list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Tsotsi on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Tsotsi/267099/default.aspx Title: Tsotsi
Year: 2006
Director: Gavin Hood
Plot: An amoral teenager develops an unexpected paternal side in this powerful drama from South Africa. Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) is the street name used by a young Johannesburg delinquent who has taken to a life of crime in order to support himself. Tsotsi comes from a blighted upbringing -- his mother died slowly from AIDS-related illnesses, and his father was torturously abusive -- and he has developed a talent for violence borne of necessity as well as taking strange pleasure in hurting other people. One evening, Tsotsi shoots a woman while stealing her car, and only later discovers that her infant son is in the back seat. Uncertain of what to do with the baby, Tsotsi takes the boy home and tries to care for it -- going so far as to force Miriam (Terry Pheto), a single mother living nearby, to nurse the baby. With time, Tsotsi learns the basics of child care, and the presence of the baby awakens a sense of humanity in him that life on the street had stripped away. Tsotsi was adapted from a novel by the award-winning South African writer Athol Fugard. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 19
Number of Lists: 15
Number of blog posts: 51
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:00:40 GMTTsotsi2006Gavin HoodAn amoral teenager develops an unexpected paternal side in this powerful drama from South Africa. Tsotsi (Presley Chweneyagae) is the street name used by a young Johannesburg delinquent who has taken to a life of crime in order to support himself. Tsotsi comes from a blighted upbringing -- his mother died slowly from AIDS-related illnesses, and his father was torturously abusive -- and he has developed a talent for violence borne of necessity as well as taking strange pleasure in hurting other people. One evening, Tsotsi shoots a woman while stealing her car, and only later discovers that her infant son is in the back seat. Uncertain of what to do with the baby, Tsotsi takes the boy home and tries to care for it -- going so far as to force Miriam (Terry Pheto), a single mother living nearby, to nurse the baby. With time, Tsotsi learns the basics of child care, and the presence of the baby awakens a sense of humanity in him that life on the street had stripped away. Tsotsi was adapted from a novel by the award-winning South African writer <a href="/players/P____25251/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Athol Fugard</a>. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide19Tag Target (>10)15513http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t80620xdjk3.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Tsotsi/267099/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/12/23/38772.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 12/23/2008 4:00:40 PM
Body: Christmas is a time of peace and harmony, where we remember baby Jesus, born into a manger. There were shepherds, wise men, sweet hay and swaddling clothes. But we often forget how dark the Christmas story actually is. First of all you’ve got poor Joseph, convinced that his fiance has been knocked up by another man. Then she gives birth in a barn, which would not be sweet or pleasant in any way. If that weren’t bad enough, the wise men tip Herod off to the fact that a new king has been born, and he goes and kills all the first born sons in Judea, forcing the Holy Family into exile. Real smooth, wise men, did you miss the star that told you to keep your mouths shut? There are plenty of movies about Christmas, a few about the nativity and plenty more about Santa. But there aren’t any that capture the despair and desperation of the original tale. Placed within the larger narrative of the Christian gospel, the nativity is about a god being subjected to the vulnerability of an infancy, in order to enter a cruel world whose purpose it is to kill him. Sure, it all works out in the end, but it’s still a pretty dark story. This lack of grit in Christmas movies became clear to me two years ago. Around Christmas, 2006, both The Nativity Story and Children of Men were released. I saw them both within a few days of one another. I was struck by how boring The Nativity Story was, especially compared to Cuarón’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece. When I think of a baby bringing peace on Earth, I can think of no better image than Clive Owen stumbling out of a shattered building with a screaming infant, its cries literally silencing tanks. In that spirit, here are five gritty movies where everything rides on the tiny shoulders of a baby. Children of Men The sweet little child in this movie is the inspiration not only for this list, but for all of humanity (at least in the film). Cuarón creates a brutal world of the near future where women no longer get pregnant, and society crumbles. One reason I like thinking about this movie as an alternate nativity is that it illustrates what Jesus’ second foray into humanity could look like. According to the Bible, the baby in the manger was only part one, Christ is coming back. While I don’t think that Cuarón meant the child to be seen as the second coming, a miraculous birth giving hope to a world in the midst of the apocalypse serves as a nice illustration of God’s ultimate Christmas gift to humanity. Tsotsi This 2005 South African film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It tells the story of young Tsotsi and his gang of Johannesburg thugs. A car-jacking goes bad, and Tsotsi kills a woman. He then discovers her baby in the back seat of the car. As movies like Three Men and a Baby and Raising Arizona make clear, there’s nothing like a baby to inspire self-improvement. Confronted with the shame and guilt of his violent lifestyle, Tsotsi goes on a mission to make things right. Maybe this relates to why the image of baby Jesus is so popular, even though it’s such a small part of the Bible. No one wants to do wrong if they think they’ll hurt a baby. Pan’s Labyrinth This movie is full of pseudo-nativities (spoilers ahead). Young Ofelia and her pregnant mother go to live in the mountains with Ofelia’s new stepfather, a cruel fascist general in Franco’s Spain. While the baby’s birth is a turning point in the climax of the film, the more fitting parallel to the Christ child is actually Ofelia. The opening scene tells the story of Princess Moanna of the Underground Realm, a supernatural being who takes human form. Throughout the