Das kino foreign language movies thread

[vixen1700]

Planet Claire said:

Me too and one of my favourite films for a long time. However, the rape scene is one part I struggle to watch.

I saw it at the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle where I saw more subtitled films than I had hot dinners. Is it really 30+ years ago?

Thankfully that's not something that I remember at all, in fact after all this time I can hardly remember a thing about it.

Similarly, a foreign film I wouldn't ever watch again is Irreversible. Christ!


On a brighter note, did watch an interesting little low-budget Swiss film last night on Amazon Prime: Rewind.

Not sure what went on and left me but it kept my interest going as I had no idea what direction it was heading in.

[gt40steve]

Un Homme et une Femme.

For the cars more than the story.

[shirt]

vixen1700 said:

Similarly, a foreign film I wouldn't ever watch again is Irreversible. Christ!

Yep, definitely a one time film. It’s not even very good, just a few incredibly graphic / intentionally shocking scenes and a wafer thin script.

[P5BNij]

gt40steve said:

Un Homme et une Femme.

For the cars more than the story.

I was going to post about this one yesterday but got sidetracked looking at old Mustangs for sale on car and classic.com!

The soundtrack, cars and cinematography are excellent.

Another favourite filmed in France is ‘The Train’ from 1964 with Burt Lancaster and Paul Schofield.

[P5BNij]

Elderly said:

P5BNij said:

Lots of interesting stuff I've never heard of that I need to check out


How about Jean-Luc Godard's 'Breathless' with Jean-Paul Belmondo...?

Being Godard’s first feature film and kick-starting the ‘French New Wave’, this was a very important film, and one that at the time I thought was great ( French New Wave sowed the seed that I wanted to get into the film industry). However - I saw it again recently and thought it was rubbish .

Two thoughts occur here, I think you either ‘get’ a film or you don’t, or the film ‘gets you’ or it doesn’t. Hopefully that makes sense

[flyingvisit]

Den Den said:

Any room for some stuff from the far North? Anything from Aki Kaurismaki is worth watching imho, just a couple of which..

Also from up north - Lapland Odyssey (Napapiirin sankarit) 1, 2 and 3. All about deadbeats in Lapland. Great fun and far better than the Imdb scores would suggest. Don't bother with the fourth, it's garbage.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454505/

And now for something completely different - Rouge, a chinese ghost/love story. Probably the 2nd foreign film I ever watched (after Run Lola Run, näturlich).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093258/

[the-norseman]

I watched Der Untergang (Downfall) in German with subtitles and thought it was brilliant, I've seen it since a few times and still enjoy it.

I did however try to watch it in English once, no thanks.

[President Merkin]

Dutch film, The vanishing, I remember being an uncomfortable watch, not surprising as it dealt with kidnap at the hands of a psychopath. I think there was a bang average Hollywood remake in the early 1990's.

[shirt]

P5BNij said:

Two thoughts occur here, I think you either ‘get’ a film or you don’t, or the film ‘gets you’ or it doesn’t. Hopefully that makes sense

Agree but also think that with any kind of art that has as much cultural/stylistic impact as artistic, then it becomes much copied. If watching/listening decades later then that style and culture feels very familiar and so you’re the effect is greatly reduced.

I think this is what made la dolce vita such a slog for me, what was left just felt weak and even a bit weird.

[President Merkin]

La Dolce vita is a gap in my history. We get the word Paparazzi from that film, don't we?

[Skeptisk]

President Merkin said:

Dutch film, The vanishing, I remember being an uncomfortable watch, not surprising as it dealt with kidnap at the hands of a psychopath. I think there was a bang average Hollywood remake in the early 1990's.

Didn’t the US version have a happy ending? Which missed the point of the original.

[President Merkin]

Skeptisk said:

Didn’t the US version have a happy ending? Which missed the point of the original.

Couldn't tell you, I never got round to it after seeing the reviews. Pretty sure Tarantino took a big chunk out of The Vanishing for Kill Bill part two where Beatrix is buried alive although that might just be my imagination.

[Skeptisk]

The Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman. With a very young Max von Sydow.

Le Prenom. French comedy about new parents choosing a controversial name for their newborn.

Tatie Danielle - French black comedy about a mean old lady.

A Silent Voice - great Japanese animation about a deaf girl and they boy who bullied here at middle school.

Anything by Ghibli

Your Name and Weathering with you. Another couple of Japanese animated films from recent years.

Die Schweizermacher (The Swissmakers) satirical Swiss film about bureaucrats checking out foreigners applying to be Swiss (might be funnier if you’ve lived there and suffered the Swiss).

Edited by Skeptisk on Friday 9th February 11:59

[Radec]

Farha it's on Netflix

In line with current events, middle eastern film about a teenage Palestinian girl who goes through the 1948 Nakba.

Very good film and some scenes that are a hard watch.

[DJFish]

Hill92 said:

Fauda - Israeli undercover special forces drama

Deutschland 83 - German spy drama

I’m watching Fauda at the moment, very good, very gritty.

Deutschland 83 And the following series were excellent, really captured the zeitgeist (yes, I know how that makes me sound!)

The thing I like about subtitled films & programmes is that you really have to ‘watch’ them….

Das Boot is another classic that’s much better in the original language.

[flatlandsman]

La Heine one of the best films ever made bar none.

And Das Boot the original tv versions in German are simply magnificent.

[Hill92]

The Count said:

DJFish said:

The thing I like about subtitled films & programmes is that you really have to ‘watch’ them….

and there's the rub. Many people today are multi viewing (i'm guilty at times) and not getting the full, immersive experience.
Laptop, phone and juggling the TV for attention. With subtitles, you have to concentrate and take it all in.

On the other hand, streaming services are bringing foreign language content to new audiences beyond the art house cinema and late night TV slots. partly because they need different content markets and it's cheaper to acquire/produce high quality content outside the traditional US/UK cultural bubbles and market it globally

There is also various countries trying to copy the Korean Wave cultural phenomenon to open up new markets for their economies and develop soft power.

So there's a lot more foreign language content being consumed at all levels these days.

[SlimJim16v]

Cronos - interesting 'vampire' tale, which I didn't realise was an early del Toro film.

[CSLchappie]

A mixed bag of goodies, one or two may have already been mentioned,

The Devil's Backbone

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256009/

Prisoner of the Mountain

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116754/

Pretty Village Pretty Flame

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116860/

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8613070/

Preparations to be Together for an Extended Period of Time

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12564514/

The Quiet Girl

One of the most beautiful films I've seen in years, half Gaelic / english

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15109082/

Petite Maman

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13204490/

[mikef]

President Merkin said:

gt40steve said:

Welcome to the Sticks (Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis)

A pleasant French comedy, from 2008 if I remember correctly.
Comedy, love story, we found it funny and well worth the sub titles.

I think that is a very under the radar film that more people should see. Warm hearted & a decent recurring gag around a guy from the riviera forced to work in Normandy, who can't understand a word anyone is saying to him.

It’s about the Nord region rather than Normandy - Bergues, just south of Dunkirk. The linguistic gags are around the Picard dialect - “les meubles, c’est les chiens”

Another great French comedy is Les Visiteurs, about a knight and his servant transported to modern France. Even if you didn’t suffer through years of Old French at uni, the visual gags are superb

Edited by mikef on Saturday 10th February 22:42