Recommend sleeper/foreign/uncommon movies

[wasino 0]

Hero (Jet Li) is one of the best epic pictures that I've ever seen.

Three Seasons (with Harvey Keitel) is one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen.

I loved Three Seasons as well.....fantastic movie!

Dirty Pretty Things---another great movie movie with Audrey Tatou---it's about illegal immigrants in France, ...Very interesting and touching.

Turtle Can Fly---a heartbreaking movie about Kurdish refugees in Iraq---amazing movie though.

Those are the first that come to mind...have to run to work...or else I'd ramble on some more, lol.

[maya62 7]

I second: Burnt by the Sun, Whale Rider, Amelie, Tin Drum

I'd add: Raise the Red Lantern, In America, Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon of the Spring, and going back a ways: Fanny & Alexander, Babette's Feast, King of Hearts

We just recently saw Goal! The Dream Begins and enjoyed it a lot. I think anyone (not just diehard soccer/football fans) would enjoy this story.

See you at the movies!

Maya

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Hey Steven per your suggestion on this thread I saw "The Devil's Backbone" and thought it was fab. Thanks!

I'm ready to watch it again - it's one of the few films I enjoy watching more than once.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I'm a Kurosawa fan - Rashomon, Seven Samurai and Yojimbo are ace!

A mate of mine at uni was into Ingmar Bergman and tried to get us to watch Wild Strawberrys.

We were all drunk at the time, and all I remember is an old man looking into a mirror for a really long time, and a horsecart crashing into a wall.

Yep those are top. Peeps dont believe me when i tell them the makers of Magnificant 7 and For a few dollars more were taken directly from seven samurai and yojimbo. Then yojimbo/for a few dollars more was ripped off and made into a terrible movie starring bruce willis called last man standing!!!

Structurally, Star Wars (the original movie) is very similar to Hidden Fortress (another Kurosawa film) and George Lucas acknowledges it as a major influence (along with the mythological work of Joseph Campbell)

A Fistful of Dollars (the first Clint Eastwood Sergio Leone collaboration) is based on Yojimbo, and it follows the structure fairly closely - but there are enough differences to make it original in its own right. Leone was a very good director and his films had a far different feel to Kurosawa's, who was influenced primarily by John Ford (I believe). But yes - that Bruce Willis knock-off was a shade too far.

For a Few Dollars was "original", I believe and there were few (if any) similarities between Yojimbo and its loose sequel Sanjuro (except the concept of the "nameless man").

Magnificent Seven was indeed a rip of 7 Samurai, and a lot of the characters in the movie are very similar.

[Heracles 417]

I enjoy watching a lot of foreign films. This movie is one of the scariest movies I've seen in long time.

Are there any foreign movie channels in the US?? with english subtitles.. We had a fantastic channel downunder called world movies

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Try the Independent Film Channel (IFP). My wife's parents have it one cable - it’s a premium channel I believe, we don't get it on basic.

They used to have "Samurai Saturday" which was kind of cool - they'd show a lot of old B/W samurai movies (Kurosawa and others) on Saturday (early) mornings. I quite like Toshiro Mifune, and they showed quite a lot of his stuff I'd never seen.

Edited September 19, 2006 by erekose

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Just joined Netflix a few weeks ago and I recently rented City Lights after reading that was Chaplin's best work. There's so many black and white classics that I have never seen...hoping to get around to watching them.

I enjoy watching a lot of foreign films. This movie is one of the scariest movies I've seen in long time.

Are there any foreign movie channels in the US?? with english subtitles.. We had a fantastic channel downunder called world movies

I don't have cable anymore but I remember Cinemax would show quite a few foreign films.

[mrsushi66 0]

Try the Independent Film Channel (IFP). My wife's parents have it one cable - it’s a premium channel I believe, we don't get it on basic.

They used to have "Samurai Saturday" which was kind of cool - they'd show a lot of old B/W samurai movies (Kurosawa and others) on Saturday (early) mornings. I quite like Toshiro Mifune, and they showed quite a lot of his stuff I'd never seen.

I love the Zatôichi series and thanks for correcting my earlier reference to yojimbo and the incorrect Clint Eastwood movie.

Paul misses Anna

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Try the Independent Film Channel (IFP). My wife's parents have it one cable - it’s a premium channel I believe, we don't get it on basic.

They used to have "Samurai Saturday" which was kind of cool - they'd show a lot of old B/W samurai movies (Kurosawa and others) on Saturday (early) mornings. I quite like Toshiro Mifune, and they showed quite a lot of his stuff I'd never seen.

I love the Zatôichi series and thanks for correcting my earlier reference to yojimbo and the incorrect Clint Eastwood movie.

Paul misses Anna

Zatoichi is pretty good - I saw the Takeshi Kitano remake in a pokey Camden cinema back in 04.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I just saw Ong Bak - worth watching if you like Martial Arts movies. The stunt choreography alone is amazing, the story... less so.

I've been reading advance reviews of Tony Jaa's new movie The Protector. Some interesting comments from one site:

Truly, the best martial arts film about elephants yet made.

(Kham really only has one line of dialog, "You stole my elephant!" repeated over and over in different variations)

Much like pornography, the story is just the thing you have to fast forward through to get to the good part.

[Mirorgate 0]

I enjoyed "Cry the Beloved Country" quite a bit.

Y Tu Mama, Sex and Lucia are a bit more risque.. but decent too.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Y Tu Mama

We saw that also. Very interesting movie - had the same guy from Los Amores Perros (I think I got the title right). The only movie (to my knowledge) to feature a homeless hitman.

[mawilson 2,133]

As they say, "foreign films are best left to foreigners".

[Mirorgate 0]

As they say, "foreign films are best left to foreigners".

Das Boot

[mawilson 2,133]

This one might offend some people here, but I caught it on cable one night and was pulled into it - ended up staying awake until 3am to see what happened in the end. I was shocked. I don't want to give the plot away, but if you like documentaries such as Spinaltap, you'll enjoy this one.

Hehehe - I've actually seen this one