film, Ofelia has encounters with fantastic creatures and locations, including a faun. The faun gives her various missions, the last of which is to shed innocent blood of her baby brother in order to open the portal to the Underworld, so Ofelia (Princess Moanna) can go home. She refuses to let her brother be harmed, and is shot by her stepfather shortly after. The baby is saved, but as Ofelia dies, her innocent blood opens the portal and she rejoins her father, the king, in the supernatural Underworld. Granted, it’s not a Sunday school lesson, but it’s pretty close, right down to Ofelia’s (Christ’s) blood being the link to the heavenly father. If you want to go even further, you could start looking for parallel’s between Franco’s Spain and the Roman occupation of the Holy Land during the first century, but for our purpose here we’ll leave at the innocent blood thing. Kill Bill While not nearly the gospel-like parable of Pan’s Labyrinth, Quentin Taratino’s revenge epic does use a child as the central motivating force. A pregnant Beatrix Kiddo is shot and left for dead by Bill, the baby’s father. Four years later the wakes from her coma, assumes her baby is dead, and seeks revenge against her former team of assassins. Kill Bill isn’t about the redemptive effect of an innocent baby as much as it’s about motherhood, and what a mother will do to protect that innocence. Beatrix’s similarities to the Virgin Mary probably end there, but it’s still worth noting the central role that the maternal instinct plays in the film. Kill Bill is gratuitous in every way: it’s violent, it samples from an absurd amount of source material, and the total run time of the two volumes is over four hours. The plot is pretty spare, but Tarantino never has trouble sustaining a sense of urgency. In Kill Bill, as in the nativity, looking out for the welfare of a child is a motivation that never needs to be explained. Rosemary’s Baby Rosemary’s Baby isn’t an alternate nativity as much as it’s an anti-nativity. A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, move into a spooky old apartment building. Their meddlesome old neighbors, Minnie and Roman, seem harmless at first. After eating a few bites of Minnie’s chocolate mousse, Rosemary faints and has a dream where she is raped by a demonic presence.  Minnie and Roman suggest an obstetrician who tells Rosemary her pains and cravings of raw meat are totally normal. Clearly something sinister is afoot, but will Rosemary forsake her own child, or join the dark conspiracy? Blood is thicker than water, as they say. And while giving birth to God must have been burden for Mary, how much tougher would it be to give birth to the Devil? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:00:40 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com12/23/2008 4:00:40 PMChristmas is a time of peace and harmony, where we remember baby Jesus, born into a manger. There were shepherds, wise men, sweet hay and swaddling clothes. But we often forget how dark the Christmas story actually is. First of all you’ve got poor Joseph, convinced that his fiance has been knocked up by another man. Then she gives birth in a barn, which would not be sweet or pleasant in any way. If that weren’t bad enough, the wise men tip Herod off to the fact that a new king has been born, and he goes and kills all the first born sons in Judea, forcing the Holy Family into exile. Real smooth, wise men, did you miss the star that told you to keep your mouths shut? There are plenty of movies about Christmas, a few about the nativity and plenty more about Santa. But there aren’t any that capture the despair and desperation of the original tale. Placed within the larger narrative of the Christian gospel, the nativity is about a god being subjected to the vulnerability of an infancy, in order to enter a cruel world whose purpose it is to kill him. Sure, it all works out in the end, but it’s still a pretty dark story. This lack of grit in Christmas movies became clear to me two years ago. Around Christmas, 2006, both The Nativity Story and Children of Men were released. I saw them both within a few days of one another. I was struck by how boring The Nativity Story was, especially compared to Cuarón’s post-apocalyptic masterpiece. When I think of a baby bringing peace on Earth, I can think of no better image than Clive Owen stumbling out of a shattered building with a screaming infant, its cries literally silencing tanks. In that spirit, here are five gritty movies where everything rides on the tiny shoulders of a baby. Children of Men The sweet little child in this movie is the inspiration not only for this list, but for all of humanity (at least in the film). Cuarón creates a brutal world of the near future where women no longer get pregnant, and society crumbles. One reason I like thinking about this movie as an alternate nativity is that it illustrates what Jesus’ second foray into humanity could look like. According to the Bible, the baby in the manger was only part one, Christ is coming back. While I don’t think that Cuarón meant the child to be seen as the second coming, a miraculous birth giving hope to a world in the midst of the apocalypse serves as a nice illustration of God’s ultimate Christmas gift to humanity. Tsotsi This 2005 South African film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It tells the story of young Tsotsi and his gang of Johannesburg thugs. A car-jacking goes bad, and Tsotsi kills a woman. He then discovers her baby in the back seat of the car. As movies like Three Men and a Baby and Raising Arizona make clear, there’s nothing like a baby to inspire self-improvement. Confronted with the shame and guilt of his violent lifestyle, Tsotsi goes on a mission to make things right. Maybe this relates to why the image of baby Jesus is so popular, even though it’s such a small part of the Bible. No one wants to do wrong if they think they’ll hurt a baby. Pan’s Labyrinth This movie is full of pseudo-nativities (spoilers ahead). Young Ofelia and her pregnant mother go to live in the mountains with Ofelia’s new stepfather, a cruel fascist general in Franco’s Spain. While the baby’s birth is a turning point in the climax of the film, the more fitting parallel to the Christ child is actually Ofelia. The opening scene tells the story of Princess Moanna of the Underground Realm, a supernatural being who takes human form. Throughout the film, Ofelia has encounters with fantastic creatures and locations, including a faun. The faun gives her various missions, the last of which is to shed innocent blood of her baby brother in