Friends of Foreign Flicks

Re:Foreign Gems

Risselada — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:49:03 GMT

unclefestering:
When I find a genre I like I usually try to watch a group of them together because, expecially if you watch them in the order of release date, you can really make connections and see how one director influenced another and you can really understand how the conventions develop and change.

If I want to follow an individual director, I will tend to space his works out with other movies, because an individual style over and over really causes burn out. I had to space out Dario Argento's movies, but I loved Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1978).

Yeah I know what you are saying. I think you have to find the right time span when you are trying to watch a bunch of related movies to see how they are related together. Watching them too close together can cause burnout and confusion in memory of which is which. But watching them too far apart you can forget details of the earlier ones you saw.

Re:Foreign Gems

unclefestering — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:40:00 GMT

Risselada:

So you like to focus on one era or genre of filmmaking and soak in as much as you can at one time? I try to avoid that for just the reason that you mentioned. You get sick of them because you are comparing them all to each other and they almost all start to blend together in your mind. If I am interested in several movies from a certain era or movement, I will try to stagger my viewing of them over several months at least so that I don't see them all at the same time and have those negative effects.

When I find a genre I like I usually try to watch a group of them together because, expecially if you watch them in the order of release date, you can really make connections and see how one director influenced another and you can really understand how the conventions develop and change.

If I want to follow an individual director, I will tend to space his works out with other movies, because an individual style over and over really causes burn out. I had to space out Dario Argento's movies, but I loved Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1978).

Re:Foreign Gems

kristen — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:58:16 GMT

Check out Hiroshi Teshigahara's Woman in the Dunes.

Celine and Julie go Boating (masterpiece by Jacques Rivette)

Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice

Re:Foreign Gems

Risselada — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:30:58 GMT

unclefestering:
I never saw either of those. I'll be honest here and say that the Suzuki movies I've seen were all at the tail end of my facination with Japanese movies. Part of my disappointment with Suzuki was that after I saw Tokyp Drifter and Branded to Kill, his other movies didn't live up to them. Part of that may have just been my mood at the time. I tried to leven out the Japanese film experience with lighter movies such as Tampopo and A Taxing Woman.

After that I needed a break and watched a lot of action adventure stuff Including in an ironic twist, Battle Royale, before diving deep into German Expressionism.

So you like to focus on one era or genre of filmmaking and soak in as much as you can at one time? I try to avoid that for just the reason that you mentioned. You get sick of them because you are comparing them all to each other and they almost all start to blend together in your mind. If I am interested in several movies from a certain era or movement, I will try to stagger my viewing of them over several months at least so that I don't see them all at the same time and have those negative effects.

Re:Foreign Gems

unclefestering — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:34:20 GMT

Risselada:

All of the ones I have seen so far were released by Criterion Collection, so I feel like they have been presenting his best ones. Have you seen Gate of Flesh or Story of a Prostitute? I'm thinking about checking out of one of those next.

I never saw either of those. I'll be honest here and say that the Suzuki movies I've seen were all at the tail end of my facination with Japanese movies. Part of my disappointment with Suzuki was that after I saw Tokyp Drifter and Branded to Kill, his other movies didn't live up to them. Part of that may have just been my mood at the time. I tried to leven out the Japanese film experience with lighter movies such as Tampopo and A Taxing Woman.

After that I needed a break and watched a lot of action adventure stuff Including in an ironic twist, Battle Royale, before diving deep into German Expressionism.

Re:Foreign Gems

Risselada — Fri, 30 May 2008 17:21:53 GMT

unclefestering:

I really liked Our Blood Will Not Forgive. It was a great early take off of the James Bond movies with the Suzuki point of view. I saw it at a film festival and can't find a link in the Spout database, so I don't know if it is on DVD.

A friend liked Yumeji, but I never saw it so I don't know what to tell you about it.

All of the ones I have seen so far were released by Criterion Collection, so I feel like they have been presenting his best ones. Have you seen Gate of Flesh or Story of a Prostitute? I'm thinking about checking out of one of those next.

Re:Foreign Gems

unclefestering — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:27:17 GMT

I really liked Our Blood Will Not Forgive. It was a great early take off of the James Bond movies with the Suzuki point of view. I saw it at a film festival and can't find a link in the Spout database, so I don't know if it is on DVD.

