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

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh. I went through a huge French movies phase when I was, well, studying French. I love Cousin, Cousine and La Nuit de Varennes especially. Cousin, Cousine was remade in English as Cousins, which I never got around to seeing, though I wanted to. La Nuit de Varennes is fascinating, the story of the botched escape of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette to the border, but told from the POV of a carriage of people following them: one of Marie Antoinette's Austrian ladies in waiting, her own maid, and her hairdresser; Tom Paine(!); Casanova(!!), and a few others I can't remember properly (I think there was a wealthy bourgeois and his wife).

A recent Brazilian movie I like quite a lot is The Man Who Copied, about a guy who works as a copy machine operator and spends his free time drawing cartoons and spying on the girl he's too shy to actually ever talk to. He decides to buy something at her shop to have an excuse to talk to her, can't afford anything, realizes he has access to a copy machine, you do the math. It kind of swings wildly from romantic comedy to caper flick, but it's a lot of fun.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Have you seen The City of Lost Children? It's great, and judging from the movies you list here, I bet you'd really like it. Ron Perlman speaks lovely French!

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

I barely see any movies anymore. I have some favorites from back in high school and college, when I was a movie fiend. i finally got my own copy of the film Diva, which I totally loved when it came out in 1981. I also remember loving Fanny and Alexander, the one "happy" Bergman film, also came out in the 1980s.

There was a period when we were trying to watch all of the Kristof Kieslowski films, especially the Three Colors series. Those are amazing, really mysterious and beautiful. That whole insider/outsider thing that I love in HP underpins those movies. We also watched some of his Decalogue series, which are set in Poland instead of in Paris.

I don't believe in bashing other people's taste in films. i am of the "more is more" aesthetic school. i don't like it when the point of taste is to omit things--I think the point of taste is to include things.

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

(Unless of course we are talking about something really, really bad and then all bets are off.)

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

I don't know a lot of obscure stuff that would be news to other people. Everything by Kurosawa - though I haven't seen any of his non-Samurai stuff. :) I love "Throne of Blood" in particular. I need to see some mid-century Japanese stuff that ISN'T Kurosawa for once.

Let's see...just about any spaghetti Western, though of course Sergio Leone is the best. Corbucci is fun too. Have seen lots of good Australian flicks over the years. Only one I can think of that people might not have seen is "Angel at My Table" (early Campion).

Italians: I like Pasolini. His Decameron and Canterbury Tales films are made of awesome (I saw those when I was reading that shit). Need to see more of him.

Umm...what else. I like the obvious stuff, like Bergman. Used to like Kieslowski more than I do now.

Oh! I saw this great French film a couple years ago: "With a Friend Like Harry" (French title was "Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien"). Holy shit that was an awesome movie. In fact, you should go out and rent it right now.

I have a bunch of Bunuel sitting on my desk that I need to watch. Oh, and "Blow-Up" (Antonioni). I am basically in a remedial film-viewing period right now. My big love is Hitchcock and 40's-50's Hollywood American films, though.

Gosh, I could keep going. I'm having trouble remembering what was foreign and what wasn't! :)

[slytherincesss.livejournal.com]

Europa Europa for sure. It's a fantastic movie about a Jewish boy who hides as a Nazi during the Holocaust.

[spessartine.livejournal.com]

Ngh, you have some great ones there. I love Asian cinema so much, though Ichi the Killer makes my nipples hurt. :p Farewell my Concubine makes me cry every damn time.

Hero is my favourite film of all time. It is, in a word, fucking mindblowing. The Last Emperor is another amazingly beautiful Chinese film. I' mless keen on House of Flying Daggers, because I really don't think Zhang Ziyi can carry a film like that, though it has the best fight scene at the end of it in the snow.

Bright Future is a modern Japanese film that I adored. It's very slashy, but actually it's just a good film without that. Another modern Japanese masterpiece is Dolls - very original, and quietly poignant.

A Tale of Two Sisters is a really wonderfully shot Korean film you might like - I need to see it again, but it has this amazing William Morris/Korean design aesthetic to it that I love. I have quite a few Korean films and still feel like I don't really get them, so that's the only one I'd really like to recommend.

I have yet to see Pan's Labyrinth! This isn't on.

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

i am of the "more is more" aesthetic school.

I'm with you here. If something has value to someone, it deserves to be considered. We don't ALL have to love it, but deciding what's "in" and what's "out" seems pointless to me. Film and book reviews have been grating on my nerves more and more lately. Probably sounds hypocritical since I supported the whole fic review thing...but the reviews I liked always tried to find something positive even in fics they didn't like, and made it clear when it was largely a question of taste.

I wish mainstream media reviews did that. Roger Ebert is usually pretty good about judging films on their own terms instead of only giving good reviews to the arty stuff, and he's been skewing positive more and more in his old age. But that isn't a bad thing - better to like something mediocre than to trash something potentially valuable to someone.

I guess I'm more interested in investigating WHY we find value in something and not something else, or why others are finding value where we are not, rather than just compiling a list of what we like versus what we hate.

Um, Penny, this is NOT in any way a criticism of your question! It occurred to me this comment might come across that way.

[spessartine.livejournal.com]

OH OH and the Russian version of Solaris. Fucking amazing!

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Diva. Jean-Jacques Benieix. Why, yes, I AM a child of the 80s.

