Thursday, June 9, 2011

Foreign Movie Recommendations

I randomly do deep dives into the film offerings of a country, often just before I'm going to travel there or for a random reason that's piqued my interest. Plenty of other movies just catch my eye because they're up for awards, of course, but I also get ideas from internet lists by country (especially when soon traveling there) plus suggestions from friends and contacts at any time. Then, based on what I can get my hands on, I watch away.

Unfortunately, it's hard in some cases to say which country a movie is truly made in, and in some countries - like Canada and Great Britain - there can be a sizeable overlap with the U.S. movie industry. In any event, what's below is a small subset of foreign flicks I've checked out and particularly like. Some even have the tiniest of descriptions following their title.

I'm always happy to get more recommendations! (Most foreign films I've seen or entire countries are not listed here, so I might already have seen what's recommended.)


ARGENTINA
La Ciénaga (The Swamp) - dir. Lucrecia Martel
An Argentine family retreats to their country home under the most sweltering of conditions. They're a bourgeois mess, and their servants have to put up with them both at the house and in the nearby town. It's not pretty, everyone's sweating buckets, yet it's rather compelling in its odd lack of drama nonetheless.
Nueve Reinas - dir. Fabián Bielinsky
Two con artists work a grand scam - or each other. Pieces keep falling in and out of place, so it's hard to keep the eye on the prize - which is to actually understand the exact scam being run.
Relatos Salvajes/Wild Tales - Argentina,Spain - dir. Damián Szifron
Six shorts that fully intend to grab your attention, and do, one not necessarily more or less shocking than the previous or the next, but all worth an eyeball and generally graphic to boot.
Rojo - dir. Benjamin Naishtat
A lawyer of some local repute finds himself in an odd argument with an unknown man in a restaurant, leading to surprising ramifications. A mysterious tone pervades, and this is not yet another retelling of the dark years of the junta in spite of its happening on the verge of its arrival.
El Secreto de sus Ojos (The Secret In Their Eyes) - dir. Juan José Campanella
Past and present combine to help solve an old murder mystery in Buenos Aires. Good intrigue and a twist or two.


AUSTRALIA
The Castle - dir. Rob Sitch
Mad Max: Fury Road - dir. George Miller
A visual feast if not much of a plot, but there never really is in Mad Max land. Water is being hoarded by a cultlike organization that has various tankers driven by star drivers. It seems that everyone else is loaded on some kind of drug or in tattered rags and barely life. Enter a star driver - Charlize Theron - who decides to go rogue at the same time as Max escapes from his prison within the cult's walls (where his blood is being drained for use as long as he's alive. Again, this is a visual feast. And nothing more.
Picnic At Hanging Rock - dir. Peter Weir
The Proposition - dir. John Hillcoat
In the Outback of Australia, a gang of brothers and their associates wreaks havoc. When two of the brothers are captured, one is kept to be hung shortly if the other - who is freed - doesn't kill the brother who is the leader of the gang. The flies, the heat, the horrific treatment of aborigines who are seen as subhuman by British colonizers, the blood and the more blood. A revisionist western in Australia that is a credit to the genre.
Shine - dir. Scott Hicks


BRAZIL
Black Orpheus - dir. Marcel Camus
The classic and definite film that helped popularize the bossa nova craze that Brazil unleashed on the world.
City Of God - dir. Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund


CHILE
Nostalgia de la Luz - dir. Patricio Guzmán
Focusing on the Atacama desert of Northern Chile, the two very different worlds of astronomy - Atacama hosts some of the most advanced observatories in the world - and loss - as in the victims of General Pinochet who were encarcerated, killed, and dumped in the desert - are brought together. Interestingly, this works to bring forward a discussion about the "Disappeareds" that Chilean society (at least up to 2012) chooses all too often to ignore as inconveniently ugly and distasteful.


CANADA
Exotica - dir. Atom Egoyan
Nothing is as it seems in a stripclub that aspires to be a classier such, where both the DJ and a client keep an unhealthy amount of interest in one particular dancer. This mysterious onion slowly unravels, cleverly and surprisingly.