A friend liked Yumeji, but I never saw it so I don't know what to tell you about it.

Re:Foreign Gems

Risselada — Thu, 29 May 2008 17:55:57 GMT

unclefestering:
Branded to Kill is my favorite of his. And if you want to watch him is his prime in terms of a balance of plot and visuals, you are looking in the right era. It is his later works like Pistol Opera where the visuals take over completely and wipe out the plot. Don't get me wrong the visuals of his later work are stunning. but it lacks the pure craft of his movies from the 60s and 70s.

That's too bad. Could you recommend any of his other films from "his prime" or otherwise that might be as good as the ones I named?

Re:Foreign Gems

unclefestering — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:31:08 GMT

Risselada:

I see he's been very prolific, so I've only seen quite a small percentage of his films. Specifically I've seen Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter, Youth of the Beast, and Fighting Elegy, and every single one of those are five stars to me!

Branded to Kill is my favorite of his. And if you want to watch him is his prime in terms of a balance of plot and visuals, you are looking in the right era. It is his later works like Pistol Opera where the visuals take over completely and wipe out the plot. Don't get me wrong the visuals of his later work are stunning. but it lacks the pure craft of his movies from the 60s and 70s.

Re:Foreign Gems

Risselada — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:54:15 GMT

unclefestering:
I have to say that I'm split on Seijun Suzuki, especially since his later films are essentially remakes of his earlier ones. I think his plots are much murkier in his remakes although they have an incredible visual palate.

I see he's been very prolific, so I've only seen quite a small percentage of his films. Specifically I've seen Branded to Kill, Tokyo Drifter, Youth of the Beast, and Fighting Elegy, and every single one of those are five stars to me!

Re:Foreign Gems

unclefestering — Wed, 28 May 2008 03:06:25 GMT

If we are going for obscure but accessible I'd have to put in a pitch for Alex De La Igelsia's 800 Bullets. It is a great, funny story about a boy who runs away from home to live with his grandfather, an old drunk stunt man who along with his friends, used to work on Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. But since the movies left, they have been stuck putting on an Old West show for the ever dwindling number of tourists.

The boy brings the news with him that a company has bought the property they have been squatting on and want to turn it into an amusement park, leaving the stuntmen with no livelihood. They go into town and buy up all the bullets they can (guess how many) to hold off the company, the police and the 21st Century.

It is a funny, touching and irreverent movie.

Another obscure but amazing film is The Icicle Thief (1989). The movie is a satiracle spoof of The Bicycle Thieves. The premise is the after they fail to get the rights to broadcast the Bicycle Thieves, an Italian TV station gets the simlilar, but lesser Icicle Thief to show in it's place. They also get the gassbag director to talk about his movie. Things go off the rails though when the characters from the movie start interacting with characters from the TV station's commercials.

Re:Foreign Gems

unclefestering — Wed, 28 May 2008 02:55:36 GMT

I have to say that I'm split on Seijun Suzuki, especially since his later films are essentially remakes of his earlier ones. I think his plots are much murkier in his remakes although they have an incredible visual palate.

Risselada:

I have a few favorite foreign directors. It's somewhat difficult for me to evaluate how well known some of these people are since when I like them I spend a lot more time reading about them, so they don't seem too obscure to me anymore.

Tsai Ming-liang

Aki Kaurismäki

Seijun Suzuki

I've just seen one movie by Béla Tarr, but it was pretty great.

Re:Foreign Gems

leeroy711 — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:08:46 GMT

indieabby88:

[quote user="leeroy711"

Jeunet has been my favorite foreign director for a while now. Can't get enough.

Do you know what the status is on "Life of Pi"? I had heard a long time ago that he was directing the adaptation, but I haven't heard anything about that lately.

The best info I could find was "2009 TBA" and "currently on hold", I guess I have time to read the book.

Re:Foreign Gems

indieabby88 — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:16:56 GMT

[quote user="leeroy711"

Jeunet has been my favorite foreign director for a while now. Can't get enough.

Do you know what the status is on "Life of Pi"? I had heard a long time ago that he was directing the adaptation, but I haven't heard anything about that lately.

