<p>First thanks to whoever recommended The Lives of Others. What a terrific movie - both heartbreaking and uplifting ,and fun to get my rusty German going again!</p>
<p>I rarely see reviews of the foreign movies, which ones have you liked? Old or new. (And if it’s in German or French that’s a bonus from my point of view.) :)</p>
<p>Myhusband and I saw one recently–French, I believe–called “I Have Loved You So Long.” It is about two sisters who have not seen each other for 15 years, as the older one was in prison for murdering her son. However, the younger has always loved the older one and takes her in when she gets out of prison. Of course, there is a lot more to the story, and I found the relationship between the sisters very touching.</p>
<p>“I Have Loved You So Long” has been in theaters recently, where we live. It is absolutely excellent, and the acting is superb. The brief summary would have put me off, but my daughter wanted to see it, so we went. It is among the best films I’ve seen.</p>
<p>These are my favourites:</p>
<p>The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) French
The music, colour and Catherine Deneuve</p>
<p>Cinema Paradiso (1988) Italian
For anyone that loves films</p>
<p>Europa Europa (1990) Polish
WWII drama</p>
<p>Babette’s Feast (1987) Danish
If you love food</p>
<p>The Bridge (1959) German
I saw this on TV back in the '70’s and it’s stayed with me.</p>
<p>Monsoon Wedding (2001) Indian</p>
<p>Anything from the CBS Children’s Film Festival
These are the films I remember best:</p>
<p>Skinny and Fatty (1959) Japanese
Hand in Hand (1960) British
Three Nuts for Cinderella (1973) Czech</p>
<p>Once Were Warriors-New Zealand (one of my favorites though certainly a depressing film)
Breaker Morant-Australia
Gallipoli-Australia</p>
<p>The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. “In 1995, author and Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a stroke that put him in a coma; he awakened mute and completely paralyzed. Mathieu Amalric stars in this adaptation of Bauby’s autobiography, which he dictated by blinking. Julian Schnabel was nominated for the 2008 Best Director Oscar and won the Golden Globe in the same category for his poignant film about the strength of the human spirit.”</p>
<p>The Year My Parents Went on Vacation. "When his parents’ political leanings force them to flee Brazil in haste, 12-year-old Mauro (Michel Joelsas) is left behind to live with his grandfather on the outskirts of S</p>
<p>The only foreign films I see these days are those my children rate as “must see” and sometimes rent for me.</p>
<p>French: Jeux d’enfants (Love me if you Dare) - I don’t know if it is <em>good</em> but I still remember it and am puzzling over it more than a year later.</p>
<p>Indian: Deepa Mehta’s elements trilogy: Fire, Earth and Water. I have only seen Water so far and thought it very interesting.</p>
<p>Spanish: Nico and Dani - coming of age of two friends one straight, one gay. sweet.</p>
<p>I liked “In Bruges”.</p>
<p>Have to agree with Babette’s Feast and Once Were Warriors - probably the most extreme opposite movies listed here so far.</p>
<p>Great thread!</p>
<p>*Three Colors (aka Red, White and Blue)<a href=“Polish;%20dircted%20by%20Krzysztof%20Kieslowski”>/I</a>, Red is my favorite of the trilogy;</p>
<p>*Burnt by the Sun <a href=“Russian;%20by%20Nikita%20Mikhalkov”>/I</a> [Burnt</a> by the Sun](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burnt_by_the_Sun]Burnt”>Burnt by the Sun - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>*The Umbrellas of Cherbourg <a href=“France;%20already%20mentioned%20here”>/I</a> - love the music
*
Destiny of a Man <a href=“Russian%20WWII%20movie”>/I</a> [Destiny</a> of a Man](<a href=“http://www.blockbuster.com/movies/destiny-of-a-man.html]Destiny”>http://www.blockbuster.com/movies/destiny-of-a-man.html)</p>
<p>Among the more recent ones:</p>
<p>*Good-bye, Lenin<img src=“German%20-%20?;%20abouth%20the%20fall%20of%20the%20Berlin%20Wall” alt=“/I”></p>
<p>I also liked Run, Lola, Run! but was not that fond of Amelie.</p>
<p>Because I could find so little about it online. Then I decided to see if I could buy it on Amazon to send my daughter in an Easter care package and I found a review that gives a nice synopsis. Colm Meany (the Irishman in Star Trek Deep Space Nine and many other productions) is also in it. My kids LOVED this when they were very little (they were 3 and 5 when it came out!) and I did too. My college freshman is going to be delighted to see it again!</p>
