WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

Here's another vote for "Salvatore Guiliano." Now that you mention it, I do see a family resemblance to "Battle of Algiers." As you said, this isn't a film for everybody, but I was struck by how Rosi was able to get me into the story despite my weak background in Italian/Sicilian history.

I recently watched an Italian mini-series from 2003 called "The Best of Youth." It follows the lives of Italian baby boomers from the mid-Sixties to the (then) present. Very, very well done with fine performances.
MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

"Best of Youth" was available from Netflix. It was a two disc experience but worth it.
MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

Today I watched "Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War" (2004).

It is a South Korean film about two brothers ultimately divided by the Korean War.

The film is deeply influenced by "Saving Private Ryan." There is a "frame" in the present around the bulk of the film set during the War. And the battle scenes are very intense, as in Spielberg's film.

The soundtrack was too obvious and sentimental. However, apart from that, the film was very well done. It was very interesting for me, an American, to see this film. Usually, I think of the Korean War as an American vs. Chinese conflict. This film focused on the Korean vs. Korean violence of the war, not just battles but atrocities committed by North and South. This was a perspective I hadn't really been exposed to before.

Worth a look.
MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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Today I watched "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu" (2010).

This is a three hour long documentary that covers the 25 year reign of the Romanian Communist dictator. I found it compelling viewing. Even in this official Communist footage (there is no voice over narration. The foootage is just presented to the viewer.) you can see how Romanian society (and the capital Bucharest) was crushed during this man's reign and became something empty and inhuman. The propaganda at the start of the film is clearly socialist realism, but it is human-scale. We see factory workers and peasants stopping to mourn the death of Ceausescu's predecessor. By the 1980s, the people are presented as a near-faceless mass.

It is interesting to see other people in this documentary. Richard Nixon, visiting Bucharest, shakes everybody's hand and almost seems ready to run for President of Romania. Brezhnev, "off-stage" at the Helsinki accords, seems remarkably avuncular and attractive. Reformist Czechoslovak Communist Dubcek (in 1968) seems extremely worried in his brief appearance.

And there is just odd stuff, like the children of the Communist elite (and a few old-timers) dancing to "I Fought the Law" at a New Year's celebration in 1969/70, or seeing how a bear hunt was rigged.

Just a fascinating film, one worth going back to.
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movieman1957
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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I saw Kurosawa's "Ikiru." It's a film that deals with a man's response to his impending death from cancer. He is a civil servant. The very definition of a paper pusher. He has no life to speak of and has gone nearly 30 years without missing a day's work. That is all about to change.

It's an interesting film. There are some funny things in it and certainly some sad things. There are some poignant things to it as well.

SPOILERS

About 2/3 of the way through the man has died and there is a wake for him. At this point the film becomes quite slow because, except for a few flashbacks, this wake makes up the rest of the film. It does however have some terrific dialogue. It shows how self serving his coworkers are and how they view the the deceased and his contributions. Everyone gets drunk and the discussion gets more agitated as it goes.

Good performances. It feels a bit long. I'm sure there is much I'm missing that would be obvious to a Japanese audience but all in all I think it was worth watching but not sure whether it is something I would revisit that much.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Chris, the pace of Ikiru is so slow and deliberate that it can be a difficult watch except that it is fascinating! I'm glad you saw it and appreciated it. it's a beautiful movie in so many ways, it would be a shame to turn down watching it because it has slow sections in the final third. Definitely we miss the presence of 'our hero' Takashi Shimura, but I think that's the point...the others just splinter up without him. I think the film is worth getting through to the end.

kingrat, Knife in the Water disturbed me so much years ago that I have never watched it again. It wasn't the story or WHAT happened in the film, I just couldn't take the suspense, the buildup...Probably the most foreboding film I have ever seen. It made me want to jump out of my skin. It still makes me feel fearful thinking about it, but then I was pretty young when I first watched it. I imagine I should give it another go.

Ashes and Diamonds made me want to see more and more of Wajda, I LOVED his style of filmmaking, expressing the unsaid, politically and emotionally... showing a people who are corrupted by everything, by their history and the government they live under. This movie was a real revelation to me, I instinctively responded to Wajda's imagery and simple but also complex story. He's going to be a favorite.. I've always wanted to see his films...I somehow knew I would feel connected to him. Now I've seen one, and I feel like I met a new lover, someone I can totally give my heart to.
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movieman1957
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by movieman1957 »

Wendy, the funny thing is my daughter borrowed it from someone and brought it over. Even The Bride enjoyed it. I think if the early part of the film had been as slow as the final it might not have made it. It was important to have some humor at the start and some momentum to carry it.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

That's interesting, Chris. One of the things about Ikiru that surprised me was that humor. It actually has a LOT of momentum up until the movie breaks up - into those divisive greedy squabbles after his death. Maybe that slowness makes it more difficult, seeing how they all are out for themselves, we don't want that to happen and so it seems even longer, more troubled at that point, agonizing.
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