March 4, 2008--I'm certainly no expert on foreign films, but I've loved them for a long time and I thought I'd share some of my favourites here with you on my blog. I always consider it to be an adventure to watch a foreign film - a way to exercise my brain, think more, expand my mind. It's like traveling to a foreign country and experiencing a new way of doing things, a new way of life. I've loved many foreign films as much as my favourite American movies and watch them over and over for inspiration.
But for most of us, it's difficult to stray from our 'comfort zone' and we tend to do and watch and eat the same things over and over. So we limit our lives and tend not to experience new things often enough to absorb all that life has to offer. Whenever I watch a foreign film, I feel like I've tasted a new flavor, heard a new song, discovered a new colour, tried a new dish...
The following are my top 20 foreign films... I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Au revoir les enfants (1987) - always moving!
Avventura, L' (1960) - haunting film noir.
Babettes gæstebud (Babette's Feast) (1987) - The great film from Denmark that is all about the sensual versus the spiritual sides of human nature. It is the story of an exiled French cook/housekeeper, Babette, who serves a pair of devoutly religious, elderly Danish sisters. When she wins a lottery, she asks the sisters if she could spend the money to prepare a Gaelic feast for them and their friends (in honour of their deceased father, the great minister and prophet). She wanted to show her appreciation for them having taken her in after she'd lost her husband and child. All their lives, the two women had worked as humble servants of the Lord, living simple lives, eating simple foods of the earth. On the night the ingredients for the elaborate French dinner arrived, the two humble women had nightmares about overindulgence in food - haunting visions of cows, turtles and wine. They considered the temptation of gluttony to be dangerous, even evil; for they'd been taught that food and drink were only to be taken for nourishment and sustenance.
"The tongue... the tongue, this strange little muscle... has accomplished great and glorious deeds for man... but it is also the source of unleashed evil and deadly poison."
But after the sumptuous meal had been eaten and the two women realized that Babette had spent all her winnings on the feast for them, and was thus doomed to live a life of service in poverty forever, they knew that whatever they had sacrificed in the way of earthly pleasures had been returned to them. Babette tells them, "An artist is never poor." She had, indeed...
"...transformed a dinner into a kind of love affair - a love affair that made no distinction between bodily appetite and spiritual appetite."
Dreams (Akira Kurosawa) (1990) - a rare bird and I love Scorcese as van Gogh!
Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) - enchanting! This is one movie that is so much fun to watch, you just can't get enough of Amelie! And she teaches you to really love life.
Fauteuils d'orchestre (2006) - also known as Avenue Montaigne, I saw this film the other night and truly enjoyed it. Very arty, fun and exhilarating.
Fellini - Satyricon (1969) ...and all the great Fellini films (too numerous to list here) - incredible, colourful adventures. His films of neo-realism (a movement in filmmaking characterized by the simple, direct depiction of lower-class life) are like wonderful dream sequences. Prior to the making of Juliet of the Spirits, he is said to have attended a séance in which he claims to have seen and spoken to the ghost of his dead father. He used his intuition in order to create; he felt ideas were less important than the feelings. "The world of my imagination is always closer to the truth than is the truth."
Federico Fellini's films are perfect examples of an artist creating scenes that work like dreams "in which some random comment made during the day can set off a resonant and haunting episode while one sleeps." He never dismissed dreams as mere fantasies; instead he allowed the dreamscapes he created to cut to our very souls. Sleepwalking headlong into dream-scenes, landscapes of the mind, our visionary hallucinations may show us a new reality. We become magical realists, surrealists "encouraging our imaginations to romp among the absurd allowing colorful, extravagant, inappropriate elements to invade the flatness of ordinary life."
Laberinto del fauno, El (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006) - I found this film to be so imaginative and creative; I was in awe throughout. It's about the forces of good and evil and life's choices. It was, however, very graphic and violent. A lot of bloodshed, gore, and slime... but really quite beautiful with its balancing contrasts. Hope, faith, trust and the search for truth bring lasting memories. It reminded me of my love for my mother, which was particularly touching. Contrasting beauty: the darkest darks and the lightest lights.
Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) (1948) - great classic!
Moskva slezam ne verit (Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears) (1980)
Nóz w wodzie (Knife in the Water) (1962) - one of the masterful film noir works.
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) - one of the greatest vampire movies - filming on location in Germany, Herzog uses dreamlike camera angles, mixing them with a rich color palette and masterful lighting.
Postino, Il (1994) - positively poetic!
The Tango Lesson (1997) - Sally Potter's wonderfully romantic dance film.
Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) (1991) - every musician must see this one!
Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto (1974) - the ORIGINAL 'Swept Away' - funny, wild, relentless...
Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) - Brando's unforgettable 'Last Tango in Paris.'
Un homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman) (1966) - darkly romantic.
Vita è bella, La (1997) - the great award-winning 'Life is Beautiful.'
Volver took me back to a time long ago... to the days of Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren, but with much deeper more genuine acting by the multidimensional Penelope Cruz. At times I was 'lost in translation,' however, it was easy to catch on via the wonderful acting skills of the cast and I was captivated every minute. What a gorgeous film! I haven't enjoyed a movie this much since Frida.
These are some of my favourite films set in foreign countries:
Artemisia (1997)
Chocolat (2000)
Frida (2002)
Lost In Translation (2003)
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Mystery of Picasso, The (1956)
Red Violin, The (1998)
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Stealing Beauty (1996)
Unbearable Lightness of Being, The (1988)
For lots of great movies, check out: My Recommended Films, IFC, and Sundance Channel.
