Films

[cymbidia]

I'm a major league fan of art films and foreign imports. I love subtitled movies. I live for the winners of all the Oscar-like awards in the world to make thier way to my geographical area.

I'm lucky in where i live, too. We have a seven-screen movie house here that only shows these kinds of movies. Nothing else. There are three other movie houses that offer them along with some of the usual Hollywood stuff.

So i see a lot of foreign and art and subtitled films. And, perversely, i love going by myself, too. No one to push my elbow off the arm rest. No one stealing sips from my coke. No one who wants to whisper during the show. Just me and my thoughts and my immersion in what's going on.

As a public service, i'm going to report on them here. Please feel free to join in, too, if you like.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Today/tonight i saw two new films. Both would have to be characterized as being on the sobering side. If i had it to do over, i would not choose to see both of these on the same day. It was way too much rollercoaster action in terms of emotions for me, were i choosing again.

The first one was called 13 Conversations About One Thing and takes the form of loosely interrelated little vignettes that all converge, somehow, on the idea of the transitory and often illusive nature of happiness and the reality of the way we really don't control the events in our lives. Good movie. Worth the cost of the ticket, certainly.

It was the second movie i saw, a New Zealand import called Rain that's still with me now, hours later. I can't shake it. It's haunting. It's evocative. It's chilling. It encompassed superb storytelling and acting. The reality quotient is high. It was an incredible movie. I wish i could recommend it wholeheartedly but i can't. I'm divided on it. It's a great movie - direct and intense. But it's godawful and wrenching and terrible for the parents of young children to watch, too. I left the theater in tears, as did many others.

Of the two, if you can handle it, i'd recommend the New Zealand Rain without hesitation. If, of course, you can handle it.

 

[medjay]

I'm planning to see a film called "The Fast Runner" sometime later in the week. It's supposed to be pretty good. Here's the write up:

The first Inuit language movie,
based on an ancient legend, The Fast Runner
(Atanarjuat) is the story of two generations of
igloo-dwelling Inuit whose harmonious existence is
disrupted by the presence of an evil spirit.
Atanarjuat (Natar Ungalaaq) falls in love with Atuat
(Sylvia Ivalu) who has been promised to the chief’s
evil-afflicted son, Oki (Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq).
Meanwhile Oki’s sexually voracious sister Puja
(Lucy Tulugarjuk) desires Atanajurat for herself.
Betrayal, seduction, and bloodshed follow.
Genuinely spooky shamanistic rituals, intensely erotic moments, and an
incredible chase across a melting glacier are just a few of the highlights
in this three-hour debut feature of Inuit director Zacharias Kunuk. It was
filmed on location in the Arctic, with an all-Inuit cast, in and out of actual
igloos lit solely by seal oil lamps. The results are breathtaking: yellow
and purple skies, vast, flat ice-covered horizons and naturalistic
performances from the (mostly inexperienced) actors combine to make
this a one-of-a-kind viewing experience. With equal attention paid to
authenticity and narrative, ATANARJUAT emerges as both as a vital
cultural document and an innovative dramatic film (shot on digital video
and transferred to 35mm).

 

[medjay]

I haven't been to the theatre to see a foriegn picture in a while. The last one was Brotherhood of the Wolf. It was full of a lot of blockbuster elements but it was still a very well made and entertaining piece of cinema.

Next month I will be checking out the one night only screening of Master of the Flying Guillotine, restored to it's original Chinese language. Exciting if your a fan of the old Shaw Brother's kung fu films (like I am )

 

[Rhys]

An oldie but a goodie

Diva subtitled from French. Very much a "day for night" movie...

Its about a delivery boy with an opera fetish that mistakenly gets ahold of a tape exposing the kingpin of a crime ring.

The books by Dellacorta (if you can find them) are even better...

 

[Rhys]

also subtitled from French

Hiroshima Mon Amour


filmed entirely in black and white its about a love affair between a Japanese business man and a French woman actress.

 

[red_rose]

Character
Starring Fredja van Huet and Jan Decleir

(Dutch)

"Dreverhaven is dead. The city's most feared bailiff, the curse of the poor, the agent of law without compassion - discovered with a knife through his heart. A self-taught lawyer who just passes his exams was the last person to see Dreverhaven alive. Now, the police want to know why he visited the old man, and the young barrister is ready to tell the story of a lifetime."

Very good flick.

I highly recommend it.

 

[medjay]

I would also recommend Amores Perros, a mexican import and a big critical darling last year. Long, depressing and extremely violent. And I wouldn't have it any other way!

One of the best films I saw last year. Still waiting for the right time to rent it and show it to my girl. She gets shaken up easily.

 

[kiwiwolf]

It was the second movie i saw, a New Zealand import called Rain that's still with me now, hours later. I can't shake it. It's haunting. It's evocative. It's chilling. It encompassed superb storytelling and acting. The reality quotient is high. It was an incredible movie. I wish i could recommend it wholeheartedly but i can't. I'm divided on it. It's a great movie - direct and intense. But it's godawful and wrenching and terrible for the parents of young children to watch, too. I left the theater in tears, as did many others.

Of the two, if you can handle it, i'd recommend the New Zealand Rain without hesitation. If, of course, you can handle it.

My God B... I can't believe you liked Rain! Sorry but I thought it was a shocker.

