Recommend some Non-American Films and Expand Ted Striker's Horizons

[Ted Striker]

I didn't like Crouching Tiger too much, I found it to be long winded.

I'm going to watch Hero though, looks pretty cool.

[MrFun]

Hero

Ted Striker

[Ted Striker]

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by GePap
Which is bunk if you actually look at the film-the state would have caught the suspect anyways throught detective work, had it not been for the criminals short circuiting the process- and in the end it IS the state that prosecutes him- the extra state force happens to be a gang of criminals acting solely out of self-interest and not concern for the common good

How long has it been since you watched the film? The state proves rather inept at finding him. It is the thugs, i.e., the fascists who track him down, try him, and kill him. That is the whole point of the film. The Weimar state is useless and an outside force is necessary to restore order. Lang's work is not so straightforward as you want to make it out to be.

Consider Metropolis. On its face it seems to be a movie about how horribly the working class is treated, how they need a savior, how evil the capitalists are. And yet the solution is that both need each other, the "head and the heart" neither can live without the other. Most of the best European cinima is allegorical. You can't watch these films as if they were some Hollywood flick.

[Ted Striker]

Alright this weekend I watched Seven Samurai and Monsieur Ibrahim.

I had high hopes for Seven Samurai, it had an extremly high rating on IMDB and was listed as the 5th greates movie of all time, the Citizen Kane of Japan. Well, I thought it was a good movie.

Each of the samurai were extremley likable characters, my favorite of course being the big brave wannabe samurai who provided lots of comedy relief and moments of surprises. I was laughing a few times at him.

I think this film is better more on an intellectual level than on an enterainment level, though, there were many entertaining moments in it. I would have like to rewatch it, with the commentary on, there is a scholar of Japanese film that does the commentary. THere are lots of themes going on, especially how the villiages used the samurai and then didn't care for them when they got their village back.

That Japanese farmer chick who turned down my main man was a b1tch!!! That dude was young, buff, good looking, smart, and had mad skillz with the katana. She wasn't even hittable but rejected him at the end. I am sure that is some kinda metaphor for what the Japanese society did to the samurai, but I didn't investigate it any further.

She wasn't even hittable.

Monsieur Ibrahim was a fantastic film, with Omar Sharif, about a man and his adopted son who go on an inner journey. This film had me thinking about many of the things I've experienced in my own life. They even end up in Turkey at one point.

My other film was Snatch which doesn't really count as a foreign film since it had a domestic release but it was ALOT of fun!

I try and mix up the fun stuff with something deep.

[Atahualpa]

What's next on your list?

[Fake Boris]

Ted Striker

[Adagio]

Originally posted by Gangerolf
France: Taxi

Defently worth watching

Originally posted by Gangerolf
Taxi 2

Just as good as the first one

Originally posted by Gangerolf
Taxi 3

Don't bother, basicly it's just a copycat... and a bad one that is...

Originally posted by Gangerolf
(You kind of have to like cars to enjoy them)

The funny thing is, you don't...
I hate cars and I know nothing about them... if I see a car, I can't tell who made that car...
But the comedy in the movie is



And another movie I would recommend is Dark Water if you like some ghost/horror movie

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by Ted Striker

That Japanese farmer chick who turned down my main man was a b1tch!!! That dude was young, buff, good looking, smart, and had mad skillz with the katana. She wasn't even hittable but rejected him at the end. I am sure that is some kinda metaphor for what the Japanese society did to the samurai, but I didn't investigate it any further.

It's not a metaphor, but about the constraints of the Japanese society, where there was a unbridgeable incompatibility between the world of peasants and the world of the warrior elite that not even the strongest affection could overcome. It is interesting that in "The Magnificient Seven", based 95% on the 7 Samurai, the cowboy and the farmer girl get together, because there is no such extreme distance between the two spheres.

[GePap]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


How long has it been since you watched the film? The state proves rather inept at finding him. It is the thugs, i.e., the fascists who track him down, try him, and kill him. That is the whole point of the film. The Weimar state is useless and an outside force is necessary to restore order. Lang's work is not so straightforward as you want to make it out to be.

Ahem- I had just watched the day before. In fact, I still have the DVD home.

The thugs to catch him- at the time, police were waiting in the guys very apartment waiting for him to come home (ie, had the criminals not intervened the police would have done it). The Criminals do set up a trial, and in a great scene the appointed defense lawyer denies the right of criminals to try hima nd speaks about how he was innocent due to insanity. AND the criminals do not kill him-they are all arrested after the one guy who was left behind from the job in the office space spills the beans. The Courts try the murdered.

Consider Metropolis. On its face it seems to be a movie about how horribly the working class is treated, how they need a savior, how evil the capitalists are. And yet the solution is that both need each other, the "head and the heart" neither can live without the other. Most of the best European cinima is allegorical. You can't watch these films as if they were some Hollywood flick.

Given the poor handle you have on the actual plot points, how can you know the symbolism?

And most of the film focuses on the paranoia caused by the murderer, with people arguing with each other.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Wernazuma III


It's not a metaphor, but about the constraints of the Japanese society, where there was a unbridgeable incompatibility between the world of peasants and the world of the warrior elite that not even the strongest affection could overcome. It is interesting that in "The Magnificient Seven", based 95% on the 7 Samurai, the cowboy and the farmer girl get together, because there is no such extreme distance between the two spheres.

Cool, thanks for the info.


Interestingly enough I've noticed that some of the women that I've met that didn't have college degrees made that an issue. It bugged me to no end, I didn't even consider it an issue but to them it was like a huge deal.

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Oncle Boris
Ted Striker

[Ted Striker]

Originally posted by Atahualpa
What's next on your list?

I think Metropolis and Hidden Fortess

[Dis]

I've been trying to find Spoorloos. But I can't find any English versions (either dubbed or subtitled) . Yes I'm attempting to find them on the internet, where else?

[Ted Striker]

Netflix has it, but you gotta be a member.

Blockbuster.com may also have it, but I'm not sure how good their selection is.