order to open the portal to the Underworld, so Ofelia (Princess Moanna) can go home. She refuses to let her brother be harmed, and is shot by her stepfather shortly after. The baby is saved, but as Ofelia dies, her innocent blood opens the portal and she rejoins her father, the king, in the supernatural Underworld. Granted, it’s not a Sunday school lesson, but it’s pretty close, right down to Ofelia’s (Christ’s) blood being the link to the heavenly father. If you want to go even further, you could start looking for parallel’s between Franco’s Spain and the Roman occupation of the Holy Land during the first century, but for our purpose here we’ll leave at the innocent blood thing. Kill Bill While not nearly the gospel-like parable of Pan’s Labyrinth, Quentin Taratino’s revenge epic does use a child as the central motivating force. A pregnant Beatrix Kiddo is shot and left for dead by Bill, the baby’s father. Four years later the wakes from her coma, assumes her baby is dead, and seeks revenge against her former team of assassins. Kill Bill isn’t about the redemptive effect of an innocent baby as much as it’s about motherhood, and what a mother will do to protect that innocence. Beatrix’s similarities to the Virgin Mary probably end there, but it’s still worth noting the central role that the maternal instinct plays in the film. Kill Bill is gratuitous in every way: it’s violent, it samples from an absurd amount of source material, and the total run time of the two volumes is over four hours. The plot is pretty spare, but Tarantino never has trouble sustaining a sense of urgency. In Kill Bill, as in the nativity, looking out for the welfare of a child is a motivation that never needs to be explained. Rosemary’s Baby Rosemary’s Baby isn’t an alternate nativity as much as it’s an anti-nativity. A young couple, Rosemary and Guy, move into a spooky old apartment building. Their meddlesome old neighbors, Minnie and Roman, seem harmless at first. After eating a few bites of Minnie’s chocolate mousse, Rosemary faints and has a dream where she is raped by a demonic presence.  Minnie and Roman suggest an obstetrician who tells Rosemary her pains and cravings of raw meat are totally normal. Clearly something sinister is afoot, but will Rosemary forsake her own child, or join the dark conspiracy? Blood is thicker than water, as they say. And while giving birth to God must have been burden for Mary, how much tougher would it be to give birth to the Devil? Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/12/8/38092.aspx Post By: pippin06
Post To: Reel Thoughts
Post Date: 12/8/2008 7:55:32 PM
Body: Capping off the quartet of Africa message movies (starting with Blood Diamond, then the Last King of Scotland, then Hotel Rwanda), and overlapping a couplet of Oscar nominated (and/or winning) foreign films, the weekly red envelope brought me the Oscar-winning foreign language film from 2006, Tsotsi. It was the Oscar gold that put this movie on my radar, so without further adieu, allow me to discuss a la the Reel Thoughts tradition. Tsotsi is apparently a term for "thug" or "gangster," and, in this case, it's the nickname for a young man (Presley Chweneyagae) who leads a hard and violent life on the Johannesburg, South Africa, streets. This young man is so cold, so rough around the edges, that he and his small gang commit random and nightly acts of burglary and violence with nary a second thought - that is, until, the obviously pent up anger within Tsotsi leads him to pummel one of his gang members and, later, to shoot a young woman in an unthinking fit of fear and anger as he hijacks her car. What he doesn't realize is that her infant son is in the backseat; thus, Tsotsi is struck with a crisis of conscience, as he finds that he cannot ignore the poor baby. He, therefore, fumbles his way through his own poverty and quest for survival in an attempt to care for the baby, even going so far as to hearken upon a neighboring woman's door and having her nurse the baby from starvation. As his focus turns to the child, his focus turns away from his gangster life and his troubled past and toward the road to redemption and the melting of his hardened heart. I enjoyed Tsotsi. It was an engaging movie with a fairly simplistic but inspiring story based on a novel. The movie had a few elements going for it that lent to this engaging quality. First, the cinematography was really interesting - there were some fantastic color hues and uses of light and shadow to accentuate Tsotsi's external and internal struggles. From a stale, sunlit sky to a dusty dusk in outside scenes to oppressive dark shacks, shadowy under-passes, and the bright and comforting neighboring woman's home, the contrasts were stark, drawing the viewer in visually quite effectively. Add to that a moving score that perfectly highlighted Tsotsi's struggle, featuring a soloist with a truly haunting voice, and the basic sights and sounds of the film served well to immerse the viewer in this touching character study. Still, I don't think the film would have been as interesting if it weren't for the charismatic young man who played the film's lead. Mr. Chweneyagae had such a quality about him - he has such a young, even slightly effeminate look, but his voice is so deep, and his expressions were so acute and intense, my disbelief was completely suspended. I've never heard of the actor (if he enjoys fame in South Africa, I wouldn't know), but he has a great talent and potentially great future in acting if he hasn't already had a great career. Maybe I should look him up on the imdb. Yet, Tsotsi had some major storytelling flaws which prevent me from truly loving the film. I don't know if the story suffered in adaptation to film or in the idea to keep the running time a trim 94 minutes or in the novel itself, but there were some gaping holes. The Spout page's plot synopsis above talks about how Tsotsi's mother died from AIDS-related illness, and that his father was tortuously abusive. Maybe those details were in the original novel, but they were only subtlely implied in the film. I knew that Tsotsi's mom was sick, and that his dad was a drunk who hurt the family dog - and I suppose, one could draw further conclusions, but other than a few other short glimpses of Tsotsi's childhood homelessness, no other flashbacks into his childhood were offered. As such, it was hard to grasp why Tsotsi was so deeply affected by the infant in his care; one could, again, make many assumptions, anywhere from an abandonment complex by his parents to a need to nurture something other than his tendency toward