World cinema fans.

[LetThereBeRock]

I accidentally posted this in chat.

I know there are at least a few of us on Mumsnet,and I have a few questions for you. I never get tired of discussing it personally.

Do you favour films from one particular country?

What are some of your favourite films and scenes.

Do you have a favourite actor?

What was the last world cinema film you watched? And what did you think of it?

And where do you get most of your films from? Or do you see them at the cinema?

I used to watch foreign films quite a lot when I lived on my own but have got out of the habit.

Just to keep this discussion going here are a few films that have stuck in my mind:

Throne of Blood

The Seventh Seal

Les Diaboliques

Eyes Without a Face

Delicatessen

City of God

Amores Perros

Hidden

The Motorcycle Diaries

I tend to favour films from Latin America and also Spain.

My favourite films- All time favourite I guess would be Women on the Verge of a Nervous breakdown director Pedro Almodavar- the king of melodrama!! He has done a lot of work with Penenlope Cruz,(volver, Live flesh, All about my mother an a young Antonio Banderas ( Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Tie me up tie me dodwn, Law of desire, Matador , Labryinth of Passion.)

Favourite actor is Gael Garcia Bernal who has appeared in some of the films mentioned by David51 in a previoius post - By the way if you do see Amores Perros bear in mind no actual dogs were injured in the making of the film no matter how brutal it appears!!

The last film I (RE) watched was Bad Education who funnily enough was directed by Pedro Almodavar and had Gael Garcia Bernal in. (on Sunday at home, that day I also watched Central Station directed by Walter Sallas (a Brazillan director)

I buy a lot of my films but I also go to two art house cimemas to see films. One is about 40 miles one way and the other is 35 miles the other. I go several times a month to see films.

The next film I'm definatly going to see is Abel- directed by Diego Luna - G G Bernal's best friend who also stared with him in Y tu mamma tambien although if I get chance I may go and see Fear Eats the soul which is a German made film.

There's been a few good films from Norway and Iceland that I have quite liked. www.imdb.com/title/tt0805576/jarcity was good and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O'_HortenO'horten was quirky.

What I like about World cinema in general and Latin American films in paticular is that they don't follow a Hollywood Blockbuster formula and they tell an intersting story. That's not say that I snub Hollywood films

I also go and see regular films at the Vue. In Wednesday I am going to see Black Swan in the afternoon and if DH is free in the evening he wants to go and see The kings Speach so I'll go to that as well.

Ok I don't know what went wrong with my link but one was to iMDB for Jar city and the other was to Wiki for O'Horten!!

I'm very Francophile in my tastes, though a little behind at the moment.

David51 I love Les Diaboliques too, though the first time can never be repeated of course!

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg for a sobfest.

Orphee for avant garde charm.

La Regle du jeu for sheer brilliant film-making.

Must go and do something useful but will come back to this thread.

I watch lots of world cinema, mainly on DVD from Lovefilm, sometimes I find interesting things at the library, sometimes buy things on Amazon/ebay if they are cheap and I think I am likely to watch them more than once or if they are not available in this country - I have a multisystem/multiregion DVD player so I play things from anywhere. Occasionally I go to see things at the local arty cinema, but what with ticket prices and childcare, that's a very expensive option.

I have lived in Japan and Taiwan, so probably watch more Japanese and Chinese films than anything else, but also quite a lot of French films. I would like to watch more German ones, but very rarely see any around or read reviews, so wouldn't know where to start. Oh, and there are a lot of good Australian ones that don't really get seen over here.

All-time favourites are mainly films by Itami Juzo (Tampopo, A Taxing Woman etc) or Ang Lee.

It looks like I'm going against the trend with the other posters. I haven't really enjoyed many French films. Many have been completely bizarre but not in a good way!

The last foreign film I saw at the cinema was 'Heartbreaker' with Vanessa Paradis and it was a delight. Perfect comic timing!

what did anyone think of la vie en rose?

Ha another french film!!

I've missed that one but will look out for it.

(if it's rubbish I will come back and haunt you!!!)

it's about edith piaf
I'm a bit of a sucker for biopics of tragic drug ravaged singers, so it's hard to decide

My last post was to Beamur.

