Love Exposure is so good! Here's my post from the other movie thread: I saw it at the Nippon Connection (a japanese film festival in Germany). It's 237 min. long and not a minute boring. Honestly. + Show Spoiler [Desciption] +
[...] But now he’s gone and out-done himself with a four-hour movie about faith, religion, pornography, upskirt photography, fighting females and the Virgin Mary all scored to the insistent, pounding, slow-burning climax of Ravel’s “Bolero.” Based on the life of one of Sono’s friends, LOVE EXPOSURE is all about Yu, the son of a Catholic priest who loses his religion when his mother dies. Obsessed with sin and confession, Dad criticizes the state of his son’s spotless soul, claiming that his confessions are weak and simple and that he must confess real sins. Unable to make anything up, there’s nothing for Yu to do but become a sinner, and so the confused kid learns the ninja-tastic martial art of taking up-skirt photographs. Now a full-fledged pornographer he’s really got something to confess, earning beatings from his shocked dad. But in the middle of his new career, while dressed (as the result of losing a bet) as Sasori, the hero of a series of 70’s women-in-prison movies, Yu meets the love of his life, Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima), who’s in the middle of beating up a bunch of horrible men. Drag-clad Yu jumps into the fray and that’s when things get complicated. A villainess appears in the person of the giggling young schoolgirl, Aya (Sakura Ando) who shows up, stroking her green parakeet the way a Bond villain strokes his white cat, and soon she’s manipulating these two star-crossed lovers in the name of the cult for which she works, the Zero Church. [...] LOVE EXPOSURE has proven to be one of the biggest arthouse hits of all time in Japan, running for well over three months to sold-out shows, packed with teenagers. In this movie Sono pulls porn up from the gutter, and religion down from the heavens until the two meet and the most debased and the most divine become mirror images of each other, an alchemical marriage as breathtaking as turning lead into gold. Full of astonishing moments, you’ll see God in an upskirt photograph, and you’ll see an abuse victim in the Virgin Mary’s face. (Source)
Hm...some of my favorite foreign films.... Angel-A Banlieu 13 + Banlieu 13: Ultimatum Europa Europa Oldboy Sympathy for Mister Vengeance Sympathy for Lady Vengeance Shiri Kick the Moon (great comedy) Run Lola Run Seven Samurai Rashoumon Hidden Fortress Zatoichi Ong-bak & Ong-bak 2 Sex is Zero & Sex is Zero 2 And...more.......many many more...
On December 20 2009 14:21 Boblion wrote: The main problem is that many foreign movies can only be found in their native language and even if they get subbed or dubbed you will lose some of the content ( the jokes and all the little subtilities ).
Sometimes a foreign film can success outside of its own country ( like Infernal Affairs, Old boy or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ) but usually they are just too subtile to be enjoyed by a foreigner.
I could make a list but i'm quite sure that you would not be able to find like 95% of it.
LOL I can't tell if you're serious or not. Either way, what you're saying it totally ridiculous. You can love a movie and find it fascinating without understanding the language at all. Missing a joke or two because of bad subtitles? Oh how horrifying! A good movie isn't built upon language and dialogue, even though many movies are.
Well people have different definitions of what a good movie is. Personal tastes you know ... which depends quite a lot of your culture and ... of your country. As i said some foreign movie can achieve blockbuster status but still ... there a lot more who can't not because they are worse but because they have less exposition or because it is hard to identify oneself with the characters or the situation if you aren't born in the very same culture ...
For example i have recommanded here a couple of times "Man bites dog" and all the American people who watched it said it was meh and not funny. Why ? Because they don't get the jokes, all the references and the hilarious Belgian accent. I really wonder how you can translate the joke about the petit Grégory for example. How could you get it if you are not French or Wallon ?
And yea before you make your answer " but is just one joke blablabla ", i just want to point out that i don't want to write about every small references you won't get in every French movie i liked.
So my advice is that people should only watch foreign "mainstream" movies or blockbusters ( People have made some nice lists so far ). Some movies are only accessible if you are deeply immersed in country X culture and i would definitly not recommend this kind of films to the average TL teenager who might find it uninteresting.
Another example of a very good mainstream foreign film: Good Bye Lenin !
I actually wanted to post this even before I read this post of yours: imo, comedies are THE main kind of movie where you are right, there really can be quite a bit lost in translation. But in other genres I think it's much less of a problem, some things might seem strange in other countries / cultures, but I dont think it's that much of a problem as long as youre open minded about it.
Oh yeah forgot Good Bye Lenin in my list.
