Foreign Movies Discussion

[Bakes]

Picking up where we left off in Dutty's Apocalypto thread, I'll list some of my favorites to get the ball rolling, then we could dive into the discussion of the more interesting ones.

Farewell My Concubine

The Emperor and the Assassin

Raise the Red Lantern

House of Flying Daggers

... or anything either starring Li Gong (Miami Vice, Memoirs of a Geisha) or directed by Zhang Yimou.  House of Flying Daggers is the only kick up in the list, so doh go renting these expecting tuh see Silver Fox and Jackie Chan on allyuh screen, lol

Taboo - deals with homosexuality among samurais (disturbing, yet very visceral, very cerebral film...great budo exhibitions as well)

Rashomon- (12 Angry Men)
Yojimbo- (For a Fistful of Dollars)
Shichinin no Samurai- (The Magnificent Seven)

These three preceding films are in black and white, and are considered the crowning achievements of the late great Japanese master, Akiro Kurosawa.  The English titles in parens aren't quite the same movies, but rather American movies that were made based on the storylines in the Japanese originals.  While the remakes are exquisite in their own right, the originals are beyond compare, if for no other reason than they star the greatest Japanese actor to have graced the screen, Toshiro Mifune...with whom Kurosawa enjoyed a tempestuous yet fruitful working relationship.

Staying in Asia but switching scenery a bit...

Kama Sutra
Salaam Bombay
The Namesake
Monsoon Wedding
...and for good measure, Missippi Masala, which is actually and English language film...all by Mira Nair

Then there's...

Il Postino (The Postman...translation)
El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)
El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone)

...the latter two being works of mexican director Guillermo Del Toro, and set in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.  Excellent period pieces.


Throw in de odd Third World Cop, Dancehall Queen of Jamaica and Harder They Come...forrin by yanqui standards, but we know dem is we ting.

Ah short on de African titles..and beyond Run Lola Run, short on Western European title too so allyuh fill mih een nah 

[Bakes]

Li Gong








Toshiro Mifune

[Bakes]

Can't forget perennial Brazilian favorite City of God, mentioned in Dutty's thread...along with lesser known, but equally entertaining Orfeu (an update of the 1959 Orfeo Negro, or Black Orpheus).

[Trini Madness]

Can't forget perennial Brazilian favorite City of God, mentioned in Dutty's thread...along with lesser known, but equally entertaining Orfeu (an update of the 1959 Orfeo Negro, or Black Orpheus).

two movies should be coming out soon from brasil. "tropa de elite" and "city of men". ive seen tropa de elite already. tropa de elite was supposed to be released in the US on Jan 25th but they say it too violent stueps. its like city of god but from the cops point of view. city of men was made by de same producers of city of god. check de trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fVgTkP9xc

heres a trailer for tropa de elite :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoxrdMukQu0

[Bakes]

Can't forget perennial Brazilian favorite City of God, mentioned in Dutty's thread...along with lesser known, but equally entertaining Orfeu (an update of the 1959 Orfeo Negro, or Black Orpheus).

two movies should be coming out soon from brasil. "tropa de elite" and "city of men". ive seen tropa de elite already. tropa de elite was supposed to be released in the US on Jan 25th but they say it too violent stueps. its like city of god but from the cops point of view. city of men was made by de same producers of city of god. check de trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1fVgTkP9xc

heres a trailer for tropa de elite :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoxrdMukQu0

Yeah, I've been eagerly anticipating these two movies...actually forgot about Tropa de Elite (basically the Tactical Force/SWAT team), but definitely been waiting on City of Men for quite some time.

[JayTheWrecker]

Jean de Florette and it's sequel Manon des Sources - beautiful film with a killer twist at the end

[Dr. Rat]

Bakes, I too love meh IFC on Saturday mornings.

[kicker]

Good call on "The Namesake"... Never thought of it as a "foreign film"....but def one of my favorite movies of all time foreign or otherwise..

City of God was a good film until it just became a blood bath toward the end...kinda spoiled it a bit for me, but it was gritty & comedic at the same time, and I heard that they casted real Carioca street kids .....

A few others that I can think of

Snatch
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Trainspotting
Y tu Mama Tambien
Amores Perros

I've also heard that "Paris Je t'aime" is a brilliant film- haven't seen it though....

