WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

I missed this movie too, kingrat. I really wanted to see it.

What you describe sounds to me like a spot on description of Forbidden Games. Not the story itself, I mean in the editing and filmmaking techniques, the way things are filmed without anger, rancor, sentimentality, or any other emotion overlaid. Are the two films at all alike?
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JackFavell
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by JackFavell »

Thanks kingrat, for thinking about the two films. Your review was so descriptive, I couldn't help but compare the two.
MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

Just watched a terrific Polish film, "Anger" (1997), directed by Marcin Ziebinski.

It is the kind of film that could be insensitively summed up as the Polish "Straw Dogs." There is a lot of violence, and it is a difficult movie to watch. But it is very dynamic, propelling its characters from one tight situation to the next. The editing and camera work here never let the viewer relax, but (and this is important) the film never becomes dizzying or gives the sense that it is trying to shock for the sake of shock. It almost feels like a lost school of filmmaking -- real people struggling against each other.

The story takes place in post-Communist Poland. A middle class man and his girlfriend are fleeing from gangsters, when they run into the man's younger brother and the brother's ex-con friends.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I'm glad you liked Les Miserables, Cosette didn't gel terribly well with me when I watched this version but I did like Harry Baur, a lot. Although it's a long film it didn't flag for me at all. As much as I like Bowleswski's version of Les Miserables and how I like Fredric March as an actor I didn't feel he was old enough to play Valjean, whereas Harry Baur was the right age. March was good in the role, I'd liked to have seen him play Valjean a little later.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I watched Profumo Di Donna today, the original version of Scent of A Woman, I liked it so much that I wrote it up on the main thread here

http://silverscreenoasis.com/oasis3/vie ... start=5940

I thought it might provoke more conversation over there as more people might come across it. All I can say is head and shoulders above what I remember of the original, it was very moving.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I watched Il Bell Antonio starring Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale and Pierre Brasseur, once again this was in Italian with French subs, once again a comedy that has the ability to poke fun at the Italians themselves, this time it's the Sicilians. It's Mastroianni's next film after he played the lead in La Dolce Vita and in this he chose a role that was so opposite the one that he'd just played. He is the only son of a Sicilian couple, he's worked away in Rome for the last few years, he comes home along with a reputation (mostly put around by his Dad that he is a great lover and has had many affairs) he enters into an arranged marriage with the daughter of one of Sicily's most important families, his wife played by Claudia Cardinale, who is clueless as to what to expect from a marriage but is puzzled when she doesn't get pregnant, when she asks the servant she tells her to watch the hens. Then Barbara/Claudia realises what is wrong with her marriage, it is unconsummated, Antonio/Marcello being impotent. Of course this informaation gets around and from the feted returning son all of Sicily seems to know that Antonio cannot perform his husbandly duty to his stunningly beautiful wife. He does love her and that is the tragedy in this comedy, her family arrange an annulment, his father, determined to show what a man he is, dies in a brothel. Antonio's Mum's serving girl, who has a crush on Antonio is found to be pregnant tells Antonio's mother that the child is Antonio's and the mother, so relieved that her son is a man, broadcasts the news from the balcony. It's left open to the viewer as to whether he really is the father but he's a decent chap, he's not going to denounce the girl who has restored his good name.

It pokes fun at the machismo of the male culture but it also treats quite sensitively and quite directly the subject of impotence. There's no suggestion that he's gay, the is the implication that he is so handsome that women stop to take a better look at him but he's not big headed about these attentions. He is sensitive but one gets he impression that's either because of his trouble or the way he is naturally. A great performance by Marcello and a brave choice, Claudia doesn't have a great deal to do apart from look beautiful. I hope this like Profumo Di Donna gets released with English subs one day because they both deserve to be seen by a larger audience.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Rita Hayworth
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by Rita Hayworth »

Allison,

I seen both of those films that you mentioned in BOLD and I for one like them very much. I don't watch many FOREIGN FILMS in my lifetime because most of them do not have subtitles for English Translations. However ... I'm a fan of Marcello Mastroianni and I try my best to watch as many of his films as possible.

Great write up on Il Bell Antonio.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

Thanks Erik, he's an actor always worth watching. I'm hoping the foreign movie market will open up even more, sometimes I'm amazed that certain titles haven't been released to the English languaage market yet.

I watched another foreign movie, this time to tie in with a book I've been reading. this one was Sophie Scholl the Final Days, what can I say apart from it's a faithful retelling of a true heroine who stood up to Hitler, executed aged 21 for a peaceful protest against the Fuhrer along with her brother and other students. Incredibly moving and believable, I was moved to tears.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
MikeBSG
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by MikeBSG »

I have to say that I prefer "The White Rose" (1982) directed by Michael Verhoeven (most definitely NOT Paul Verhoeven), which tells the story of Sophie Scholl and her anti-Nazi circle. I like the earlier film because it (in my view) gave me the whole story from beginning to end. The more recent film seemed too tightly focused (in my view) on the time between arrest and execution (in which, realistically, there was nothing the protagonist could do.)

Today I watched "La Rupture" (1970) directed by Claude Chabrol. It was a mixed bag. Apart from a violent scene at the very start of the movie, "La Rupture" seemed to spend about half of its running time getting into gear, when it suddenly became quite suspenseful and gripping. So a rather unfocused and leisurely first hour added to a gripping second hour equals an okay movie. I still find "Le Ceremonie" to be my favorite Chabrol film.
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charliechaplinfan
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I think I would have been lost had I not just read a book about Sophie which fully explained what they did. It does stand up well on it's own but I agree, anyone with wanting to know any background would have to go away and research her themselves. I'll look out for The White Rose. I was very mindful when watching Sophie Scholl that she was only one of many who were executed by the Nazis for being members of the White Rose, it's easier to focus on her because she is a woman and one of the youngest.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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Ann Harding
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Re: WHAT FOREIGN FILMS HAVE YOU WATCHED LATELY?

Post by Ann Harding »

Recently I saw Les Amants de Vérone (The Lovers of Verona, 1948) with Anouk Aimée, Serge Reggiani and Pierre Brasseur. This André Cayatte feature proved really worthy of a discovery. Unlike some of his other films which are often overlong and ponderous, this updated version of the Romeo & Juliet legend is a delightful film shot on locations in Venice and Verona. Angelo (S. Reggiani) a glass blower from Murano falls in love with Georgia (A. Aimée then only 16) the young daughter of a fallen magistrate (Louis Salou). The evil Raffaele (P. Brasseur) is going to do his best to separate the young lovers... The cinematography is absolutely superbly handled by that master of light and shadows, Henri Alekan. The script written by Jacques Prévert offers a great gallery of characters. I was really pleased by the performances of the two young lead actors. Anouk Aimée at 16 was delightful so was Serge Reggiani as Angelo. Pierre Brasseur chews the scenery with gusto, so is Marcel Dalio as the demented Amadeo. The storyline weaves cleverly a story within the shooting of a film. Angelo and Georgia meet on a film set after they have both been selected as stand-ins to the lead actors. Martine Carol plays the film actress hired to play Juliet. All in all, a really nice film that uses cleverly Italian locations and also the political situation of Italy after the war (Georgia's father is a former judge who worked for the fascists).
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