But for most of us, it's difficult to stray from our 'comfort zone' and we tend to do and watch and eat the same things over and over. So we limit our lives and tend not to experience new things often enough to absorb all that life has to offer. Whenever I watch a foreign film, I feel like I've tasted a new flavor, heard a new song, discovered a new colour, tried a new dish...
The following are my top 20 foreign films... I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Au revoir les enfants (1987) - always moving!
Avventura, L' (1960) - haunting film noir.
Babettes gæstebud (Babette's Feast) (1987) - The great film from Denmark that is all about the sensual versus the spiritual sides of human nature. It is the story of an exiled French cook/housekeeper, Babette, who serves a pair of devoutly religious, elderly Danish sisters. When she wins a lottery, she asks the sisters if she could spend the money to prepare a Gaelic feast for them and their friends (in honour of their deceased father, the great minister and prophet). She wanted to show her appreciation for them having taken her in after she'd lost her husband and child. All their lives, the two women had worked as humble servants of the Lord, living simple lives, eating simple foods of the earth. On the night the ingredients for the elaborate French dinner arrived, the two humble women had nightmares about overindulgence in food - haunting visions of cows, turtles and wine. They considered the temptation of gluttony to be dangerous, even evil; for they'd been taught that food and drink were only to be taken for nourishment and sustenance.
"The tongue... the tongue, this strange little muscle... has accomplished great and glorious deeds for man... but it is also the source of unleashed evil and deadly poison."
But after the sumptuous meal had been eaten and the two women realized that Babette had spent all her winnings on the feast for them, and was thus doomed to live a life of service in poverty forever, they knew that whatever they had sacrificed in the way of earthly pleasures had been returned to them. Babette tells them, "An artist is never poor." She had, indeed...
"...transformed a dinner into a kind of love affair - a love affair that made no distinction between bodily appetite and spiritual appetite."
Dreams (Akira Kurosawa) (1990) - a rare bird and I love Scorcese as van Gogh!
Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Le (2001) - enchanting! This is one movie that is so much fun to watch, you just can't get enough of Amelie! And she teaches you to really love life.
Fauteuils d'orchestre (2006) - also known as Avenue Montaigne, I saw this film the other night and truly enjoyed it. Very arty, fun and exhilarating.
Fellini - Satyricon (1969) ...and all the great Fellini films (too numerous to list here) - incredible, colourful adventures. His films of neo-realism (a movement in filmmaking characterized by the simple, direct depiction of lower-class life) are like wonderful dream sequences. Prior to the making of Juliet of the Spirits, he is said to have attended a séance in which he claims to have seen and spoken to the ghost of his dead father. He used his intuition in order to create; he felt ideas were less important than the feelings. "The world of my imagination is always closer to the truth than is the truth."
Federico Fellini's films are perfect examples of an artist creating scenes that work like dreams "in which some random comment made during the day can set off a resonant and haunting episode while one sleeps." He never dismissed dreams as mere fantasies; instead he allowed the dreamscapes he created to cut to our very souls. Sleepwalking headlong into dream-scenes, landscapes of the mind, our visionary hallucinations may show us a new reality. We become magical realists, surrealists "encouraging our imaginations to romp among the absurd allowing colorful, extravagant, inappropriate elements to invade the flatness of ordinary life."
Laberinto del fauno, El (Pan's Labyrinth) (2006) - I found this film to be so imaginative and creative; I was in awe throughout. It's about the forces of good and evil and life's choices. It was, however, very graphic and violent. A lot of bloodshed, gore, and slime... but really quite beautiful with its balancing contrasts. Hope, faith, trust and the search for truth bring lasting memories. It reminded me of my love for my mother, which was particularly touching. Contrasting beauty: the darkest darks and the lightest lights.
Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) (1948) - great classic!
Moskva slezam ne verit (Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears) (1980)
Nóz w wodzie (Knife in the Water) (1962) - one of the masterful film noir works.
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) - one of the greatest vampire movies - filming on location in Germany, Herzog uses dreamlike camera angles, mixing them with a rich color palette and masterful lighting.
Postino, Il (1994) - positively poetic!
The Tango Lesson (1997) - Sally Potter's wonderfully romantic dance film.
Tous les matins du monde (All the Mornings of the World) (1991) - every musician must see this one!
Travolti da un insolito destino nell'azzurro mare d'agosto (1974) - the ORIGINAL 'Swept Away' - funny, wild, relentless...
Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) - Brando's unforgettable 'Last Tango in Paris.'
Un homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman) (1966) - darkly romantic.
Vita è bella, La (1997) - the great award-winning 'Life is Beautiful.'
Volver took me back to a time long ago... to the days of Audrey Hepburn and Sophia Loren, but with much deeper more genuine acting by the multidimensional Penelope Cruz. At times I was 'lost in translation,' however, it was easy to catch on via the wonderful acting skills of the cast and I was captivated every minute. What a gorgeous film! I haven't enjoyed a movie this much since Frida.
These are some of my favourite films set in foreign countries:
Artemisia (1997)
Chocolat (2000)
Frida (2002)
Lost In Translation (2003)
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Mystery of Picasso, The (1956)
Red Violin, The (1998)
Sophie's Choice (1982)
Stealing Beauty (1996)
Unbearable Lightness of Being, The (1988)
For lots of great movies, check out: My Recommended Films, IFC, and Sundance Channel.
2 comments:
Sandy - Thanks for keeping me on your list. I like foreign films and great movies too. I need to make more time to enjoy the arts. Working on it. Still solving the crises, but intend to overcome. Hey, maybe someone should make a movie about me! - Dorothy
Love Moulin Rouge and The Mystery of Picasso is THE BEST! Happy Wednesday!
Post a Comment