Re:Foreign Gems

leeroy711 — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:41:19 GMT

indieabby88:

leeroy711:

I just finished watching the English film Dead Man's Shoes (2004). I was very impressed. I would have to highly recommend this one. It pretty much had me at the opening line: "God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven..................... I can't live with that." This is the type of film that will make it into my collection. Did anybody else see this one? If so, what did you think?

I remember watching that "Dead Man's Shoes" and not being very impressed. But so many people whose opinions I more or less respect have really good things to say about it, so I'm thinking it may be worth another look.

I was pleasantly surprised by "13 Tzameti." The roulette sequences, I thought, were particularly well shot. Very tense, and with a great sense of cool about them that I really dug.

My personal favorite foreign director at the moment is Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I'm sure this seems rather mainstream of me, but I only just started watching his older, pre-"Amelie" movies last year, "Delicatessen" and "The City of Lost Children" among them, both of which I really enjoyed. And yes, I even liked that "Alien" sequel with Winona Ryder...but mostly because it had Ron Perlman and Dominique Pinon in it. I love those guys.

Jeunet has been my favorite foreign director for a while now. Can't get enough.

Re:Foreign Gems

indieabby88 — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:53:43 GMT

leeroy711:

I just finished watching the English film Dead Man's Shoes (2004). I was very impressed. I would have to highly recommend this one. It pretty much had me at the opening line: "God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven..................... I can't live with that." This is the type of film that will make it into my collection. Did anybody else see this one? If so, what did you think?

I remember watching that "Dead Man's Shoes" and not being very impressed. But so many people whose opinions I more or less respect have really good things to say about it, so I'm thinking it may be worth another look.

I was pleasantly surprised by "13 Tzameti." The roulette sequences, I thought, were particularly well shot. Very tense, and with a great sense of cool about them that I really dug.

My personal favorite foreign director at the moment is Jean-Pierre Jeunet. I'm sure this seems rather mainstream of me, but I only just started watching his older, pre-"Amelie" movies last year, "Delicatessen" and "The City of Lost Children" among them, both of which I really enjoyed. And yes, I even liked that "Alien" sequel with Winona Ryder...but mostly because it had Ron Perlman and Dominique Pinon in it. I love those guys.

Re:Foreign Gems

leeroy711 — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:55:25 GMT

I just finished watching the English film Dead Man's Shoes (2004). I was very impressed. I would have to highly recommend this one. It pretty much had me at the opening line: "God will forgive them. He'll forgive them and allow them into Heaven..................... I can't live with that." This is the type of film that will make it into my collection. Did anybody else see this one? If so, what did you think?

Re:Foreign Gems

leeroy711 — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:24:47 GMT

13 Tzameti review

Under discussion:
Intacto (2001)
13 Tzameti (2005)

Under discussion:

Intacto (2001)

13 Tzameti (2005)

**** out of 5 stars

Directed By: Gela Babluani

Starring: George Babluani, Pascal Bongard and Aurelien Recoing

Language: French with English subtitles

Released: 2005

Synopsis:
This is the short story of Sebastian, (George Babluani) a 22 year old roofer who finds himself down on his luck when his mysterious employer suddenly overdoses and dies before he receives payment for his services. Times are hard for Sebastian, so when he happens upon an envelope with a train ticket and a paid hotel room in Paris for a seemingly lucrative job opportunity meant for the recently departed, he decides to follow the lead himself.

He soon finds out that he may have bitten off more than he could swallow. As soon as he arrives, he is strip search and locked in a room awaiting his "sponsors". The decision of whether or not he would like to participate is soon made for him. He will not be at liberty to leave until his task is complete, that is........if he survives.

Review:
I was very interested to see this film when I found out what the plot was about. Unfortunately, I feel very strongly that I would have enjoyed this film much more if I knew nothing about it. This is the reason that I left the synopsis as bare as I did. That being said, this movie was far from ruined for me. I enjoyed it a great deal, for many reasons more than just an intriguing plot. My only hint will be that it reminded me of a Spanish film I saw a few years ago called Intacto.

The first thing I loved about this movie was the cinematography. It was shot in black and white, which did well to convey the darkness of the overall subject matter. Many of the shots were reflections, where the subject is shown in the reflection of a mirror or a window. I have always like these shots and the film maker did a great job fitting them in with fluency. There were also many shots in which only the subject was in focus, and a large portion of the screen was out of focus. This not only draws more attention to the subject but it adds to the feelings of confusion and disorientation that Sebastian was feeling. These techniques shot in black and white gives the audience a visually stunning view of this picture.

