Tell me what national films to watch

August 8, 2005 7:58 PM

I'm looking for recommendations for national cinemas, particularly non-Western ones (Korea, Iran, the newer Japanese films, Africa, etc.) or maybe some more obscure western films (Aki Kurismaki, etc.). Also, it'd help if you could tell me not just which flicks are good, but where I could get them (ordering from a region-free dvd site, a torrent site, greencine, netflix, etc.). I'm finding that this second, more logistical half is more difficult: I just got an allegedly great Japanese film and just as allegedly great French film, but neither came with subtitles! Incidentally, I'm probably going to go to Chinatown tomorrow (Tuesday) and pick up like 10 movies, so if you have any Japanese/Chinese/Korean recommendations, send them now!
posted by kensanway to Law & Government (19 answers total)

Response by poster: I swear I clicked "Media & Arts" for the category.
posted by kensanway at 7:59 PM on August 8, 2005

What kinds of movies do you like or consider "good"? Give us an idea of your taste.
posted by Vidiot at 8:03 PM on August 8, 2005

Response by poster: It's not so much for movies I like, but for general background information. Less for a specific taste I'm looking for than to keep up my Generally Intelligent Person Credits.

If it helps, the best new releases I've seen this year are Kings and Queen, Old Boy, Look at Me, and 2046, though I haven't seen that many movies lately. Last year, my list would probably be something like Goodbye Dragon Inn, Eternal Sunshine, Harry Potter, The Five Obstructions, Anchorman, Spiderman 2, Before Sunset, and the Kill Bills and Zhang Yimou flicks with a lot of reservations. So, I'm pretty open, class-wise, if that makes sense--like, my top twenty favorite films would probably have a lot of Renoirs but also Chinese Ghost Story and Back to the Future. Some movies that everyone else likes that I hated: Sideways, American Beauty, I Heart Huckabees, Hero.

Another example. I found this list of the 100 greatest chinese films. This is helpful, but I don't like the selection of the more recent films. I'd add in Chinese Odyssey (Stephen Chiau version), a Wong Kar Wai or two, Goodbye Dragon Inn, Durian Durian, The Killer, Eat Drink Man Woman, Peking Opera Blues, etc., and probably take out As Tears Go By, The Story of Qiu Ju, The Terrorizer, either The Wedding Banquet or Pushing Hands, etc. But when it comes to the pre-eighties films that I really want to see, I don't really know how to get access to those.
posted by kensanway at 8:16 PM on August 8, 2005

paging Dobbs....
posted by Vidiot at 8:24 PM on August 8, 2005

An oddly worded question....

French:
The Battle of Algiers
The Triplets of Belleville
The Three Colors Trilogy
Anything by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Middle East(ish) and India
Osama
The Terrorist
Monsoon Wedding
Salaam Bombay

Asia (including korea, japan, china etc)
Oldboy
Farewell My Concubine
Anything by Akira Kurosawa
Anything by Takeshi Kitano
Save The Green Planet

Note: I've purposely left out documentaries, if you want them, I can post some later.
posted by cyphill at 8:32 PM on August 8, 2005

I'd go through Ebert's Great Movies recommendations if you're looking for the canon. Most should be available through Netflix.

I'd also add any Wong Kar-Wai movies you haven't seen (though I'm confused why you'd add some and take out one), but that's just personal taste.

I've had good luck ordering from AsianXpress, but I think they've gone under. I hear good things about Poker Industries, but I haven't ordered from them myself -- I tend to either get region-free discs in Chinatown (NYC's) or at Kim's on St. Mark's Place. I've never had problems with getting discs w/o English subtitles...there's usually a list on the back of the case with subtitle and region information, unless you're getting straight bootlegs, which really aren't worth the discs they're burned on.
posted by Vidiot at 8:33 PM on August 8, 2005

Response by poster: Thanks, good stuff. Maybe to clarify--I'm not so much looking for a generally recognized great films and filmmakers (i.e. Kurosawa, Beat Takashi, Kieslowski) but for things that I might not have heard of. Like Cyphil, your list had a lot of films that I love. (Blue is probably one of my favorite movies.) But the one that interests me the most is Save the Green Planet! because I missed the showing a few months ago. Or with those Chinese movies on that list, I've seen most of them from Butterfly Murders on, but I'm sort of behind on the Shaw Brothers and the stuff from the 20s and 30s.

