups (French) Directed by Christophe Gans

10.) Delicatessan (French) Directed by Marc Caro

Ponds, this movie is right up your twisted alley. *G*

Okay, so I know I'm missing A LOT. Ang Lee's stuff is definitely good. And there's House of Flying Daggers and CTHD and yeah... *sighs*

So what foreign movies does everyone else love? Feel free to suggest movies and bash my tastes. What the hell, y'know? *G*

--P

Comments

[aragon-san.livejournal.com]

6) Postman Blues, Japan, by Sabu (Hiroyuki Tanaka) - actor in Ichi btw
One of the modern Japanese movies you can still watch if not able to stomach people getting chopsticks rammed into eyes and various orifices, chopped off limbs and drawn out ultra-violence - even if the Yakuza IS involved here too. Master of the clever grotesque and random things happening to random people leading to weird results. Sabu's stories are always worth watching but damn difficult to describe. But running or chasing is always involved: here on bicycles. This is a good one for beginners ^_^

7) Cold Fever, Iceland, by Fridrik Thor Fridriksson
Japanese Yuppie reluctantly goes to visit place where his parents died years ago to do a Shinto-ceremony to honour their souls as his grandfather demands - instead of golfing in Hawaii as he'd planned. Unfortunately they died in an accident in the middle of nowhere in Iceland... Fantastic road movie: hilarious culture clashes, spiritual, haunting and the Icelandic landscapes are breathtakingly beautiful!

8) Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, France, by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
I was initially leary: all the hype, Audrey Tautou's excessive cuteness but this deserves every single award and nomination. If you don't feel just a bit more light-hearted after seeing this one you're likely dead already. Warmhearted, funny, eccentric (yay for nerds, daydreamers and losers), full of surprises and unusual ideas. Any film that combines world-traveling garden gnomes, suicidal goldfish, Josef Stalin advocating people's right to stay messed up daydreamers without a life, beggars denying donations because they won't work on Sundays - and make it work! - should be watched ^_^

9) Gegen die Wand (international title: Head-On), Germany, by Fatih Akin
I take "foreign" as non-Hollywood here as it is not foreign for ME but as I was simply blown away watching it - despite not being a fan of my own country's movies in general! - I list it. Won tons of European awards. Title is program: "against the wall" is the translation, happens literally and metaphorically too. Two 2nd generation German Turks, meeting in a hospital after respective failed suicide attempts, agree to a sham marriage: one to get away from her extremely traditional family to live her own life, sex with whomever she chooses included; the other a manic-depressive alcoholic antisocial, reluctantly agreeing for shared rent and her cleaning/cooking. The "roomies with separate lives"-concept of course doesn't work for long, both find tentative joy - and that is when the real trouble begins.... It could have easily been whiny angst with such unpleasant themes and messed up heroes but somehow the movie manages to still be grimly funny and achingly sweet in parts.

10) Infernal Affairs, Hong Kong, by Andrew Lau Wai Keung
Alright, I don't begrudge Scorsese an Oscar - but not for The Departed! *grr* A classical case of Hollywood without ideas - again - and stealing original ideas and plots from elsewhere. This is the fantastic original: with plots within plots, great cast, gorgeous camera work and toe-curling thrill because you really don't know how it all ends - and for whom. From happy end for all the main cast (though morally questionable due to their positions) to tragedy for everyone involved everything is possible. I've rarely been waiting so breathless for the solution!

And there's Ang Lee and Johnny To and Kitano Takeshi and tons of British movies I don't remember right now... And I didn't list any anime movies (Mononoke-Hime, Sen to Chihiro) and those gorgeous Scandinavian thrillers (Wallander and Ørnen) and-