I found the acting to be very good, especially with respect to George Babluani, who I believe is the brother of the director, Gela Babluani. All other supporting cast members brought their talent to the table in this film as well.

The only real downfall of this film is the amount of time it takes to for the real story to begin, although I don't know if it could have been shortened in the beginning without losing parts of the story. When Sebastian does arrives to his destination, the pace quickly speeds up. It may just take a slightly more patient viewer to get that far.

Everyone who has read my reviews knows that I tend to be more partial to foreign films with unusual plots and I am a big sucker for great camera work. If you share my enthusiasm for either or both, I would highly recommend this film. Anyone else that would just like to see a good suspense thriller can enjoy this film just the same.

Re:Foreign Gems

leeroy711 — Sat, 03 May 2008 08:45:46 GMT

I just finished watching 13 Tzemeti. If you're into good b&w cinematography with an awesome score, you should check this one out. It doesn't move at the fastest of paces but the suspence scenes were well crafted and some of the shots were very unforgettable. Many of them were reflections from mirrors and window panes, which I've always liked. While in other shots, over half the screen was out of focus, drawing more attention to the other portion. I think this was a good way to draw empathy to the main character's feeling of disorientation.

Anyway, it wasn't the greatest thing I've ever seen, but it held my attention and it definately deserves a gander from those of you with more discriminating tastes. I would highly suggest that you watch it without watching a trailer or reading the synopsis first, I think I would have gotton more out of it if I had done that.

Re:Foreign Gems

leeroy711 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:47:22 GMT

gambrel83:

I agree with the recommendation for The Terrorist. It's a great film, sort of along the lines of The Battle of Algiers, which I also recommend.

Battle of Algiers is one I've been trying to find the time to watch for quite a while now.

Re:Foreign Gems

leeroy711 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:44:27 GMT

Risselada:

I have a few favorite foreign directors. It's somewhat difficult for me to evaluate how well known some of these people are since when I like them I spend a lot more time reading about them, so they don't seem too obscure to me anymore.

Tsai Ming-liang

Aki Kaurismäki

Seijun Suzuki

I've just seen one movie by Béla Tarr, but it was pretty great.

The only film I've seen by any of those guys was The Hole by Tsai Ming-lian. But along similar lines, I've been recommended Oldboy by Park Chan-Wook.

Re:Foreign Gems

Puhnner — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:49:39 GMT

You also may want to look at ( sorry I still don't seem to be able to link Films; it is showing them linked but they are not appearing as icons adjacent to the post ):

it is not exactly foreign, but a great companion piece to The Terrorist

here are some others

In a Year with 13 Moons

Witnesses

Re:Foreign Gems

gambrel83 — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:06:08 GMT

I agree with the recommendation for The Terrorist. It's a great film, sort of along the lines of The Battle of Algiers, which I also recommend.

Here are so more:

Il Postino

L'Auberge Espagnole

Scenes from a Marriage - Watch the extended TV version, the acting by Ullman and the dialogue are amazing!

The Return

Wings of Desire

Re:Foreign Gems

Risselada — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:40:59 GMT

I have a few favorite foreign directors. It's somewhat difficult for me to evaluate how well known some of these people are since when I like them I spend a lot more time reading about them, so they don't seem too obscure to me anymore.

Tsai Ming-liang

Aki Kaurismäki

Seijun Suzuki

I've just seen one movie by Béla Tarr, but it was pretty great.

Foreign Gems

leeroy711 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:24:36 GMT

So, let's here it. I'd like to get a good list of lesser known foriegn films going that we could all use as recomendations to dump into our netflix queues or find at the Blockbuster or even in the library. Obscurity counts here people.

I'll start with an Indian film, The Terrorist (1998) by cininmatographer, Santosh Sivan. As is expected, this film directed by a cinematographer is filled with some of the most breath-taking shots I've seen. The story is about a young girl in the militia who has applied and been excepted to the highly prestigious position of suicide bomber. It takes you through her journey as she prepares to do her final duty for her cause. I really can't recommend this film enough.

All right who's next?