Post by Niao on Apr 29, 2006 19:58:23 GMT -5
Ahem...Uh...Yes...Is anyone else here as much of a film snob as I am...? 
I have to admit, I have a great weakness for foreign movies...And I don't simply mean the ever-typical favourites most people have, such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers...Although I do love those two very much...I seem to be a sucker for French, Swiss, and Indian films, especially...Hehe...
Here is a list of my favourite foreign films:
Au Hasard Balthazar
Directed by Robert Bresson. Often praised as one of the greatest films ever made, but long unavailable in the United States, Au Hasard Balthazar is suffused with the same religious imagery and themes that mark much of director Robert Bresson's films. Like his masterpiece Diary of a Country Priest, Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar combines religious allegory with a naturalistic, austere, and minimalist aesthetic style that matches his ascetic themes. The film tells the story of Marie, an unlucky farm girl, and her beloved donkey Balthazar. As Marie grows up, the pair become separated, but the film traces both their fates as they continue to live a parallel existence. Marie and Balthazar become martyrs, eventually taking the sins of others upon their own heads and finding transcendence in the process. Au Hasard Balthazar is like Bresson's other works in that it seamlessly combines the naturalistic and the spiritual.
Wild Strawberries
Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Wild Strawberries is among Ingmar Bergman's most rich and contemplative films, a lyrical reflection on guilt and disappointment in the form of a spiritual journey. The movie stars Victor Sjöström as Professor Isak Borg, an elderly academic who takes a trip by car from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary university degree, accompanied by his daughter-in-law (Ingrid Thulin). Along the way, they meet various passengers who seem to be weighed down by unresolved ethical dilemmas. Meanwhile, Borg's own existential crisis is triggered by dreams and memories in which he is confronted with past disappointments, missed opportunities, and troubled personal relationships with those close to him -- his son (Gunnar Björstrand), his mother (Naima Wifstrand), and his late wife (Gertrud Fridh). The film features stunning imagery, most notably in the flashback, dream, and nightmare sequences, as well as an outstanding final film performance by Sjöström (who is also a famed Swedish director of the silent era).
Eyes Without A Face
Directed by Georges Franju. Based on Jean Redon's novel Les Yeux Sans Visage, French director Georges Franju's gloomy, atmospheric horror film Eyes Without a Face is a masterpiece of cinematic poetry. After his daughter Christiane (Edith Scob) becomes horribly disfigured in a car accident of which he was the cause, guilt-ridden plastic surgeon Doctor Genessier (Pierre Brasseur) grows obsessed with perfecting the reconstruction of her once-beautiful, but now-ravaged, face. With the help of his sadistic nurse Louise (Alida Valli), Genessier kidnaps young girls and brings them back to his isolated manse for grisly medical procedures that graft the victims' living skins onto that of his daughter's. Often compared to Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, the film's nightmarish power springs from the surrealistic beauty of its haunting images -- from the fiercely blank mask that shields Christiane's wounded face to the merciless incisions of Genessier's surgeries -- and a moving climactic scene that garners one of the most transcendent finales in all of cinematic history.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Dreyer's retelling of the trial and martyrdom of Joan of Arc remains one of the most immediate -- and startlingly intimate -- works of cinema ever produced. Based upon a meticulous study of the transcripts from Joan's trial for heresy in 1431, Dreyer's approach eschewed the grand-scale typical of the epic silent productions of his contemporaries in favor of a stark, angular cinematography filmed almost entirely in close-ups. The result is a stunning, emotional film, carried by French actress Falconetti's inspired, haunting performance, which remains unparalleled to this day.
Asoka
Directed by Santosh Sivan. An epic tale of one of the greatest rulers of India, Asoka is a testament to the redemptive power of love. Asoka inherited India's throne in third century B.C. The Indian dynasty was poised to conquer the entire peninsula and the king began his reign by leading the charge. However, the emperor found greater meaning in the love of two women and was soon transformed, renouncing warfare and adopting the principles of the Buddha. This 2001 Indian biopic of the peaceful leader is a work of great political and dramatic significance.
