Foreign Language Hall of Fame

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movies can be okay...
The first time I saw "La Haine", I loved it to bits. The second time I watched it, it was a random revisit, and I surprisingly couldn't stand it, and thought it was so mediocre that I stopped it midway through. Who the hell knows what will happen the next time I check it out.
__________________
"A film has to be a dialogue, not a monologue — a dialogue to provoke in the viewer his own thoughts, his own feelings. And if a film is a dialogue, then it’s a good film; if it’s not a dialogue, it’s a bad film."
- Michael "Gloomy Old Fart" Haneke



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
One thing I should of mentioned in my earlier post, is how ****ing well the director blends reality with fiction. It's all done so smoothly, and I bet this gift of his will still have a presence in "Paprika" and "Tokyo Godfathers"
I've heard a few comments regarding that which is why I need to finally watch both of them completely and look forward to seeing millennium now.
(and yes, completely misspelled millennium just now)

He also did an excellent job of that with Perfect Blue when it came to was real, what was being created during a filming and what was perceived by the leading character.



One thing I should of mentioned in my earlier post, is how ****ing well the director blends reality with fiction. It's all done so smoothly, and I bet this gift of his will still have a presence in "Paprika" and "Tokyo Godfathers"
While Tokyo Godfathers is quite straight-forward, there is definitely a lot of blending of reality and dreams in Paprika - it's basically the entire premise of the film.



Let the night air cool you off
I am starting to think that 17 might be too big of a number for me. I committed early on and didn't expect the number to grow this large. And as far as I can tell, nobody has watched my nom yet. I think, and hopefully this doesn't upset or disappoint anyone, I'll withdraw from this one. It's a bit too intimidating for me.



Sorry to hear that JJ, but it's completely understandable. I didn't expect so many people to join either haha.

Thanks for letting us know early. I'll send a PM to everyone now.



You guys have no idea how many times I've misspelt "millennium" since this started.

Maybe by the time this HoF is over, I'll get it right on the first try haha.
Mate, it happens.





The Age of Shadows / 밀정
(2016)
Director: Kim Jee-woon
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Gong Yoo, Uhm Tae-goo

Although it is set during the Japanese occupation of Korea, an in-depth knowledge of the country's history is not necessary in order to enjoy this film as an espionage thriller. It features a lot of elements traditionally associated with Western film making, while still maintaining its Korean identity and a sense of patriotism, particularly in the final act. There's some great cinematography here, but sometimes the lighting fells a little inauthentic. It does seem intentional, and an attempt to enhance mood, which of course is a fair trade-off, but I would've liked the film to commit more to that aesthetic instead of treading the middle ground between realism and being expressionist.

There were a few times when the performances suddenly became melodramatic or exaggerated, but they typically accompanied scenes that had a more comedic tone, so it's not necessarily a problem, but more of an unexpected change. My favourite actor was definitely the man who repeatedly got slapped in the face by Hashimoto in an early scene. That takes commitment, and I certainly hope they managed to get that right in one take. The film is quite heavy on exposition, which sometimes hinders its pacing. However, the large set pieces in Age of Shadows, most notably the opening moments and a train sequence midway through the film, are absolutely brilliant.

The film is quite long, and I actually thought it was over after the aforementioned climactic train ride. I personally thought that would have been a great place to end the film, especially since the real final act seems less dramatic and a little unimpressive in comparison. I do understand why the film continued on past that point though, since ending it prematurely would've hurt the film's central theme and lessoned the impact of its final message.


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I just added the Foreign Language HoF to the 1st post on the Movie HALL of FAME Archives & Info thread

Those who are new to Hofs might enjoy seeing the Wall of Fame, where all the past winners are honored. Whatever movie wins this HoF will be showcased on the 3rd post which is for the winners of the Specialty Hofs.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
I am starting to think that 17 might be too big of a number for me. I committed early on and didn't expect the number to grow this large. And as far as I can tell, nobody has watched my nom yet. I think, and hopefully this doesn't upset or disappoint anyone, I'll withdraw from this one. It's a bit too intimidating for me.
I do understand, and while I'm sad to see you leave, I truly do respect both your decision and letting everyone know early on.
I applaud you, JJ.