<p>War of the Buttons. “Okay, so, I have to say that when I was first introduced to this movie by one of my friends, I was like, “War of the Buttons? What kind of a name for a movie is that?” and was prepared not to like it. However, I was proven to be wrong, and this has been one of my most favorite movies in a long time. It is about two groups of boys from two different Irish towns, Ballydowse and Carrickdowse, who decide to wage “war” for “the hell of it.” If one member gets captured by an opposing team, their buttons are cut off and kept as trophies, and the victim is sent home to let “their parents do the hurting.” You can’t help but cheer for the Ballys, who aren’t as well off as the Carricks and have to be more creative in their ideas for war. The acting is terrific, most notably the leaders of the two groups–Fergus (Gregg Fitzgerald), an abused, unloved teenager but yet has lots of spirit, who is the head of the Ballys, and Geronimo (John Coffey), the head of the Carricks, who has many noble and charismatic qualities. To me, this movie was more than simply boys fighting each other with sticks–even though there was plenty of that–but was instead about boys growing up and finding themselves, about right and wrong, friendship, betrayal, and learning to see past senseless hate for others. I fully enjoyed every minute of this movie–it was humoruous, yet also nostalgic and sentimental, but not overly so. A must see, for viewers of all ages!”</p>
<p>Certainly not obscure or high-brow, but I liked:
Like Water for Chocolate
The Orphanage
and yes, Gallipoli (one of my favorites)</p>
<p>D1 is my partner in the foreign film dept-- it’s nice to finally have someone else who’ll even watch them with me. ‘Diving Bell’ was a hit with her, not as much with me. She was very excited when I recently brought home ‘Let the Right One In,’ from the library. Unfortunately it had been hyped enough that she ended up being a bit disappointed.</p>
<p>We heard great things about ‘A Christmas Tale’ with Catherine Deneuve, but neither of us cared for it. The less I hear about a movie before hand, the more I seem to like it. Enjoyed Happy-Go-Lucky, but would have liked it better without reading gushy reviews first.</p>
<p>So glad you liked The Lives of Others! I will take credit for recommending it. </p>
<p>Ditto the Goodbye Lenin! that BunsenBurner recommends. Similar theme, but more lighthearted.</p>
<p>There is a German/Dutch made-for-TV movie called, I believe, The Black Book, which is available through Netflix. It also stars Sebastian Koch, the lead from The Lives of Others.</p>
<p>Les Choristes (2004). Not the most intellectual movie, but very enjoyable.</p>
<p>" Central Station "</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot about the colors trilogy by Kieslowski! Very much enjoyed them, too.</p>
<p>Isn’t Europa, Europa German, not Polish? I liked it very much.</p>
<p>Other German movies I like:
Fassbinder’s The Marriage of Maria Braun a parable about modern Germany
*The Tin Drum<a href=“though%20it’s%20very%20weird%20-Oskar%20refuses%20to%20grow%20up%20as%20he%20experiences%20the%20great%20events%20of%20modern%20European%20history”>/I</a>
*Das Boot<a href=“auftauchen%20-%20life%20in%20a%20sub%20in%20WW2”>/I</a>
Wender’s The Wings of Desire another weird one - two angels observe Berlin, including ex-angel Peter Falk.</p>
<p>Dutch
Soldier of Orange - follows a group of students some of whom end up in the resistance and others as collaborators in WW2.</p>
<p>French
Hiroshima Mon Amour - very mannered New Wave movie told through flashbacks. My husband hates it, but I love it.
*The Return of Martin Guerre *- is he her husband or not? Does it matter?
*La Cage aux Folles *- hard to believe this was made back in 1978 - despite it’s politically incorrect moments this movie probably did as much as anything to forward gay rights
Diva *- a fun thriller involving switched tape recordings.
*
Les Enfant du Paradis - oldie but goodie
Cyrano de Bergerac - I love Gerard Depardieu he’s perfect as Cyrano.</p>
<p>My son and I watched “I Have Loved You So Long” last night and I liked it very much. About a week or so we watched “M” and that was very, very good. It was a little hard to get into at first and the occasional use of silence was a little odd but it was really terrific and worth seeing. I also absolutely love The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – love the music.</p>
<p>Majid Majidi’s The Color of Heaven aka The Color of Paradise - story of an 8-year-old blind boy in Iran. Who knew Iran was so beautiful? </p>
<p>Marleen Gorris’ Antonia’s Line - story of a Dutch woman rebuilding her life in a small Dutch village after WWII.</p>
<p>Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Feast - Just delightful.</p>
<p>For animated shorts check out the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s
The Sweater - very funny and very sweet. We have it on a video with two other shorts - both cute: one about the dread of practicing piano (any musician can relate to this!) and the other about a chauffeur who steps out of the car and loses it down a hill. Silly, but funny.</p>
<p>Also - Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful and The Tiger and the Snow.</p>
<p>Last one from me: Smilla’s Sense of Snow from the Danish story.</p>
<p>Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, two films by Claude Berri which should be seen one after the other. Yves Montand, Daniel Auteuil, and Gerard Depardieu are all amazing and the story is very, very powerful and beautifully told.</p>