WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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LawrenceA
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by LawrenceA »

I watched a trilogy of Swedish films from director Mai Zetterling.

Loving Couples (1964) follows three women (Harrie Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom, and Gio Petre) who are patients at a women's hospital. Each reflects on their childhoods and sexual awakenings, and the events that led them to the hospital. This was Zetterling's directorial debut after a lengthy successful career as an international film star. It's heavily indebted to Ingmar Bergman, a one-time collaborator of Zetterling's, and reminded me a lot of his film Brink of Life(1958). Several of Bergman's regular repertory of actors appears here, as well. I found the film fine if unexceptional. The movie caused some controversy at Cannes, with some mild nudity, sexual frankness (including lesbianism), and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it birth-of-a-baby scene all stirring the festival's moral censors.

Night Games (1966) is even more psychosexual reminiscing, this time centering on a man (Keve Hjelm and Jorgen Lindstrom at different ages) struggling in his adult sexual relationships, and how his uncomfortable relationship with his mother (Ingrid Thulin) shaped his outlook. This one is even more frank than Loving Couples, and is mainly remembered for how it caused Shirley Temple to angrily quit a film festival jury and declare this movie as pornography. Of course, it's largely quaint now, and I found myself more bored than outraged.

The Girls (1968) features three actresses (Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson, and Gunnel Lindblom) rehearsing for a stage revival of Lysistrata. They all commiserate on how things aren't much better for women in modern Sweden than they were for the Ancient Greeks. I thought this one was also very in the mold of Bergman, particularly his early 50s phase. The performances are very good here, and I liked this one the best of the three, although I won't be in a hurry to revisit any of them.
Watching until the end.
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laffite
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by laffite »

LawrenceA wrote: January 26th, 2023, 2:21 pm I watched a trilogy of Swedish films from director Mai Zetterling.

Loving Couples (1964) follows three women (Harrie Andersson, Gunnel Lindblom, and Gio Petre) who are patients at a women's hospital. Each reflects on their childhoods and sexual awakenings, and the events that led them to the hospital. This was Zetterling's directorial debut after a lengthy successful career as an international film star. It's heavily indebted to Ingmar Bergman, a one-time collaborator of Zetterling's, and reminded me a lot of his film Brink of Life(1958). Several of Bergman's regular repertory of actors appears here, as well. I found the film fine if unexceptional. The movie caused some controversy at Cannes, with some mild nudity, sexual frankness (including lesbianism), and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it birth-of-a-baby scene all stirring the festival's moral censors.

Night Games (1966) is even more psychosexual reminiscing, this time centering on a man (Keve Hjelm and Jorgen Lindstrom at different ages) struggling in his adult sexual relationships, and how his uncomfortable relationship with his mother (Ingrid Thulin) shaped his outlook. This one is even more frank than Loving Couples, and is mainly remembered for how it caused Shirley Temple to angrily quit a film festival jury and declare this movie as pornography. Of course, it's largely quaint now, and I found myself more bored than outraged.

The Girls (1968) features three actresses (Harriet Andersson, Bibi Andersson, and Gunnel Lindblom) rehearsing for a stage revival of Lysistrata. They all commiserate on how things aren't much better for women in modern Sweden than they were for the Ancient Greeks. I thought this one was also very in the mold of Bergman, particularly his early 50s phase. The performances are very good here, and I liked this one the best of the three, although I won't be in a hurry to revisit any of them.
LIKE :smilie_happy_thumbup:
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LawrenceA
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972, West Germany/Austria) Dir: Wim Wenders - Wender's first film is an unusual character piece about a professional soccer player (Arthur Brauss) who gets ejected from a game and who then sets off on a wandering journey encountering various people across the countryside. I was never quite sure where this one was going, which is a plus. (7/10)

Source: Criterion Channel
Watching until the end.
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Feinberg
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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LawrenceA wrote: January 27th, 2023, 6:22 pm Image

The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972, West Germany/Austria) Dir: Wim Wenders - Wender's first film is an unusual character piece about a professional soccer player (Arthur Brauss) who gets ejected from a game and who then sets off on a wandering journey encountering various people across the countryside. I was never quite sure where this one was going, which is a plus. (7/10)

Source: Criterion Channel
Wenders and Herzog were the subject of the very first Toronto Film festival which I attended. It was about $39 for entry into an unlimited number of films. I was in college at the time and quickly became a fan of Wenders' films. At the time they seemed to offer a lot more to me than say, Star Wars which was in theatres at the time of the festival.
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LawrenceA
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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Poison for the Fairies (1986, Mexico) Dir: Carlos Enrique Taboada - 10-year-old Flavia (Elsa Maria Gutierrez) moves to a new school and makes friends with outcast Veronica (Ana Patricia Rojo), who convinces the newcomer that she's actually a witch in disguise. When circumstances seem to convince Flavia that Veronica is telling the truth, things escalate.

This unusual film is shot from a child's perspective, with the camera at a low height, and the faces of adults rarely shown. It reminded me a bit of Peter Jackson's later film Heavenly Creatures. (7/10)

Source: Rarefilmm.com
Watching until the end.
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Arsan444
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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LawrenceA wrote: January 28th, 2023, 4:20 pm Poison for the Fairies (1986, Mexico) Dir: Carlos Enrique Taboada - 10-year-old Flavia (Elsa Maria Gutierrez) moves to a new school and makes friends with outcast Veronica (Ana Patricia Rojo), who convinces the newcomer that she's actually a witch in disguise. When circumstances seem to convince Flavia that Veronica is telling the truth, things escalate.

