Mao

Calling pro-b!

Any idea which ones are out in other regions at this time?

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Argentina, “XXY,” Lucia Puenzo, director;
Australia, “The Home Song Stories,” Tony Ayres, director;
Austria, “The Counterfeiters,” Stefan Ruzowitzky, director;
Azerbaijan, “Caucasia,” Farid Gumbatov, director;
Bangladesh, “On the Wings of Dreams,” Golam Rabbany Biplob, director;
Belgium, “Ben X,” Nic Balthazar, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “It’s Hard to Be Nice,” Srdan Vuletic,director;
Brazil, “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation,” Cao Hamburger, director;
Bulgaria, “Warden of the Dead,” Ilian Simeonov, director;
Canada, “Days of Darkness,” Denys Arcand, director;
Chile, “Padre Nuestro,” Rodrigo Sepulveda, director;
China, “The Knot,” Yin Li, director;
Colombia, “Satanas,” Andi Baiz, director;
Croatia, “Armin,” Ognjen Svilicic, director;
Cuba, “The Silly Age,” Pavel Giroud, director;
Czech Republic, “I Served the King of England,” Jiri Menzel,director;
Denmark, “The Art of Crying,” Peter Schonau Fog, director;
Egypt, “In the Heliopolis Flat,” Mohamed Khan, director;
Estonia, “The Class,” Ilmar Raag, director;
Finland, “A Man’s Job,” Aleksi Salmenpera, director;
France, “Persepolis,” Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud, directors;
Georgia, “The Russian Triangle,” Aleko Tsabadze, director;
Germany, “The Edge of Heaven,” Fatih Akin, director;
Greece, “Eduart,” Angeliki Antoniou, director;
Hong Kong, “Exiled,” Johnnie To, director;
Hungary, “Taxidermia,” Gyorgy Palfi, director;
Iceland, “Jar City,” Baltasar Kormakur, director;
India, “Eklavya – The Royal Guard,” Vidhu Vinod Chopra, director;
Indonesia, “Denias, Singing on the Cloud,” John De Rantau, director;
Iran, “M for Mother,” Rasoul Mollagholipour, director;
Iraq, “Jani Gal,” Jamil Rostami, director;
Ireland, “Kings,” Tom Collins, director;
Israel, “Beaufort,” Joseph Cedar, director;
Italy, “The Unknown,” Giuseppe Tornatore, director;
Japan, “I Just Didn’t Do It,” Masayuki Suo, director;
Kazakhstan, “Mongol,” Sergei Bodrov, director;
Korea, “Secret Sunshine,” Chang-dong Lee, director;
Lebanon, “Caramel,” Nadine Labaki, director;
Luxembourg, “Little Secrets,” Pol Cruchten, director;
Macedonia, “Shadows,” Milcho Manchevski, director;
Mexico, “Silent Light,” Carlos Reygadas, director;
The Netherlands, “Duska,” Jos Stelling, director;
Norway, “Gone with the Woman,” Petter Naess, director;
Peru, “Crossing a Shadow,” Augusto Tamayo, director;
Philippines, “Donsol,” Adolfo Alix, Jr., director;
Poland, “Katyn,” Andrzej Wajda, director;
Portugal, “Belle Toujours,” Manoel de Oliveira, director;
Puerto Rico, “Love Sickness,” Carlitos Ruiz, Mariem Perez, directors;
Romania, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” Cristian Mungiu, director;
Russia, “12,” Nikita Mikhalkov, director;
Serbia, “The Trap,” Srdan Golubovic, director;
Singapore, “881,” Royston Tan, director;
Slovakia, “Return of the Storks,” Martin Repka, director;
Slovenia, “Short Circuits,” Janez Lapajne, director;
Spain, “The Orphanage,” J.A. Bayona, director;
Sweden, “You, the Living,” Roy Andersson, director;
Switzerland, “Late Bloomers,” Bettina Oberli, director;
Taiwan, “Island Etude,” Chen Huai-En, director;
Thailand, “King of Fire,” Chatrichalerm Yukol, director;
Turkey, “A Man’s Fear of God,” Ozer Kiziltan, director;
Uruguay, “The Pope’s Toilet,” Enrique Fernandez, Cesar Charlone, directors;
Venezuela, “Postcards from Leningrad,” Mariana Rondon, director;
Vietnam, “The White Silk Dress,” Luu Huynh, director.

RichC2

Exiled? Really? Her?

pro-bassoonist

Hello Mao,

I just left a quick note in the HD forum as well: will be back tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Have a lot of work to do but promise to respond.

Yours,
Pro-B

RonBoster

Any word yet on "The Orphanage" on dvd from spain or other source? I would love to pick up this title.

Groucho

Are any of those about the Holocaust? If so, expect them to get a nom.

PopcornTreeCt

Wow, I didn't know so many countries released movies.

Brent L

I thought for sure that The Band's Visit (Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) would be the pick for Israel.

http://thebandsvisit.com/

Yakuza Bengoshi

Actually, there's even more countries that make movies than are listed here. Not every country bothers to submit a film to the American Academy.

flixtime

As to the question of DVD availability, I'll take the easy ones and say that English-friendly DVDs are available for the entries from:

China
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Italy
Korea
Taiwan
Turkey

Tutut

Marjane Satrapi's "Persepolis" announced for December 27, it seems it's not english friendly.

pjflyer

I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival:

Argentina, “XXY,” Lucia Puenzo, director;
Germany, “The Edge of Heaven,” Fatih Akin, director;
Norway, “Gone with the Woman,” Petter Naess, director

Of the three, "Gone with the Woman" was by far my favorite. It will probably be described as an "Amelie-type" film with a male protagonist. I found it hilarious. Peter Stormaire plays a small role in it.

