le greatest foreign language films

[Blarg]

Wow, thanks for the heads up! I can't even tell you how cool that is! I've been waiting for it to come out for so damn long! I will have to see this immediately when it comes out, and probably own it. I really loved those characters. And they were not exactly the easiest characters to love. This one is long overdue.

[John Cole]

Blarg,

That's one of the Fassbinder's I've never got to see either--and I managed to catch most of a thirteen film Fassbinder retrospective at Brown University back in the early '80s. I've also been looking forward to it for quite a long time.

[Peter666]

[ QUOTE ]
By the way, Pryor, I like your list. Ugetsu has long been one of my favorites. I first saw it about thirty years ago, and I was excited to finally be able to get it on DVD. I also have watched Sansho the Bailiff recently and find it almost the equal of Ugetsu.

As to the entire list, I wish I could see the individual lists submitted by each participant. I think that's one of the pleasures of the Sight and Sound poll.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can see every single list here: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/ Plus clicking on an entry will show you the other people who voted for the same entry and their lists. I learned that Roger Ebert considers "Aguirre: the Wrath of God" to be the greatest film ever made.

I think Sansho even surpasses Ugetsu. Mizoguchi is totally in control of his aesthetic, a true master. My biggest regret is missing Princess Yang Kwei Fei last year at a retrospective to see what he could do with colour. I consider him the equal of Kurosawa if not better.

[John Cole]

It's especially fascinating to see the films that directors voted for, but the guy with the most chops has to be Bryan Forbes who voted his own film, Whistle Down the Wind, in tenth place. Gotta love somebody like that. (BTW, I really like his film, too.)

And George Romero has the funniest explanation of why he chose what he did.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
By the way, Pryor, I like your list. Ugetsu has long been one of my favorites. I first saw it about thirty years ago, and I was excited to finally be able to get it on DVD. I also have watched Sansho the Bailiff recently and find it almost the equal of Ugetsu.

As to the entire list, I wish I could see the individual lists submitted by each participant. I think that's one of the pleasures of the Sight and Sound poll.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can see every single list here: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/ Plus clicking on an entry will show you the other people who voted for the same entry and their lists. I learned that Roger Ebert considers "Aguirre: the Wrath of God" to be the greatest film ever made.

I think Sansho even surpasses Ugetsu. Mizoguchi is totally in control of his aesthetic, a true master. My biggest regret is missing Princess Yang Kwei Fei last year at a retrospective to see what he could do with colour. I consider him the equal of Kurosawa if not better.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just saw both Ugetso and Sansho the Bailiff recently, and really enjoyed them. I thought Sansho was a lot of fun.

There is something about those films that really sticks as real. The sets, the pacing, the often leisurely camera work, the lighting of actors and how much care is taken to pretty them up, how much poverty and brutality seem to be taken for granted -- it's a different aesthetic and outlook on life than the cleaned-up version we have usually gotten with Western films about those days. I can relate to the people in those films and what they're doing often much better than I can to the films of my own culture.

A parallel I can think of is the difference between the looks of Star Trek and Alien. In one, things are well-lit and the walls are so clean and uniform they look like they've just been set in place and could be rolled away on casters. And they can! In the other, some of the lights are burnt out, empty coffee cups are scattered around, there are stains and wear all around, things are crowded and look used. In Mizoguchi's and Kurosawa's period pieces, things aren't uniform, often even in the houses of the upper classes. Stairs look cut for thickness alone; they vary in shape and often have ragged, sometimes unfinished edges. Floorboards don't quite fit together. Planks in walls have unfilled gaps. Window shutters don't quite come together with their windows. You feel like people actually live in these worlds, haphazardly, making due.

I love being in those worlds for a while and seeing what the people are up to. I don't know where I am when I see most of Hollywood's medieval period pieces. It feels like Mars, and the people often seem bizarre and highly mannered.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
Blarg,

That's one of the Fassbinder's I've never got to see either--and I managed to catch most of a thirteen film Fassbinder retrospective at Brown University back in the early '80s. I've also been looking forward to it for quite a long time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I started writing a little commentary on the flick, but I'll just save it for after you've seen the movie. One of the cool things about it is how your feelings toward the main character can change. It carries an emotional charge when they do. This is probably one of my favorite movies I've ever seen, but it was so hard to see I pretty much mentally put it aside as if I had never seen it, and was just hoping it wasn't lost or destroyed. I'm excited to hear I'll have the pleasure of seeing this work again.

[Peter666]

And get a load of the guys voting for pornos. One has "Behind the Green Door" as #1, and another guy includes the "Devil in Miss Jones" and the "Opening of Misty Beethoven" in his list. What a joke. I can't believe Debbie Does Dallas was not included.

[fyodor]

Films that made the first cut that I have seen that I don't think should have made the first cut:

Amelie - I simply did not find anything in this movie to like

Eyes Without a Face - an ok older horror flick. Perhaps I am just missing some historical context on it's inclusion

Film from pryor's picks that I never would have nominated:

City of God - I don't get the hype on this one at all.

One flick I didn't see mentioned that definitely should have been included:

Jean Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1976) written & directed by Chantal Ackerman

not an easy film to view if you are used to a Hollywood type pace but well worth the effort. It's tough to talk about J.D. without giving anything away. So I won't.

I will say if you are willing to put the effort in you can't possibly come away without thinking it should be on the list. It's been called experimental and feminist and it surely is both. More than that though it's just one hell of movie experience and the entire 201 minutes is worth it just to see Seyrig <font color="white">very briefly smile very near the end and then kind of wake up to what she's done and where she's been </font>&lt;- Serious spoiler in white. PLEASE DON'T CLICK IF YOU INTEND TO SEE THE MOVIE

[katyseagull]

Welcome Back, fyodor. We missed you! I'm shocked that you weren't floored by City of God.

[Peter666]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Blarg,

That's one of the Fassbinder's I've never got to see either--and I managed to catch most of a thirteen film Fassbinder retrospective at Brown University back in the early '80s. I've also been looking forward to it for quite a long time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I started writing a little commentary on the flick, but I'll just save it for after you've seen the movie. One of the cool things about it is how your feelings toward the main character can change. It carries an emotional charge when they do. This is probably one of my favorite movies I've ever seen, but it was so hard to see I pretty much mentally put it aside as if I had never seen it, and was just hoping it wasn't lost or destroyed. I'm excited to hear I'll have the pleasure of seeing this work again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Speaking of German directors, my man Volker Schlondorff doesn't get enough respect. "The Tin Drum" and "Circle of Deceit" are great films along with his others and must be considered.