This unusual film is shot from a child's perspective, with the camera at a low height, and the faces of adults rarely shown. It reminded me a bit of Peter Jackson's later film Heavenly Creatures. (7/10)

Source: Rarefilmm.com
I liked it too. Carlos Enrique Taboada is my favorite director of Mexican Horror movies.
When in doubt, have another one.
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LawrenceA
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by LawrenceA »

Arsan444 wrote: January 30th, 2023, 9:04 pm
I liked it too. Carlos Enrique Taboada is my favorite director of Mexican Horror movies.
I didn't look into the director's career when I posted that, and didn't realize until your comment that it was the same guy who made the excellent Even the Wind Is Afraid (1968) and The Book of Stone (1969). Do you recommend any of his other films specifically?
Watching until the end.
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Arsan444
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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LawrenceA wrote: January 30th, 2023, 9:10 pm
Arsan444 wrote: January 30th, 2023, 9:04 pm
I liked it too. Carlos Enrique Taboada is my favorite director of Mexican Horror movies.
I didn't look into the director's career when I posted that, and didn't realize until your comment that it was the same guy who made the excellent Even the Wind Is Afraid (1968) and The Book of Stone (1969). Do you recommend any of his other films specifically?
Más Negro Que La Noche (Darker Than Night), 1975. I think there's a copy on Youtube, but I haven't checked lately.
When in doubt, have another one.
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Arsan444
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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Espejo, Espejo (Mirror, Mirror). 2022. Directed by Marc Crehuet. With Malena Alterio, Carlos Areces, Natalia de Molina, Santi Millán. Spain. Comedy.

A cosmetic's company decides to change and update their marketing strategies to accommodate current lifestyles, and that affect the personal lives of four of their employees; every time they look in a mirror, their reflections come to life.

Entertaining and insightful look at advertising and trends without going too deep and that works, in my opinion. The dialogue is rife with words like "body positivity" and 'inclusiveness" but it never becomes a pamphlet or manifesto. It is not an ally of either side, which gives the ending and extra kick.
The cast is excellent and the direction straightforward. There are two scenes I would have left on the cutting room floor, but that's a minor quibble.

Image
When in doubt, have another one.
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Hibi
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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What was on last night on TCM? Was it Z??? They didnt have the film listed in the cable guide. I gathered it was Irene Pappas night. (I recorded Electra later).
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laffite
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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Hibi wrote: January 31st, 2023, 2:47 pm What was on last night on TCM? Was it Z??? They didnt have the film listed in the cable guide. I gathered it was Irene Pappas night. (I recorded Electra later).
Correct. It was Z .
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Hibi
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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Thought so. I switched over at one point and thought I saw Yves Montand......Since it was Irene night, that would've jived.
Cinemaspeak59
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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Fellini Satyricon (1969) Self-indulgent, pansexual, homoerotic, decadent… these are some descriptions that apply to Satyricon. Since the film’s subject is ancient Rome, they are also apt. I enjoyed it as a lesson in film history, made at a time when cinematic barriers were coming down. It was Fellini’s most ambitious film to date, with extras galore and sprawling canvas. And yet it manages to be intimate, as it follows the adventures of young Ascilto and Encolpo in ancient Rome, as they encounter actors, poets, prostitutes, sorcerers and everything in between, in a carnivalesque revelry Fellini makes his own.

I also watched Ciao, Federico!, a documentary on the making of Satyricon. I found it fascinating, as Fellini interacts with actors, press, and celebrities visiting the set. In a Q&A with a journalist, Fellini espouses his world view, that for him making movies is a vocation. Fellini doesn’t so much separate reality from make-believe, because for him the later is reality. There’s a scene I liked in which Fellini doesn’t like the way Salvo Randone, who plays the poet Eumolpus, delicately chews his food, telling him, good-naturedly, that he eats like a well-educated Brit. The takeaway is that Fellini’s joy at being on the set is palpable, even with the inevitable problems the crew encounters. The actors found him elusive, but loved working for him.
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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Caught Le Petit Soldat last night on TCM. Alicia said it was confusing. It was, at least when it came to the political
allegiances of the characters. The Wiki articles clears this up pretty well. The anti-anti-hero apparently works with a
right-wing group that is against Algerian independence and is counting on him to assassinate a pro-independence figure,
while his girlfriend supports Algerian independence, which was news to me. Bruno, like some other Godard protagonists,
seems a cross between a horny high schooler and a name-dropping college sophomore, which keeps things entertaining.
And Anna Karina, like some other Godard leading ladies, seems happy just to let Bruno photograph and try to seduce her
while she strikes poses and engages in freeform conversation. Sixty years later, it looks pretty sexist. And however much
he pledges his love, he isn't exactly broken up at the end of the film when he finds out she is dead. A somewhat interesting
film, though it has a whiff of been there, done that. Not having seen this one before, I was hoping a few French imperialistas
would be bumped off, but that's not the subject of this film, which shows that on occasion real life is better than a movie.
Every man has a right to an umbrella.~Dostoyevsky
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Feinberg
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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I picked up this PAL DVD copy of The Jester's Tale (1964) by Karel Zeman from a Czech dealer. It has English subtitles.
I am very pleased when I see an older film for the first time that manages to really impress and this one does.
First, it is quite funny and second, very imaginative. Instead of having actors in front of rear screen projection this film makes no attempt to hide using animation as the backdrop of many scenes. I wouldn't be surprised if it was this film that inspired Terry Gilliam's animated work in Monty Python's Flying Circus. Recommended if you can find a copy.
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