violence to the more straightforward assumption of him just being at the point where the desire for redemption overshadowed any other desires, but these are all guesses and interpretations interpolated from the scant information offered. Nothing is certain the way the story is presented. In any event, though Tsotsi's past was not given full flush, some of his motivations could, at least, be derived, and Mr. Chweneyagae's performance kept me interested throughout. I was also moved by the actress who played the neighbor and seemed to pity Tsotsi as much as she feared him (since he initially forced her to nurse at gunpoint and at the expense of her own baby). All in all, like I indicated, I liked the movie, and it was refreshing that the film did not focus on the plight of Africans but on a story of humanity that had universal implications and relatability. On the patented ratings scale, I see this in the realm of a 7.5, between shaky and minor flaws/very good, because it's a little better than shaky but contains these striking story-related flaws that are more major than minor. In the world of the test, it's not so much a pass. I enjoyed the film, but it's not one that would incite repeat viewing from me. I would, at least, recommend the film because even the angriest, stingiest, scroogiest, grinchiest viewer would probably feel their heart melt right along the melting heart of Tsotsi himself, so in that vein, I readily say: give these heartwarming subtitles a chance.
]]>Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:55:32 GMTpippin06Reel Thoughts12/8/2008 7:55:32 PMCapping off the quartet of Africa message movies (starting with Blood Diamond, then the Last King of Scotland, then Hotel Rwanda), and overlapping a couplet of Oscar nominated (and/or winning) foreign films, the weekly red envelope brought me the Oscar-winning foreign language film from 2006, Tsotsi. It was the Oscar gold that put this movie on my radar, so without further adieu, allow me to discuss a la the Reel Thoughts tradition. Tsotsi is apparently a term for "thug" or "gangster," and, in this case, it's the nickname for a young man (Presley Chweneyagae) who leads a hard and violent life on the Johannesburg, South Africa, streets. This young man is so cold, so rough around the edges, that he and his small gang commit random and nightly acts of burglary and violence with nary a second thought - that is, until, the obviously pent up anger within Tsotsi leads him to pummel one of his gang members and, later, to shoot a young woman in an unthinking fit of fear and anger as he hijacks her car. What he doesn't realize is that her infant son is in the backseat; thus, Tsotsi is struck with a crisis of conscience, as he finds that he cannot ignore the poor baby. He, therefore, fumbles his way through his own poverty and quest for survival in an attempt to care for the baby, even going so far as to hearken upon a neighboring woman's door and having her nurse the baby from starvation. As his focus turns to the child, his focus turns away from his gangster life and his troubled past and toward the road to redemption and the melting of his hardened heart. I enjoyed Tsotsi. It was an engaging movie with a fairly simplistic but inspiring story based on a novel. The movie had a few elements going for it that lent to this engaging quality. First, the cinematography was really interesting - there were some fantastic color hues and uses of light and shadow to accentuate Tsotsi's external and internal struggles. From a stale, sunlit sky to a dusty dusk in outside scenes to oppressive dark shacks, shadowy under-passes, and the bright and comforting neighboring woman's home, the contrasts were stark, drawing the viewer in visually quite effectively. Add to that a moving score that perfectly highlighted Tsotsi's struggle, featuring a soloist with a truly haunting voice, and the basic sights and sounds of the film served well to immerse the viewer in this touching character study. Still, I don't think the film would have been as interesting if it weren't for the charismatic young man who played the film's lead. Mr. Chweneyagae had such a quality about him - he has such a young, even slightly effeminate look, but his voice is so deep, and his expressions were so acute and intense, my disbelief was completely suspended. I've never heard of the actor (if he enjoys fame in South Africa, I wouldn't know), but he has a great talent and potentially great future in acting if he hasn't already had a great career. Maybe I should look him up on the imdb. Yet, Tsotsi had some major storytelling flaws which prevent me from truly loving the film. I don't know if the story suffered in adaptation to film or in the idea to keep the running time a trim 94 minutes or in the novel itself, but there were some gaping holes. The Spout page's plot synopsis above talks about how Tsotsi's mother died from AIDS-related illness, and that his father was tortuously abusive. Maybe those details were in the original novel, but they were only subtlely implied in the film. I knew that Tsotsi's mom was sick, and that his dad was a drunk who hurt the family dog - and I suppose, one could draw further conclusions, but other than a few other short glimpses of Tsotsi's childhood homelessness, no other flashbacks into his childhood were offered. As such, it was hard to grasp why Tsotsi was so deeply affected by the infant in his care; one could, again, make many assumptions, anywhere from an abandonment complex by his parents to a need to nurture something other than his tendency toward violence to the more straightforward assumption of him just being at the point where the desire for redemption overshadowed any other desires, but these are all guesses and interpretations interpolated from the scant information offered. Nothing is certain the way the story is presented. In any event, though Tsotsi's past was not given full flush, some of his motivations could, at least, be derived, and Mr. Chweneyagae's performance kept me interested throughout. I was also moved by the actress who played the neighbor and seemed to pity Tsotsi as much as she feared him (since he initially forced her to nurse at gunpoint and at the expense of her own baby). All in all, like I indicated, I liked the movie, and it was refreshing that the film did not focus on the plight of Africans but on a story of humanity that had universal implications and relatability. On the patented ratings scale, I see this in the realm of a 7.5, between shaky and minor flaws/very good, because it's a little better than shaky but contains these striking story-related flaws that are more major than minor. In the world of the test, it's not so much a pass. I enjoyed the film, but it's not one that would incite repeat viewing from me. I would, at least, recommend the film because even the angriest, stingiest, scroogiest, grinchiest viewer would probably feel their heart melt right along the melting heart of Tsotsi himself, so in that vein, I readily say: give these heartwarming subtitles a chance. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/11/13/37289.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 11/13/2008 5:00:46 PM