Women will be your undoing, Pépé


The Age of Shadows / 밀정
(2016)
Director: Kim Jee-woon
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Gong Yoo, Uhm Tae-goo

Although it is set during the Japanese occupation of Korea, an in-depth knowledge of the country's history is not necessary in order to enjoy this film as an espionage thriller. It features a lot of elements traditionally associated with Western film making, while still maintaining its Korean identity and a sense of patriotism, particularly in the final act. There's some great cinematography here, but sometimes the lighting fells a little inauthentic. It does seem intentional, and an attempt to enhance mood, which of course is a fair trade-off, but I would've liked the film to commit more to that aesthetic instead of treading the middle ground between realism and being expressionist.

There were a few times when the performances suddenly became melodramatic or exaggerated, but they typically accompanied scenes that had a more comedic tone, so it's not necessarily a problem, but more of an unexpected change. My favourite actor was definitely the man who repeatedly got slapped in the face by Hashimoto in an early scene. That takes commitment, and I certainly hope they managed to get that right in one take. The film is quite heavy on exposition, which sometimes hinders its pacing. However, the large set pieces in Age of Shadows, most notably the opening moments and a train sequence midway through the film, are absolutely brilliant.

The film is quite long, and I actually thought it was over after the aforementioned climactic train ride. I personally thought that would have been a great place to end the film, especially since the real final act seems less dramatic and a little unimpressive in comparison. I do understand why the film continued on past that point though, since ending it prematurely would've hurt the film's central theme and lessoned the impact of its final message.


Has stated before, I'm about halfway through and I HAVE seen the scene you're referring to about the slapping and agree. I hope, for that guy's sake it was one take only.

Haven't reached the train yet, but when I started watching this, it was the opening scene that got me intrigued in this.



Has stated before, I'm about halfway through and I HAVE seen the scene you're referring to about the slapping and agree. I hope, for that guy's sake it was one take only.

Haven't reached the train yet, but when I started watching this, it was the opening scene that got me intrigued in this.
Are you watching it on Netflix? If so, are all the apostrophes in the subtitles upside down for you too? That was kind of amusing, and something you'd expect from a fan sub, not a paid streaming service haha.

Is everyone ok with my nom 'Entre Nos'? I saw a post that said it was hard to track down.
I'm not sure if anyone managed to find a good link for those who can't find it locally. Did you happen to have one?



Women will be your undoing, Pépé
Are you watching it on Netflix? If so, are all the apostrophes in the subtitles upside down for you too? That was kind of amusing, and something you'd expect from a fan sub, not a paid streaming service haha.
Wow, I actually had to look and see, but, yeah, THEY ARE. Never noticed that.
Very weird.
It got me curious so I looked at a few others, and they have different fonts that create a different kind of apostrophe.
Hmm, wonder if that font varies due to which countries it comes from. . . will have to take note of that.




I'm not sure if anyone managed to find a good link for those who can't find it locally. Did you happen to have one?
Ok, I'm not in the habit of supporting copyright infringement but I've managed to upload my digital copy online which can be downloaded . The link is below, but I think this needs to be vetoed by @Yoda as I'm not sure whether it's legit to endorse links on this site, and understandably so. If that's the case maybe you can copy the link Cosmic, and people can contact you for it.

Or I can delete the link and pretend it never happened.



Yeah, can't share any illegal movie download links publicly. I have no concern with you guys distributing it privately, though, just want to be above-board with the law publicly.



Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
The Age of Shadows




I watched this for the first time only last week after seeing the trailer by chance. I picked this for the hall of fame because I think it could be a future classic. A lot of the better known foreign language films are on lists already, but sometimes it’s hard for new ones to break into that, especially if they don’t get wide release or publicity or win many awards outside their country of origin. The Age of Shadows, for instance, was put forward for the Oscars but wasn’t nominated.

I’d sum this up as Jean Pierre Melville meets Park Chan Wook - cool, brooding tension meets high production values and random bursts of violence. This is set in a similar period to Park’s The Handmaiden and has a similar opulent look, and there are certain similarities to Melville’s Army of Shadows about resistance fighters in 1940s France - not just the title.

