Foreign Language Hall of Fame

Phoenix

Being sure to only skim over everyone's reviews to allow myself to "discover" this film paid off quite beautifully.

Much of what everyone has to say I do agree with. Nina Hoss, having enjoyed the emotional depth that plays out in the most subtle expressions and in her eyes previously in Barbara, is one of the reasons I was excited to see this. One of the other reasons is past enjoyments of previous German films Cosmic has introduced since seeing her nom, There Are Murderers Among Us in the first 40s HoF.
So, my mindset for the pacing and contemplative journey was well attuned for this.

Like a number of previous films dealing with Germany after WWII we are witness to the aftershock and the first trembling steps towards reconstruction; in this it is of a psychological and emotional aspect. So we explore the pain, guilt and the realization of it all in the very aftermath of such destruction, loss and betrayal.
All of which is set on a more contemplative level which works quite well for me. Centering on Noss' character Nelly. Just returned from a concentration camp. That unfathomable emotional and mental weight includes reconstructive surgery of her face from atrocities visited upon her.
Leaving such a place of torment, her strongest emotional pull is, as it would be for anyone, is to find the sanctuary of home.
And in that, is her, and our journey. A journey that includes, with a new face, an attempt to reconnect to a past with an air of anonymity. Especially when it comes to her husband. Where we see she is no longer the Nelly he knew - how could she be after what she had been through. And we get to see the theory so many in a relationship claim: I would know you anywhere.
I really enjoyed those scenes where Johnny would study her and critique her on how she was getting it wrong and there would be such sadness in her eyes at his refusal to recognize her.

The culmination of it all in that final scene as she, at first stumbles over the words and then begins to sing, and he, begins to see that it IS her and the guilty impact of such.
A very powerful and excellent ending to this film.

Bravo @CosmicRunaway!! Bravo

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Thanks ed! Great write-up.

A lot of my nominations do seem to have a similar tone, don't they? haha

While I was considering another German film for the 30s HoF, I ultimately went with something quite different than usual. I'm interested to see how people will react to it in comparison to my usual nominations.

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Yeah, it's been kind of like a really bad Holiday Advert for post war Germany, as it were

I am kinda of boggled wondering in what direction are you going off the usual path?
A Laurel & Hardy film, perhaps? Who knows!
Paint me curious!

I don't think it'll be all that hard to figure out when the list comes out which will be mine though.

Not for me it won't

I guess I miss creepily going through people's posts looking for hidden immunity idols in Survivor, since I decided to take a look myself haha.

I found this review for Umbrellas and a shorter one for Sword of Doom. If you don't have anything new to say about either I can use those. I don't have to link to them, but I just think the list will look more complete if I did. More consistent, or something.

Umbrellas of Cherbourg

I watched this blindly after JJ recommended it in a decade specific thread. When they started singing everything in the beginning, I thought WTF, he was putting us on? Of course, I'm not a musical fan and had never seen a foreign language musical or one in this style where they sing all of the dialogue. It didn't matter because I quickly became hooked, and it was actually the story that hooked me. I'm a sucker for love stories that don't go according to plan. I get emotional watching the good ones and I think the music in this, which is not my usual taste, only enhanced my feelings. On top of that, it's one of the most incredible looking movies I've ever seen, and overall it became one of my most beautiful movie watching experiences. It is definitely in my top 4 musicals along with The Blues Brothers, The Wizard of Oz, and Singin' in the Rain. Those 4 stand head and shoulders above any other for me.

The Sword of Doom

I think the 50's and 60's were absolutely amazing for Japanese film, and it has produced many favorites for me. I believe I have seen the majority of well known essential films from that time, but I still find the occasional gem. I swear that I put this on my watchlist because it was in Loner's top 10, but I can't find it there now. The story and how it plays out, which I think is open to interpretation, is not one of my favorites. I just loved watching it. A big part of that is due to the performance of Tatsuya Nakadai, who is incredible not only in this, but other great films as well. This also has my favorite Japanese actor, and one of my favorite actors overall, Toshiro Mifune. He doesn't have a big role but I think he still adds so much. He has such a powerful presence and voice that commands attention. Both of these guys starred in Samurai Rebellion, another HOF nomination from me that did very well. This movie is much more action oriented than Rebellion, and it's just alot of fun. It is also another movie that is beautifully filmed. That scene in the snow is wow. I'd probably give it a perfect rating if the story was more to my liking.

+

Tatsuya Nakadai's partially shaved head in Samurai Rebellion must have thrown me off because I didn't recognize that was the same actor until now haha.