[pecan]

The Mystic Masseur

dey had more Indian Actors in dat movie than locals

dat qualifies it a foreign

it was Ok 

[Bakes]

Bakes, I too love meh IFC on Saturday mornings.

Ah haven't caught IFC in quite some time, but definitely one of my favorit channels...that an Sundance.  Most of these movies saw either in the theatre or on DVD.

[Bakes]

Good call on "The Namesake"... Never thought of it as a "foreign film"....but def one of my favorite movies of all time foreign or otherwise..

City of God was a good film until it just became a blood bath toward the end...kinda spoiled it a bit for me, but it was gritty & comedic at the same time, and I heard that they casted real Carioca street kids .....

A few others that I can think of

Snatch
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Trainspotting
Y tu Mama Tambien
Amores Perros

I've also heard that "Paris Je t'aime" is a brilliant film- haven't seen it though....

Yeah Namesake kinda borderline now that ah think about it since it was primarily spoken in English...as you could probably tell from mih Indian entries, I'z ah big fan of Mira Nair....and lawd do I love me some Sarita Choudhury too, lol

I never really considered Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch foreign, I usually think I guess of foreign language, but if ah could throw in the Jamaican entries along with Namesake then they qualify.  I liked Snatch...but lawd  Lock Stock is classic.  I musse watch dat thing about three times on DVD arready and could still watch it again, which saying a lot cuz I not into de watching same movie over and over thing.

Ah saw Amores Perros, been meaning to see Y Tu Mama...but ent seen it yet.

[Bakes]

The Mystic Masseur

dey had more Indian Actors in dat movie than locals

dat qualifies it a foreign

it was Ok 

Another one ah been meaning to see...it dat English pair who produce it...uhm, Merchant -Ivory...they do a lot of period pieces.  It any good?  They film any of it in TnT?

[Dutty]

most filmed in T&T..some in England

The indian accents trying to sound trini was like running nails down on a chalkboard to me...plus the starboy was the indian comic from the daily show (forget de man name cleeen oui)...so he accent is american..but he trying to sound like a british trinidadian

Juss terribull 

The movie itself dont come close to the book

I still lookin for "Bim" on flim

[WestCoast]

The Mystic Masseur
dey had more Indian Actors in dat movie than locals
dat qualifies it a foreign
it was Ok 

after about 15 minutes, I start to cuss de Director oui

but it was passable......

check a list of movies done in TnT

[pecan]

most filmed FLIMMED in T&T..some in England

The indian accents trying to sound trini was like running nails down on a chalkboard to me...

I actually found that quite funny ...

Juss terribull 

The movie itself dont come close to the book

as WC say ... passable, but still worth watching simply to see the scenery and hear some legit Trini accents from the 'extras' and also to see how it compare to the book.

[Bakes]

most filmed in T&T..some in England

The indian accents trying to sound trini was like running nails down on a chalkboard to me...plus the starboy was the indian comic from the daily show (forget de man name cleeen oui)...so he accent is american..but he trying to sound like a british trinidadian

Juss terribull 

The movie itself dont come close to the book

I still lookin for "Bim" on flim

Sounds like something dat would vex mih spirit.  I dun not ah fan ah Naipaul (he could haul he ass)....but ah might have tuh read de book after all.

[ZANDOLIE]

Amores Perros......one hell of a film....can be hard to watch, it is very raw.

The Terrorist..... Sri Lankan....very good film dealing with the indoctrination of a young girl into the Tamil Tigers

Riase the Red Lantern....as mentioned was very good.

Pan's Labyrinth....damn good flick, builds into a very powerful ending.

Most Samurai flicks from the 1950's are very enjoyable, but totally different from the typical kickup....copied almost scene for scene by some later sphagetti Westerns. Seven Samurai is a classic and is the inspiration for the Magnificent Seven.  And of course Hidden Fortress....... as the inspiration for Star Wars. You can clearly see where George Lucas took his cues from. Sword of the beast was also good.


If you like fast paced, crazy stuff, Japanese movies like Ichi the Killer, and Casshern the Robot Hunter might be right up your alley.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB067MBKfGQ

[Dutty]

casshern the robot hunter??

.......the hell?? dais ah anime cartoon or wha?