Body: Danny Boyle’s new crowd-pleasing film Slumdog Millionaire was originally intended to be shot entirely in English, but apparently due to the preferences of a casting director, about a third of the movie is in Hindi. While this fraction may not be enough to call it a foreign-language film, it could have been enough to turn off subtitle-fearing audiences were the movie not so otherwise accessible due to its feel-good, “Hollywood-style” story involving star-crossed romance, destiny and an ultimate “love conquers all” message. Also, the movie breaks free from one off-putting foreign film tradition by following Man on Fire, Night Watch and TV’s Heroes into the realm of non-traditional subtitling. Slumdog received a standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award, and it could very well extend its popularity in the direction of the multiplex crowd. If it’s a hit with moviegoers who aren’t typically open to world cinema, this could be the chance for similarly feel-good foreign films to cross over and reach a wider audience, whether they be upcoming releases like the Sundance-winning Captain Abu Raed or titles from the past that could always use more Netflix-queue love. And so, in the hopes that Slumdog could help open the door to further foreign film consumption, SpoutBlog presents this guide to the most accessible world cinema titles from the past ten years. For every entry-level film on the list, we name a couple of more intermediate titled in the same vein — just in case you get hooked. Amelie Spout.com user leeroy711 recently referred to this imaginative French film as the foreign-language cinema’s “gateway drug.” And it’s certainly true that its fanciful romantic story and colorful tone have won the favor of many a young adult not previously accustomed to European cinema. Never mind that it makes stalking seem a little too precious and innocent — the film’s whimsical title character (played delightfully by Audrey Tautou), full of good intentions and lots of heart, will have you wishing you had such a thoughtful and inventive pursuer. Also worth checking out: A Very Long Engagement; Love Me If You Dare The Chorus Hollywood sometimes seems to have cornered the market on movies about inspirational teachers, especially those involving music instruction. But this French film proves that foreign films can have similarly motivational stories about great educators and their newly encouraged students. Also worth checking out: Small Voices; Monsieur Ibrahim City of God This Brazilian film set in the favelas of Rio can be quite violent, enough to have been compared to gangster films like Goodfellas (though Goodfellas doesn’t have any little kids being shot in the foot). But at its center is the uplifting tale of a boy who makes it out of the slums in order to become a successful writer. Also worth checking out: City of Men (both the TV series and the feature film) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Martial arts cinema has long been an accessible genre to a large enough portion of Americans, but this film, which became the top grossing foreign-language title in the U.S. (not counting The Passion of the Christ), has managed to acquire fans that don’t normally go for kung fu and wuxia. The main attraction that makes this title more appealing than most is likely its production value, which with its beautiful cinematography and well-crafted special effects allows it to compare to romantic epics out of Hollywood. Also worth checking out: Hero; House of Flying Daggers Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India The running time of 3 hrs. 43 min. probably seems like a deterrent, but this Bollywood film really does feel a lot shorter than it is. Really. And anyway its compelling story of an underdog cricket team is familiar enough that you don’t have to pay too much attention if you don’t have the time — though it will be difficult to let your attention stray except for during some of the less-adequately translated musical numbers that aren’t so significant or relatable to most Western viewers. Just think of this film as your typical Hollywood sports movie, except instead of the final game being quickly highlighted in the last 30 minutes, it’s seemingly depicted in its entirety for more than an hour. And yes, the ending is a crowd-pleaser. Also worth checking out: The Cup; Monsoon Wedding Life is Beautiful This Oscar-winning film is so feel-good that it comes close to overkill. In fact, a decade after its release, it’s easy to forget just how entertaining it is. Just as we’re more likely to remember the stomach ache after gorging ourselves with delicious sweets or the hangover that follows a great night of drinking, moviegoers often recall only the obnoxiousness that came with an overexposed and over-awarded Roberto Benigni. But don’t let the cynics keep you from enjoying such a heartwarming and inspiriting tale of a “real life Prince Charming.” Also worth checking out: I Served the King of England The Motorcycle Diaries Hollywood could actually take a cue from this film the next time it wants to make one of those prequels detailing the life of an iconic villain (ex: Hannibal Rising), at least if it wants audiences to like the guy enough to forget he grows up to be a murderous rebel. Whether or not you like who and what Ernesto Guevara becomes in the years after The Motorcycle Diaries takes place, you’ll have no trouble falling for his younger self as he ditches his privileged life and devotes himself to a colony of lepers. Also worth checking out: Downfall Pan’s Labyrinth In the tradition of such dark yet magical stories as Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, a little girl encounters strange creatures and kind of winds up a princess. It’s ultimately a very sad and depressing film, but the ending at least pretends to be happy, enough that you might think your eyes are watering with tears of joy. Also worth checking out: City of Lost Children Run Lola Run It’s extremely fast-paced, a little