scroll2b

I've heard great things about these films online, and made note of them. Now the list is too long, and I was hoping to refine it somehow.... Can anyone give me a top ten or something? Thanks.

R2 French - Fireworks
Underground
Before the Rain
Enigma of Kasper Hausen
Lola Montes
Raise the Red Lantern
Ju Dou
R2 - Hero
Days of Being Wild
Fanny and Alexander
La Vie de Jésus
Breaker Morant
After Life
Maborosi
A Scene at the Sea
Brother
Floating Clouds
Branded to Kill
Tokyo Drifter
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
One Armed Swordsman
A Brighter Summer Day
City of Sadness
Olympia
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg or Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
The Taste of Cherry
Woman in the Dunes
Zatoichi
Eureka
After Life
Irma Vep
L'Eau Froide
Central Station

DVD Smurf

I would see al of them at once...

but here is a small starting selection...

Before the Rain
Enigma of Kasper Hausen
Raise the Red Lantern
R2 - Hero
Fanny and Alexander
After Life
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg or Les Parapluies de Cherbourg
The Taste of Cherry
Zatoichi
After Life

flashburn

I would watch Hero + Zatoichi, back to back.

Fandango

Write the titles each on a small piece of paper and then put them all together and randomly pick one and watch the one that is picked.

DrGerbil

Battle Royale should be near the top of your list...

FilmFanSea

Those I've seen & would highly recommend (in order):
1. Fanny and Alexander (Bergman)--Artificial Eye R2 PAL UK
2. Woman in the Dunes (Teshigahara)--Asmik R0 Japan (Be aware that Criterion is rumored to be releasing this--probably later this year)
3. Maborosi (Kore-eda)--Bandai R2
4. The Taste of Cherry (Kiarostami)--Criterion
5. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Demy)--Koch Lorber vs. France Video Distribution LE R2 PAL
6. Underground (Kusturica)--New Yorker
7. After Life (Kore-eda)--Bandai R2
8. Eureka (Aoyama)--Artist Film R2 Japan


I've seen but didn't care for:
Fireworks/Hana-bi (Kitano)--Bandai R2 or Spectrum Korea


Those on my shelf waiting to be watched:
La Vie de Jésus (Dumont)--Fox Lorber is cheap
Irma Vep (Assayas)--poor-quality Fox Lorber


Those I'm Dying to See (roughly in order of anticipation/excitement):
A Brighter Summer Day (Yang)--I don't believe this is available anywhere in the world
City of Sadness (Hou)--I don't think this is available
Floating Clouds (Naruse)--not on DVD anywhere
Lola Montes (Ophüls)--the Fox Lorber is the only release I'm aware of, and the quality is poor. I'm waiting for a possible release of teh restored version
Days of Being Wild (Wong)--get the Mega Star release
Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang)--release from ERA is the only one I'm aware of w/ English subs; very poor quality
Enigma of Kasper Hauser (Herzog)--Anchor Bay (R1)
Ju Dou (Zhang)--the Pioneer release is poor
Olympia (Riefenstahl)--don't believe this is on DVD
A Scene at the Sea (Kitano)--best edition is unfortunately a Chinese bootleg (Bandai label)
L'Eau Froide (Assayas)--unavailable on DVD??


No opinion either way:
Before the Rain (Manchevski)
Hero (Zhang)
Breaker Morant (Beresford)
Brother (Kitano)
Branded to Kill (Suzuki)
Tokyo Drifter (Suzuki)
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (Liu)
One Armed Swordsman (Chang)
Zatoichi (Misumi or Kitano???)
Central Station (Salles)

pro-bassoonist

Before the Rain is an ABSOLUTE masterpiece!!

However, I am not aware of a DVD release....perhaps you know something I dont???

Pro-B

wynter_nyne

Some great foreign films I would recommend from you list are Days of Being Wild by Wong Kar Wai, and Raise the Red Lantern and Ju Dou from Zhang Yimou. (actually all of the films from both directors are amazing and well worth seeing)
Keep in mind that none of the above three are available in R1 at the moment. (ju dou was released by pioneer, but it was in full screen and is OOP, and now sells for alot [often 80USD or more])
The Road Home, Happy Times, and Not One Less are three Zhang Yimou films released on DVD by Columbia Tristar in anamorphic widescreen with fairly good picture quality, (but not supplements) that I recommend picking up.

Fandango

Days of Being Wild is available in an R0 dvd from Media Asia, I have a copy so it for sure is available.

scroll2b

Thank you so much filmfansea and others. I appreciate your lengthy comments on these films. Hopefully I can start cracking on them soon....

french fan

Not a bad list but may be too much Asian Cinema and not enough European, although that depends on the individual's taste.

I totally agree with DVD Smurf and Pro-b on "Before the Rain," very underrated. If you have seen Hou's other films then "City of Sadness" is one of his greats and if length is not an issue (and shouldn't be) then "Eureka" is ultimately rewarding.

Also, you mentioned "L'Eau Froide," and i want to know where did you get your copy?

mdm67

scroll2b:

it is a good - though uneven as frenchfan already pointed out - list. I see only two masterpieces in there: Kusturica's Underground and Bergman's Fanny and Alexander. These are two films I can't imagine to live without, since they have changed my life as a film buff.

scroll2b

Well, I appreciate what frenchfilmfan and mdm67 are saying about the list, but I've already seen a lot of European cinema, and therefore left it out. This wasn't meant to be a comprehensive list for newbies or anything. This is just a huge unseen film list - movies that I've only heard about, and haven't seen yet. I've already added some more, if it makes you feel better.


Battle Royale
Chelovek S Kinoapparatom (The Man With a Movie Camera)
Faust
The Music Room


and some directors, too:
Murnau
Pudovkin
Richter
Pabst
Lorentz


Actually, has anyone read Siegfried Kracauer's "Theory of Film," written in 1960?? Thanks.