[Bakes]

Amores Perros......one hell of a film....can be hard to watch, it is very raw.

The Terrorist..... Sri Lankan....very good film dealing with the indoctrination of a young girl into the Tamil Tigers

Riase the Red Lantern....as mentioned was very good.

Pan's Labyrinth....damn good flick, builds into a very powerful ending.

Most Samurai flicks from the 1950's are very enjoyable, but totally different from the typical kickup....copied almost scene for scene by some later sphagetti Westerns. Seven Samurai is a classic and is the inspiration for the Magnificent Seven.  And of course Hidden Fortress....... as the inspiration for Star Wars. You can clearly see where George Lucas took his cues from. Sword of the beast was also good.


If you like fast paced, crazy stuff, Japanese movies like Ichi the Killer, and Casshern the Robot Hunter might be right up your alley.....

Dis man know he Kurosawa....see, ah was going tuh mention Hidden Fortress too but ah thought that might be too esoteric fuh de rest ah dese fellas.  But yeah, the whole Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia triumvirate was present in that movie...and the "Hidden Fortress" being The Empire.

[ZANDOLIE]

casshern the robot hunter??

.......the hell?? dais ah anime cartoon or wha?

No its actually real but based on an old anime series. The action is made to look like real over the top anime stuff though, with an really strong plot twist. Like many others of its type it is a serious story masked by wild action

[ZANDOLIE]

Another really interesting movie was a mockumentary called "CSA: The Confederate tates of America". Prior to the civil war several states had already seceeded from the Union in the form of a confederacy. This movie is based on what  America would look today like if this confederacy of slave owning states had actually won the civil war.

 It starts from Lincoln's surrender and progresses up to the modern day. It show a series of vignettes detailing how the post-antebellum CSA would have manufactured its domestic and international geo-political, economic and cultural landscapes.

In case that eh sounding like a crab-barrel ah fun for yuh, the mechanism they use to make this movie very interesting is humour ....like what the current-day mass media shows like price is right would look like, or "shopping channels" that feature slaves as the main commercial product. In one show called "Runaway" the police are filmed chasing and capturing runaway slaves, an obvious shout-out to the stupidity of "Cops"

Trailer here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5xIVUiiz1dc&feature=related

Excerpt here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=EvvPOIUjHYc&feature=related

Some might find it offensive......I did not. It was simultaeneously a critique of the uglier side of America, both historical and modern and a reminder that the veneer of civilization is razor thin.

It certainly puts things in perspective, if anything it reminds one of the need for vigilance

Dis man know he Kurosawa....see, ah was going tuh mention Hidden Fortress too but ah thought that might be too esoteric fuh de rest ah dese fellas. But yeah, the whole Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia triumvirate was present in that movie...and the "Hidden Fortress" being The Empire.

Nah man, these fellas know they business  Plus some of the lurkers on here probably do too.


.....And yes, Li Gong fine like hell! 

check a list of movies done in TnT

I thought they made Walking Tall with Joe Don Baker in T&T? Or at least part of it?

[WestCoast]

I have not seen any of those Japanese flims, but did recently see Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai"
That was a good movie.
generally Dem Samurai got a raw deal eh
(for the lawyers...I know the flim is fiction  )

[Bakes]

I have not seen any of those Japanese flims, but did recently see Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai"
That was a good movie.
generally Dem Samurai got a raw deal eh
(for the lawyers...I know the flim is fiction  )

Fiction based on a real character and based on actual events.  It's basically a true story but one with which they took creative license.  The samurai's actually didn't get a raw deal...they were resistant to change and beholden to a moribund feudal system which kept them in their social standing.  Such a system, had it continued would have kept the peasants in a world of near-servitude (fiefdom) and would have retarded Japan's industrial development.  The mentality of the samurai, while noble and for the most part honorable, also was one of determined inflexibility which was incompatible with the developing modern world....as evident in Japan's (ultimately) disastrous WWII Naval campaign.

This is right up my alley so doh even get me started on this, lol.  Suffice to say that Katsumoto was indeed a man loyal to his Emperor, his country, and the way of life that he knew...the way Robert E. Lee was loyal to his God, his country and the southern way of life that he knew...didn't mean either of them was necessarily fighting on the right side of the respective wars 

Good movie still...