CHINA/HONG KONG/TAIWAN
Chun King Express (Hong Kong) - dir. Wong Kar-wai
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - dir. Ang Lee
The Emperor and the Assassin - dir. Chen Kaige
In the Mood For Love (Hong Kong & France) - dir. Wong Kar-wai
In 1962 Hong Kong, two couples find rooms to let in adjacent residences... as their marriages begin to fall apart. Cheating leads to longing and possible romance, under pacing, cinematography, and music to have a classy sheen drape all over this one.
The Story of Qui Ju - dir. Yi-Mou Zhang


COLOMBIA
The Colors Of The Mountain - dir. Carlos César Arbeláez
Guerrilla war descends in earnest on a small town in Colombia, where the local peasantry are forced to take a side or risk the consequences. As seen through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy, whose birthday soccer ball wastes no time in being held hostage to a suddenly-discovered minefield.
Maria Full of Grace - dir. Joshua Marston
Rosario Tijeras - dir. Emilio Maillé
Based on narco events in Medellin, a girl from the tough side of the barrios and a presence that oozes sex makes her way. In the meantime, both on her account and the drug trade, bodies start dropping bloodily to the wayside.


CZECH REPUBLIC
I Served The King Of England - dir. Jiří Menzel


DENMARK
After the Wedding - dir. Susanne Bier
Breaking the Waves - dir. Lars von Trier
Festin (The Celebration) - dir. Thomas Vinterberg
The Square - dir. Ruben Östlund
A short slice in time concerning the job of a man running a modern art museum in Scandanavia, royally taking the piss out of the entire scene in using the exact language and content one finds in that world.


FRANCE
Blue - dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
In the first of the trilogy, Juliette Binoche is a sudden widow from a car crash that took both her husband and small daughter. She tries to learn to cope with this massive loss, but she also must soon deal with the discovery that all was not completely aboveboard in her marriage relationship - both romantically and professionally.
White - dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
A Polish hairdresser living in France is divorced at the outset of the movie by his beautiful wife (Julie Delpy) for not performing his consummation duties as husband. He flounders about Paris and then Poland before figuring out what he might be able to do to win her back in this odd but definitely winning comedy.
Red - dir. Krzysztof Kieślowski
The last of the trilogy centers on a young woman model who returns a dog she hits with her car to its owner, only to soon find that he's a judge who could care less and is in the middle of a depressing life crisis that has an oddly criminal element. Over time they learn about each other as some events come to a head.
The 400 Blows - dir. François Truffaut
In an apparently somewhat autobiographical telling, a boy in Paris goes through the routine of (1) attending school at a learn-by-rote institution that he rebels against and (2) dealing with the mixed amount of love and annoyance he gets from his parents. So he thinks of escape and perhaps living on the streets... whatever that entails. A nice time capsule of 60s Paris and adolescence.
Day For Night - dir. François Truffaut
A movie within a movie, including a director who's being directed by a director. This is almost a mockumentary before they became a thing, where the camera follows a movie under production and all of the highs and lows, seriousness and silliness of the entire venture. There's work to be done, egos to be stroked, details to be attended to. A fine ode to the industry.
Amelie - dir. Milos Foreman
Amelie lives in her own little world in Paris, an innocent looking to help others and perhaps find love in the process. A most French of gems.
The Artist - dir. Michel Hazanavicius
There's no subterfuge involved in this homage to old Hollywood and the day of the silent movie. But that doesn't make it the less entertaining as the baton is passed to the "talkie" movies via the biggest actor from the silent age and an ingenue.
La Belle Époque - dir. Nicolas Bedos
The Class - dir. Laurent Cantet
A teacher struggles with students that seem vastly more concerned with challenging than learning from him. Inner city Paris or the nearby banliues form the milieu.
Delicatessen - dir. Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Diaboliques - dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot
La Femme Nikita - dir. Luc Besson
Indochine - dir. Régis Wargnier
Jean de Florette - dir. Claude Berri
Ma Vie en Rose - dir. Alain Berliner
The Sisters Brothers - Jacques Audiard
If there were more westerns that were like this, I'd like westerns. Joaquin Phoenix and John O'Reilly are two gunslingers for hire in the Old West out to collect their bounty of sorts. It's the little, sometimes comic details that take this one beyond merely gorgeous cinematography.


