cactusoftheeast

Cultivate an appreciation for foreign film
The Good and the Not-So-Good 3 years ago

I have “cultivated” an appreciation for foreign language film—I have seen enough now to recognize which foreign films are good ones and which are not worth watching, and have established quite a repertoire. For example,

Highly Recommended
  • Turtles Can Fly (Bahman Ghobadi/Iraq (Kurdistan)/2004)
  • In July (Fatih Akin/Germany/1999)
  • Up and Down (Jan Hrebejk/Czech Republic/2004)
  • Dark Horse (Dagur Kári/Denmark/2005)
Not Necessarily Recommended
  • Kandahar (Mohsen Makhmalbaf/Iran, Afghanistan/2001)
  • Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel/Germany/2004)
  • The City of Lost Children (Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet/France/1995)

Any recommendations from you?

The only thing left to do now is to watch some of the “classics” like Fellini and Kurosawa—

Jun 21, 2006, 09:28AM PDT


Comments:

GingerKangKang

Bummer

City of Lost Children is one of my favorite foreign films. But Jeunet’s absurdist French humor and fantastical visuals aren’t for everyone. That said, I’m not sure you’d enjoy any of the films I’d recommend. I tend towards the absurd.

Regardless, here are a few: The Vanishing, Blue, The Bicycle Thief, Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Killer, The 400 Blows, Once Were Warriors, Monsoon Wedding, ChungKing Express…

Are you looking explicitly for foreign language films? Because there are many fine “foreign” films from the UK & Australia/NZ. Also, what kind sub-genre do you like? Drama, comedy, humor, sci-fi?

Jun 24, 2006, 09:30AM PDT | Thread | Respond to this

cactusoftheeast

Thanks for the recommendations, Ginger—I will also have to watch City of Lost Children again, as the first time wasn’t exactly optimal conditions—I also did not include English-language films (from Canada and England, etc.) that I’ve seen, but I don’t remember my rationale for doing so. I’ve seen some very entertaining British movies. In any case, I like drama (especially those about current events/social conditions), documentaries, historical fiction, suspense, and comedy, though I’ll watch just about anything.

Thanks again!

Jun 24, 2006, 11:11AM PDT | Respond to this

Patrick Weintraub

dozens. some really good foreign flicks are: Amelie, Renassaince, Oldboy, Das Experiment, Run Lola Run, The Princess and the Warrior, A Very Long Engagement, 7 Samurai, Ran, Yojimbo, Hidden Fortress, 69, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. That’s a pretty good start.

Sep 13, 2007, 08:33PM PDT | Respond to this


 

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