i'm really impressed by how much all you jmdlers know about foreign
movies! but i guess i should have expected it, after all, your taste in
joni says a lot. this is one of my favorite subjects, so i'm going to indulge...
wim wenders film "Wings of Desire" would make it into my list of top 10
movies of all time, and his "Until the End of the World" would be close.
i also cherish "il Postino" and "Secrets & Lies". Azeem mentioned
"Saving Grace", which i caught at sundance. Brenda Blethyn, who stars in
it (and "S&L"), is one very fine actress. The scene when she gets
stoned has this one shot that lasts maybe 2 seconds that i find
completely brilliant. she somehow masters making the very precise
facial expression for just-about-to-be-stoned. so many movies cut from
smoking a joint to laughing, but here she acts out the process, and i
can't imagine how she got that expression down to a T. it's a really
funny film, nothing mind-blowing about it, but great entertainment.
Blethyn was also in another film that i think is british called "music
from another room" (it may be american - it had half american actors &
half british). she was also great in that as a dying mother concerned
that her daughter was following her heart.
others very worth mentioning...
Paperhouse - obscure brit. movie about a child who is sick and goes in
and out of a dream world. beautifully shot and haunting.(bernard rose
directed - he later did "immortal beloved" about beethovan)
My Brilliant Career - dir Gillian Armstrong starring Judy Davis as an
australian farmgirl who wants a writing career instead of a husband. classic.
Shine - music is phenomenal, both the classical compositions and the
modern soundtrack (what a job, to write music that serves rachmoninoff,
bach, etc). composer was completely ripped off for the oscar by the
overblown soundtrack of that movie with Thomas & Fiennes about the pilot
c. WWI.
The Americanization of Emily - i think this is a british film, though it
could be american. Julie Andrews stars. It flopped because it came out
right around Mary Poppins & Sound of Music (both big faves) and Julie is
a much naughtier girl in this movie about honor.
Ang Lee's Sense & Sensibility - beautifully shot, great script by Emma
Thompson and she is fabulous in it. By far the best jane austen
adaptation ever made.
Almadovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which is
hilarious and is one of the most colorful films around (how does he get
that red?), and All About my Mother was fascinating and weird. His
films really have their own look.
Beauty & the Beast - the french Renoir classic from the 40s. dreamy b/w
photography & art direction.
Jonah who Will be 25 in the Year 2000. this is a film from switzerland
that i saw decades ago - i think it was the first subtitled film that i
really flipped over. i wish i could remember it or find it at a rental
place and see it again.
for food movies, i was bored to tears by "babette's feast", but LOVE
"like water for chocolate".
Hamlet - great script! ;-> the '48 version w/Olivier is a classic. i
saw a norwegian version decades ago that was stunning. the new ethan
hawke version is also very cool.
Louis Malle's Murmer of the Heart & Au Revoir les Enfants - stunning
style. this guy is a first rate director.
Impromtu - delightful film about 19th century musicians & writers. Hugh
Grant is great as Chopin, before he was ruined by stupid movies. Judy
Davis also good.
I am Cuba - cuban propaganda film containing four pro-communist stories.
This contains some of the most stunning b/w photography and art
direction you will ever see. Coppola & Scorsese got behind releasing it
in the states a few years ago.
Fotomator - don't know if i spelled that right. A German documentary
from '98 or '99 about the discovery of some color photographs and
comptroller records that document the gradual taking over of a ghetto by
Nazis. one of the best docs i've ever seen.
There are so many - Life is Beautiful, Howard's End, Georgy Girl, The
Tin Drum, Nosferatu (herzog), Cinema Paradiso, Everybody's Fine, La
Strada, Camille Claudel, Cyrano de Bergerac, Kurosawa's Dreams, Zentropa
(used red highlights in b/w before and more effectively than Speilberg
did), Brazil, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, My Left Foot, Oliver!,
Sleuth, Truly Madly Deeply, Kyzslowski's Blue (haven't seen Red or White yet).
there are also a lot of films that I think of as american that are
probably british - i mean, aren't kubrick's movies all british? i may
be wrong about this, but i think "don't look now" with donald sutherland
& julie christie is british, "lawrence of arabia" and "a lion in winter".
i will say this about the foreign v. american argument - foreign
audiences, generally speaking, have more interest in films that require
thinking on the part of the viewer. that is not to say that they make
better movies or that everything american is stupid. i think it's
really easy to look at what is at the local multiplex and believe that
american cinema is devoid of any kind of quality and is in a state of
complete decline. the types of movies that get promoted to death are
pretty rotten IMHO, and i can't believe that people are entertained by
all the crap out there. the production values are so high - i mean,
most of these stupid movies are shot beautifully, the effects can be
flawless, etc. - they just have bad scripts with one-dimensional
characters (and this year has been particularly bad). as the
corporatization of everything increases, so will the vapidness of movie
culture. but we produce a lot, and it is very difficult to make a great
movie, as it is to write a great book or anything else (even joni can't
score a 10 every time out). america has a tremendous cinematic history,
and there are always a few gems produced every year - you just might
have to look for them.
barbara
np: jane siberry, tree
