For movie SNOBS only - Favorite foreign flicks

"Contempt" ("Le Mepris" ) directed by Jean Luc Godard. Jack Palance is Jeremy Prokosch a beast of a producer who has hired Fritz Lang to direct Homer's Odyssey at Cinecitta Studios in Italy . Trouble is Prokosch hates the rushes so he hires an up an coming screenwriter , MIchel Piccolli to rewrite the script. PIccoli has brought his wife ( Bridget Bardot ) with him and Jack Palance is of course after her like a big dog. Exceptionally beautiful film with an equally beautiful & haunting soundtrack.

"Sansho the Bailiff" I am always amazed that people quite rightly rave about Kurosawa's work but seldom mention the films of Kenji Mizoguchi, an artist Id put right up there with Mozart or Beethoven. "Sansho the Bailiff" and "Ugetsu Monogatari" are unqualified masterpieces just two of over 100 films he directed . Of "Ugetsu" imdb says it is "A fantastic tale of war, love, family and ambition set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century." Feudal films at their best.

Wong Kar Wei ~ hard to pick just one film by him so I'll mention three . "In the Mood For Love" & it's sequel of sorts "2046" were I think shot around or at the same time. Love, desire, passion and so much more. No action just emotions. More of the same with the added bonus of some serious action in "The Grandmaster" - look for the uncut international version. It is the story of the famous Hong Kong martial arts Ip Man .

I've only seen one of Abbas Kiarostami's films , "Like Someone in Love" . Watched it for the 2nd time last night and was once again awed by so much beauty in such an innocuous, simple yet insanely complex setting.

Lot's more but I'm out of time for now ...

old guy 70 wrote:

Also I started this thread for people with 'fairly' sophisticated taste.

Nearly all of the films listed are either artsy or acknowledged films. Some are psychological thrillers (Das Boot), or outstanding stories with a strong moral (City of God, or anything by Kurosawa).

Critically Acclaimed wrote:

Coach wrote:

I'm not panning the films, it's just a list of what people on the internet want to watch. Shawshank is not a critically acclaimed top 5 film, neither is any Batman film.

You are confused about the difference between what critics like, and what people like. This thread is about personal favorite foreign films. They could be films that half of the critics hated, half of the people hated, but YOU thought was well made.

If you think IMDB represents what "people like" any more than the cumulative of published reviews then I'd question your critical thinking ability, or at least say that you probably fit their demographic.

IMDB, like any internet vote, is heavily distorted by people who feel like their personal favorite movie must be the top ranked online and hence the "best" movie. This tends to be teenagers and people in their early 20s. Not surprisingly, the voters on IMDB skew heavily this way: high school aged teenagers and early 20s. You may notice that any new comic book movie will enter IMDB as a top 250 "all time" movie. That's fine, that's what 16 year old boys like but I can certainly find critics whose taste is more similar to my own or, better yet, who recommend movies that I find challenging to my own perspectives. This is not to say that IMDB voters are "wrong" (and I personally really enjoy both Shawshank Redemption and the Nolan Batman movies), but I'm not looking at IMDB if I want to find a foreign film recommendation.

Dogville, 2003

This is a Danish/Swedish film made in Europe featuring American actors and English that is as artsy as it gets. No sets are used. The setting is a flat sound stage with building outlines on the ground. The setting is a tiny mountain town in Colorado. Consider very anti-American by some, it not that at all if you watch actually watch it.

The movie clocks in at three hours, and you would think watching a film with no sets would drive you nuts. But before you know it you're at the end of the film. Nicole Kidman is the lead actress and it is her best work by far, in my opinion.

P.B.R. wrote:

If you think IMDB represents what "people like" any more than the cumulative of published reviews then I'd question your critical thinking ability ...

Okay, SNOBS. Why are some of you so upset about a movie someone listed? Get back on topic.

Foreign Made wrote:

P.B.R. wrote:

If you think IMDB represents what "people like" any more than the cumulative of published reviews then I'd question your critical thinking ability ...

Okay, SNOBS. Why are some of you so upset about a movie someone listed? Get back on topic.

I don't know what movies "Foreign Made" listed. I replied only to the post that I quoted, as said statement that IMDB represents what real people like seemed silly to me as I conveyed. Similarly you replied to my post to tell me how upset I am, though I don't assume that you are especially "upset" in your need to reply to the conversation.

