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i'm curious as to whether any of you keep abreast of foreign films (or if you watch native flims, if you live outside the us).
seeing as my friends tend to have a large quantity of good american-made (well, english-language) movies which i can borrow, i've taken to starting to spend my money on foreign dvds.
an aside: it's hard to watch this on a regular dvd player, granted, so i've had to circumvent the (damned fvcking stupid) region lock system on my ps2 with the extra-legal dvdregionx, and on my computer with the extra-legal dvdregionfree.
the movies that i've bought, however, are all korean; i'm doing it because a) i can understand them, b) because they seem to have recently started making many extremely high-quality/good movies, and c) to bone up on my comprehension skills.
so i want to know if anybody has any suggestions on other foreign movies that might be interesting to see/watch.
i'm particularly curious about japanese, chinese, indian, and german movies. french is also welcome, and might be easier to get stateside (thus far, i've had to purchase my korean movies through yesasia.com or by phono.co.kr).
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anyway, my recommendations of what i've seen in korean cinema:
koyangirul butakhae (take care of my cat)
official site
koreanfilm.org
i like the soundtrack, and some of the technical effects (typed words, the opening and ending credits) are spectacularly well done.
the story itself is a mixed bag. although it has its charm, it kinda ignores two of the main characters (the twins), while at the same time kinda not focusing too well on the other three.
it also ends somewhat abruptly, but in the context of the film, which itself has a very subdued narrative (common in korean films) it makes sense.
apparently produced with the aid of warner brothers.
i'd recommend this. 4/5.
yupgijugin keunyuh (my sassy girl)
official site
koreanfilm.org
wonderfully done movie. the first part is hilarious, especially with the imagined scenes, but one wonders in a way why the guy stays with the girl.
the second half of the movie gets dangerously close to the traditional flaw of many korean movies, that of overwhelming melodrama. i think, however, it manages to work. slower paced and not as funny as the first half, it also requires one to take quite a few leaps of faith--one which i think most will accept, given the humor and nature of the first half. it also leads up to a most satisfying ending.
it's also ostensibly based on real-life experiences, so there's a moment of a sort of meta-filmmaking in that second half.
dreamworks has bought the rights to a remake in the states, but since some of the humor is distinctly korean, i don't know how it'll pan out--that, and i don't know of any actress who could pull it off.
i'd definitely recommend this one. 5/5.
kyulooneun mitchinjitshida (marriage is a crazy thing/crazy marriage)
koreanfilm.org
this one is more understated than most korean movies. as such, some of the humor is subtle, and so one might miss it. i remember the subtitles not being the best, but. i'm also not too sure what to classify this movie as. it's not quite a romantic comedy or a romance drama, but it's not exactly a satire, either, so far as i can tell.
it's told from a guy's perspective, so naturally it sorta makes the woman look a bit crazy, but also endearing.
there's a bit of graphic sex (you don't actually see much, but it's very suggestive), and it's concentrated in the beginning.
i'd recommend this one too, but not as strongly as the other two. 3/5.
chingu (friend)
koreanfilm.org
a movie about four friends. focuses on two of them, who end up as gangsters, and the disaster than follows. one friend ends up being sidelined, the other, the ostensible narrator, pops in and out as a minor character.
i found this one hard to understand without the subtitles--the pusan dialect is not the one i'm used to, so it's a lot more melodic than your standard seoul or elegant chungbuk dialect. the pronunciation's the same, though--it's just the rise and fall of the words that threw me.
it's more depressing, and there are scenes in it which are harder to understand if you're unfamiliar with korea's recent past; however, those scenes are far and few in between, and the rest of the movie works well, although it also distances itself from the characters, like a lot of korean movies.
i'd recommend this one. 4/5.
hwasango (volcano high)
official site
koreanfilm.org
turbocharged and special-effects laden. story? what story? it's meant to look like a comic book, as is its plot and everything else. which makes it funny.
it's not a great movie, and i was disappointed with less fighting than i expected. it's still fun to watch.
somewhat recommended. 3/5.
shiri (shiri)
koreanfilm.org
i didn't like this one too much. it's your typical hollywood action film, only displaced into korea with korean things replacing everything that would be stock american characters.
there's nothing spectacular about it, even though it is a decent action flick on its own.
eh... give it a shot. 2/5.
kongdongkyungbikuyuk jsa (joint security area)
official site
koreanfilm.org
interesting drama that reaches fairly well to the core of a divided korea. set along the dmz, it revolves around an incident that eventually claims the lives of four koreans--two nkoreans and two skoreans; what's worse is that they'd become friends by the time of the incident.
it's remarkably well done, and narrates the events leading up to the incident, as well as the incident itself, in a series of flashbacks.
however, the female lead is supposedly a swiss of korean extraction--but her english is not very good, which deflates that believeability. that, compounded with the less-than-stellar acting of the non-koreans, weighs down the non-flashback scenes.
also, one wonders if this story would be nearly as interesting if it were displaced from the dmz and korea itself.
still, it's worth watching. 4/5.
dongkam (ditto)
koreanfilm.org
i didn't like this one either. think frequency, only with a romance that crosses time rather than a father-son romance. yes, it has something to do with the girl being in the turbulent 70s, and the guy in the sedate and luxurious 90s, but still.
