I would like to watch a (foriegn? indie?) film.

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Having read other critiques on film around here, I noticed that people don't particularly like the "american" style of film making, with the philisophic bent of hard work and eventual success and all that Capra type stuff. So, what the hell should I watch? I honestly rarely delve into film to begin with, and apart from watching Johnny Stecchino, City of God, and Akahige (all of which I enjoyed), I haven't watched anything in foriegn film in about 5 years. Hell, that makes up about half the films I've seen in the last 12 months. Possible helpful notes:

-I did see Amelie, didn't care for it
-My favorite films include Death Race 2000, Desperate Living, Pulp Fiction, and Raging Bull
-I don't really like science fiction outside of 2001 very much
-I've been meaning to see Sin City for a long time, but am lazy and haven't, but that would seem to be my style of film. same with Kill Bill
-I hated virtually every character in Sideways and didn't enjoy the film very much

Seriously now...what should I start with?

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:26 (twenty years ago)

probably hong kong

― gear (gear), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

Maybe you would like oldboy?

xp or hong kong, yes

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

start at the beginning.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

"I don't really like science fiction outside of 2001 very much"

if you hardly ever watch movies, how do you know this? is it the idea of spacesuits?

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:32 (twenty years ago)

"I honestly rarely delve into film to begin with"

you make it sound hard. it's really not. is there a video store near you?

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:34 (twenty years ago)

it seems you can't go wrong with this film
http://www.ilcancello.com/LOCANDINE%20E%20FILM/LOCANDINE/POSTER%20-%20IT!%20THE%20TERROR%20FROM%20BEYOND%20SPACE.jpg

― gear (gear), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:35 (twenty years ago)

you can't go wrong with chimps either. even european and indie chimps.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

Watch the Station Agent, it's a great US indie film. Glad I'm not the only one who thinks Amelie is wack.

― chap who would dare to thwart the revolution (chap), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:39 (twenty years ago)

http://www.spassmonkey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/b3ta/images/ice_chimp.gif

― gear (gear), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:40 (twenty years ago)

i believe planet of the apes was based on a french novel. and it boasts an international cast.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

there's more to foreign than europe.

a wise man once said.

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:46 (twenty years ago)

Watch the Station Agent, it's a great US indie film.

absolutely, this is one of my favorite movies of the past few years. every time I run by it on cable I'm compelled to watch it; I think I've seen it (or big parts of it) five times in the past year.

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks Amelie is wack.

I love it but it's not for everyone.

― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

chungking express

― ryan (ryan), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

I honestly rarely delve into film to begin with

Watch MTV, shorter *films*.

― nathalie's pocket revolution (stevie nixed), Sunday, 28 August 2005 19:59 (twenty years ago)

Just start picking random things that you know nothing about, have never heard anything about, but look interesting. Find a good indie video store near you, preferably. Or something like Netflix or whatevs.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:05 (twenty years ago)

Yes, this will make you discover Baise Moi and puke all over the shag carpet.

― nathalie's pocket revolution (stevie nixed), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:10 (twenty years ago)

oh, is that good?

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:11 (twenty years ago)

>if you hardly ever watch movies, how do you know this?<

Its not as if I've never, ever, watched film. I mean, yeah, there's some I have interest in, but overall, I just don't get into it. Much of what I've seen in science fiction (and I make no claim to be some sort of expert on the genre; just that I've seen a lot of the typical, "famous", mainstream films that people would point at) either seem to basically be Capra with spacesuits or often extremely dark for the sake of being extremely dark.

>you make it sound hard. it's really not. is there a video store near you?<

Between India, Japan, North America, and Western Europe alone, how many films are produced every year? Thousands upon thousands. This is to say nothing about the films coming out of the other 150 someodd nations in the world. I'd love to sit down and watch 30-40 films, but I'd like to see what people's opinions of the best films are to watch, simply because I have other interests that take up time. When I got into beer, for instance, I didn't just go to the package store and randomly pick out whatever had a nice bottle. I did some research to find out about what beers were, in the sense of the general beering public (for lack of a better term), considered to be the best in their class, and then worked from there.

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

i usually go to the public library (which has a good foreign DVD selection) and select at random. this has worked well so far. don't be afraid!

xpost, ok don't pick at random just pick things you've heard of, maybe. libraries are better for this because they have less garbage films there. maybe you will like almodovar films, p.s.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:17 (twenty years ago)

Alan, you make movie-watching sound incredibly joyless.

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:17 (twenty years ago)

and beer-drinking

― gear (gear), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:18 (twenty years ago)

haha, true, especially about the beer. i mean, it's beer!

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

I've decided not to get up and make a sandwich until I've finished this focus group on it.

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:23 (twenty years ago)

>maybe you will like almodovar films, p.s.<

I checked IMDB and saw that he directed ¡Átame!, which I saw on a movie channel a few years back, pretty much completely blindly. I was struck first by the huge rating that got thrown on it, then again by the fact that it was actually fairly entertaining (though I have to admit I prefer my sex scenes to be best left to porno, and for the most part, fairly unnecessary here for major storyline purposes). Anything else worth seeing from him?

