Best foreign Films

[ThewaytoRome]

The Secret in their Eyes.

 

Argentinian film that won the Best Foreign Film Oscar a couple of years back. Absolutely spellbinding, can't recommend it highly enough.

 

and this

[llego]

The Secret in their Eyes.

 

Argentinian film that won the Best Foreign Film Oscar a couple of years back. Absolutely spellbinding, can't recommend it highly enough.

 

That stadium shot is bonkers, stopped it and watched the whole scene again, I was blown away

[Hoddy]

That stadium shot is bonkers, stopped it and watched the whole scene again, I was blown away

 

I know. I'm not usually one to salivate over directorial aspects of films, but that whole sequence is amazing. From the monologue before it all the way through and all over the stadium. Ace.

[KMD7]

I have been a world cinema snob due to being very anti subtitles. However I watched Pans Labrynth the other day and realised that I can watch foreign films without subtitles being much of an issue.

 

I have The Devils Backbone on my SKY box and would like some more recommendations.

 

 

Romper Stomper. Features a young russell crowe. Great film

http://http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105275/

[INTORRESTING]

Watched tzameti 13 again tonight, don't look it up as it's better if you don't know what's coming

[Rambos Left Peg]

Some great ones mentioned already ....

 

Brest Fortress or Fortress of War-is from russia and depicts the german invasion of russia in the beginning,the story is harrowing and the cinematography is fantastic.

Biutiful - javier bardem ...

Amelie

I saw the devil - one of the best serial killer movies ive seen,from korea

A Prophet

Les rivières pourpres with the guy from leon is a good watch ...

M (1932) - from germany is creepy

 

 

Tv shows,Braquo from france is excellent,very like the wire and the danish version of The killing is great tv.

[INTORRESTING]

idi i smotri seriously harrowing shit

[INTORRESTING]

Some great ones mentioned already ....

 

Brest Fortress or Fortress of War-is from russia and depicts the german invasion of russia in the beginning,the story is harrowing and the cinematography is fantastic.

Biutiful - javier bardem ...

Amelie

I saw the devil - one of the best serial killer movies ive seen,from korea

A Prophet

Les rivières pourpres with the guy from leon is a good watch ...

M (1932) - from germany is creepy

 

 

Tv shows,Braquo from france is excellent,very like the wire and the danish version of The killing is great tv.

 

Chaser and Bittersweet life are quality - funnily enough they are korean and about revenge, i detect a theme

[RobbieOR]

Just finished 'The Skin I live in'. Fucking top film. But very hard to watch in parts.

[RobbieOR]

It's outstanding, I make all new staff watch it before they can work with anyone with an LD.

 

I hope there weren't too many stereotypes of the 'Irish' in it as the film from a 'care' point of view is fucking brilliant!

 

The scene on the bridge...

 

Nah there were no real stereotypes in it at all.

 

That scene on the bridge was excellent and I seen that ending coming a mile off too.

 

I must give it a watch again.

[llego]

Romper Stomper. Features a young russell crowe. Great film

http://http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105275/

 

Well if that counts, how about Mad Max 2!

[VladimirIlyich]

Some great ones mentioned already ....

 

Brest Fortress or Fortress of War-is from russia and depicts the german invasion of russia in the beginning,the story is harrowing and the cinematography is fantastic.

Biutiful - javier bardem ...

Amelie

I saw the devil - one of the best serial killer movies ive seen,from korea

A Prophet

Les rivières pourpres with the guy from leon is a good watch ...

M (1932) - from germany is creepy

 

Tv shows,Braquo from france is excellent,very like the wire and the danish version of The killing is great tv.

 

I downloaded Braquo but couldnt get any english subtitles for it.

[brucespanner]

There seems to be a lot of you folks into really good world cinema, most of the stuff I'd recommend has been covered.

 

Goddard, Von Tries, Noe are well worth plundering their entire body of work.

 

If you really hate cinema and don't want to find all the hidden gems you may of missed out on the don't click HERE

[Frankenhooker]

These have probably been mentioned, but my top ten foreign films would be :

 

1)The Seventh Continent (Michael Haneke) - Extremely bleak and depressing. I was still thinking about this film weeks after watching it.

 

2)Last Year At Marienbad (Alain Resnais) - Fans of David Lynch's more complex films will probably like this. I've seen it a dozen times and I'm still struggling to come up with a coherent explanation. A film that rewards multiple viewings.

 

3)Persona (Ingmar Bergman) - A film about identity, Lynch covers similar ground in Mulholland Dr, I prefer this film.

 

4)A Short Film About Killing (Krzysztof Kieslowski) - An exploration of capital punishment doesn't sound like a fun way to spend 90 minutes, but I just really like Kieslowski's directorial style. The message may be heavy handed, but it's necessary.

 

5)Amores Perros ( Alejandro González Iñárritu) - I've seen this labelled 'The Mexican Pulp Fiction' which is a huge disservice to the film. It has inter-connecting stories and violent imagery, but it's a more mature film in my opinion. Whereas Pulp Fiction is darkly comedic, Amores Perros is a more emotional film. Both great though.

