Favourite Foreign Language Films

First topic message reminder :

Not sure if this has been done before and am far too lazy to actually scroll down the screen and look for myself but on the off chance it has not been done before thought I would ask people for their favourite foreign language films (before some smart arse says Die Hard because it is American or some such) My top five to get the ball rolling off the top of my head are:

1 City of God
2 La Haine
3 Oldboy
4 The Seven Samurai
5 Mesrine (Part 1)

Linebreaker wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:Battle Royale (should NEVER have made the sequel)
Old Boy
The Killer
Switchblade Romance
L'Interior
Downfall
Irreversible
Mongol (no, it's about Ghengis Khan as opoosed to being a very un-PC exploitation film)

Anyone watch "A Serbian Film"? Basically, p*rn masquerading as art and tries to be shocking for the sake of it.

"The Human Centipede" is another poor film...in fact, one might say it (Drum roll) has no legs!

Is that the one about the girl from the country who goes into the city, sleeps around... accidently murders some sicko client then gets protected by some bloke who has a childhood crush on her - whilst the mafia are chasing her for money?

No, it's an ex-porn star who is approached by a mysterious niche arty type to make the "ultimate" art film. Watch it...orbetter yet, don't and certainly don't watch the uncut version

Just have a quick Wikipedia read about what happens in A Serbian Film and if you still have an interest in watching then you are a disgusting individual.

I would love to see the director of that film murdered. What a f*cking horrible man....

I've seen it & I have to admit that I'm a disgusting individual. The worst bit is pretty much left to the imagination though.

Just read a plot summary of A Serbian Film. Hesitant about saying this without seeing it (I never will, incidentally) but I can see neither entertainment or artistic value in the film.

Not one for banning 'art' as think it lends a certain cache which is usually unmerited but would suggest that a collective shrug of the shoulders and turning away from the screen would make me feel a whole lot better about the human race.

superflyweight wrote:Just read a plot summary of A Serbian Film. Hesitant about saying this without seeing it (I never will, incidentally) but I can see neither entertainment or artistic value in the film.

Not one for banning 'art' as think it lends a certain cache which is usually unmerited but would suggest that a collective shrug of the shoulders and turning away from the screen would make me feel a whole lot better about the human race.

I'd suggest watching it. People that have read about it seem to be far more opinionated and offended by its contents than those who have seen it. It's not a particularly good film but it's not entirely without merit & I never got the feeling that its sole purpose was to shock. I found it far less intellectually offensive than (for instance) Salo which is revered as a work of art by some & despised as sensationalist drivel by others but is just a dull, unending attempt to shock. The main difference between them (apart from A Serbian Film having a semblance of a plot) is that A Serbian Film contains child abuse (although unsubtly suggested not graphically depicted) and seems to frighten people into hating it, as though if they actually watched it they'd somehow be subscribing to or ok'ing child abuse.

My feeling when I'd watched it was that it was a bit of a waste of time but I'm glad I did as it is quite often talked about & I prefer to know what I'm on about when arguing about it.

Raging Bull- see english isnt actually my first language

The good, the bad, the weird

Epic film

Priceless - (French). A classy comedy. It was refreshing to watch a comedy without the usual crudeness.

I watched a fish story a few months back and was very entertained. Weird and wonderful about a Japanese punk song saving the world. Man bites dog and battle royale are all good films. Any one mentioned Delicatessan yet?

Troll hunter was hilarious. Plus i want to see headhunter. Any one seen this?

Watched A Serbian Film last night. There were two scenes that made for uncomfortable viewing, but glad I finally watched it.

bhb001 wrote:I watched a fish story a few months back and was very entertained. Weird and wonderful about a Japanese punk song saving the world. Man bites dog and battle royale are all good films. Any one mentioned Delicatessan yet?

Troll hunter was hilarious. Plus i want to see headhunter. Any one seen this?

Headhunter is worth a watch, nothing overly original but well made & gripping.  Wasn't overly smitten by Delicatessan, was ok but had been that hyped up it was bound to be a disappointment.

Will give Fish Story a go, sounds interesting.

Watched Grave of the Fireflies last night, was quite harrowing and must admit I was pretty teary at the end. Would highly recommend but watch it alone. Also make sure it's the subtitled version (unless you understand Japanese), saw a couple of clips from the English dub and it sounds dire.

Watched Ultra the other day on DVD. Roma hooligans take on Juventus counterparts as we follow two Roma hooligans and one time best mates, one ex leader who has just come out of jail and the other who is now the leader and is now with the other guys girlfriend. A good film especially if you like other football hooligan films.

Oldboy
Tattoo (German crime film)
The Phone (Asain horror film)
Dark Water

The weirdest foreign language film I've seen was called Gozu (translation Cows Head). The story is confusing but involves a fully grown man "crawling" out of a woman! If you can find it cheap and like weird I would recommend it.

watched a film can't remember what its called foreign obviously just tried to Google it but no luck . about two teenage boys Brazil i think go on a trip with a married woman who up to the end find out she dying . lots of sex and coming of age and drinking . good moving story . perhaps its Mexico because the drinking lots of tequilla . does that ring a bell to anyone

did like orphanage . horror film

jimmyinthewell68 wrote:watched a film can't remember what its called  foreign obviously  just tried to Google it but no luck  .   about two teenage boys  Brazil i think  go on a trip with a married woman who up to the end  find out she dying . lots of sex and coming of age and drinking . good moving story . perhaps its Mexico because the drinking lots of tequilla . does that ring a bell to anyone

Y Tu Mamá También

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:

jimmyinthewell68 wrote:watched a film can't remember what its called  foreign obviously  just tried to Google it but no luck  .   about two teenage boys  Brazil i think  go on a trip with a married woman who up to the end  find out she dying . lots of sex and coming of age and drinking . good moving story . perhaps its Mexico because the drinking lots of tequilla . does that ring a bell to anyone

Y Tu Mamá También

no wonder i couldn't remember it thanks i Google it now

Hero. Forgot how good that film was

mientras duermes

Saw the premier at the sitges film festival in 2011. Great film about a hotel worker who breaks into guests rooms at night time, drugs them and then abuses them. They wake up in the morning and have no recollection of the events that happened to them whilst they were drugged.

