Last great Foreign Film you saw

Was that your first Ozu? I watched Tokyo Story awhile ago but was thinking about checking out some of his other stuff, like this one or An Autumn Afternoon (his color films look pretty stunning).

__________________
"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock

Tokyo Story was my first. This is my second. And not my last.

__________________
Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

The Yôjirô Takita directed Okuribito (Departures). An elegant and touching film.

__________________

His first rate stuff:

Late Spring

I Was Born, But...

An Autumn Afternoon

Early Summer

After watching a half dozen Ozu I recommend for you to watch Tokyo Story again. You will have a better mastery of his style.

^Have you seen Floating Weeds? I know Ebert loved that one quite a lot.

Yes. I didn't like it as much as those 4 above. Though all Ozu I have watched is at least .

__________________

Would you consider anime a foreign film? If so, the last good one I watched was Princess Mononoke..

3-Iron (Bin-jip) (2004) - Kim Ki Duk

This movie really caught me by surprise. I'd heard it was good but the poster and the story outline didn't excite me greatly but yesterday I decided to watch it - mainly because most of the Korean movies I've watched lately have been full of murder, revenge and more (as they tend to be) and wanted to watch something lighter. Well, this is an amazing film.

Kim directed another great film, Spring, Summer, Fall ..., but I actually didn't realise that before watching this. It tells the story of a guy who breaks into peoples homes when they are on holiday and lives there. He doesn't steal anything - just lives there and fixes their stuff, does their washing, etc. At one of the houses, one of the residents is unexpectedly still there - an abused wife. From there starts perhaps the most beautiful relationship I have ever seen in a movie. It is two broken people who find their soul mate.

This movie is not for everyone but if, like me, you love movies with characters that you can empathise with, this is for you. But don't expect anything like a romance movie with long speeches professing love ... neither of the leads say a word until the 80th minute of the movie - and the lead actor never speaks

There is a very mild fantasy element to the story as it goes on and overall the story is quite unrealistic but that almost makes it more endearing.

I loved this movie. 10/10

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007) by Christian Mungiu

+



Aurora (2010) by Cristi Puiu



This is my first encounter with Romanian New Wave films and what an experience it was. Brutal realism combined with long takes and a minimalist style makes it one of my biggest experiences in newer cinema. I am not a big reviewer but i can definitely recommend it to people who are interested in the dark side of human relations.

I am really looking forward to watching The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu, Police, Adjective, Tuesday, After Christmas and Beyond The Hills.

Korean director Hong Sangsoo has stirred up another strange and playful film about the nature of narrative. It features a teenage girl writing a screenplay about three women visiting a coastal town in South Korea. All three women are played by Isabelle Huppert. Hong has a peculiar but very effective technique for enforcing thought on his meta-narrative. He frames his characters naturally with little cutting and little movement, until suddenly he will do a harsh zoom in on the fixed position. It breaks the naturalism of the shot, and reminds us what we are watching, and provides a cohesive way for a viewer to grasp the overall narrative.

The film is filled with repetition. Each incarnation of the visitor (all named Anne) searches for a lighthouse, has a run in with a lifeguard who's instantly attracted to her, and takes part in some sort of an affair. The repetition creates not boredom, but rather humor and intrigue. Instead of finding myself annoyed when I saw the same shot in the third story, I was intrigued and often caught off guard at the way that Hong toys with our perception throughout.

__________________
Mubi

I liked portions of Young Torlees, but wouldn't consider it "great".

It's probably the absolutely remarkable Close-Up.

White Material (2009) by Claire Denis



A bit better than her acclaimed film Beau Travail. Claire Denis revisits Africa during an erupting civil war. Isabelle Huppert puts on an amazing act as a struggling mother as well as coffee producer, during the shadows of war. Beautiful imagery combined with a great soundtrack and a rich story, makes this movie one of my top choices for 2009. Michael J. Andersson from Tativille describes White Material very well: "White Material filters its narrative through a shifting interiority and shuffled temporality that affects its nightmarish portrait of post-colonial Africa, where DJ's call for revolt against the continent's remaining whites and child-soldiers sport firearms and machetes."

The 400 Blows (1959) by François Truffaut

Simply the best movie ive seen by Truffaut so far. Its a coming of age drama that both contains heartfelt emotions as well as suffering. A very good depiction of adolescence with social issues as a focal point. I had really high expectations going into this film, as this should be one of the defining movies from the french new wave. These expectations were fully met! Besides being a beautiful film, the script was absolutely fantastic. I clearly like this movie better than Breathless and Hiroshima, Mon Amour (the two other defining films of the french new wave).

+

The Fast Runner,a film set amongst the Inuit people of the Arctic,exploring the themes of love,revenge and survival.

I think Run Lola Run, it surely made me want to go out and run!

__________________
I do not speak english perfectly so expect some mistakes here and there in my messages

Departures (Japan)

3 Idiots was particularly funny, although overlong imo.

Nosso Lar -Brazilian film about the supposedly true experiences of the Brazilian psychic Chico Xavier. The premise is nonsense, but the film was very well made, good production values. A great fantasy.