I'd also add any Wong Kar-Wai movies you haven't seen (though I'm confused why you'd add some and take out one), but that's just personal taste.

Well, As Tears Go By is very different from his other films--less visually inventive, more traditional. So I'd take that off a list of great films and throw in, say, Happy Together and In the Mood for Love (the required favorite film for everyone under 40, no?).
posted by kensanway at 8:41 PM on August 8, 2005

I recently saw three good movies from three countries I'd never seen movies from before (if that makes any sense):

* Walk on Water (Israel)
* Turtles Can Fly - The first film made in Iraq since the US invaded--truly a revelation about the lives of Kurdish refugees.
* 3-Iron (South Korea)

All decent movies, and probably fairly representative of the state of filmmaking in their countries of origin.
posted by dbarefoot at 10:28 PM on August 8, 2005

Best answer: Some Korean films I've enjoyed include:

Old Boy (already on your list, but listed again so you know what I like)
Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (from the same creator as Old Boy)
Failan (a tearjerker, but in a completely non-melodramatic way)
My Sassy Girl (romantic comedy -- emphasis on the comedy, for the most part)
The Way Home (drama about the meaning of family)
Take Care of My Cat (dramatic coming of age story)
The Quiet Family (genre-buster about a family struggling to run an inn)
...Ing (drama that has romantic/melodramatic elements, but not in a negative way)

Korean cinema has been a great source for foreign films the past few years, and it is one of the few markets where the local product often does better than Hollywood films. So there are tons more Korean films out there, some good, some bad. A lot of Korean films are available on DVD with English subtitles (although some may be region 2 only). Try Yesasia or Sensasian for a source to purchase, although a lot of them can be found on Amazon and other places as well. I think both Greencine and Netflix carries some Korean films (at least the ones released domestically).

If you are interested in exploring Korean cinema more, check out Darcy's Korean Film Page, an excellent source for information about Korean film, including reviews. That site, along with others I discovered through google or links from that site, brought me from a position of Korean film neophyte to veteran in no time flat. The reviews on that site (along with other sites such as Kung Fu Cult Cinema were especially helpful for separating the wheat from the chaff.
posted by EatenByAGrue at 10:44 PM on August 8, 2005

EatenByAGrue's Korean suggestions are excellent. Korea has been putting out an amazing number of top-notch films for the past few years.

You also might want to check out some Thai films, beginning with Last Life in the Universe, a moody and slightly surreal drama with Japanese superstar Asano Tadanobu shot by Christopher Doyle.

Nang Nak is an atmospheric and quite scary story of man who refuses to believe his wife is a ghost.

Mysterious Object at Noon is another engrossing contemporary Thai film.
posted by soiled cowboy at 10:53 PM on August 8, 2005

Best answer: Not quite sure what you're asking for, but there was an earlier thread on Hindi movies (Bollywood) with titles and US sources.
posted by Gyan at 11:22 PM on August 8, 2005

I agree with many of the selections already made, and here're my additions in no particular order:
Chinese: the Road Home, Suzhou He (river), Yiyi a One and a Two

Japanese: Battle Royale, Calmi Cuori Appassionati, Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, anything by Juzo Itami, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl, Swallowtail & Butterfly, Twenty-four eyes

Korean: Shiri, Seopyeonje (also known as Sopyonje) (good luck finding this one! i saw it on tv(!) years ago with subtitles and haven't been able to find a copy since), il mare (this is supposed to be remade into an American movie next year)

Facets has a HUGE selection of foreign movies.
posted by edjusted at 11:56 PM on August 8, 2005

Second the picking up of "Old Boy" (Korean).

