European Film

I'm sure i must've misused the search function and there is already a thread on this.

Anyway, it's bit belated but after Antonioni and Bergman passing, i've been trying to pick up their films, having only seen Blowup out of either of their filmographies. So far i got Persona, Seventh Seal and the The Passenger and they've got me in the mood for more European film from 50s-80s. French New Wave (Godard and Truffuat) is a bit obvious so any other picks to expand my tastes much appreciated.

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Here are some of my favorites from France and Italy. Maybe not the "greatest," but I love all of the following:

Truffault: The 400 Blows
Small Change
(I haven't seen Jules and Jim yet. So sue me. )


Malle: Au Revoir, Les Enfants

Fellini: Amarcord
La Strada

De Sica: The Bicycle Thief

That's all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure others will come up with more.

I just saw the short french (I think) film (The Jetty) that 12 Monkeys was based on and I liked it better than 12 Monkeys so you should see that. of the french new wave directors Louis Malle is by far my favorite, but mostly for the films he made with the American play-writes Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory: My Dinner With Andre and Vanya on 42nd Street. Both are must see but perhaps not in keeping with what you're talking about. I've heard good things about Elevator to the Gallows but haven't seen it yet. Emir Kusturica's (Serbian) film Time of the Gypsies is one of my absolute favorite films of the 80s, but my favorite of his films is the one he made while teaching in America, Arizona Dream. It wouldn't be right not to mention Andrei Tarkovsky. At least see Andrei Rublev and Nostalghia (I still haven't gotten around to The Mirror, Solaris is good but somewhat less so than those other two). Fellini's 8 1/2 is awesome. Have you sees stuff by Herzog? Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo and Heart of Glass are my favorites. Forbidden Games is a good older French film. Last Year at Marienbad and Hiroshima mon Amour are both interesting (the latter is much more accessible and should probably be seen first).

Cheers Lines, i've got [8 1/2 though only made it half way through, seen La Dolce Vita as well which was disappointing. Herzog was one of the names i was trying to remember, only seen Aguirre. Borrowed La Jetee and Solaris (Tarkovsky) but never had time to watch either.

Oh and Time of the Gypsies has just been upped on Cinematik, another one to bookmark

If you enjoyed the stark imagery and existentialist undertones of The Seventh Seal, you might enjoy some of the non-narrative and documentary films of the European cinema, I would suggest particularly Alain Resnais's The Night and the Fog and Herzog's Fata Morgana and Lessons in Darkness, all bleakly, viscerally imagistic films that are perhaps hard to swallow, but incredibly rewarding to the patient viewer.

Demy's THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG.

Crickey!

I'll only recommend a few 'must sees' off the top of my head.

Rififi (1955, Jules Dassin) - The archetypal Noiry heist movie.

Alphaville (1965, Jean Luc Goddard) - Seen Blade Runner? Watch his daddy.

Das Boot (1981, Wolfgang Peterson) - Superlative WWII film from the 'other guy's' point of view. Seems to be permanently £3.99 in Tescos, too, so forget about the chicken nuggets and buy this.

EDIT - Take your pick from Polanski's Knife In The Water (1962) and Repulsion (1965). Better still, watch both of 'em.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Die Blechtrommel from 1979