Good foreign films?

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Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 6:27pm

I've recently been on a foreign film kick and am looking for suggestions. Some of my favorties include

- Volver
- La Vie En Rose
- I'm Not Scared
- Pan's Labyrinth
- Abel (I sat in the cinema for about 10 minutes after the film ended, trying to decide what the hell I had just watched. So powerful)

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 6:29pm

I'd recommend anything by Fellini or Fassbinder.

<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 7:00pm

One of my favorites is "À Bout de Souffle", by Jean-Luc Godard.

(Also, check this out. http://www.fashionschooldaily.com/index.php/2013/06/21/friday-box-office-by-rob-curry/)
IMDb

Updated On: 7/23/14 at 07:00 PM

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 7:12pm

Recent-ish or classic? Cuz I wouldn't know where to start with a list...

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 7:17pm

French - Elevator To The Gallows - 50's black and white homage to Hitchcock .Like North By Northwest with a man in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Poster Emeritus

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 9:03pm

I started a similar thread when I first joined BWW a few years ago, back when I was young and ignorant. Here's a link, not to be dicky or to stop this thread, but just to pass along the great suggestions I got.
French movies thread

Beyoncé is not an ally. Actions speak louder than words, Mrs. Carter. #Dubai #$$$

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 9:39pm

A fairly random list of ten must sees out of thousands:

A Special Day, Ettore Scola; Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni
The Official Story, Luis Puenzo; Norma Aleandro
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Ang Lee; Zhang Yi Yi, Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh
The Lives of Others, Florian Henkel; Martina Gedick, Ulriche Mühe, Sebastian Koch
Smiles of a Summer Night, Ingmar Bergman; Eva Dahlbeck, Gunnar Bjornstrand
Ran, Akira Kurosawa; Tatsuya Nakadai
Law of Desire, Pedro Almodovar; Eusebio Poncela, Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas, Miguel Molina
8 Women, Francois Ozon; Catherine Denueve, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert
Pixote, Hector Babenco; Fernando Ramos da Silva
Eat Drink Man Woman, Ang Lee; Sihung Lung

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 10:54pm

A couple of Brazilian films I would recommend: Central Station and City of God.

A Spanish film, DarkBlueAlmostBlack, is very good and somewhat Almodovar-ish. And while on the subject of Almodovar – All About My Mother.

The French film Amelie.

Israeli films The Band’s Visit and The Bubble.

The Italian film Cinema Paradiso.

Coach Bob knew it all along: you've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed. You have to keep passing the open windows. (John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire)

Updated On: 7/24/14 at 10:54 PM

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:09pm

The RED, WHITE & BLUE trilogy is a favorite of mine.

Other more recent films off the top of my head- THE SONS ROOM, RUN LOLA RUN, LUST/CAUTION, AUDITION, THE HOST, FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, HIGH TENSION, CENTRAL STATION, IL POSTINO, LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, OLDBOY, THE ORPHANAGE,THE WEDDING BANQUET

#10

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/23/14 at 11:49pm

I've seen a lot of good foreign films that have come out in the last 10-15 years. I would recommend these. All of them are very good and worth seeing. The ones I have * were truly exceptional.

A Separation (Iranian)*
Biutiful (Spanish)
Departures (Japanese)*
The Kite Runner (Afghani)*
Monsoon Wedding (Indian)
The Stoning of Soraya M. (Iranian)*
Gomorrah (Italian)
Point Blank (French - the 2010 one, not the Mickey Rourke one)*
Up the Yangtze (Chinese - more of a documentary)
Revanche (Austrian)*
Tell No One (French)*
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romanian)*
The Secret In Their Eyes (Argentinian)*
Monsieur Lazhar (French-Canadian)
The Original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Trilogy (Swedish)

I've also seen and enjoyed City of God, The Band's Visit, Central Station and The Lives of Others which were already mentioned. All 4 are great films.

Updated On: 7/24/14 at 11:49 PM

#11

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 12:35am

Yi Yi by Edward Yang is my personal favorite movie ever. It's slice-of-life, almost voyeuristic look at a modern Taiwanese family.

#12

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 12:42pm

Ran
The Tin Drum
Fanny and Alexander

"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."

"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS

#13

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 1:06pm

The Well Digger's Daughter - French

Poster Emeritus

#14

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 1:24pm

Europa Europa
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
All About My Mother
Talk to Her
The Sea Inside
Y Tu Mama Tambien
The Devil's Backbone
Thesis
Rashomon
The Seven Samurai
Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Kagemusha
Raise the Red Lantern
Farewell, My Concubine
Ringu
A Tale of Two Sisters
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Eat, Drink, Man, Woman
The Exterminating Angel
The Discreet Charms of the Bourgoisie
Three Colors Trilogy (Blue, White Red)
The Celebration
Antonia's Line
Delicatessen
City of Lost Children
Amelie
8 1/2
Amarcord
La Dolce Vita
Les Enfants du Paradise
Au Revoir, Les Enfants
Cache
Character
Breathless
Ma Vie En Rose
Run Lola Run
The Host
Monsoon Wedding
The Vanishing
Wings of Desire
8 Women
Songs From the Second Floor
Millennium Trilogy (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, etc.)
Cinema Paradiso
Il Postino
Das Boot
Let the Right One In
Mon Oncle
Belle Epoque
The Wedding Banquet
Kolya
The Chorus
Apartment Zero
La Communidad
Km .0
Amour
Come Undone
Tell No One
Coco Before Chanel

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

Updated On: 7/24/14 at 01:24 PM

#15

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 2:05pm

If you have a Hulu+ membership, you gain access to a pretty large portion of the Criterion Collection, much of which is made up of classic (and sometimes rarely seen) foreign films. Several of which have been mentioned in this thread.