 

6)Spoorloos (George Sluizer) - Far more cold and calculating than Sluizer's American remake, Spoorloos is one of those rare films that managed to chill me to the bone.

 

7)Ringu (Hideo Nakata) - Much more frightening than the American remake. Ringu still manages to creep me out even though I know what's coming next. It's more subtle than the remake and more is left to the imagination.

 

8)Belle de Jour (Luis Bunuel) - Firstly, I'm biased. Catherine Deneuve is easily my favourite actress of all time, ever since I watched Repulsion as a teenager, I could watch her in anything. Belle de Jour is one of the most erotic films ever made, yet there is very little nudity or actual sex. Typically surreal, it's probably Bunuel's best film in my opinion.

 

9)Audition (Takashi Miike) - I first caught Audition on Channel Four late one night. At first I thought it was some sort of romantic comedy and it gently pulled me in. Imagine my surprise when it all goes bat-shit crazy. This film actually gave me nightmares. I went out the next morning and bought it.

 

10)Les Diaboliques (Henri-Georges Clouzot) - Hitchcock actually wanted to make this film but he was beaten to the rights by Clouzot, in turn Hitch went out and made Psycho. While I actually think Psycho is the better film, Les Diaboliques is more suspenseful and I fully understand why Hitchcock was so eager to film it. Les Diaboliques is one of the best thrillers ever made, extremely creepy, bordering on horror.

[Pidge]

The seventh continent at number one?

 

Wow. That really is bleak.

 

What was the tipping point for you? The fish? That for me is where the catharsis ended and the film really started to drive it's point home. Most consistently great filmmaker of the 90s/00s at his most clinical.

 

As I mentioned in another thread a while back Grave of the Fireflies is probably the bleakest film for me. Heartbreaker.

 

and for something lighter, everyone, everywhere needs to watch Happiness of the Katakuris at least once in their life. Guaranteed wide, bemused smiles at the end of that. Miike's most enjoyable film. Shits on Audition.

[bertie basset]

Anyone seen 'spring, summer, autumn, winter and spring'?

Its a Korean film about a Buddhist monk that adopts a baby and brings him up, really interesting and the cinematography is top notch.

[VladimirIlyich]

Dog Days (2001) - IMDb

 

Dog Days.

This is a very strange and disturbing film where not a lot seems to happen yet you find yourself looking back on it and shaking your head.Worth a watch.

[llego]

Seventh Continent has been in my to do list for a while. Will definitely get around to it now.

 

Just watched Elite Squad, definitely a gripping ride, dont know if I agree with it though. Thought the main actor was brilliant.

[Pidge]

Frankenhooker's gotten me on one so here's some recommendations from staring at my DVDs. I'm going to go all Redshadow as well and highlight other film names in what will become a TL-DR post.

 

1 - Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

 

 

Spirited Away led to an influx of foreign investment to Studio Ghibli a few years ago and while the films since have been among the best out there, the series of films leading up to (and including) Spirited Away were consistently beautiful, imaginative, thought-provoking and entertaining in a way that only really Pixar can claim to have even come close to emulating. Nausicaa is the master Miyazaki's first under the Studio and having been made of the back of a series of Manga stories the world is much more fleshed out than some of his subsequent films in the same vein (Mononoke or Laputa). One of the best film scores of all time too.

 

Otherwise Porco Rosso or the pre-Ghibli Castle of Cagliostro may serve as lighter films. Any parent of a young girl should introduce them to Kiki's Delivery Service at some point.

 

2 - Breathless (A Bout De Souffle)

 

 

Through university I always preferred Bande a Part, it just seemed so irreverent and deliberately simple, a raw reaction to the criticism Godard went through after releasing Le Mepris. But in hindsight having been introduced to Bande a Part on the big screen it always had an unfair advantage. A year or so ago the BFI re-released Breathless and I managed to catch what was possibly the greatest film I have ever seen in a cinema. Quick-witted and light-footed it's still a great tale of a young carefree criminal and his American girl with a clever side-swipe at celebrity culture which was - as ever with Godard - well ahead of it's time.

 

3 - Pickpocket

 

 

I wouldn't usually recommend Bresson despite loving his work. Au Hazard Balthazar is one of my favourite films, but who wants to sit down and watch a morality tale about an abused donkey? Especially one which has Bresson's peculiar directorial style, requiring actors (usually models) to repress and underplay any emotion throughout (I'll cut out my explanation...).

Warning! The following content is NOT WORK SAFE. Click the Show button to reveal.

It goes back to an old Russian experiment, the Kuleshov technique, in which Kuleshov showed audiences the same picture of a man and then cut to other footage, the image he cut to dictated audience reading of the emotion in the first shot (if he cut to a bowl of soup the audience said he looked hungry, a baby they said he looked loving, an old man they said he was looking on in pity). Bresson believed that by getting his actors to underplay emotion the story could directly connect with the audience in a more participatory experience without prescribing and guiding the audience's emotion. Good idea, but only successful to a limited degree.