[ZANDOLIE]

Unfortunately the samurai were truly honourable men who as Bakes said were resistent to change and were compromising the entrance of Japan into the moden world. They even went so far as attacking trade and diplomatic missions and military outposts of the British and French.

The samurai were ultimately defeated really by politics as by the mid-1800s much of their rank had been reduced to government advisors and clerics. Around this time the courts had becoome instrumental in dictating legislation that began to impose penalties on samurai, especially Ronin who formed crime syndicates or killed common citizens  with impunity and who as memebers of the feudal nobility had hithertoo not faced sanction for these actions.

 One of the "beginnings of the end" for the samurai was an attack on government offices by the forces of the conservative satsuma family. This led to the eventual battle of Shiroyama, the basis of the film The Last Samurai, but the defeat was inevitable because the much of the  military might of the samurai had already been destroyed in Hookaido in prior battles. But the samurai fought none the less.

The samurai of course were correct. The "modernization" of Japan was motivated by the desire to consolidate state power around the emperor, so as to have ther spoils of centuries old land claims delivered to certain families deposed  under the rise of decentralized, regionalized power which the samurai culture maintained.
And of course courtiers were anxious to enrich themselves at the hand of trade agreements brought in by the America, Britain and France especially.

 Some minor points: Unlike the confederate states, social mobility in Japan was still possible once a commoner excelled at fighting or military strategy, albeit over several generations. Also modernization of the samurai was well underway wellbefore the battle of Hakodate and the Meiji Reform. The Boshin war simply to relieve the last of the "neo-con" samurai/shogunate of their military power. The conferacy sought to eschew industrialization in the face of the resurgence of Britain's industrial revolution. Lincoln et al knew that the agrarian South represented a fundamental weakness in the ability of the States to withstand imposed and self-imposed economic embargos  as seen by Jefferson's ban on textile importation. The nature of agricultural production did not lend itself to fashioning the extensive transportation networks needed to deal with industrial production.

Anyway, after all the ole talk and preaching my knowledge here is thin, for all the stuff I did not recall, Wikipedia was very helpful. Any historians out there could add to this...or jes tell meh ah talking shit!

[ZANDOLIE]

Back to film....for something completely different see "The District" an animated Hungarian film reffered to as the South Park of Hungary

Now assuming "foerign film" means outside of US....then English Language films are fair game?

Then I would reccomend Waking Ned Devine...really great. Its about some old folks in Ireland who conspire to scam the national lotto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Gnt0LRVTA



Darwins nightrmare was also very good.....its about how international capital directly contributes to poverty and environmental degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also takes a look at racism practiced by Indian businessmen toward indigenous Africans. Very controversial stuff

Trailer (poor sound on this clip): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeIVCzGykB8&feature=related
Commentary on the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAzYg8Ye2N0

[WestCoast]

Darwins nightrmare was also very good.....its about how international capital directly contributes to poverty and environmental degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also takes a look at racism practiced by Indian businessmen toward indigenous Africans. Very controversial stuff

is dat why de "last king of scotland" did kick Indian Businessmen out

[capodetutticapi]

ah see kicker mention this movie..y tu mama tambien..excellent movie strong storyline,good ending.

[Peong]

I'll add

Shinobi (2005)

Maria Full Of Grace

Everything Is Illuminated

For the British crime movie fans watch Revolver and Layer Cake.

[Grande]

Some real interesting selections on here. With North American mainstream advertising placing little emphasis on these movies, yuh really get the feeling that yuh missing out on some real gems. I hope to get some time in the future to peruse these movies and see what the talk is about.

Whoever giving recommendations: a direct youtube link to the movie preview (if available), would be appreciated.

Some I could find so far:

Pan's Labyrinth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqYiSlkvRuw

El Espinazo del Diablo (The Devil's Backbone)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHm_Me0CDC0

House of Flying Daggers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0UsfwSSYX4

The Namesake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sOaA-4Y8tI

City of God:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djh5tGNj4Qw

Y tu Mama tambien:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxX60IZCxv4


Still adding to de thread, here are two others I enjoyed:

Tsotsi - A South African film with a very intriguing premise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYnqbNl7VMM

District B-13 - French, for all who like martial arts and the discipline of parkour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19CrlgB0ueU

[Peong]

Yeh ah saw Tsosi too.
Nice pick.