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

I only know this film because I saw it easily three times in French class. I know a lot of people who were introduced to it this way, actually. That film, and MC Solar. :)

[mortifyd.livejournal.com]

The Castle - an Australian classic
Once Were Warriors - New Zealand
Osama - Afghani I think? Set in Agshanistan at any rate
Lagaan - Bollywood - just freaking gorgeous and amazing

I have some in hand I haven't watched yet - I love foreign films.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Just don't make me watch Danton ever again please.

[sigune.livejournal.com]

My new love is Wong Kar Wai. I have just seen In the Mood for Love and, ah, loved it, and now I'm dying to see 2046 which seems to be a kind of sequel.

Of the Korean director Kim Ki Duk I loved Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and ... Spring and Bin Jip. They have a very special atmosphere and Kim likes to combine extreme violence with moments of perfect zen - very powerful stuff.

I haven't seen a lot of Zhang Yimou films, especially not his older work ("Raise the Red Lantern", "Yu Dou") that everyone keeps telling me is much better than his more recent films; but the one that I like best so far is Not One Less, about a fourteen-year-old girl who substitutes for a village schoolteacher in late 1990s China - the date is one to keep in mind while watching, because it takes some believing. Much more glamorous (and beeeauuutiful) is Shanghai Triad, with Gong Li ;).

A French film I'd recommend to everyone is Comte d'automne by Eric Rohmer. The (love) story is very simple and the characters are ordinary human beings, but the result is a film that is warm without being overly sweet. It's what my sister calls a "French Conversation Movie" ;).

From Nikita Michalkov: Soleil Trompeur and Urga. The latter has a really lame ending, but I love the rest so much that it's still one of my favourites despite that flaw. Soleil Trompeur suffers no such flaw, but is rather harsh(er) in its look at humankind.

As for bashing your tastes ;)... Um - Le Pacte des Loups?! O_o
I guess I will never understand what you and one of my best friends see in that movie. It's on my "worst I have ever seen" list XD. I'm obviously missing something! *g*

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

Oh I missed that one. But I did get "Martin Guerre" and "Manon du Source," and whatever that was a sequel to. It's a Gerard Depardieu festival!!!

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

Although I do enjoy lists of what other people hate because they are often witty and grumpy. Sometimes I even like lists of what other people hate that include things I like!

What I don't like is when someone is nice and open to other opinions and people are mean about it.

[ex-trolleys.livejournal.com]

TEAM GONG LI. That's a pretty kickass list. Au Revoir, Les Enfants made me baaawwl, omg. I also have to say I prefer Ang Lee's pre-big budget era films like Eat Drink Man Woman and The Wedding Banquet.

If you like vintage John Woo, then I highly recommend Le Samouraï which Woo cites as a major influence and also happens to be one of my favorite movies ever. Alain Delon as eye candy doesn't hurt, either... In fact, any '60s Delon film is worth watching and not just because he's a hot piece of meat :D

For films under the "sdfjksldf??!!" genre I suggest Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (both Korean). Think Tarantino 10x more fucked up. :P I liked the latter much more than the former but the consensus seems to be the opposite. *shrug*

[rexluscus.livejournal.com]

Agreed to both. In the first case, you aren't being told what to like. In the second, you are. And that sucks. :)

[ex-trolleys.livejournal.com]

Oh and the purists will burn me for saying this but Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle are the AWESOMEST MARTIAL ARTS FILMS EVER.

Stephen Chow > world

[natt.livejournal.com]

I love it. It is one of the most wonderful films I've seen... A lot of the actors and the same director as in Delicatessen...

[cnary-crem-dght.livejournal.com]

oh man. I love Korean film. Especially Im Kwon Taek films like Ticket and The Generals Son. The sad thing is they're not really sold in english. I only got to see them courtesy of MOMA though, so not a lot of non korean people know of his films. T_T He's a huge director from S.Korea though.

One of my favorite chinese films is the Emperor and the Assassin, but that's because I love assassin stories Oh Beijing Bicycle is a fun movie, it really has you feeling for the main character.

I also films from south america and mexico like City of God and Amores Perros. <3 I think some of today's most innovative directors are coming out of spanish speaking nations.

=)

[cnary-crem-dght.livejournal.com]

oh my gosh yes! I tripple rec In the mood for love and 2045. Sooooooo amazing and visually stunning. (I can't believe I forgot those, so glad you posted about them!)

oo I've heard of Kim Ki Duk, but have yet to see his movies. They sound v. interesting! Korean cinema <3 <3

[spessartine.livejournal.com]

Oh The Emperor and the Assassin! Yes! I can't believe I forgot that one, it's great.

[letmypidgeonsgo.livejournal.com]

::sigh:: i'm sure my parents are quite disappointed in me for not showing any evidence whatsoever of being their child in yet another arena (hell, my dad used to run the foreign film screenings at the library!), but i've just never gotten into them

a big exception, however, would be lola rennt - i love that movie

[ook.livejournal.com]

Federico Fellini, La Dolce Vita and Roma (Italy)
Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black (France)
Michael Powell, Black Narcissus and Peeping Tom (UK)
Jean Luc Godard, Weekend (France)
Akira Kurosawa, Seven Samurai and High and Low (Japan)
Henri-Georges Clouzot, Diabolique (France)
Jacques Tati, Mon Oncle, Mr. Hulot and Playtime (France)
Peter Weir, Picnic at Hanging Rock (Australia)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Marriage of Maria Braun (Germany)
Werner Herzog, Aguirre, Wrath of God (Germany)
Alain Resnais, Hiroshima Mon Amour (France)
Ingmar Bergman, Fanny and Alexander (Sweden)