Pickpocket is much more accessible than his other work, it's one of Paul Schrader's favourite films and a key influence (along with The Wild Bunch) on Taxi Driver (just don't expect the violence). A disaffected and resentful young loner finds excitement in picking pockets (a practise he builds a cod-philosophy around) the film develops into a sweet look into redemption from existential angst.

 

4 - Sonatine

 

 

As Pickpocket is a good film to watch is you liked Taxi Driver, this is the closest I have felt a film has come to achieving the unique atmosphere of Leon. Cool and clever sideways look at the underworld from "Beat" Takeshi Kitano (the teacher from Battle Royale). Kitano's mobster is facing retirement while taking on one last job. And the pic isn't a spoiler, it's on the DVD cover...

 

5 - Code Unknown

 

 

As I said before Haneke is one of the best filmmakers out there, but like Bresson recommending films doesn't come easily, his most popular film (Funny Games) is only popular because it fails to make gore-porn fans see the genuinely degenerative side of the genre. In all his films, Funny Games, Benny's Video, Hidden (brilliant, brilliant film) to Seventh Continent and beyond, Haneke is playing games with you. And he's not trying to hide it. Haneke wants you to understand how film works and playing off that idea wants you to follow him into some dark places. Code Unknown is a portmanteau showing fragments of a few character's lives tied to together in social fear, I'm only recommending it ahead of his other films as it has Juliet Binoche (as does Hidden to be fair). Her audition scene in this film is my favourite piece of acting of all time.

 

Also, oddly, when you look back at his work it becomes apparent that Haneke is one of the best directors of children of recent years, getting great performance in film after film.

 

6 - The Sun's Burial

 

 

As Japan was nearing final recovery from its post-WWII depression it must have taken some bollocks to make a film polemic against the Americanisation of Japanese youth. This film has serious cojones, a story about live in a post-war slum with hooligan gangs running the streets while rag-and-bone men, whores and blood-letters scrape a living off of the detritus of Japanese society. I've left Ozu (Tokyo Story) and Kurosawa (Rashomon, Yojimbo, Ran) off of this list for this, which isn't even Oshima's most controversial film. Just his best (from the one's I've seen... I really need to see Merry Xmas Mr Lawrence at some point).

 

7 - City of God

 

 

Not much to say about this, many know about it but it's still undeniable. It's a great great great gangster film. Socrates said poverty and riches are two things guaranteed to bring ruin to a man (or Plato said something like that...). I think this is what he's talking about. Like La Haine this is a film to knock you sideways. If your idea of a good film is a Denzil Washington/Tony Scott action film I think you'd enjoy either. Same goes for Pusher.

 

8 - Ringu

 

 

Again, not many who haven't heard about this, but it remains one of my favourite horror films (the TV scene gives me goosepimples every time and the video itself evokes the great surrealist shorts of the mid-century like Un Chien Andalou or Meshes of the Afternoon). While Sadako has been ripped off ever since, the original stands strong. Any young parents out there might want to give Dark Water by the same director a try, it seems to split opinion but I think it's got a stronger plot to it than Ringu and it certainly aims for latent parent/child relationship fears (and not in a cynical way).

 

9 - Festen

 

 

Of all Lars Von Trier's work, this trumps the lot and he only produced it (Thomas Vinterberg was the man behind the camera). The only Dogme 95 film worth watching in my opinion (The Idiots didn't really grab hold of me - I prefer LVT's more imaginative stuff like Dancer in the Dark). Another film that plays with latent social tension to see a family reunion come together to fall apart spectacularly. Brilliant written, acted and directed throughout.

 

10 - Delicatessen

 

 

I had two French post-apolyptic visions here: Besson's Le Dernier Combat being the other (also Jean Reno's brilliant debut), but that was too measured and cynical to gather US attention for me (following the runaway Mad Max 2 hype that is...). Instead Delicatessen is by the Amelie guy, Jeunet. Showing originality, anarchic humour and ambition (shooting the flooding of an entire room is never going to be a breeze in terms of production) in the face of humanity's lowest ebb (cannibalism and suicide). Some of the Tom and Jerry-esque slapstick is unrivalled in modern cinema.

 

 

and then - The Happiness of The Katakuris

 

Seriously... it's batshit, but amazing.

 

Just watch the opening and tell me it hasn't raised intrigue...

 

znDyRqu7CMs

[VladimirIlyich]

Tried to watch Irreversible but had to turn it off after 10 minutes because the camera work made me dizzy and I almost threw up!

[Mendoza]

 

[Pidge]

Bump to pimp this website as I've browsed through it for one of the first times since uni. The great directors is a brilliant insight into many great careers if a bit auteur-loving for some tastes).

 

Great Directors | Senses of Cinema