And of course he's also the star of the epic Human Condition trilogy.

I've really liked all the 50s-60s Japanese films that I've seen. I don't think there's has been one that I disliked. But I haven't seen many, I know you've seen a lot, but I don't think most of us have. So hopefully more will be nominated in the future....hint hint

Just adding the films so people can prioritize between the ones they have to see (Thelma, Leopard, Age of Shadows, Umbrellas) and ones they can likely put off till the final week (Belier Family, Entre Nos)

Samsara is a one man's journey type film. It's the story of a young boy who grows up in this monastery but upon his sexual awakening he finds a girl gets married and settles down. I was really into the story for the first forty minutes but once the lead character left the monastery I feel like the film lost focus and just rambled on. I liked the characters well enough which is unusual for a foreign film normally it's difficult to balance multiple characters this one did a fairly good job. I just think that the editing could have tightened up the story a bit more and made it flow a bit better.



I don't know if I'm going to remember much about this is in two weeks.

The Saragossa Manuscript

I'd guess that in it's time and location, which was communist Poland 1965 that this film worked well. I've noticed that films from that region of the world often are big on folk lore. Which makes sense as those countries have a long history of peasant folk stories being used as narrative in song, dance, plays and with the advent of film...in movies.

What I thought was interesting was how similar the comedy elements were to films being made in Hollywood during the mid 60s. Whenever I think of American mid 60s comedies I think of the whimsical, wink at the audience, carefree type of humor. Which unfortunately I can't stand. The Saragossa Manuscript reminded me of a well known British comedy Tom Jones (1963), a film I also can't stand. Luckily here the comedy elements weren't that obvious....

But the film was sure long! I guess if you've stood in line all day to get a sack of potatoes, then going to the local communist theater to see a 3 hour movie would be a joy. I might have liked this a bit more at 90 minutes, as the story within a story idea grew tiring after awhile, but at first seemed neat.

I did like the lead actor, he was really good at getting emotions across with his face...I swear I've seen him before, but nay I doubt it. My favorite parts were his interaction with the two Muslim sisters. Were they identical twins in real life? At times they looked like it. The server girl with one exposed breast was funny in a odd way. But it wasn't sexy at all, just odd to see a wardrobe look like that.

I liked the desert rocks and the strangeness of it, but I think the film showed that too many times and it lost some of it's effectiveness. Same with all the skulls and the skull chalice...after awhile they looked more like props, but I bet the communist workers were impressed back in the day.

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He must look like another actor, because I felt the exact same way. I don't think I've seen any other Polish films though, so I doubt I would've seen him in anything else.

I know! I've been trying to figure out who he looks like? and no luck...

Whenever I couldn't place why an actor looked so familiar despite never having seen their films before, there would almost always be a thread on their IMDB page with someone claiming the actor looks like someone else. Sometimes people would argue over which other actor they looked like more, and reading through it would often make me realize who I thought they looked like.

That's the one thing I miss about the IMDB forums haha.

We have a thread like that.

https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ad.php?t=12113

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Yes! It reminded me of Tom Jones too. The 60s sex comedy vibe but also the storytelling aspect.

As a general rule, I am not fond of nominations as long as this or The Leopard. For every nomination, there's going to be someone who doesn't enjoy it. A long movie will make the experience that much worse for whoever that is. As far as this movie goes, I had no idea what to expect. I at least knew that I had agreed with Nemanja more often than not over the years. At first, I didn't know if the movie was humorous or dumb. Once I realized the comedy was intentional, I was good with it. I wasn't expecting comedy, and it wasn't my preference, but it worked for me. I really did think it was funny. Most of it was fairly subtle, and much of it reminded me of one of my previous nominations, Smiles of a Summer Night. There were brief moments that I thought of Monty Python. I liked the whole premise of the movie, and I thought all of the side stories and characters kept the movie fresh. All of the characters had personality. The result for me was that it was never dull and I was surprisingly entertained. The women didn't hurt. With the exception of the girl with the boob out and some hideous creature that made a brief appearance with about a half hour left, this movie had a stunning collection of beauties. There was also a cameo by a very attractive cat. Coincidence? I think not! The film's musical score and it's general sound quality were exceptional, and it was a visual delight. I even enjoyed the supernatural element, or whatever you want to call it. I'd say there was a good amount that I didn't completely understand, including the ending. About an hour in, I thought to myself that this is a terrific movie but I can't picture ever watching it again. I can now say that I would watch it again. When part 1 was over, I thought there's no way part 2 can be as good. It was. I enjoyed it all the way through and it appeared to me to be a great accomplishment.