Also wanna add all the movies by Anders Thomas Jensen that I have seen so far, even though they've been mentioned already
in china they eat dogs (and to some extent its sequel "old men in new cars", definitely not as good as the first one though) green butchers adams apples
In china they eat dogs is sort of an action comedy and very simple to enjoy, while the last 2 are pretty absurd black comedies, so probably not for everyone, but they are great movies nonetheless. (The first two he didnt direct, just wrote the script for them, the last two he directed and wrote)
Oh and whoops, forgot the movie that I just finished 2 hours ago:
After the Wedding, another danish movie with the script co-written by Jensen, but this one's very different, it's actually a very serious drama about + Show Spoiler +
a guy who realizes that he's had a daughter for 20 years, his ex had moved on and didnt tell him until she meets her whole family at his daughters wedding
It's quite difficult to talk about without spoiling anything so I'll leave it at that. But it's a good movie with brilliant acting, like many of Jensens movies starring Mads Mikkelsen (he played the baddie in Casino Royale) Dont watch it if you dont like the emotional / sad type of movies though Also I recommend to watch this movie alone, the others are definitely suited for watching them in company
Love Exposure is so good! Here's my post from the other movie thread: I saw it at the Nippon Connection (a japanese film festival in Germany). It's 237 min. long and not a minute boring. Honestly. + Show Spoiler [Desciption] +
[...] But now he’s gone and out-done himself with a four-hour movie about faith, religion, pornography, upskirt photography, fighting females and the Virgin Mary all scored to the insistent, pounding, slow-burning climax of Ravel’s “Bolero.” Based on the life of one of Sono’s friends, LOVE EXPOSURE is all about Yu, the son of a Catholic priest who loses his religion when his mother dies. Obsessed with sin and confession, Dad criticizes the state of his son’s spotless soul, claiming that his confessions are weak and simple and that he must confess real sins. Unable to make anything up, there’s nothing for Yu to do but become a sinner, and so the confused kid learns the ninja-tastic martial art of taking up-skirt photographs. Now a full-fledged pornographer he’s really got something to confess, earning beatings from his shocked dad. But in the middle of his new career, while dressed (as the result of losing a bet) as Sasori, the hero of a series of 70’s women-in-prison movies, Yu meets the love of his life, Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima), who’s in the middle of beating up a bunch of horrible men. Drag-clad Yu jumps into the fray and that’s when things get complicated. A villainess appears in the person of the giggling young schoolgirl, Aya (Sakura Ando) who shows up, stroking her green parakeet the way a Bond villain strokes his white cat, and soon she’s manipulating these two star-crossed lovers in the name of the cult for which she works, the Zero Church. [...] LOVE EXPOSURE has proven to be one of the biggest arthouse hits of all time in Japan, running for well over three months to sold-out shows, packed with teenagers. In this movie Sono pulls porn up from the gutter, and religion down from the heavens until the two meet and the most debased and the most divine become mirror images of each other, an alchemical marriage as breathtaking as turning lead into gold. Full of astonishing moments, you’ll see God in an upskirt photograph, and you’ll see an abuse victim in the Virgin Mary’s face. (Source)
On December 21 2009 05:27 garista wrote: Nice selection Shauni.
Love Exposure is so good! Here's my post from the other movie thread: I saw it at the Nippon Connection (a japanese film festival in Germany). It's 237 min. long and not a minute boring. Honestly. + Show Spoiler [Desciption] +
[...] But now he’s gone and out-done himself with a four-hour movie about faith, religion, pornography, upskirt photography, fighting females and the Virgin Mary all scored to the insistent, pounding, slow-burning climax of Ravel’s “Bolero.” Based on the life of one of Sono’s friends, LOVE EXPOSURE is all about Yu, the son of a Catholic priest who loses his religion when his mother dies. Obsessed with sin and confession, Dad criticizes the state of his son’s spotless soul, claiming that his confessions are weak and simple and that he must confess real sins. Unable to make anything up, there’s nothing for Yu to do but become a sinner, and so the confused kid learns the ninja-tastic martial art of taking up-skirt photographs. Now a full-fledged pornographer he’s really got something to confess, earning beatings from his shocked dad. But in the middle of his new career, while dressed (as the result of losing a bet) as Sasori, the hero of a series of 70’s women-in-prison movies, Yu meets the love of his life, Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima), who’s in the middle of beating up a bunch of horrible men. Drag-clad Yu jumps into the fray and that’s when things get complicated. A villainess appears in the person of the giggling young schoolgirl, Aya (Sakura Ando) who shows up, stroking her green parakeet the way a Bond villain strokes his white cat, and soon she’s manipulating these two star-crossed lovers in the name of the cult for which she works, the Zero Church. [...] LOVE EXPOSURE has proven to be one of the biggest arthouse hits of all time in Japan, running for well over three months to sold-out shows, packed with teenagers. In this movie Sono pulls porn up from the gutter, and religion down from the heavens until the two meet and the most debased and the most divine become mirror images of each other, an alchemical marriage as breathtaking as turning lead into gold. Full of astonishing moments, you’ll see God in an upskirt photograph, and you’ll see an abuse victim in the Virgin Mary’s face. (Source)
On December 21 2009 05:27 garista wrote: Nice selection Shauni.
