any good non-english films?

[Sikander]

Originally posted by monolith94
hey Sikander, check out some Truffaut! Check out Jules and Jim! If you want something lighter, Small Change is awesome too. The 400 Blows is excellent as well, although dark.

If I enjoy checking out his films as much as I enjoy checking out his widow it should be a treat. There's one really good video place in town, they should have some there. Thanks for the tips, my GF and I have been having a hard time finding things to see recently.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Sikander
Or you could simply ride a bus across the country with a group of insurance salesmen, your choice.

[monolith94]

Jules and Jim would be an interesting movie to watch with a girlfriend... The basic message I got from it is that adultery fücks up your life.

[Kitschum]

Originally posted by Sikander

Swedish:

Wild Strawberries
The Virgin Spring
The Seventh Seal

I absolutely second those, Bergman is brilliant, and also try Persona and Fanny och Alexander. I'm less of a fan of The Virgin Spring, though it's worth a watch.

[Kitschum]

Originally posted by alva

Please do add "nachtevaken" (sp?)to that list, (there is a remake with Henri winkler called 'nightshift or graveyardshift' something like that.

Nattevagten (The Night Watchman) is Danish though, but yeah it's very good.

[Q Classic]

ah, "to home" (chibehroh)? i've heard good things about that one, but i haven't seen it yet. i have to get the dvd first.

a few other movies i want to look into are battle royale, as monolith said (japanese), which, iirc, involves taking a bunch of deliquents, dropping them on an island, and playing survivor of sorts. there's also kazoku cinema, which deals with a korean-japanese family.

then there's hero (i believe that's the name?) from china.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by The diplomat

I thought Germinal was dull. A friend of mine rented it, and he liked it, but I apparantly wasn't in the mood, or it was just dull. Could be either really.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by monolith94
Jules and Jim would be an interesting movie to watch with a girlfriend... The basic message I got from it is that adultery fücks up your life.

I've been seeing a lot of films like that recently, most recently "The Good Girl", which was pretty good actually. My girlfriend will probably like "Jules and Jim", if for no other reason than it's French, which she speaks pretty well.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Kitschum


I absolutely second those, Bergman is brilliant, and also try Persona and Fanny och Alexander. I'm less of a fan of The Virgin Spring, though it's worth a watch.

I saw The Virgin Spring when I had just turned 17 and was on my own for the first time. It was the first time that I had ever seen a Bergman film, and the beautiful black and white photography and the simplicity and stolidness of the characters just got to me. My favorite scene is the one where the father realizes what has happened to his daughter, and takes a sauna to cleanse himself, gets his best sharp knife and...does his duty without regret or remorse. Brilliant, and very moving to my teenage self.

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by Sikander
Movies I have enjoyed:

France:

Ridicule
La Femme Nikita
Metro
Delicatessen
City of Lost Children
Amelie
Ridicule
The Horseman
The Dinner Game

Ridicule really deserves to be mentioned twice, an outstanding and incredibly funny movie.

Rashomon is missing from the Japanese list BTW.


Nobody mentioned Luis de Funes films yet. I love the one where he's testing food.

[Tamerlin]

All Akira Kurosawa's Movies...

Wong Kar Wai's "Fallen Angel" (a real gem)

If you like old movies (to be seen in original version):

French Movies
Jour de fête (Tati)
Les vacances de Mr Hulot (Tati)
Mon Oncle (Tati)
Playtime (Tati)

Les Barbouzes (Lautner & Audiard)
Les tontons flingueurs (Lautner & Audiard)
100.000 dollars au soleil (Lautner & Audiard)
Le cave se rebiffe

L'homme de rio (The man from Rio) (De Broca)
Un taxi pour Tobrouk (De la Patelière)
La Grande Illusion (J. Renoir)
Quai des Orfèvres
Le Doulos (J.P Melville)
La métmorphose des cloportes (P. Granier-Deferre)
Razzia sur la Chnouf (H. Decoin)

More recent movies:

Cuisine et Dépendance
Un air de famille
Le cinquième élément (the fifth element)

Italian Movies (do yourself a favor, see them in Original version)

8 1/2 (Fellini)
La Dolce Vita (Fellini)... a legendary masterpiece
E la Nave Va (Fellini)

I can't resist the temptation to write I am a fan of the 1950's and 1960's american movies and that the best movie I have ever seen is The cat on a hot tin roof (R. Brooks) based on a Tenessee Williams' play.

The problem is I have seen many, many good movies and I can't really remember their title at this moment... this list is reflecting the name of the movies that came to my mind during the last minutes.

And sorry for the french titles but many are difficult to translate and should have a very, very different title in English...

[Main_Brain]

Good US Film I saw:

http://german.imdb.com/Title?0277615

Its about Chain Cause-Effect and.. a Bug.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Sikander
I thought Germinal was dull. A friend of mine rented it, and he liked it, but I apparantly wasn't in the mood, or it was just dull. Could be either really.

Well, like all movies, it is probably best in the original language. The first time I saw it, was when I was living in France. My french literature class went to the theater to see the movie. My teacher thought the movie was great, cause she loved the anti-capitalist and socialist message. As an American, I thought the anti-capitalist message sucked! Here, you have this stranger who waltzes into town, starts spreading his communist message, gets the miners to revolt against the CEO of the mining company. The CEO brings out the military and responds with force, causing a blood bath. When it is all done, and hundreds of the miners are dead, the stranger escapes, waltzing into the sunset, saying that perhaps someday justice and equality will blossom from all the oppression. WTF? Hundreds of people are dead because of his "stand up against the evil capitalist" message, and he justs waltzes into the sunset hoping for a better day. I thought it was terrible, but my teachers loved it. They thought it was inspiring and though-provoking. I was thought it was stupid.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Tamerlin
Un air de famille

Tamerlin's other films are, well, old (that doesn't make any less good, but I can't help but feeling a bit like watching a museum piece when I watch them ), but Un Air de Famille is a must.
Btw, the director has also directed The Spanish Apartment (Originial title : "L'Auberge Espagnole") that Drake Tungsten already mentioned.

[Tamerlin]

Well, I must admit I appreciate the old movies more than the modern ones (though a few ones are really great, like "american beauty", "Usual Suspects", "LA Confidential", "Fargo", "The Big Lebowsky"...) where the scenario are often more than "light"... I am not bothered by black&white and I really like the Technicolor...

I like movies to tell me an entertaining story and modern cinema, IMO of course, lacks the quality brought by the great scenario writers of the 1950's and 1960's...