What movie turned you on to foreign films?
What movie turned you on to foreign films?#1
Posted: 6/12/09 at 12:58pm
No, watching THE RED BALLOON in elementary school doesn't count.
The re-release of the director's cut of BETTY BLUE reminded me that, yes, the quintessential tragic-romantic boinkfest featuring the incomparable Beatrice Dalle and the geeky-hot Jean Hughes Anglade was the one that did the trick for me in my teens. Even before DIVA, which is by the same director. Wow.
What's yours?
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#2
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:03pmMy all time favorite foreign film is The Chorus (Les Choristes). My cousin gave it to me for either my birthday or Christmas and it was my first legit foreign film that I watched on my own. Love it. Such a moving story, not to mention, the music is spectacular. I would recommend this to ANYONE!
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#2
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:04pmI was very into Francois Traffault and Lina Wertmuller as a teenager..."Small Change," "The 400 Blows," "Swept Away" and "Seven Beauties."
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#3
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:04pmStill waiting for one.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#4
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:05pmThe Seventh Seal
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#5
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:07pm
I adore Life Is Beautiful, Pan's Labyrinth, and La Vie En Rose.
I still need to see a lot more though.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#6
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:08pmI don't remember but it must have been something Fellini. Probably 8 1/2.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#7
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:10pmFanny and Alexander and Tin Drum.
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#8
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:19pmKagemusha. I think I was about 13 or 14 and I was engrossed in the film from start to finish.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#9
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:26pmGrowing up in Central America, Spanish-dubbed versions of American movies, I guess, were my first exposure to "foreign films." But my first non-English, non-Hollywood movie was EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN. It was also my introduction to Ang Lee, one of my favorite directors.
Vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra
Salve, Salve Regina
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Eva
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
O clemens O pia
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#10
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:30pmThe first one may have been Le Chien Andalou, but since then, the most outstanding foreign films for me are anything Fellini, Fassbinder, Herzog.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#11
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:38pm
Europa, Europa.
Although that's not my favorite, it was the one that made me interested in foreign films.
Now, I'm all about Fellini, Herzog (except Fitzcaraldo which I never "got") Kurosawa, and Antonioni.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#12
Posted: 6/12/09 at 1:53pm¡Átame!)(Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!)
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#13
Posted: 6/12/09 at 2:08pm
Fritz Lang's M, which I actually saw for the first time on PBS on a Sunday afternoon in Columbus Georgia when I was about ten.
Borstal, is the new 3 hour BETTY BLUE really an improvement over the original version released here? It wasn't exactly my cup of tea then, but tales of amour fou don't usually do it for me anyway...
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#14
Posted: 6/12/09 at 3:03pmI think it was "Diabolique". I love that film.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#15
Posted: 6/12/09 at 3:07pmKing of Hearts, La Cage aux Folles, Nosferatu, every Godzilla film, Ran, Like Water for Chocolate, Eat Drink Man Woman, 8 1/2
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#16
Posted: 6/12/09 at 3:38pmThe Wedding Banquet was my first exposure to Ang Lee, but it was Eat Drink Man Woman that made me fall in love with him. With the exception of his "WTF?" The Hulk film, I can watch anythin by Ang Lee repeatedly. Sense and Sensibility probably in the top 5 of my most-watched film list. I never get tired of it.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#17
Posted: 6/12/09 at 3:42pm

Cinema Paradiso. I get choked up just thinking about it.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#18
Posted: 6/12/09 at 3:53pmCinema Paradiso is one of the best movies ever!
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#19
Posted: 6/12/09 at 4:13pm
Amélie
However Pedro Almodóvar is my favorite foreign filmmaker.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#20
Posted: 6/12/09 at 4:16pm
As one who could have turned into a massive weeaboo if I hadn't been derailed by theatre, it's bound to be something Japanese. I think Perfect Blue was the first proper anime movie I saw, and it still stands up as an awesome film today, so we'll go with that.
re: What movie turned you on to foreign films?#21
Posted: 6/12/09 at 9:48pm
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
A tween when I saw it, I thought it was a fairy tale and a warning on premarital sex- FREAKING weird!
(Oh and I loved it for the weird beauty it has)
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