Love Exposure is so good! Here's my post from the other movie thread: I saw it at the Nippon Connection (a japanese film festival in Germany). It's 237 min. long and not a minute boring. Honestly. + Show Spoiler [Desciption] +
[...] But now he’s gone and out-done himself with a four-hour movie about faith, religion, pornography, upskirt photography, fighting females and the Virgin Mary all scored to the insistent, pounding, slow-burning climax of Ravel’s “Bolero.” Based on the life of one of Sono’s friends, LOVE EXPOSURE is all about Yu, the son of a Catholic priest who loses his religion when his mother dies. Obsessed with sin and confession, Dad criticizes the state of his son’s spotless soul, claiming that his confessions are weak and simple and that he must confess real sins. Unable to make anything up, there’s nothing for Yu to do but become a sinner, and so the confused kid learns the ninja-tastic martial art of taking up-skirt photographs. Now a full-fledged pornographer he’s really got something to confess, earning beatings from his shocked dad. But in the middle of his new career, while dressed (as the result of losing a bet) as Sasori, the hero of a series of 70’s women-in-prison movies, Yu meets the love of his life, Yoko (Hikari Mitsushima), who’s in the middle of beating up a bunch of horrible men. Drag-clad Yu jumps into the fray and that’s when things get complicated. A villainess appears in the person of the giggling young schoolgirl, Aya (Sakura Ando) who shows up, stroking her green parakeet the way a Bond villain strokes his white cat, and soon she’s manipulating these two star-crossed lovers in the name of the cult for which she works, the Zero Church. [...] LOVE EXPOSURE has proven to be one of the biggest arthouse hits of all time in Japan, running for well over three months to sold-out shows, packed with teenagers. In this movie Sono pulls porn up from the gutter, and religion down from the heavens until the two meet and the most debased and the most divine become mirror images of each other, an alchemical marriage as breathtaking as turning lead into gold. Full of astonishing moments, you’ll see God in an upskirt photograph, and you’ll see an abuse victim in the Virgin Mary’s face. (Source)
Korea - Save the Green Planet Japan - Graveyard of Honor (Miike version) Taiwan - Yi Yi Australia - Chopper New Zealand - Once Were Warriors Sweden - Cries and Whispers France - Le Samourai Germany - Aguirre Spain - Cronos UK - Don't Look Now
On December 20 2009 20:45 Horiz0n wrote: Battle Royale - Japan Crouching Tiger, Hiden Dragon - China Hero - China Infernal Affairs - Japan the "Vengeance" serie - Korea Ong-bak - Thailand Shaolin Soccer - China (Steven Cho) kung fu hustle - China (Steven Cho) Suicide Circle - Japan The Art Of Fighting - Korea Yamakasi - France Banlieue 13 - France Nikita - France Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain - France (The Music by Yann Tiersen is Fantastic) Cidade De Deus - Brazil Kopps - Sweden Jägarna - Sweden Akira - Japan Grave Of The Fireflies - Japan
wat
btw, not sure if movies like shaolin soccer would be considered exceptional when watched outside their native language....
Ip Man - really cool hong kong movie starring donnie yen as ip man (pronounced yeep mun), bruce lee's master. Has incredible wingchun fight scenes, and other styles as well.
Pan's Labyrinth is well enough known to the US that I guess it doesn't really need to be mentioned again, but I'll do it anyways because it's a great movie that warrants this special treatment.
From USA, but watch a lot of Spanish movies because of my back ground.
Would recommend "Sin Nombre" aka "Without a Name". It's really good and it shows at what lengths people from middle and south America go to, to try and come to the US for a better life. Really leaves an impact on you if you have a Spanish background and know about his stuff. It also shows how hardcore gangs can be by depicting them in a very realistic way. I've heard real life stories of the things people have gone through when they try to do what is shown in the film so the movie is very realistic.
On December 20 2009 14:23 daz wrote: some good serbian movies are anything by Emir Kusturica, especially Underground and Black Cat, White Cat
Pretty village, pretty flame/Lepa sela lepo gore is also a movie you cannot go past by when talking of modern Serbian films. For me, it is easily one of the best war movies of all time. Also, given the period in which it was filmed and released, it is also a suprisingly unbiased movie (proven by the fact that all three sides have accused it of being biased against them at some point or another ). If you do not mind watching older movies, Who`s Singing over There/Ko to tamo peva is considered one of the best movies of Yugoslav cinema.
As for Slovenian movies (I was born and raised in Slovenia), there is not a whole lot of them which I can recommend, both beacuse I did not watch that many and also beacuse not many of them are that good. However, if you somehow manage to get subtitles for it, Outsider/Autsajder is definitely worth a watch.
I think the reason why American movies/shows have so much viewership outside the US proper has a lot to do with the fact that the various national movie industries of individual countries are weaker and less developed compared to the US one. Plus, US movies tend to cover a lot of different topics, whereas other movie industries are more limited in what they can do.
EDIT: Oh and thanks to BuGzlToOnl for reminding me with that poster. The Motorcycle Diaries/Diarios de motocicleta is not a bad movie either. It's not the best movie, but it is still an interesting movie and potrays Ernesto "Che" Guevara in a very different light.
EPT![[image loading]](http://img5.imagebanana.com/img/1n1rrd7a/loveexposure.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.rapideyemovies.de/uploads/assets/trailer-photo/love-exposure_d70de03aa7639cf7e5b37af63715bd47.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img3.imagebanana.com/img/tekef37f/virus.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://s.ecrater.com/stores/113656/4a90fc594fe21_113656n.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://besidethequeue.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/sin_nombre1.jpg)
). If you do not mind watching older movies, 