bit MTV, a little bit video game, and it features a character you really want to root for, especially because she’s narratively allotted a few do-overs in order to make things right. And mainstream moviegoers love stories of both chance and second chances. Roger Ebert also noted in his review that it’s the kind of film that could play in a sports bar, so perhaps it’s even more of a gateway foreign film for sports fans than Lagaan. Also worth checking out: The Princess and the Warrior; Amores perros Tsotsi Like City of God, this film involves a crime-ridden ghetto, but it’s even more accessible than that film despite its lack of inspiring upward mobility. It could probably appeal most to fans of American “urban” gangster films, but any mainstream moviegoer should enjoy the conventional plot involving a thug who accidentally kidnaps a baby and then changes morally as a result. Also worth checking out: Kolya; Central Station Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:00:46 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com11/13/2008 5:00:46 PMDanny Boyle’s new crowd-pleasing film Slumdog Millionaire was originally intended to be shot entirely in English, but apparently due to the preferences of a casting director, about a third of the movie is in Hindi. While this fraction may not be enough to call it a foreign-language film, it could have been enough to turn off subtitle-fearing audiences were the movie not so otherwise accessible due to its feel-good, “Hollywood-style” story involving star-crossed romance, destiny and an ultimate “love conquers all” message. Also, the movie breaks free from one off-putting foreign film tradition by following Man on Fire, Night Watch and TV’s Heroes into the realm of non-traditional subtitling. Slumdog received a standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award, and it could very well extend its popularity in the direction of the multiplex crowd. If it’s a hit with moviegoers who aren’t typically open to world cinema, this could be the chance for similarly feel-good foreign films to cross over and reach a wider audience, whether they be upcoming releases like the Sundance-winning Captain Abu Raed or titles from the past that could always use more Netflix-queue love. And so, in the hopes that Slumdog could help open the door to further foreign film consumption, SpoutBlog presents this guide to the most accessible world cinema titles from the past ten years. For every entry-level film on the list, we name a couple of more intermediate titled in the same vein — just in case you get hooked. Amelie Spout.com user leeroy711 recently referred to this imaginative French film as the foreign-language cinema’s “gateway drug.” And it’s certainly true that its fanciful romantic story and colorful tone have won the favor of many a young adult not previously accustomed to European cinema. Never mind that it makes stalking seem a little too precious and innocent — the film’s whimsical title character (played delightfully by Audrey Tautou), full of good intentions and lots of heart, will have you wishing you had such a thoughtful and inventive pursuer. Also worth checking out: A Very Long Engagement; Love Me If You Dare The Chorus Hollywood sometimes seems to have cornered the market on movies about inspirational teachers, especially those involving music instruction. But this French film proves that foreign films can have similarly motivational stories about great educators and their newly encouraged students. Also worth checking out: Small Voices; Monsieur Ibrahim City of God This Brazilian film set in the favelas of Rio can be quite violent, enough to have been compared to gangster films like Goodfellas (though Goodfellas doesn’t have any little kids being shot in the foot). But at its center is the uplifting tale of a boy who makes it out of the slums in order to become a successful writer. Also worth checking out: City of Men (both the TV series and the feature film) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Martial arts cinema has long been an accessible genre to a large enough portion of Americans, but this film, which became the top grossing foreign-language title in the U.S. (not counting The Passion of the Christ), has managed to acquire fans that don’t normally go for kung fu and wuxia. The main attraction that makes this title more appealing than most is likely its production value, which with its beautiful cinematography and well-crafted special effects allows it to compare to romantic epics out of Hollywood. Also worth checking out: Hero; House of Flying Daggers Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India The running time of 3 hrs. 43 min. probably seems like a deterrent, but this Bollywood film really does feel a lot shorter than it is. Really. And anyway its compelling story of an underdog cricket team is familiar enough that you don’t have to pay too much attention if you don’t have the time — though it will be difficult to let your attention stray except for during some of the less-adequately translated musical numbers that aren’t so significant or relatable to most Western viewers. Just think of this film as your typical Hollywood sports movie, except instead of the final game being quickly highlighted in the last 30 minutes, it’s seemingly depicted in its entirety for more than an hour. And yes, the ending is a crowd-pleaser. Also worth checking out: The Cup; Monsoon Wedding Life is Beautiful This Oscar-winning film is so feel-good that it comes close to overkill. In fact, a decade after its release, it’s easy to forget just how entertaining it is. Just as we’re more likely to remember the stomach ache after gorging ourselves with delicious sweets or the hangover that follows a great night of drinking, moviegoers often recall only the obnoxiousness that came with an overexposed and over-awarded Roberto Benigni. But don’t let the cynics keep you from enjoying such a heartwarming and inspiriting tale of a “real life Prince Charming.” Also worth checking out: I Served the King of England The Motorcycle Diaries Hollywood could actually take a cue from this film the next time it wants to make one of those prequels detailing the life of an iconic villain (ex: Hannibal Rising), at least if it wants audiences to like the guy enough to forget he grows up to be a murderous rebel. Whether or not you like who and what Ernesto Guevara becomes in the years after The Motorcycle Diaries takes place, you’ll have no trouble falling for his younger self as he ditches his privileged life and devotes himself to a colony of lepers. Also worth