Also "Kung Fu Hustle" (Chinese movie). Best. Movie. Ever.
posted by zpousman at 4:20 AM on August 9, 2005

Response by poster: Sorry I guess I wasn't being clear. What I'm looking for isn't as much what recent foreign movies you've liked, but more along the lines of links, resources, canon lists that deal with these national cinemas. Lists, review sites or articles would probably be the best.

Anyways, this *is* helpful. Koreanfilm.org and that bollywood thread look great!
posted by kensanway at 6:01 AM on August 9, 2005

Response by poster: Okay, so maybe examples of what I'm looking for: Greencine has these nice primers on different film genres, like B-movies and the iranian new wave.
posted by kensanway at 6:21 AM on August 9, 2005

Japanese: No doubt you know about Kurasawa, but Ozu is also a master. Tokyo Story is probably his best-known work.

Hungariann: Istvan Szabo is the most internationally celebrated Hungarian director. Most of his recent films have actually been made outside Hungary, but Szeresfilm is a wonderful example of his earlier Hungarian work. More recently, Sunshine is an amazing film that is in English, but covers several generations of Hungarian history in a sweeping and compelling story. Both of these should be available via Amazon (although you might have to buy them used.)

Russian: Eisenstein is, of course, the single most famous and influential Russian director. Somewhat more recently, Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt By The Sun is well worth seeing.

Indian: Beyond the Bollywood stuff, Satyajit Ray is considered the master of Indian neo-realism. I'm not a huge fan, mainly because I like my movies a little larger than life and his are VERY slice-of-life, but his "Apu trilogy" (starting with Pather Panchali is probably a good place to start.

Italian: The two most famous Italian directors are probably Vittorio de Sica (most famous work: Ladri di biciclette) and Federico Fellini. Fellini is one of my favorite filmmakers but he's pretty hit-or-miss. From his early, neo-realist period, I'd recommend Notti di Cabiria, and from his later larger-than-life period, my favorite is 8 1/2. (His best-known film is probably Dolce Vita, but I prefer the other two I mentioned.) I also love Bertolucci -- Il Conformista is a stunningly good film (not to mention a major influence on The Godfather, as far as I can tell), but it's hard to find. It's so visually stunning that VHS can't do it justice. I'd wait for a DVD version, or keep an eye out for a cinema screening.

British: You probably don't need me to tell you that David Lean is a God among directors, but if you only know him from his later epics like Lawrence of Arabia, you might be surprised by how small and intimate (and distinctly English) an early film like Brief Encounter is.

Less well-known outside England the team of Powell and Pressburger, despite the fact that they are among Martin Scorcese's favorite filmmakers. My favorite of their films are The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and A Matter of Life and Death. I Know Where I'm Going! is also very good, but you can skip 49th Parallel, which is a big disappointment. (Scorcese loves The Red Shoes, which is an interesting film, but not my favorite of theirs.
posted by yankeefog at 7:51 AM on August 9, 2005

Hmm, maybe you could post what you picked up? Anyway I find lovehkfilm.com compliments koreanfilm.org, you might also want to glance at WSWS.org's small but interesting sections on Asian and Iranian films.

More specifically, for Hong Kong I've always thought Johnnie To's work should be better known in the West, aside from the more recognized "The Mission" and "P.T.U.", "Breaking News" and "Running out of Time" are excellent, as well as many of the Milky Way films he produced, such as "The Odd One Dies" and "Expect the Unexpected".
posted by bobo123 at 8:12 AM on August 9, 2005

Kurdish cinema: Google director Bahman Ghobadi. Someone mentioned his most recent film, Turtles Can Fly, above - I love Marooned in Iraq.
posted by exhilaration at 9:47 AM on August 9, 2005

The Illuminated Lantern is a pretty comprehensive guide to Hong Kong cinema, and includes reviews of a few movies from other countries as well.
posted by MsMolly at 10:58 AM on August 9, 2005