not worth your time, imho. 1/5.
seeing as my friends tend to have a large quantity of good american-made (well, english-language) movies which i can borrow, i've taken to starting to spend my money on foreign dvds.
an aside: it's hard to watch this on a regular dvd player, granted, so i've had to circumvent the (damned fvcking stupid) region lock system on my ps2 with the extra-legal dvdregionx, and on my computer with the extra-legal dvdregionfree.
the movies that i've bought, however, are all korean; i'm doing it because a) i can understand them, b) because they seem to have recently started making many extremely high-quality/good movies, and c) to bone up on my comprehension skills.
so i want to know if anybody has any suggestions on other foreign movies that might be interesting to see/watch.
i'm particularly curious about japanese, chinese, indian, and german movies. french is also welcome, and might be easier to get stateside (thus far, i've had to purchase my korean movies through yesasia.com or by phono.co.kr).
=====
anyway, my recommendations of what i've seen in korean cinema:
koyangirul butakhae (take care of my cat)
official site
koreanfilm.org
i like the soundtrack, and some of the technical effects (typed words, the opening and ending credits) are spectacularly well done.
the story itself is a mixed bag. although it has its charm, it kinda ignores two of the main characters (the twins), while at the same time kinda not focusing too well on the other three.
it also ends somewhat abruptly, but in the context of the film, which itself has a very subdued narrative (common in korean films) it makes sense.
apparently produced with the aid of warner brothers.
i'd recommend this. 4/5.
yupgijugin keunyuh (my sassy girl)
official site
koreanfilm.org
wonderfully done movie. the first part is hilarious, especially with the imagined scenes, but one wonders in a way why the guy stays with the girl.
the second half of the movie gets dangerously close to the traditional flaw of many korean movies, that of overwhelming melodrama. i think, however, it manages to work. slower paced and not as funny as the first half, it also requires one to take quite a few leaps of faith--one which i think most will accept, given the humor and nature of the first half. it also leads up to a most satisfying ending.
it's also ostensibly based on real-life experiences, so there's a moment of a sort of meta-filmmaking in that second half.
dreamworks has bought the rights to a remake in the states, but since some of the humor is distinctly korean, i don't know how it'll pan out--that, and i don't know of any actress who could pull it off.
i'd definitely recommend this one. 5/5.
kyulooneun mitchinjitshida (marriage is a crazy thing/crazy marriage)
koreanfilm.org
this one is more understated than most korean movies. as such, some of the humor is subtle, and so one might miss it. i remember the subtitles not being the best, but. i'm also not too sure what to classify this movie as. it's not quite a romantic comedy or a romance drama, but it's not exactly a satire, either, so far as i can tell.
it's told from a guy's perspective, so naturally it sorta makes the woman look a bit crazy, but also endearing.
there's a bit of graphic sex (you don't actually see much, but it's very suggestive), and it's concentrated in the beginning.
i'd recommend this one too, but not as strongly as the other two. 3/5.
chingu (friend)
koreanfilm.org
a movie about four friends. focuses on two of them, who end up as gangsters, and the disaster than follows. one friend ends up being sidelined, the other, the ostensible narrator, pops in and out as a minor character.
i found this one hard to understand without the subtitles--the pusan dialect is not the one i'm used to, so it's a lot more melodic than your standard seoul or elegant chungbuk dialect. the pronunciation's the same, though--it's just the rise and fall of the words that threw me.
it's more depressing, and there are scenes in it which are harder to understand if you're unfamiliar with korea's recent past; however, those scenes are far and few in between, and the rest of the movie works well, although it also distances itself from the characters, like a lot of korean movies.
i'd recommend this one. 4/5.
hwasango (volcano high)
official site
koreanfilm.org
turbocharged and special-effects laden. story? what story? it's meant to look like a comic book, as is its plot and everything else. which makes it funny.
it's not a great movie, and i was disappointed with less fighting than i expected. it's still fun to watch.
somewhat recommended. 3/5.
shiri (shiri)
koreanfilm.org
i didn't like this one too much. it's your typical hollywood action film, only displaced into korea with korean things replacing everything that would be stock american characters.
there's nothing spectacular about it, even though it is a decent action flick on its own.
eh... give it a shot. 2/5.
kongdongkyungbikuyuk jsa (joint security area)
official site
koreanfilm.org
interesting drama that reaches fairly well to the core of a divided korea. set along the dmz, it revolves around an incident that eventually claims the lives of four koreans--two nkoreans and two skoreans; what's worse is that they'd become friends by the time of the incident.
it's remarkably well done, and narrates the events leading up to the incident, as well as the incident itself, in a series of flashbacks.
however, the female lead is supposedly a swiss of korean extraction--but her english is not very good, which deflates that believeability. that, compounded with the less-than-stellar acting of the non-koreans, weighs down the non-flashback scenes.
also, one wonders if this story would be nearly as interesting if it were displaced from the dmz and korea itself.
still, it's worth watching. 4/5.
dongkam (ditto)
koreanfilm.org
i didn't like this one either. think frequency, only with a romance that crosses time rather than a father-son romance. yes, it has something to do with the girl being in the turbulent 70s, and the guy in the sedate and luxurious 90s, but still.
not worth your time, imho. 1/5.
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