The Age of Shadows looks amazing, very stylish and more expensive than it probably is. The train sequence is the stand-out - Murder on the Orient Express eat your heart out. It’s incredibly tense and very well done. There’s also a ballsy use of Bolero (previously probably best known in pop culture as being associated with Torville and Dean’s gold medal winning figure skating performance) that could have been naff but was is brilliantly executed. Some shades of Inglourious Basterds there, I thought.

Overall it could have been pacier - there are a few very well done set pieces with some filler moments to stretch out the running time. It is a bit uneven, takes a while to get a handle on the characters and who we’re supposed to root for but the divided and shifting loyalties are sort of the point. Some of the violence - the torture especially - was uncomfortable but then I think it is supposed to be; it’s torture after all. It bothered me a bit that there’s only one woman character who gets tortured in order to facilitate the emotional story of the male character - this seems to be a spy thriller trope because Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (which I also love) has a similar problem. Although at least she is a resistance fighter and not just someone’s love interest. I think the bit with her photograph was a nod to Army of Shadows,
WARNING: "Army of Shadows" spoilers below
in which one of the characters keeps a photograph of her daughter which betrays her identity.


I don’t know very much about the historical period, but that wasn’t necessary. Perhaps the less you know the better it works as a thriller. The film seems to assume that the Korean resistance are the good guys and it’s fairly convincing in the way it carries this across; I didn’t really stop to think about the morality of the situation (which I’m attributing to the conviction of the film rather than any moral deficiency of my own ).

Altogether it gets the thumbs up from me for sheer grandiosity, bravado and style.



“I was cured, all right!”
The Sword of Doom (1966) - Kihachi Okamoto



The film is a jidaigeki (historical film) starring the great Tatsuya Nakadai (Harakiri) and Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo). The synopsis: "Japan, 1860. In the twilight of an Age, we follow the bloody journey of an amoral samurai who kills without compassion or scruples, dedicating his life to evil." Unlike many chanbaras and jidaigekis that accompany the journey of a samurai to the top or questioning ronin, or the unfolding of a mission, we have a dark and cruel story about a ruthless samurai named Ryunosuke (Tatsuya Nakadai) who kills without hesitation. The central character of the movie would be the villain in an ordinary play but Kihachi Okamoto shows us this amoral samurai at the center of the story making us follow his bloody journey. The film is based on a serial novel released through a newspaper in the 1910s and followed for several years. Written by Kaizan Nakazato, the serial novel never had a resolution and likewise The Sword of Doom did not either. Although the film covers only a few parts of the novel, the film is abruptly ended and part of that decision was made by the fact that the film was initially intended to be the first part of a trilogy but has never been continued. The ending that may have irritated many people in its launch works very well from the artistic point of view. Creating a 'climax' and an 'anticlimax' at the same time.


The film (which is in black and white) is wonderful to see, the battle in the forest around the fog, the battle in the snow where Toshiro Mifune kills dozens of enemies in front of Ryunosuke and the violent final sequence in the brothel give us a aesthetic beauty typical of the samurai films of the 60s. If after seeing Harakiri (1962) there is still some doubt that Tatsuya Nakadai is an incredible actor, The Sword of Doom will end this doubt! Although his character here is not as complex as in Masaki Kobayashi's classic, his performance delivers cool cold expressions. Only with the eyes, Nakadai manages to demonstrate his evil personality. Undoubtedly a very versatile actor, watch his performance in The Human Condition to compare. Hiroshi Murai who has worked on photography for so many other films of the genre, such as Samurai Killer for example, delivers here one of his most remarkable works in black and white. The beautiful restored version makes all this even more beautiful!

Little can be said of Toshiru Mifune in the film, he looks great, and although his character does not add anything new to him (as an actor), it is always very enjoyable to see him acting, arguably one of the greats of the genre ! The Sword of Doom may not be the best gateway to the genre but it is undoubtedly an essential movie for movie lovers in general!



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There is also a 60's trilogy directed by Kenji Misumi (Lone Wolf and Cub film series) and Kazuo Mori (Samurai Vendetta), called Satan's Sword, which is an adaptation of the same literary work.