I didn't really enjoy La vie en rose. From what I remember it was over 2 hours and because it didn't grab me it dragged.

Heartbreaker is fab, and it's not one of those French films upahill . Romain Duris is fantastic, he has such a brilliant range of facial expressions. VP has amazing dresses too.

La Vie en Rose was good, but didn't quite do it for me. It's the kind of film that wins Oscars, but there was something overwrought about it which would stop me watching it again. Did you like it blackcoffee

sorry!
I did like it but in a guilty pleasures kind of way, like eating a vat of candyfloss
suppose I was hoping someone would convince me it did contain vitamins after all

Well I do love Marion Cotillard, and I'd rather watch her in that than in Inception or Jeux d'Enfants which I thought was dire. So I could definitely justify it in those terms.

she was good, yes
I like Almodavar, Ang Lee, Fellini but am mainly lurking on here for recommendations
I mainly sift through cheap dvd deals and take pot luck!

I liked Vie en Rose, but agree it went on a bit and overwrought is a perfect description.
Amazing that such a beautiful actress as Marion Cotillard could be made up to look so dreadful!
I can't remember the name but I saw a beautiful but slightly mad Sicilian film a few years ago with the woman who was in 'Hot Shots'- just googled it - Respiro. Sea urchins, feral dogs, beautiful landscape.

Some interesting films listed here. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

I'm going to be lazy and copy and paste my answers from the other thread.

The majority of world cinema dvds I have are French,followed by German,then Spanish,with a few Italians,and the rest being a general selection from around the world.

I love French dramas and comedies,and Spanish horror films are almost always worth watching.

I've too many favourites to cover here,but Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources,un Coeur en Hiver,Goodbye Lenin,My Life As A Dog,Etre et Avoir,Das Boot,Brotherhood,Kolya,Departures,The Closet,Priceless,and Apres Vous are but a few of them.

There are a few actors I like,but Daniel Auteuil is by far my favourite. I'm trying to collect as many of his films as I can.
He's in about every one in three French films so it'll take some time.

Most of my dvds come from Amazon,some from HMV. I've considered signing up to Love Film,because they have such a large collection of French films,but I like to keep films so that I can watch them again.

The last film I watched was 'God is Great,and I'm Not,but it was a major letdown. I thought I'd love it, it sounded like a fun premise for a comedy, but it was awful.
The characters were completely unlikeable,and the majority of the film seemed to consist of them being horrible to each other,and in her boyfriend's case,abusive.

The last good film I watched was Un Coeur en Hiver,which was magnificent. I loved the character,Stephane,,and it's already became one of my favourite films.

Which French films have you watched,and disliked,Upahill,if I may ask?

Innocence was one which has just been mentioned in another thread.

I wouldn't say I disliked it but it was very strange.

Cockles and Muscels was one I didn't like at all.

There was another one about a man trying to teach the locals cricket. I can't remember what that one was called.

There have been few over the years. I say to Dh shall we go to the cinema he will always ask if it is subtitled. If I say yes he will always say it better not be one of them French ones, They're bloody strange!!

I'm planning on going to see Biutful this week. It's a spanish one with Javier Bardem (No country for old men) and next week going to see Abel(Mexican) which is directed by Diego Luna.
I'll let you know what they are like if you are interedted everyone.

I am dissapointed that I can't see Fear eats the Soul. (German) but it is on at 6.30pm tonight at the cinema 40 miles away!!

Have any of you seen 'Partir', it has Kristin Scott Thomas, Sergi Lopez (phwwwaaarrr) and Yvan Yttal. I loved it. Kristin is so wonderful in French films! Have her down as some kind of Bonsoir!

Also, another great film I saw a couple of years ago was 'After the Wedding' - Danish

LOL,Upahill.There's plenty of wonderful French films which aren't at all strange.

Has anyone seen Black Book? - WW2 drama about a Jewish resistance fighter in occupied Holland. She seduces a German officer in order to penetrate Nazi HQ. But there's a traitor in the ranks of the Resistance...

I've not seen BlackBooks David.
I tend to avoid war films in general and WW2 in paticular.