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j_scott_stroup04

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Best Foreign Filmmaker?
« on: December 17, 2003, 10:48:11 PM »
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By foreign, I mean their films originate in a language that isn't English.  
For my money....
Ingmar Bergman is the best thing to happen to world cinema.

Akira Kurosawa is a close second

Now....best foreign film?

Again, I'm going with Bergman.  His "Seventh Seal" is my favorite foreign film.  Followed closely by Kurosawa's "Rashomon"

I have yet to see 8 1/2, Seven Samurai, or Grand Illusion.  I chose these out of the dozen or so foreign films I've seen:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
El Mariachi
Magic Flute
Wild Strawberries
Yojimbo
Ran
Throne of Blood
Cries and Whispers
Amelie
My Father's Glory
Brotherhood of the Wolf

I think that's it....to explain the extreme lack of foreign film experience, the only thing I can account for that is that I live in a small town with a very minimal selection at the local movie stores.  Although, I am getting shitload of foreign films for christmas:
8 1/2
Seven Samurai
Sanjuro
Hidden Fortress
Band of Outsiders
Winter Light
Through a Glass Darkly

And then some....
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NEON MERCURY

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« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2003, 10:53:27 PM »
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does ebonics count???????
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soixante

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« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2003, 12:28:16 AM »
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Godard.  Breathless revolutionized cinema in 1960.  Alphaville has been highly influential.  His 60's films are as fresh now as they were when they were first released.
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Pubrick

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« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2003, 01:03:31 AM »
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j_scott_stroup04 it's great that ur getting involved in starting topics of movie discussion, i hope soon u will grow out of list-making and ranking threads.

and onto fruitful relevant discussion.
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NEON MERCURY

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« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2003, 03:32:04 PM »
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Quote from: P
j_scott_stroup04 it's great that ur getting involved in starting topics of movie discussion, i hope soon u will grow out of list-making and ranking threads.

and onto fruitful relevant discussion[/b].


yeah!!..join us over here j_scott_stroupe04:
http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=4756 ..... :wink:
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j_scott_stroup04

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Best Foreign Filmmaker?
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2003, 03:50:23 PM »
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Hey, hey, now be nice...
This is just a method to individualize those who I feel share my opinions.   :-D
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j_scott_stroup04

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« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2003, 03:53:43 PM »
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....It's also a method of finding out which directors or films I need to see.
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godardian

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« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2003, 07:14:11 PM »
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Some directors of really thoughtful, really beautiful films who for one reason or another never took the world by storm like your Fellinis and your Bergmans:

Abbas Kiarostami

Alexandr Sokurov

Andrei Tarkovsky

Theo Angelopoulos

Robert Bresson

Carl Theodor Dreyer
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MacGuffin

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« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2003, 07:30:36 PM »
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Quote from: godardian
Some directors of really thoughtful, really beautiful films who for one reason or another never took the world by storm like your Fellinis and your Bergmans:


I'll add Henri-Georges Clouzot and Krzysztof Kieslowski.

And also piggy-back this thread for further discussion:
http://xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=4144
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rustinglass

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« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2003, 08:02:48 PM »
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To keep the list short, I'll stick to the ones that live.

Kusturica
Lars von Trier
Takeshi Kitano
Teresa Villaverde
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j_scott_stroup04

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« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2003, 08:10:32 PM »
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Godardian:

Obviously, being a Godard fan, you would be the one I'd go to if I were to ask for a recommendation.  So....which Godard film would you recommend for a person in my situation, in which I've only seen Sympathy for the Devil (I'm sure that's not a "Godard" film in the true sense of the word).  
would it be Breathless?  Contempt?  Band of Outsiders (which is probably going to be my first offical Godard)?
is there any other ones that should be first....or specific ones I should save for last?
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cowboykurtis

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« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2003, 08:17:54 PM »
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Quote from: j_scott_stroup04
Godardian:

Obviously, being a Godard fan, you would be the one I'd go to if I were to ask for a recommendation.  So....which Godard film would you recommend for a person in my situation, in which I've only seen Sympathy for the Devil (I'm sure that's not a "Godard" film in the true sense of the word).  
would it be Breathless?  Contempt?  Band of Outsiders (which is probably going to be my first offical Godard)?
is there any other ones that should be first....or specific ones I should save for last?


contempt or alphaville or band of outsiders -- personally despise the last 2 acts of breatless -- 1st is quite wonderful
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godardian

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« Reply #12 on: December 18, 2003, 08:18:13 PM »
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Quote from: j_scott_stroup04
Godardian:

Obviously, being a Godard fan, you would be the one I'd go to if I were to ask for a recommendation.  So....which Godard film would you recommend for a person in my situation, in which I've only seen Sympathy for the Devil (I'm sure that's not a "Godard" film in the true sense of the word).  
would it be Breathless?  Contempt?  Band of Outsiders (which is probably going to be my first offical Godard)?
is there any other ones that should be first....or specific ones I should save for last?


Well... it depends. My favorite is My Life to Live (Vivre sa Vie), but I'm not sure that's a good "first." Probably Breathless and Band of Outsiders are the most fun, most accessible Godard, and then if you like those, go on to Contempt, Vivre sa Vie, and Alphaville.
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""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

j_scott_stroup04

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Best Foreign Filmmaker?
« Reply #13 on: December 18, 2003, 08:24:39 PM »
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Thanks a bunch!!

In the coming months, I'm probably going to be spending a shit load of money on half.com, ebay and such.
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soixante

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« Reply #14 on: December 18, 2003, 11:49:51 PM »
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The first Godard film I saw was Sympathy for the Devil.  It played at a midnight show, and lots of rockers and stoners went because it featured the Rolling Stones.  By the half-way point, most of the audience was gone.  It features the Stones rehearsing and recording the title song, over and over, cross-cut with gun-toting Marxist revolutionaries spouting incendiary slogans.  This film came out in 1968, the beginning of Godard's political phase, in which aesthetic concerns took a back seat to left-wing political statements.

My personal favorite by Godard is My Life to Live.  It is instructive to compare the looseness of Breathless with the rigidness of My Life to Live.

I would recommend Pierrot le Fou, Alphaville, Les Carabiniers, Breathless, Band of Outsiders and Contempt.  You can't go wrong with any of them.  Le Petit Soldat is highly political.  Weekend is one of his best, but isn't on DVD.  Every Man For Himself is cool (his 1980 comeback film), but it's not on DVD either.
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