Favorite foreign films?

[instantdeath999]

I realize that "foreign film" is a highly generalized umbrella term that's definition can vary wildly between each individual. Nonetheless, if we were to momentarily throw political correctness out the window, what would be your favorite films made, say, outside of the U.S. or the U.K.? I ask because I have not seen nearly enough of them.

A friend recommended the Korean film "I Saw the Devil". I was... satisfied, I suppose. Definition of a three star, four-star-if-I'm-in-a-good-mood film. Had a lot of great ideas, but a few gaping plot holes that did a lot to hinder my enjoyment of the film. However, the film had the adverse effect of leading me to discovering Park Chan-wook and his lauded "Vengeance Trilogy". I have not seen them yet, but I have heard nothing but good things, and have heard quite a bit of "Oldboy" before. Hear that Spike Lee is making an American remake... yuck.

My friend, who is really into shock films, got me to watch A Serbian Film, Irreversible, Salo (I actually read the book, for whatever reason, 120 Days of Sodom beforehand, so it was actually toned down)... yeah, that kinda stuff. Needless to say, despite them having their own merit, I don't want this to be my sole experience with French film, or even Serbian film in the first ones case.

Ones that are available for streaming on Netflix get bonus awesome points.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

Pedro Almodovar.

'Nuff said.



I also remember a Japanese movie called Love My Life (based on a manga, actually) which I quite enjoyed and would recommend.


A movie I keep meaning to check out is [REC]. It's a Spanish movie which was remade in the US as Quarantine. I kinda liked Quarantine, and you know what they say about remakes, they usually pale in comparison to the original, so I'd love to check that one out, too.

[Lowlander2]

La Vita E Bella. WW2 dramedy, highly recommended.

[darkwinterbeast8]

I really liked that Roberto Benigni film "Life Is Beautiful", then again I had only heard about that movie because he acted like an ass when winning an Oscar for his performance in it.

[DerLindwurm]

Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run) and Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod (Gloomy Sunday.) There's this crazy Canadian animated movie called Rock & Rule that everyone ought to see too.

[LiveHomeVideo]

No, it isn't CJ7 (that thing that used to be in my avatar) and it definitely is not any of the Titanic cartoons. My favorite foreign film (for me) is Hot Fuzz. I'm American, so it's foreign to me.

[soup567]

Oldboy is cool.

[SheSaidSheSaid]

No, it isn't CJ7 (that thing that used to be in my avatar) and it definitely is not any of the Titanic cartoons. My favorite foreign film (for me) is Hot Fuzz. I'm American, so it's foreign to me.

I realize that "foreign film" is a highly generalized umbrella term that's definition can vary wildly between each individual. Nonetheless, if we were to momentarily throw political correctness out the window, what would be your favorite films made, say, outside of the U.S. or the U.K.? I ask because I have not seen nearly enough of them.

Fail.

I guess it could help to give some Almodovar titles -

Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) - Almodovar's international breakthrough, though in retrospect it's a bit odd that this was his first movie to garner significant international attention, when it's a screwball comedy and his other movies are weighty, issues-driven dramas (with boatloads of drugs and sex). A young Antonio Banderas plays a supporting role.

Todo sobre mi madre (All About My Mother) - The title is borne out of a conversation in the first few minutes of the movie, about how the movie All About Eve is titled Eva al desnudo (Eve in the Nude) in its Spanish dubbed version rather than Todo sobre Eva. This movie follows a mother whose young son is killed in a car accident, and she discovers that his one burning wish was to meet his father. On her way to find him again, she encounters and falls in with characters such as a transvestite/transsexual prostitute/showgirl, and a pregnant AIDS-infected nun (played by Penelope Cruz). This movie won all kinds of awards - a Golden Globe, an Oscar, a Goya (basically Spain's Oscars), and copious film festival prizes. This is a pretty heavy movie - make sure you're up for it before you watch it.

Hable con ella (Talk to Her) - This was Almodovar's first movie to have significant release in the US, so you might be familiar with it. This movie is about a man who cares for coma patients (a nurse, I guess you'd say) and how he...well...falls in love with one of them. It definitely registers on the creepy scale, but the way it's handled it's maybe a 3 or 4 out of 10 Certainly not as heavy a movie as Todo sobre mi madre (though I'm not sure what would be).

Volver (Return) - Again fairly well known and successful in the States. I haven't seen this one since its theatrical run so I really don't remember much of anything about it, but I recall liking it

Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces) - Don't make this the first Almodovar film you see, because it contains lots of in-references to his other movies. You might even say the whole thing is an in-reference to Almodovar's work, because the main character is a film director who's pretty clearly based on Almodovar himself (although he's straight, and Almodovar is... not). There's a sequence that's pretty much straight out of Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios (do you give a director grief for ripping himself off?) and has a narrative structure very similar to Hable con ella. I enjoyed it greatly - but you kind of already have to know Almodovar to do so. At least to do so fully.

[Lawdog1521]

I'm a huge fan of The Orphanage. Breaking the trend of most modern horror flicks that specialize in cheap scare tactics, it instead focuses on characterization. This gives a genuine sense of dread when the characters are placed into jeopardy. Combine that with tight pacing and amazing cinematography and you get yourself a great movie.

[clashcityrocker10]

I've got a few French and Russian films I've been meaning to watch.

I do, however, already know a bit about Italian film. Here's a few of the movies I've seen:

8½ - Not just my favorite foreign film, but easily my favorite film of all time. Fellini is a genius.

La dolce vita - same as above about Fellini

La strada - The two aforementioned films maybe aren't the easiest to follow. La strada is a nice introduction to Fellini's style and includes traces of the neorealist style.

Roma, città aperta, Paisà, and Germania, anno zero - These three films make up what is called the "war trilogy" of Roberto Rossellini. They're all very moving and stark example of early Italian neorealism (though the last one is an Italian crew with a German cast and the second includes some Americans and Brits, so they are not entirely Italian affairs). The fact that these were filmed in the cities right after the end of WWII makes them particularly powerful.

Umberto D. - Probably the best neorealist film there is.

I soliti ignoti - Great comedy featuring some of the best Italian actors ever.

Dillinger è morto - Very interesting and kinda trippy (not in a purely psychedelic sense, of course) political critique from the late 1960s. This one may be kinda hard to find, though.

Note that of all of these movies, Dillinger è morto is the most recent one in terms of filming/release.

One thing that amazes me about Italian cinema is how it went from producing some of the best films of all time to some of the worst. Over the last 20 years or so (maybe I can set the beginning of this period with Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, at least in terms of more popular films), there's been a trend towards respectability again, though stinkers still exist.