#16

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 5:50pm

"Querelle", "Scene of the Crime", "El Norte", "Therese", "Berlin Alexanderplatz", "Nosferatu" (Herzog version), "La Belle Noiseuse", anything by Fassbender, Agnieszka Holland...and anything with Catherine Deneuve...

#17

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 5:59pm

Ditto re Deneuve

She has a new movie coming out in France soon where she play a casino owner in Cannes or Monte Carlo. Cannot remember the name. Will probably will not reach US until next year.

Has held up nicely age wise without the benefit of plastic surgery

Poster Emeritus

#18

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 6:20pm

btw, if you're not familiar with either Fellini nor Fassbinder, but are interested, I'd recommend these as beginner films:

Fellini - Roma, Amarcord, Satyricon

Fassbinder - Ali, Fear Eats the Soul, Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Berlin Alexanderplatz ( which is a tv series made up of 14 episodes).

<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES

#19

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 7:42pm

LA STRADA was my first Fellini, and I found it a great entrypoint. Giulietta Masina! Gah!

Also, I've been really into Jacques Tati and (lately, since Criterion put out his work) Pierre Etaix. Foreign, yes, but their comedy is universal!

Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.

#20

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 7:47pm

About Fellini, I watched The White Sheik a couple of weeks ago, and last week Il Vitteloni and they were both great. I always hear the expression ""like something out of a Fellini film", but never quite know what that means - I guess that mostly applies to his later works. I haven't seen the ones Jane mentioned, but intend to soon!

Beyoncé is not an ally. Actions speak louder than words, Mrs. Carter. #Dubai #$$$

#21

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 9:08pm

So it sounds like foreign language melodramas.

Y Tu Mama Tambien
Cleo from 5 to 7
Band of Outsiders
Pasolini's Mamma Roma
The 400 Blows
La Strada
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Three Colors Trilogy (or The Decalogue if you're into the pretense of the 10 Commandments as a lot of these films are night and day)
Nights of Cabiria
The Housemaid- This Korean film was on TCM recently and I was seriously blown away by its inventiveness. No wonder Scorsese and Bong Joon-ho raved about this one.
Lola Montes
The Leopard
The Earrings of Madame De...
Senso
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Summer With Monika
Jules & Jim
Through a Glass Darkly
Fanny & Alexander

Fassbinder's BRD Trilogy (Lola, The Marriage of Maria Braun, and Veronika Voss) all went out of print by Criterion, unfortunately (but rumor is it will go the way of Tati's films and reappear again as an upgrade). But they're on YouTube, as is his little known TV film he did called Jailbait. I actually think it is exceptional work as a teenage girl coming of age melodrama, oddly not in his Lincoln Center retrospective but I suppose finding any good print was difficult, and a great entry point. It actually made Ebert's Top 10 in the year I believe, years removed from its German TV debut, it had a specialty theater run.

I live for Fassbinder. I will say the BRD Trilogy you will need a helluva lot of post-war German context but I really find his whole run amazing. You cannot dismiss any of them even if it is not your cup of tea.

Catherine Deneuve films are the only sure thing French films with non-auteurs that get distribution. Or rather, it will certainly play for one week in NY.

I also love the work of Robert Bresson. I am actually kind of heartened that Richard Linklater is so clearly indebted to his work as well as Eric Rohmer. Rohmer I think can be a bit more challenging than Bresson so I'll throw my hat to Diary of a Country Priest, Au Hasard Balthazar, Mouchette, Pickpocket, and A Man Escaped.

There's just a lot.

#22

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 9:21pm

A long time go, the Paris theater in NY showed the series Berlin Alexanderplatz. One episode at a time, once a week. That was my world. Being transported into the world of a film is my criterion for greatness, and once a week I was transported into the world of Franz Biberkopf. I will never forget that period of my life.

What a shame Fassbinder died so young at 36.

<-----I'M TOTES ROLLING MY EYES

#23

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 9:55pm

Fie, fie on all of these. They are merely dabblings at filmmaking. They are an embarrassment to the great art of cinema. Ptoo, ptoo.

If you want a truly great artistic film, you must see Wings of Desire and its sequel Faraway So Close. What Wim Wenders does in these films is other-worldly. I even hesitate to call them films. They are LIFE!

If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

#24

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 10:23pm

WILD STRAWBERRIES, Bergman
FANNY AND ALEXANDER, Bergman
PERSONA, Bergman (I just saw it again recently, so it came to mind.)
8 1/2, Fellini (My favorite ending to a film, ever.)
JULES AND JIM, Truffaut

They're obvious and they're classics, but if you haven't seen them yet, you should. I'm a big Bergman fan and could give you two others you must see, but start with WILD STRAWBERRIES, at least.

Also, it's not exactly foreign as in "foreign language" but the British film of PYGMALION directed by Leslie Howard and Anthony Asquith is really, really good.

#25

Good foreign films?

Posted: 7/24/14 at 10:57pm

Gothy - I didn't realize there was a sequel to Wings of Desire. Thanks for the heads up. I think the first 30-40 minutes of Wings of Desire is some of the most magical, spellbinding stuff I've ever seen on screen. Unfortunately, once the dialog starts and the Peter Falk story begins, the spell breaks for me.

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