Champagne_Socialist wrote:mientras duermes

Saw the premier at the sitges film festival in 2011. Great film about a hotel worker who breaks into guests rooms at night time, drugs them and then abuses them. They wake up in the morning and have no recollection of the events that happened to them whilst they were drugged.

Family film then? I enjoyed the Maid, a Chilean film from 2009. Not a lot happens, but still a moving story.

hornbloweroafc wrote:Watched Ultra the other day on DVD.  Roma hooligans take on Juventus counterparts as we follow two Roma hooligans and one time best mates, one ex leader who has just come out of jail and the other who is now the leader and is now with the other guys girlfriend.  A good film especially if you like other football hooligan films.

Is that the one with Frodo Baggins and his cockernee accent in it?

That's Green Street. Terrible film, imo.

Stella wrote:That's Green Street. Terrible film, imo.

I know, Stella. It was an attempt at being funny. Not one of my better efforts, I will concede that!

And yes, Green Street is utter gash.

Oops, it's early, forgive me  

Talking of foreign films. Watched Untouchable at the weekend. Brilliant film about a quadriplegic and his carer.

Hi, Geoff/Jeff.

'The Lives of Others' is an amazing film. It's in my Top 20 easily.

As is 'Pan's Labyrinth'. Extraordinary film. Surprised nobody has mentioned it.

Ah, sorry, you already did mention it.

Not sure if these have already been discussed but the heroic bloodshed films from hongKong in the late 90s were amazing:

The Killer
A better Tomorrow (I&II)
Hard Boiled
once a thief

The Killer is a belter. Love Hard Boiled for the sheer mentalness of it but thing The Killer is the better film/story.

I've mentioned A Fish Story before, but that is worth catching if you like off the wall stuff. A japanese punk band two years before the sex pistols records a song that saves the world from death by meteor 37 years later.

Agree with Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, love them both.

And any Jacques Tati film. Ok, 'language' might be stretching it a bit but they are brilliant, and so completely French.

As anyone seen Ichi the Killer. I am not a man easily put about by films but that one nearly put me off my kebab. some very ill minds at work on that one.

Watched it years ago (and still have it on dvd somewhere). Can't say I was blown away by it and think it suffered from A/ Being very hyped and B/ I may or may not have been drunk when I saw it but my overall impression was less than enthusiastic.

I may have to revisit it but having watched Dead Man's Shoes again after reading the threads on here (and sadly still being less than impressed) I'm willing to bet my first impression of "meeehhh!" is still about right for Ichi

Didn't particularly enjoy Ichi Dave but it did put me about. You are very wrong about Dead Mans shoes though Dave. Love Considine and he is never better than in that. Also has Gary Stretch in it, what is not to love.

Nah, seen it twice now and whilst it's OK I simply don't see what the big deal is. The scenes with Stretch and his cohorts seem improvised rather than scripeted and whilst that may have been Meadows' idea, the very fact they're using second rate actors to try pull it off means it's more miss than hit.

Well you're wrong Dave. Am not willing to discuss the matter further.

Ban him, jeff!

Bit quiet on the boxing board at the minute Super so can't really afford to. I also find his ongoing love of Peter Jackson charming.

Spirited Away
The Wages of Fear
Tell No One
Amores Perros

Rowley wrote:Bit quiet on the boxing board at the minute Super so can't really afford to. I also find his ongoing love of Peter Jackson charming.

Come now, it's not as if I contribute anything more worthwhile that the occasional barbed insult

You are very occasionally amusing though Dave, and your ongoing ability to annoy Truss has an obvious value. Also believe your ongoing instance on writing the names of heavy metal bands in CAPITALS still amuses me and Tina for some reason.

Trainspotting.

My wife's from Lancashire so her favourite foreign language film is "Kes"

DAVE667 wrote:My wife's from Lancashire so her favourite foreign language film is "Kes"

You should not pollute the bloodline Dave.

Rowley wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:My wife's from Lancashire so her favourite foreign language film is "Kes"

You should not pollute the bloodline Dave.

I'm trying to kill it off otherwise they'll be everywhere

City of God
Der Undertang
Battle Royale
Oldboy.

Bloody brilliant films. The American remakes are shocking.

Echo previous comments re City of God. Absolutely epic film, totally forget it's even in a foreign language I become so engrossed each time I watch it!

Also, having watched (and enjoyed) the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, this is another film (a bit like The Ring) where the original foreign language version is meant to be much better - and excellent. Has anyone seen it?

Seen the Danish version, not the American one. Good, very much like the book, but book better

Red Cliff. Case closed.

Rowley you sucked me in by having City of God at number 1, one of my favourite films period regardless of what language it's in.

1) City of God
2) The Lives of Others
3) Ju-On (Still scares the living daylights out of me)
4) La Haine
5) Oldboy
6) Pans Labyrinth
7) Battle Royale
8) A Prophet
9) The Horde (Think that's what it's called anyhoo, bonkers French zombie flick)

The top one stays where it is whereas the rest can be swapped about depending on my mood.