GERMANY
Das Boot - dir. Wolfgang Petersen
The classic German WWII flick about a U-Boat putting to sea in the Atlantic with a green crew but a seasoned caption - and a journalist. Morale, courage, wisdom and wit - all come into play now that the Allies have learned to fight back against this menace to the supply lines.
Go For Zucker (Alles Auf Zucker) - dir. Dani Levy
Europa, Europa - dir. Agnieszka Holland
The Lives of Others - dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Nasty Girl - dir. Michael Verhoeven
In this documentary, young woman confronts her small town's participation during WWII. They'd rather it all just be forgotten, for the most part...
Run, Lola, Run - dir. Tom Tykwer
Stalingrad (1993) - dir. Joseph Vilsmaier
The Tin Drum - dir. Volker Schlöndorff


GREAT BRITAIN/UNITED KINGDOM
Excalibur - dir. John Boorman
A gorgeous retelling of the King Arthur legend, from a wisecracking Merlin to a devilish Morgana (and her incestuous child) to some beautiful uses of Mozart's Requiem and Carmina Burana. Beautiful.
Dr. Strangelove - dir. Stanley Kubrick
One of Kubrick's best, comically exploring the ridiculousness of the nuclear arms race and the dangers that are inherent to it beyond the obvious one of a nuclear warhead exploding over a city. It's the dominos of bluffmanship that get there.
A Clockwork Orange - dir. Stanley Kubrick
Kubrick's landmark dystopian movie set in the near future, where crime has run rampant and the gangs starting to take over are only looking for the next thrill. So society tries a version of aversion therapy on a scale not tried before, using drugs to repulse someone in viewing the world as they (previously?) did.
Full Metal Jacket - dir. Stanley Kubrick
2001: A Space Odyssey - dir. Stanley Kubrick
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels - dir. Guy Ritchie
A very London heist movie, dancing on different sides of the underworld as some novices try to edge their way in.
Casino Royale - dir. Martin Campbell
Chariots of Fire - dir. Hugh Hudson
The Crying Game - dir.
The heydey of the IRA conflict in the UK is taken to a very human level, where love, gender, and duty intertwine and allow for no easy escape.
The English Patient - dir. Anthony Minghella
The Following - dir. Christopher Nolan
This bank heist flick is Nolan's first time out trying the short term memory condition made much more famous in Memento. I think this is the better stab at it.
Hi Fidelity - dir. Stephen Frears
In The Name Of The Father - dir. Jim Sheridan
The Meaning of Life - dir. Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam
My favorite of the Monty Python offerings, with the most quotable moments and, frankly, the most philosophical take the troupe has on offer. It is, indeed, the meaning of life.
Midnight Express - dir. Alan Parker
Romeo Is Bleeding - dir. Peter Medak
The Rutles/All You Need Is Cash - dir. Gary Weis, Eric Idle
The rise of the Beatles story told from another angle, more crass and comedic, of course, given that this comes from a (Monty) Python.
Secrets and Lies - dir. Mike Leigh
Sense And Sensibility - dir. Ang Lee
Sexy Beast - dir. Jonathan Glazer
Shakespeare in Love - dir. John Madden
The Tango Lesson - dir. Sally Potter
To Die For - dir. Gus Van Sant
Perhaps Nicole Kidman's best role, where she plays a striver who'll do anything to become a somebody, a celebrity, on TV. Darkly humorous.
Trainspotting - dir. Danny Boyle
In Scotland, several friends live on the edge of the mainstream public, catching as catch can and playing with heroin's deadly fire in the meantime. No paean to the glories of heroin, but it doesn't downplay its deadly draw when things are otherwise going so hot. There's some wicked humor here.
T2 Trainspotting - dir. Danny Boyle
A sequel that performs the rare feat of living up to the original, here twenty years later. Virtually the entire cast from before returns to deal with how the story left off after the heist and its ramifications.