checking out: Downfall Pan’s Labyrinth In the tradition of such dark yet magical stories as Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, a little girl encounters strange creatures and kind of winds up a princess. It’s ultimately a very sad and depressing film, but the ending at least pretends to be happy, enough that you might think your eyes are watering with tears of joy. Also worth checking out: City of Lost Children Run Lola Run It’s extremely fast-paced, a little bit MTV, a little bit video game, and it features a character you really want to root for, especially because she’s narratively allotted a few do-overs in order to make things right. And mainstream moviegoers love stories of both chance and second chances. Roger Ebert also noted in his review that it’s the kind of film that could play in a sports bar, so perhaps it’s even more of a gateway foreign film for sports fans than Lagaan. Also worth checking out: The Princess and the Warrior; Amores perros Tsotsi Like City of God, this film involves a crime-ridden ghetto, but it’s even more accessible than that film despite its lack of inspiring upward mobility. It could probably appeal most to fans of American “urban” gangster films, but any mainstream moviegoer should enjoy the conventional plot involving a thug who accidentally kidnaps a baby and then changes morally as a result. Also worth checking out: Kolya; Central Station Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/jimbell/archive/2008/6/26/31719.aspx Post By: JimBell
Post To: JimBell Blog
Post Date: 6/26/2008 1:30:39 AM
Body: Tsotsi (2005)Tsotsi (2006) is a good film, good enough, apparently, to win an Oscar for best foreign film. The acting is solid, the cinematography is solid, the sound track is effective and not overbearing, and a lot of scenes are refreshingly not predictable. The only major criticism people have had of this tale of a South African ghetto thug who accidentally steals a baby and turns his life around is that it is fakey, that the leader of a gang which has “progressed” to killing people would never go soft taking care of a baby. I wouldn’t know. Come to think of it, what would you have to know in order to declare this character change phoney? Well, you’d have to know a lot of young thugs, and know them over a long enough time to see what, if anything, changes their criminal behaviour. More specifically, you should know South African teenaged thugs and the culture they live in. I’m surprised that there are several professional movie critics in America who know all that. Although the film is well-done and worth watching, I think it could have been even better if it had revealed the various reasons why Tsotsi was so affected by the infant. Instead, the movie implicitly asks us to accept that Tsotsi is captivated with the kid and then see where it leads.
]]>Thu, 26 Jun 2008 05:30:39 GMTJimBellJimBell Blog6/26/2008 1:30:39 AMTsotsi (2005)Tsotsi (2006) is a good film, good enough, apparently, to win an Oscar for best foreign film. The acting is solid, the cinematography is solid, the sound track is effective and not overbearing, and a lot of scenes are refreshingly not predictable. The only major criticism people have had of this tale of a South African ghetto thug who accidentally steals a baby and turns his life around is that it is fakey, that the leader of a gang which has &ldquo;progressed&rdquo; to killing people would never go soft taking care of a baby. I wouldn&rsquo;t know. Come to think of it, what would you have to know in order to declare this character change phoney? Well, you&rsquo;d have to know a lot of young thugs, and know them over a long enough time to see what, if anything, changes their criminal behaviour. More specifically, you should know South African teenaged thugs and the culture they live in. I&rsquo;m surprised that there are several professional movie critics in America who know all that. Although the film is well-done and worth watching, I think it could have been even better if it had revealed the various reasons why Tsotsi was so affected by the infant. Instead, the movie implicitly asks us to accept that Tsotsi is captivated with the kid and then see where it leads. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2007/7/20/15397.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 7/20/2007 8:56:52 AM
Body: ***A Variety story published last night partially backs up the CHUD theory for why Fox pulled out of ComicCon--ie: they couldn't/didn't want to tone down their R-rated material after being reprimanded for showing racy Borat footage last year--but also suggests that the studio might have had to do a reality check on their presentation's "wow" factor. "The pics Fox wanted to promote are all f/x-intensive, with many of the money shots not yet complete." ***Why is it okay to consistently, pejoratively use words like "doughy" to describe Seth Rogan? Would a casting item about Renee Zellweger refer to her as "the bony, squinty-eyed thesp"? Whatever--the guy's gonna write and star in The Green Hornet. ***Gavin Hood, who won a Best Foreign Film Oscar two years ago for Tsotsi, has been hired to direct the X-men spin-off Wolverine. Variety describes the pic as an action-loaded "origin story about how Logan emerged from a barbaric experiment as an indestructible mutant with retractable razor-sharp claws." Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:56:52 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com7/20/2007 8:56:52 AM***A Variety story published last night partially backs up the CHUD theory for why Fox pulled out of ComicCon--ie: they couldn't/didn't want to tone down their R-rated material after being reprimanded for showing racy Borat footage last year--but also suggests that the studio might have had to do a reality check on their presentation's "wow" factor. "The pics Fox wanted to promote are all f/x-intensive, with many of the money shots not yet complete." ***Why is it okay to consistently, pejoratively use words like "doughy" to describe Seth Rogan? Would a casting item about Renee Zellweger refer to her as "the bony, squinty-eyed thesp"? Whatever--the guy's gonna write and star in The Green Hornet. ***Gavin Hood, who won a Best Foreign Film Oscar two years ago for Tsotsi, has been hired to direct the X-men spin-off Wolverine. Variety describes the pic as an action-loaded "origin story about how Logan emerged from a barbaric experiment as an indestructible mutant with retractable razor-sharp claws." Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Great/MemberTagFilms.aspxGreat
Number of films tagged: 231

