Fave Foreign Film

That's another fave of mine!

Life Is Beautiful is awesome too!

 

Amelie. I heard of suicide cirlce but it looked so fucking violent. What is city of god about?

 

i saw cinema paradiso, i absolutley loved it

 

Purple Noon is awesome...I think thats the name. I'm not sure if thats Italian or French, but either way, its so sweet.

The Triplets of Bellville is pretty good too.

 

Paperhouse (UK, 1988) would have to rank amongst my top choices.

I do also agree with those who chose The Wicker Man. That's perhaps one of most disturbing and creepy mindfuck films Ive ever seen.

La Grande Bleu would be my all time fave French Film with Betty Blue running a close second.

 

Drugs and violence and downtrodden neighborhoods (City of God). It's pretty good. Probably not my favorite though.

 

Well... as almost all of my favourite movies are foreign, I'll just make a list of non-American movies:

Amelie
Les Triplettes de Belleville
La Vita e Bella
Hable con Ella
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Lilja 4-Ever
Tilsamman
Goodbye Lenin
Fucking Amal
Trainspotting
Any Monty Python
A Clockwork Orange
Simon (although this is not a foreign movie for me... it's not American though, you should check it out, it's the Dutch movie for the oscars this year... very very good movie, a bit like Amelie, but clearly Dutch and not French, If you know what I mean..)

 

Has anyone seen this? I think it's called "Roseanna's Grave"? but I saw it about 7 years ago and don't remember. It takes place in Italy and I think it's about this guy losing his wife and he's trying to make it so he can have his gravestone next to hers? Can't fully remember but I remember really liking the movie. Any help with refreshing my memory?

Also, would "Stealing Beauty" be considered foreign here in America? It takes place in Italy and most of the actors are Italian (I think) but it's got Liv Tyler in the main role and they all speak mostly English. Anyway, that's one of my favorites.

 

ANYTHING by Almodovar... the man is brilliant.

Also, Life is Beautiful is amazing.

 

Amelie and Il Postino

 

My favorite film is a French movie called "Small Change."

 

Lots of really good replies to this - it's reminded me of good films I've seen and others I've always meant to.


Off the top of my head:
Antonia's Line - quirky and sentimental yet realistic
L'appartment for its tight storyline
Le diner des cons for French humour - it does exist!
Il Postino

Will probably think of heaps more later but that's it for now

 

Oh, I've thought of another:

Drole de Felix - a really funny, closely observed French movie.
I love French movies

 

well, my favorite director's krzysztof kieslowski. and my favorite from his ouevre would be the trois couleurs trilogy, and then the decalogue and the double life of veronique. i like bergman too, especially the seventh seal and the silence of god trilogy. then the orphic trilogy of jean cocteau. some rercent latin-american movies are pretty good, and they do get lots of exposure... like, of all the replies here, the most common ones are those by almodovar and the city of god, and then others like amelie and life is beautiful got oscars and so on. but y the absence of master directors like antonioni and kieslowski, fellini and bergman, satyajit ray and tarkovsky? anyway, i'm a movie buff, so u name it, i've seen it.

 

I hate subtitles with a passion!!!


I lose most of the visual meaning of the film, because I'm forced to read subtitles!!!

Run Lola Run, I love. It was soooo seamlessly dubbed that I didn't even know it was dubbed!!!

Why aren't all foriegn films dubbed?!?

Because they are too cheap, and to stupid to relize the huge market they're losing.

I boycott all subtitles films till they get the message, and care enough to dubb the film in the audience's own language.

What does Hollywood do? Do they dubb in other languages, or do force their foriegn audiences to read subtitles and miss the visuals?

 

On the other side of the coin I absolutely loath dubbed movies, I feel like I'm getting ripped off with a dummed down, anglasised version of the real thing.

I think to enjoy a forign film to it's fullest you have to listen to it in the original language because the language is an inseperable part of the cultural package. Language goes far beyond an oral message, it's a method of thaught and manifestation of cultural identity made up of a million sublte tones and rythms.

City of God would not be City of God without that harsh, nasal, street-born Portugese slang.

Amélie would not be Amélie without that fast paced, puctuated, dark humoured, parisian dialect.

anyways, a few of my favs:

Les Invasion Barbares
Whale Rider
Amélie
City of God
L'Auberge Espagnole
Babette's Feast
Y Tu Mama Tambien

 

It's about life in the slums of Rio de Janeiro and the cycles of violence and power

I think it's the most vivid and powerful film ever made, it doesn't get wrapped up in any sort of twisted perspective it's just real and gritty and flow of the story is just...wow

words don't do it justice, just go rent it

 

A couple of days ago they showed 'Crouched Tiger, Hidden Dragon' on Greek TV dubbed in English and it spoiled it for me. However, I sympathise with those who get put off by subtitles and can assure you that many times the translation is wrong(sometimes it can't be helped due to language barriers). Fortunately both parties, for and against subtitles, can be appeased with DVDs which provide(mostly) the option for a dubbed movie. I wouldn't care if the movie was in Klingon as long as I enjoyed it.

 

I'm going to have to go with Amelie. That movie still amazes me, so to say lol Very artsy

 

400 Blows-Truffaut 1959- saw this at the opera plaza in sf when i was 16 and cold and lonely and it made a huge impact on me.