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Foreign Films


PSYCHOcatholic

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Best Foreign Films...

There might have been a post made before like this, but ill renew it.

i saw Vita è bella, La (Life is Beautiful) in 9th grade English class. Its a truly beautiful Tragic Comedy.

"In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish book keeper named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman from a nearby city. Guido and his wife have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank"

By Foreign, i mean in a different language...THOSE DARN SUBTITLES!

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One of the best foreign films I've seen is "Like Water for Chocolate". It's a great movie about three sisters growing up in Mexico....a mixture of fantasy and reality....It's hard to describe the plot, but it's quite funny.

I know it stinks to "read", but I find dubbed movies too distracting, so I prefer subtitiles.

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Paul, here is a good site you might be interested in. I threaten all the time to sit down and watch all of Pedro Almodovar's films, but I haven't done it yet. I also really want to see "The Motorcycle Diaries" and "Maria Full of Grace". When I do, I'll let you know what I think.

I didn't like "Life is Beautiful". I think it's a prime example of a poorly executed brilliant idea.

XXX would have had a field day with this topic.

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the definition is a bit poor, as i could reply that all american films are foreign for me, and in greece they have subtitles! anyway...

jenny, "like water for hot chocolate" is a great book, i never watc hed the film because i thought it would ruin the imagery for me !

TP, "motorcycle diaries" is amazing, great cinematography! i wanted to fly to south america straight away!

other non-english movies i've enjoyed are " y tu mama tambien", ""amores peros", "amelie", "respiro" and several japanese horror movies

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I didn't like "Life is Beautiful".

XXX would have had a field day with this topic.

Let me agree with you on both points...

I used to go to the movies almost every day and I still believe American movies are the best (I don´t mean Tom Cruise nor Arnold nor Star Wars but Robert Altman, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, the "Airplane" films, Godftahers, etc...) I try to watch as much French movies as I can...

But I never know the names of the movies...

Almodovar is now the super star worldwide... I liked his first movies because he protrayed my friends and the places we used to go, etc, but I find him boring now.

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being - first movie in which I saw Daniel Day-Lewis, is a Czech or Romanian movie that chronicles how people dealt with the takeover by Communists through the eyes of a pair of attractive, modern thinking, young lovers. Very good.

City of God - Is set in Rio de Janiero and examines the struggles of the youth of that city born into poverty and the culture of drugs. So realistic as to appear to be a documentary. Won a foreign film Oscar, I believe.

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Amelie is wortha viewing . IT's a sweet story . My wife is the foreign / artsy movie fan around here , and is usually the one who introduces me to anything outside of Hollywood . Some of her movies which I've enjoyed and would recommend are ...

French :

Les Invasions Barbares

Betty Blue

Jesus of Montreal ( Quebec )

Spanish :

Talk To Her

All About My Mother

German :

Good Bye , Lenin

British :

Orlando

Breaking The Waves

Kiss , Kiss !! Bang , Bang !

A Room With A View

The Draughtman ' Contract

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The Unbearable Lightness of Being - first movie in which I saw Daniel Day-Lewis, is a Czech or Romanian movie that chronicles how people dealt with the takeover by Communists through the eyes of a pair of attractive, modern thinking, young lovers. Very good.

S2V, I've read that book but never watched the movie. Movies are never as good as the books, but if you recommend it, I just may check it out. :thumbsup:

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I didn't think of British films being Foreign, since they don't need subtitles :doh:. I've seen loads of good movies from across the pond. One of my favorites is "Secrets and Lies". Without giving away the plot, it's a film about a woman who finds out she has a daughter. She didn't remember giving birth to her until the daughter finds her, and when they meet, you see why. Like I said, it's hard not to give away the plot, but it's good.

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I didn't think of British films being Foreign, since they don't need subtitles :doh:.

I think this statement is questionable. I tend to avoid British films and television because half the time I can't understand a darned thing they're saying! I swear someone needs to publish a British to American dictionary. ::

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S2V, I've read that book but never watched the movie. Movies are never as good as the books, but if you recommend it, I just may check it out. :thumbsup:

I read the book some twenty years ago and I liked it so much that I bought every Milan Kundera novel and read them. They use to call him "the highway of litterature" as it´s so easy to read... I also avoided the film but I might give it a try...

There´s a Spanish film I love (Almodovar), "Women on the edge of a nervous breakdown". French movie: "La vie est un long fleuve tranquille". Argentinian movie: "Esperando la carroza". Anybody saw them?

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A college friend of mine who lives in Abilene, TX doesn't like foreign films (or TV) because he has to pay attention to the action AND read subtitles. (He also prefers his DVDs "Full Screen"!) However, there's nothing like a film like "Central Station" or "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" to change your world view in a hurry.

Here are other notable movies in the DVD collection:

"Akira"

"The 400 Blows"

"After Life"

"Il Postino"

"Cinema Paradiso"

"Diva"

"Chocolat" (Either one set in Africa or France)

"Tampopo"

"Sanjuro"

"Yojimbo"

And a few British films that aren't diminished by "British English" or"Cockney Rhyming Slang":

"Monty Python and The Holy Grail"

"And Now For Something Completely Different"

"The Avengers" series (As in "Patrick MacNee, Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg")

"Barry Lyndon"

"Four Weddings and a Funeral"

"The Ipcress File"

"Life of Brian"

"The Man Who Would Be King"

"Shadowlands"

"Shakespeare In Love"

:jester:

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