I have to admit, I have a great weakness for foreign movies...And I don't simply mean the ever-typical favourites most people have, such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers...Although I do love those two very much...I seem to be a sucker for French, Swiss, and Indian films, especially...Hehe...Here is a list of my favourite foreign films:
Au Hasard Balthazar
Directed by Robert Bresson. Often praised as one of the greatest films ever made, but long unavailable in the United States, Au Hasard Balthazar is suffused with the same religious imagery and themes that mark much of director Robert Bresson's films. Like his masterpiece Diary of a Country Priest, Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar combines religious allegory with a naturalistic, austere, and minimalist aesthetic style that matches his ascetic themes. The film tells the story of Marie, an unlucky farm girl, and her beloved donkey Balthazar. As Marie grows up, the pair become separated, but the film traces both their fates as they continue to live a parallel existence. Marie and Balthazar become martyrs, eventually taking the sins of others upon their own heads and finding transcendence in the process. Au Hasard Balthazar is like Bresson's other works in that it seamlessly combines the naturalistic and the spiritual.
Wild Strawberries
Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Wild Strawberries is among Ingmar Bergman's most rich and contemplative films, a lyrical reflection on guilt and disappointment in the form of a spiritual journey. The movie stars Victor Sjöström as Professor Isak Borg, an elderly academic who takes a trip by car from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary university degree, accompanied by his daughter-in-law (Ingrid Thulin). Along the way, they meet various passengers who seem to be weighed down by unresolved ethical dilemmas. Meanwhile, Borg's own existential crisis is triggered by dreams and memories in which he is confronted with past disappointments, missed opportunities, and troubled personal relationships with those close to him -- his son (Gunnar Björstrand), his mother (Naima Wifstrand), and his late wife (Gertrud Fridh). The film features stunning imagery, most notably in the flashback, dream, and nightmare sequences, as well as an outstanding final film performance by Sjöström (who is also a famed Swedish director of the silent era).
Eyes Without A Face
Directed by Georges Franju. Based on Jean Redon's novel Les Yeux Sans Visage, French director Georges Franju's gloomy, atmospheric horror film Eyes Without a Face is a masterpiece of cinematic poetry. After his daughter Christiane (Edith Scob) becomes horribly disfigured in a car accident of which he was the cause, guilt-ridden plastic surgeon Doctor Genessier (Pierre Brasseur) grows obsessed with perfecting the reconstruction of her once-beautiful, but now-ravaged, face. With the help of his sadistic nurse Louise (Alida Valli), Genessier kidnaps young girls and brings them back to his isolated manse for grisly medical procedures that graft the victims' living skins onto that of his daughter's. Often compared to Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, the film's nightmarish power springs from the surrealistic beauty of its haunting images -- from the fiercely blank mask that shields Christiane's wounded face to the merciless incisions of Genessier's surgeries -- and a moving climactic scene that garners one of the most transcendent finales in all of cinematic history.
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer. Dreyer's retelling of the trial and martyrdom of Joan of Arc remains one of the most immediate -- and startlingly intimate -- works of cinema ever produced. Based upon a meticulous study of the transcripts from Joan's trial for heresy in 1431, Dreyer's approach eschewed the grand-scale typical of the epic silent productions of his contemporaries in favor of a stark, angular cinematography filmed almost entirely in close-ups. The result is a stunning, emotional film, carried by French actress Falconetti's inspired, haunting performance, which remains unparalleled to this day.
Asoka
Directed by Santosh Sivan. An epic tale of one of the greatest rulers of India, Asoka is a testament to the redemptive power of love. Asoka inherited India's throne in third century B.C. The Indian dynasty was poised to conquer the entire peninsula and the king began his reign by leading the charge. However, the emperor found greater meaning in the love of two women and was soon transformed, renouncing warfare and adopting the principles of the Buddha. This 2001 Indian biopic of the peaceful leader is a work of great political and dramatic significance.