"Edge of Heaven" left me a little cold, but I will give it another try in the future as "Head On" is one of my personal favorites.

I saw "XXY" because Ricardo Darin is in it. The movie is very watchable but it is a bit of a mess.

Giles

'The Silly Age' is excellent - saw it at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival

have my tix to see 'Persepolis' at the beginning of next month at the Virginia Film Festival.

wonder what if any of these announced films will be shown at the AFI's European Union Film Fest. Thanks for the list Mao.

BambooLounge

English friendly "The Unknown" available?

meritocracy

The Italian disc is English friendly.

Giles

films getting shown at next month's AFI's EU Film Festival at the Silver Theatre in Silver Spring Maryland:

I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND (Czech Republic)
THE ART OF CRYING (Denmark)
A MAN'S JOB (Finland)
PERSEPOLIS (France)
TAXIDERMIA (Hungary)
LITTLE SECRETS (Luxembourg)
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (Romania)
THE ORPHANAGE (Spain)

Ted Kontos

Please note that the Italian title is La sconosciuta.

Giles

whoah - saw 'The Orphanage' last night and what a ride - talk about scary, I honestly can't remember a film where I was practically closing my eyes awaiting the obligatory jump scare. A few scenes gave me honest to god goosebumps and a few really intense scenes shot all the hair on my neck and arms straight up. One 'scare' that sort of came out nowhere (think:



had the whole theatre scream, jump and then laugh out of sheer delight. The woman in my row thought otherwise and promptly left.

~

PERSEPOLIS - I found the animation simple, yet elegant and the story quite enlightening. I liked the rhythm of the film, and story structure - very European in nature, a mixture of politics, humour and pathos.

Yakuza Bengoshi

Mini-Reviews as I see them:

THE ORPHANAGE (Spain) -- This film is a big hit, and is definitely a first-rate contender for the foreign language Oscar. As Giles stated, this is one to see with a crowd. When I saw this, the audience collectively jumped at the scene Giles mentioned above, and one woman positively shrieked when I expect this film to do relatively well upon general release in January and an American adaptation is already in the works.

KINGS (Ireland) -- Five expat Catholic Irishmen living in England gather for the wake of a friend. We learn through numerous flashbacks that all five men feel some degree of guilt for the death of their friend and all also hold grudges and regrets about the state of their present relationships with one another. This fine small film is most notable for being primarily in Gaelic.

THE ART OF CRYING (Denmark) -- Although this black comedy pulls out the tried-and-true taboos of incest and murder, and throws in big heaps of manipulation, it just didn't make me laugh.

I plan to see the following other nominees in the next couple weeks:
I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND (Czech Republic)
PERSEPOLIS (France)
TAXIDERMIA (Hungary)
LITTLE SECRETS (Luxembourg)
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (Romania)

Giles

why does an American remake not surprise me in the slightest

getting back to a comment about the film, I thought the 5.1 soundmix was amazing - alot of bass. The dynamic range was pretty incredible from faint ringing of distant bells to the slamming of doors, etc. were all spot-on on delivering a sonic 'thrill-ride'.

Yakuza Bengoshi

4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile) (Romania) To date, this is my favorite of the Oscar contenders I’ve seen. Unlike The Orphanage which benefits greatly from being seen in a crowded theater, this is a film that's best seen alone. 4 Months . . . demands quiet contemplation that the close presence of other viewers can only detract from.

The film, set in communist Romania in 1987, invokes a deep sense of realism by presenting a series of unbroken scene-long takes focused primarily on a single character, without music, in real (though doctored through set design) locations, occurring on a single day.

The central protagonist, Gabita (Laura Vasiliu) is a young woman who has agreed to help her dorm mate, Otilia (Anamaria Marinca) obtain an illegal abortion. The principal supporting characters besides Otilia are the abortionist (Vlad Ivanov), and Gabita's boyfriend Adi (Alexandru Potocean). Although I think most viewers would agree that the acting was excellent, I have heard concerns expressed regarding some of the actions that the characters took. I'll address these concerns in spoilers below, but in sum, I don't share them.

Before responding to these issues directly, I'll note generally that I don't expect film characters to do exactly what I think I would do if I were in their situation. First, they may differ from me based on factors such as age, education, culture, physical and mental capacity, gender, and class. Second, they're under the pressure of the situation itself whereas I'm only an observer (I know I've made dumb mistakes before in pressure situations). In fact, when characters of vastly different circumstances than I act exactly as I would, I generally question whether that doesn’t say more about the similarities between me and the screenwriter and director than it does about the character.

Turning to the specifics now,

The naiveté of the girls is attributable to their age and circumstance.

The actions (mistaken and purposeful) of the characters, together with seemingly inconsequential asides such as the abortionist checking on his mother, only deepened the believability of the story for me. In sum, I loved 4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile and hope to see it again in the future without the crowds.

BuddhaWake

Brazil's submition is available on dvd from Brazil and the extras (as far as I remember) are subtitled in english as well (at least the major extras). I was expecting something a bit better but its still recomendable.

Mao

Is "The Orphanage" available on DVD somewhere?

Yakuza Bengoshi

Not legally. It just opened theatrically in Spain last weekend.

pro-bassoonist

Mao, I have been very busy working on a huge project and the only spare time I've had I dedicated to reviews...so, I have not had a time to provide a comprehensive list as you requested.

This being said, just a quick note that PictureHouse/New Line Cinema will be releasing a R1 DVD of this film shortly. It is listed in their upcoming bulletin even though there is no concrete date attached to it.

Ciao,
Pro-B

Yakuza Bengoshi

It's all starting to blur together now, but I believe I recall the director saying that there would be a near simultaneous theater, on-demand, and DVD release. If correct, that would be December 28 for theater and on-demand, and January 1 for DVD.