IRAN
The Salesman - dir. Asghar Farhadi
A couple of actors, a couple, move between apartments, only to find that the previous occupant of their new apartment has left a legacy that will come to affect them as well. An interesting look into contemporary Iran, which in so many surprising ways seems like everywhere else, imams, censors, or no.


IRELAND
The Commitments - dir. Alan Parker
The Secret of Roan Inish - dir. John Sayles
My Left Foot - dir. Jim Sheridan


ITALY
Amarcord - dir. Federico Fellini
Cinema Paradiso - dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
8 1/2 - dir. Federico Fellini
Life Is Beautiful - dir. Roberto Benigni
Malena - dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
The Tree Of Wooden Clogs - dir. Ermanno Olmi
Using non-actors, this is three hours showing a slice of life in rural Italy around 1900. It's essentially still a feudal society, and that's abundantly clear in following several peasant families working on the estate of a wealthy landowner.


JAPAN
Tokyo Story - dir. Yasujiro Ozu
The most acclaimed work by the acclaimed director, a simple story of an elderly couple making their way to Tokyo to visit their children. What responsibilities do the children have for seeing that their parents have a good visit, and how much should the parents impose themselves on their children. Calmly handled and messaged, these points play out in terms of guilt felt or assigned.
Tampopo - dir. Juzo Itami


MACEDONIA
Honeyland - dir. Ljubomir Stefanov & Tamara Kotevska
A documented year or so of a woman living on the far off fringes of the modern world, keeping her bees and caring for her mother as a family temporarily moves to her derelict village of two to try to similarly make it while imposing on her. Poignant.


MEXICO
21 Grams - dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
Amores Perros - dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
Babel - dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu
Roma - dir. Alfonso Cuarón
A family in Mexico City heavily relies on its maids for its everyday existence, but the question is whether they actually see them or not as people as well, not to mention equals. It's complicated...


NEW ZEALAND
The Piano - dir. Jane Campion


NORWAY
The Worst Person in the World - dir. Joachim Trier
A woman makes her way through her twenties and into her thirties, stumbling and bumbling through her life choices but not without considering them to the best of her ability. An appealing, greatly nuanced flick.


POLAND
Knife in the Water - dir. Roman Polanski
My Life As a Dog - dir. Lasse Hallström


RUSSIA/FORMER SOVIET UNION
Alexander Nevsky - dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Battleship Potemkin - dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Come and See - dir. Elem Klimov
Prisoner of the Mountains - dir. Sergei Bodrov


SOUTH KOREA
Burning - dir. Lee Chang-dong
An young aspiring writer meets a pretty girl from his village by chance, is afforded a surprising chance at love, but things take a turn or two when she leaves for a vacation to Africa and a mysterious other man enters the mix.
ParasiteBong Joon-ho
This one gets darker than expected, but damn it's good. A family of con artists latch onto a wealthy family that they see as the perfect mark to help their finances significantly. Things begin to spin out of control all too soon, though, in trying to keep the ruse together.


SPAIN
Amantes (Lovers) - dir. Vicente Aranda
Intacto - dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Matador - dir. Pedro Almodóvar


SWEDEN
The Seventh Seal - dir. Ingmar Bergman
Together - dir. Lukas Moodysson


TURKEY
Mustang - dir. Deniz Gamze Ergüven
This flick perfectly captures the struggle between the Islamic and modern worlds, where women are essentially treated not much better than marriageable chattel far too often. Five young sisters find their world suddenly constricted in a massive way when a neighbor deems them too free and easy in their relationships with their local male schoolmates.


YUGOSLAVIA (FORMERLY)
No Man's Land - dir. Conor Allyn
Time of the Gypsies - dir. Emir Kusturica