 

[cymbidia]

I've recently seen Monsoon Wedding, too. It''s hindi with English subtitles and is an on-the-surface happy movie about a family wedding. There are darker, more sobering and dsitinctly unpalatable undertones, though, and the joy dims slowly, slowly as they play out. Excellent movie.

Another one was Y Tu Mama Tambien which is in Mexican Spanish and subtitled in English. It got a lot of press play so maybe you've heard of it? Gods! I can't begin to describe it, really. It's a rich kids raod film - but with awakening sexuality and an assortment of desperate secrets interwoven. It was a mind-blower of a movie. I loved it.

 

[medjay]

Saw a Russian picture called Stalker a while back. Science fiction about a meteor that crashes to earth creating a wasteland. Rumor has it that the impact area houses great extraterrestrial knowledge but the only people able to navigate the wastelands are the "Stalkers" of the title. One such stalker agrees to lead a writer and a scientist to the crash site, encountering plenty of head-trippy adventures on the way.

Director Andrei Tarkovsky also did Solaris which has been remade by James Cameron and Steven Soderberg and will be released later this year starring George Clooney!!!

 

[Spinaroonie]

Titanic is a movie from a country that I can't remember. It is dubbed (Unfortunately) so we lose a lot in the acting. A whooollle lot. Without the natural inflections the acting is stiff and unappealing. It doesn't not draw us in like in Amelie.

It is difficult to determine the country of origin. Middle finger used, armpits shaven, all make it difficult. The film is about a boat or possibly a floating city. Again, poor translations get tough. Then there is some dialog that doesn't really do anything. We see a lot of a special item, most likely it powers the hyperdrive. The city is then attacked by an enemy (Possibly alien) ship. Chaos ensues. In one particularly stupid scene we see the "Heros" in possesion of the hyperdrive crystal run THROUGH THE FRIGGIN' ENGINE ROOM without thinking of installing it. Also why is an integral part of the ship's defense system seperate? The only reason I can think of is energy concerns or possible radiation dangers. Due to the stupdity of the "heros" the city is destroyed and many people die (Which suggests the film may be German.).

In the end Titanic was an awful sci-fi thriller, but there was some nudity. 2.4 stars.

 

[cymbidia]

Re: Re: Films

My God B... I can't believe you liked Rain! Sorry but I thought it was a shocker.

S, i left the theater in tears.
I am still shaken from it.
It was the most viscerally painful movie i've seen in many years.

But it was haunting.
It was emotionally real.
It was devastating in it's honesty.
It was incredibly spare and gorgeous and intensely textured, all at once.

If i step away from the fact that i have a 5 year old son - and away from the fact that i have a 13 year old daughter - the ages of those kids in that movie, then i think it's among the most remarkable movies i've seen in years.

But i have those kids.
And so it's among the most godawful, too, the most painful - and the reson i was sobbing openly at the end.

Again, as i said originally - is it good? Bad? Terrible horrible godawful? Or is it real and true and honest?

Is it good?
Bad?

I don't know.

That's what makes it so incredibly powerful.

 

[medjay]

I rented an old Akira Kurowsawa picture a few weeks ago called High and Low. The story is actually based off an old Ed McBain novel called King's Ransom, about a kidnapper who plots to snatch the young son of a rich businessman. Well, he ends up grabbing the chauffer's son by mistake and the businessman (played by the late great Toshiro Mifune) must decide if he should pay a ransom for a child who is not his, go bankrupt and loose everything or let his loyal chauffer's son die.

A nice contemporary police proceedural from Kurosawa with some excellent commentaries on class structures and ethics.

 

[cymbidia]

I'm planning to see a film called "The Fast Runner" sometime later in the week.

I saw the trailers for this tonight and knew, immediately, that i wanted to see it. What a gorgeous spare elemental backdrop on which to place such a warmly human drama, and one possessing elements from a cultural group that's not widely known in any kinda depth. I'm looking forward to it arriving in my area.

 

[april-wine]

I saw the trailers for this tonight and knew, immediately, that i wanted to see it. What a gorgeous spare elemental backdrop on which to place such a warmly human drama, and one possessing elements from a cultural group that's not widely known in any kinda depth. I'm looking forward to it arriving in my area.

If I promise not to whisper....knock your elbow off the armrest....or sip your coke....may I tag along, I hate movies alone....and can never find anyone to go to subtitled movies.....

 

[Laurel]

Saw a Russian picture called Stalker a while back. Science fiction about a meteor that crashes to earth creating a wasteland. Rumor has it that the impact area houses great extraterrestrial knowledge but the only people able to navigate the wastelands are the "Stalkers" of the title. One such stalker agrees to lead a writer and a scientist to the crash site, encountering plenty of head-trippy adventures on the way.

I saw that movie - right after I'd seen a documentary about the real-life "Stalkers" who were sent in to clean up after the Chernobyl disaster. From that perspective, it's a pretty insane movie.

 

[red_rose]

It doesn't not draw us in like in Amelie.

I *LOVED* Amelie!!!

 

[red_rose]

http://www.staller.sunysb.edu/movies/spring02/images/amelie.jpg

 

[RosaD]

On the foreign film front - Louis Malle's film Souffle Au Coeur was my favourite - and still is !