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:27 (twenty years ago)

Hey now. Having a good beer while doing something fun is way better than having a bad beer while doing something fun. Given the choice of drinking a Natty Ice or Bud while at a pool hall or with friends, or drinking Harpoon's seasonal offering while doing the same thing, I know which I'd rather choose.

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:29 (twenty years ago)

(besides, beer taught me an important lesson about this one day, when I decided not to follow what I had heard, and bought $20 in russian and lithuanian lager instead. i'd have been better off drinking Beast Light. it was a sad day for the refrigerator.)

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:32 (twenty years ago)

i have only seen bad education and talk to her of almodovar's. neither of these is mindblowingly good but i liked them and i think they would suit your taste. someone also told me that all about my mother is good as well. and there is a turkish movie called head on that came out fairly recently. it was good and you might like it!

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:36 (twenty years ago)

Oldboy and Head On both sound completely awesome. Much thanks to Caitlin and Adam for those calls.

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:44 (twenty years ago)

I would call Bad Education pretty close to mindblowingly good!

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

Closely Watched Trains and The Battle of Algiers.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of social estrangement. (Eastern Mantra), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

NO!

he quite obviously wants tits and explosions, but with subtitles!

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:52 (twenty years ago)

yeah ok, bad education is GREAT. no actual tits though. fake tranny tits. and gay sex.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 28 August 2005 20:55 (twenty years ago)

I was going to say "no!" about Adam's claim, but I realized its not horribly far from the mark. Though I can live without the tits. I see enough tits as is from other film.

(though Ian's suggestions, upon further examination, also look really cool.)

(oh, I can probably deal with the fake tranny tits and gay sex. its not like I'm a homophobe or something. if I was, I never could have worked in the amusement industry as long as I did)

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Sunday, 28 August 2005 21:09 (twenty years ago)

the "amusement industry"?

― kyle (akmonday), Sunday, 28 August 2005 23:03 (twenty years ago)

http://www.cityofart.net/queenie.jpg

― Adam In Real Life (nordicskilla), Sunday, 28 August 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

>the "amusement industry"?<

There are these places, you see. They have lots of rides and shows. Disney owns a couple. Universal does too. Busch...Tussauds...Six Flags...Cedar Fair. And while no one openly acknowledges it, there's an inordinate number of gay males working in every level of said industry. So being outwardly homophobic on any level typically keeps you from going anywhere or building anything bordering on a good resume.

― Alan Conceicao (Alan Conceicao), Monday, 29 August 2005 03:23 (twenty years ago)

There's a terrific, bloody Mexican melodrama called "Deep Crimson" (1996) that was released on DVD recently; yr list of favefilms suggests you'd like it.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 29 August 2005 12:50 (twenty years ago)

You could try Man Bites Dog, French (or Belgian?) faux-doc about a film crew following a serial killer and dutifully recording his crimes. Its points about the media are all very obvious, but it's pretty well done. Way better than Natural Born Killers, f'rinstance.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Or Baxter (not The Baxter), the snarliest talking-dog movie ever.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

C'est Arrive Pres De Chez Vous/Man Bites Dog is a Belgian movie. Very nauseating but also very good. There's other good Belgian movies but this one really stands out. It's done in black&white if I remember well.

http://ia.imdb.com/media/imdb/01/I/46/71/60m.jpg

― nathalie's pocket revolution (stevie nixed), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

It took me a while to figure out that The Baxter was not a remake of Baxter.

― k/l (Ken L), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

You want to watch THE RETURNER, a bad-ass Japanese time travel action adventure sci-fi flick featuring transfomers from outer space and so-bad-it's-awesome English dubbing. And lots of explosions.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

If you're looking for same genre, these two are good:

Savage Nights & L'Homme Blesse* * a much darker film

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

DO you mean Les Nuits Fauves? God, I love that movie so much. Very sad, poetic, harsh and passionate. I cried when Bohringer accepted the awards for Cyril Collard who had died only a few days before the Cesar Awards took place. :-(((((((((((((((

― nathalie's pocket revolution (stevie nixed), Monday, 29 August 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

Hmm, I can't think of many foreign films that combine both tits and explosions. The Battle of Algiers does have violent scenes, yes, and Closely Watched Trains has a telegraphist infamously getting her bottom stamped, which is delightfully erotic. Most anything with Ludivine Sagnier in it (save for 8 Women) will have her breasts visible for half the movie.

― Ian Riese-Moraine: a casualty of society's derangement. (Eastern Mantra), Monday, 29 August 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

I suggest only films that have been aged for at least 10 years in sherry casks

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 01:19 (twenty years ago)

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:81yQ_3hew6kJ:home.blarg.net/~dr_z/Movie/Posters/Reproductions/LeSamourai_Rep.jpg

― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 01:39 (twenty years ago)

http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:EHPcGXa30i0J:sphax666.free.fr/WOO/woo/THE%2520KILLER/affiche%2520the%2520killer.jpg

― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 30 August 2005 01:42 (twenty years ago)

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