P.B.R. wrote:

... I don't assume that you are especially "upset" in your need to reply to the conversation.

But you are upset I replied. Why so?

Crocodile Dundee 1 & 2

What we do in the Shadows

Coco Chanel

Crouching tiger hidden dragon

I won't say I am a "snob" but a few of my favorites

M

Ikiru

Le Samourai

Sword of Doom

The Seventh Seal

The City of Lost Children

Sanjuro

Ran

Hana-bi

Sonatine

Hara-Kiri

The Killer

Persona

Hard Boiled

Tokyo Story

Amores Perros. Love's a Bitch. Don't think it's been mentioned. Great flick

Diabolique (1955)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046911/

Europa, Europa

Central Station

A Very Long Engagement

Heimat (TV)

8 1/2

Interesting thread...

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)

Cinema Paradiso

Dersu Uzala

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis

Bleu

Rouge

Jour de Fête (The Big Day)

Elling

Y Tú Mamá También

Loin des Hommes (Far From Men)

Kargaran Mashgoul - e Karand (Men At Work)

That's more than one! Simply some favorites; not necessarily the best.

Critically Acclaimed wrote:

Coach wrote:

Snob (in the thread a title) and internet masses usually aren't synonymous.

Everyone is a snob in terms of what they like and what they do not. It is possible, believe it or not, for many snobs to agree on something they like, such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which much to your snobbiness is critically acclaimed by film critics, top directors, movie buffs (snobs), and the masses.

Then the snob thing is to HATE GBU. And it's true that it's a terrible campy movie that lingers melodramatically on every last drawn-out display of emotive meanness by its shallow characters, who are all played by clumsy gimmick actors except for the brilliant Eli Wallach, without whom the film would have been immediately and justly panned worldwide.

It seems to get a pass as co-origin of the spaghetti noir-cowboy genre, but if you actually watch other films from that genre, such as the Sabata series, you will realize that is no virtue. Mean guys in campy gunfights fighting over the gold is a schtick, not a serious movie theme.

Unforgiven was as good as GBU was bad, Eastwood at least made up for the harm he did.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Unforgiven was as good as GBU was bad, Eastwood at least made up for the harm he did.

You should watch the restored and extended version of GBU. The one where Eastwood and others added voice to a restored section more than 30 after the film was made. That version pushes 3 hours.

Why would I want to puke for an extra 30 minutes?

This thread is for SNOBS. The part of me that ever liked GBU ain't here.

SNOBS is plural. Me is singular.

I also like that Sergio Leone movie. It takes a real SNOB to appreciate The Good the Bad and the Ugly.

The only movie I think is unworthy that has so far been listed is a Harry Potter flick. But no one has commented about it being here. Not a movie I would watch. But if the rest of you like then it must appeal to your inner SNOB.

Oh I'm glad this thread was started as some of my picks on that "other" thread were probably deemed too snobbish :).

Some of my favourite foreign films in no particular order:

Løperjenten (Norwegian--I think it's called Kamilla in English)

Max Manus: Man of War (Norwegian)

The Seventh Seal (Swedish)

The Hunt (Danish)

Pelle the Conqueror (Danish/Swedish)

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Spanish)

King of Hearts (French)

The three colours trilogy--Red, White, Blue (French, Polish)

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Russian)

Run Lola Run (German)

Das Boot (German)

Ran (Japanese)

Dogtooth (Greek)

The Camorra, also a great TV series on our TV - was it shown in the USA?

“The film is a curative for the romanticism of " The Godfather” and "Scarface”

The characters are the foot soldiers of the Camorra, the crime syndicate based in Naples that is larger than the Mafia but less known. Its revenues in one year are said to be as much as $250 billion -- five times as much as Bernard Madoff took years to steal. The final shot suggests that the Camorra is invested in the rebuilding of the World Trade Center. The film is based on fact, not fiction.

"Gomorrah," which won the grand prize at Cannes 2008 and the European Film Award, is an enormous hit in Europe. It sold 500,000 tickets in France, which at $10 a pop makes it a blockbuster. There was astonishment that the Academy Awards passed it over for foreign film consideration. I'm not so surprised. The academy more often goes for films that look good and provide people we can care about. "Gomorrah" looks grimy and sullen, and has no heroes, only victims.”