Ever Watch a Foreign TV Series?

I just started watching a TV miniseries called "Gutta Boys", a neat little series from Norway. It is about a 12 year old boy who makes a to do list of things he wants to accomplish when he gets out of the hospital. It seems he was sick enough that the doctors thought he wouldn't make it. Think "The Bucket List" with a bunch of Norwegian kids. The three things on his list are:

1. Shoot an arrow into the air and stand underneath it.
2. Jump off a cliff into a lake.
3. Play strip poker.

It is a seven part series that tends to lean more toward the dramatic than most US TV series, but a delightful fare nonetheless. Any other series out there that are worth taking a look at?

Blue Cowboy

A few that come to mind, all a bit on the darker side.

The Decalogue, a ten part miniseries made by Krzysztof Kieslowski for Polish television.


Rainer Werner Fassbinder's thirteen part Berlin Alexanderplatz available on Criterion.


And Lars Von Trier's The Kingdom.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I used to watch a lot of American TV series. That counts, right? Me being English and all.....

I have seen The Decalogue too.

But other than that, I can't say that I have.

The Kingdom was good. I prefered it to the Stephen King version, though I should mention that I saw Von Trier's version first, so I was comparing the two.

There's a few I've seen, I just wish I'd seen more.

My current favourite is Wallander (the Swedish version, not the UK one with Kenneth Branagh. I like that one too, but as I'm English, it's not foreign to me.) Series 2 of the Swedish version starts 'in the spring' over here.

There's a couple of good French programmes I've seen. The excellent Spiral (of which I know there are, at least, two series) and a two part drama called The Poisoner. I saw a few episodes of the Italian detective programme, Inspector Montalbano and I liked that. And there's the Brazilian, City Of Men, of course.

Going back a bit, I saw Das Boot (the mini series.) I saw that before I saw the film. In fact, I saw that before I knew it was a film.

The German series Heimat is supposed to be really good too, but I've not seen it. I've not seen The Decaloque either, even though I've wanted to for the last 15 bloody years. One day I'll get round to it.

I have seen the movie "Das Boot" a couple of times. I was not aware it was originally a miniseries. That is one I'll have to find. Anyone have an idea where I can find it?

BlueCowboy

Those Koreans lnow how to do longish historical serial drams with style. About a month ago I saw the end of The Iron Empress, a real trip. The first one I caught about half way through was The Age of Warriors. I've seen several others, but I don't remember the exact titles, every one of them was first rate. The Japanese do them, too, but theirs can be pretty pokie. A few of them have been outstanding. I'll see if I can find a Korean one on youtube.
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What I saw had subtitles, but this is still something to look at.

Here you go, BC.

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/15639...s/Product.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Das-Boot-Min...5678094&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Das-Boot-Min...5678094&sr=1-1

Can't believe I forgot this!! Luckily, will's post reminded me.


I don't know if you can get it subtitled or not (I've only seen the dubbed version) but I used to love this as a kid. Brilliant theme tune too. All together now...

#Born from an egg on a mountain top#

And, although I've never seen it myself, this was supposed to be great, too.

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OMG!--the b e s t foreign series ever is the French detective series Maigret with Bruno Crémer which ran from 1993-2002.

Each episode was shot on film and runs ~:90mins.

When I saw the titel for this thread I thought of Wallander. I've seen about 4 episodes of it, and I think it's great! I definitely recomend it.

I watch a lot of them. I have a DVD collection that started with "Midsomer Murders" a detective series from the UK. I like it so much I started taking a chance by buying others that I had never seen before. Now I have.....

Hamish MacBeth
Ballykissangel
Rosemary and Thyme
The Last Detective
Foyles War
Campion
To Serve Them All My Days
and Murdock Mysteries from Canada

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I've spent several years in Hollywood, and I still think the movie heroes are in the audience. ~Wilson Mizner

A very good Canadian series from the past is Da Vinci's Inquest with an astonishingly good actor in the lead role. Unfortunately, when it was syndicated in the United States they didn't include all the episodes and only the first three seasons are on DVD with no plans to do the rest. The first two years are on Hula. But I think, and it is kind of odd, it's better to watch them on the IMDb site because they have the original Canadian credits intro and the ones on Hula have the ones from the show syndicated in the U.S.

I almost watch nothing but foreign tv-series. I'm Danish so every America/english show I watch is foreign to me.

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Don't talk out loud, Anderson. You lower the IQ of the whole street.

2 series that I could watch over and over again....

Brideshead Revisited
(England, early 1980's).

Misfits (England, 2010 or so)

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Under-the-radar Movie Awesomeness.
http://earlsmoviepicks.blogspot.com/

Misfits
Being Human

I like the following, especially Engrenages.

Engrenages/Spiral - two more series on the way!
The Decalogue
Forbrydelsen/The Killing - Second series starting this month here, can't wait.
Riget/The Kingdom
Wallander

Shimmy



Fine Canadian programming.

Being Human
Are You Being Served
Fawlty Towers
The Inbetweeners
Dead Set (mini-series guess that counts)
Red Dwarf

My favorite type of drama is asian. All my favorite tv series are asian.
My favorite of all time(made me cry like a baby in every single episode)is a korean drama called "Sorry, i Love You", starring my favorite actress of all time, Im Soo Jung.
This drama is brilliant and incredibly sad.

My other favorite foreign tv series(all asian):

Raifu(Life)- Japanese drama about bullying.

Hon(Soul)- Korean supernatural drama. It's a horror, romance and tragedy.

1 Litre of Tears - Japanese drama based on the true story of 15 year old Aya Kitō. Based on the diary she wrote while dying with a horrible disease called spinocerebellar Degeneration. In the series, it's about how she tried to fight her own disease.
Her diary was published shortly before her death.

She died at 25 years old.

Akai Ito(Threads of Destiny)- Japanese drama about 2 teenagers that love each other but never seem to end up together. But somehow, they are connected by fate and always seem to find each other again.

Kou Kou Kyoushi(means Teacher)- Japanese drama about a teacher and a student who fall in love with each other. He(the teacher)knows that it is wrong, so he tries not to get involved with her. Though they become friends. It has romance and drama.
One of the main subjects in this, is death.

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~Mad enough. Do you see yourself? The seeds of your destruction were sown long ago, and now he will reap the harvest. He owns your mind; you've just been renting. You owe a debt and he will collect.~

I am watch a lot of American TV series. That counts, right? Me being English and all.

A Dane who didn't recommend the outrageously brilliant Forbrydelsen or, as we know it over here, The Killing?!?!? Hang your head in shame.

BTW, do you know if the rumours of Forbrydelsen III are true?

Anyone who's only seen the US version of The Killing, please do yourself a favour and track this down.