Number of people who tagged: 202

Number of times used: 371

]]>Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:11:49 GMT231202371Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Loved-It/MemberTagFilms.aspxLoved-It
Number of films tagged: 509

Number of people who tagged: 179

Number of times used: 921

]]>Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:56:35 GMT509179921Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Good/MemberTagFilms.aspxGood
Number of films tagged: 97

Number of people who tagged: 71

Number of times used: 113

]]>Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:00:47 GMT9771113Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/redemption/MemberTagFilms.aspxredemption
Number of films tagged: 626

Number of people who tagged: 53

Number of times used: 117

]]>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:18:53 GMT62653117Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/baby/MemberTagFilms.aspxbaby
Number of films tagged: 418

Number of people who tagged: 38

Number of times used: 88

]]>Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:39:51 GMT4183888Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/criminal/MemberTagFilms.aspxcriminal
Number of films tagged: 3388

Number of people who tagged: 27

Number of times used: 56

]]>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:02:59 GMT33882756Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/africa/MemberTagFilms.aspxafrica
Number of films tagged: 490

Number of people who tagged: 25

Number of times used: 60

]]>Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:19:34 GMT4902560Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/heartfelt/MemberTagFilms.aspxheartfelt
Number of films tagged: 39

Number of people who tagged: 24

Number of times used: 43

]]>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:02:59 GMT392443Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/gripping/MemberTagFilms.aspxgripping
Number of films tagged: 10

Number of people who tagged: 10

Number of times used: 11

]]>Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:49:05 GMT101011Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/engaging/MemberTagFilms.aspxengaging
Number of films tagged: 19

Number of people who tagged: 8

Number of times used: 20

]]>Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:10:05 GMT19820Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/South-Africa/MemberTagFilms.aspxSouth-Africa
Number of films tagged: 13

Number of people who tagged: 8

Number of times used: 14

]]>Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:46:53 GMT13814Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/southafrica/MemberTagFilms.aspxsouthafrica
Number of films tagged: 151

Number of people who tagged: 5

Number of times used: 5

]]>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:02:54 GMT15155Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/thug/MemberTagFilms.aspxthug
Number of films tagged: 159

Number of people who tagged: 4

Number of times used: 5

]]>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:02:59 GMT15945Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/Best-Foreign-Language-Film/MemberTagFilms.aspxBest-Foreign-Language-Film
Number of films tagged: 4

Number of people who tagged: 3

Number of times used: 6

]]>Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:20:44 GMT436Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/a-must-see/MemberTagFilms.aspxa-must-see
Number of films tagged: 12

Number of people who tagged: 2

Number of times used: 13

]]>Sun, 13 Aug 2006 01:16:38 GMT12213Tag