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World cinema/Independent films

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
Hi there :wave:

Was just wondering if anyone could recommend any interesting films in the genre of world cinema that I may not have seen. I also like Independent films (world cinema or otherwise) so anything along these lines may also be of interest.
Post edited by JustV on
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    betty blue
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Raise The Red Lantern - a chinese film and soo beauitfully shot
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Spirited Away

    The best Japanese anime film ever made. Absolutely beautiful.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Let the right one in (if you haven't seen it) Very very good.
    Xx
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Spirited Away

    The best Japanese anime film ever made. Absolutely beautiful.

    :yes:

    I love Studio Ghibli films.

    I really like My Neighbor Totoro
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    'L'Auberge espagnole' and 'Le huitième jour'

    :yes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I've seen most of the ones mentioned, however I haven't seen 'Raise The Red Lantern' or 'Spirited Away', so I will check both of those out.
    Let the right one in (if you haven't seen it) Very very good.
    Xx

    I saw this a while back B-A; but if you enjoyed the film then I'd recommend reading the novel by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist which the film is based on.

    Anyway cheers all and keep them coming :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Spirited Away

    The best Japanese anime film ever made. Absolutely beautiful.

    Sorry but it is a "proven" fact by ME :D that "Grave of the fireflies" is the best Anime ever
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hellfire wrote: »
    Sorry but it is a "proven" fact by ME :D that "Grave of the fireflies" is the best Anime ever

    Is that the really sad one? i haven't seen it yet.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Is that the really sad one? i haven't seen it yet.

    one of the only movies to ever get a tear out of my stone cold heart :p

    but I believe it is the one your on about, it is also a Studio Ghibli movie, 1988 i believe..
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hellfire wrote: »
    one of the only movies to ever get a tear out of my stone cold heart :p

    Funny, because the same applies to me and Spirited Away...

    I shall download Grave of the Fireflies and have a watch tonight.


    Also forgot to mention, under the World Cinema category, anything directed by Pedro Almodovar, especially the ones with Penelope Cruz. Pedro himself has described her as his muse.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Funny, because the same applies to me and Spirited Away...

    I shall download Grave of the Fireflies and have a watch tonight.
    QUOTE]

    haha I wasn't a massive fan of Spirited Away, I admit it was good but there are things I prefer massively over this, eg

    The Grave of the fireflies
    N G Evangelion
    Ghost in the Shell,
    My Neighbour Totoro (I even had a totoro cake for my Bday once)
    Blood, the last vampire,
    Ninja Scroll,
    and good old classic Guyver,
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Prepare to be weeping by the end Thunderstruck...

    And I'll throw my hat in the ring and vote for 'Princess Mononoke' as the best Ghibli movie. Loved Spirted Away, Grave is most emotionally devastating and moving, Totoro is beautiful, funny and profound, but Princess is just cool and tough and beautifully paced and concived. The non-butchered version of Nausicaä is pretty cool as well.

    On a wider Japanese front there's no lack of cool as hell directors to think about checking out. Suzuki represents the real beginnings of cool, outlandish and rebel Japanese film making. Both 'Tokyo Drifter' and 'Branded to Kill' are unique experiences.

    For a more modern take on Yakuza movies with an odd and nhilistic perspective then it doesn't come any better than the movies of Beat Takeshi. His tougher pre-semi-paralysis movies are probably the best place to start. I'd go with 'Violent Cop' or 'Sonatine'. For the post mob-leading semi-messiah motorbike crash period I'd go for 'Hanna-Bai' or 'Zaoatchi', Hana-Bai is beautiful and filled with a sense of peace and contentment, a really authentic work. Zaoatchi is just great fun with a gloriously unexpected conclusion.

    The work of Shinya Tsukamoto is also interesting. He's often considered a Japanese David Lynch - though with if you imagine everytime Lynch has a red curtain Shinya tends to have a giant flesh covered robot killing people, so it licks along a bit quicker. His first two films were probably the most interesting - 'Tetsuo: The Iron Man' and 'Tetsuo II: Body Hammer'. Pretty disturbing, or at least they were a couple of decades ago.

    If you're looking for something a little more classic then it's well worth considering Kurosawa or Ozu. Ozu's 'Tokyo Story' is still one of the most moving works or art about aging and changing times and generational differences. It's unlikely to be bettered, but like much serious film making has a pacing that's unusual these days.

    Kurosawa is a master film maker and it's worth watching the classics. 'Seven Samurai' may be a glorious Japanese western but deals with class and caste issues in a really interesting way at times. Mifune's speech about using stolen Samurai armour is a really important way in for the Western viewer to realise that Samurai movies are as much a criticism and parody of the period, not the glorification of Bushido they can seem at first.

    Personally though I'd recommend some of his less well seen works. Red Beard, High and Low, Dodesukaden and Dersu Uzala, fascinating as one of the few international film making collaborations with the Soviet Union.

    Thinking wider than Japan there's a wealth of interesting movies from pre-Chinese Hong Kong. Although violent and often insanely action packed, the works of both John Woo and Tsui Hark are well worth seeing. Woo's 'Bullet in the Head' is extreme and difficult but is a revealing Eastern viewpoint on Vietnam, a Deer Hunter from the inside - and I refuse to believe that the Deer Hunter wouldn't have been improved by a conclusion involving two men shooting at each other whilst smashing cars into each other...

    Australia has also made some interesting art films. In particular 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' is a haunting, resonant piece of art that's well worth watching. Peter Wier also made 'The Last Wave' - a film unlike almost any other and a really interesting film to see.

    Shall we go to India next? I guess there are few countries that really define what people mean by world cinema the way India does. Does world cinema mean looking for something different to block busters or just looking for films that represent a specific culture's film-making?

    I'm not the best person to ask about Bollywood movies, but from an art house point of view I'd make a point of seeing the 'Apu trilogy' by the great Satyajit Ray. Not only stunning films in their own right by a great way into the world that inspired them the Italian neo-realists.

    Okay, probably said enough for now - though I'll have a think tomorrow about French films I'd recommend, which would need a big post in itself (and don't even get me started on Bergman and Scandinavian film making or Tarkovsky or Jadorowsky or Latin American film, though maybe in a few days...). But for now just a couple more suggestions -

    Ousmane Sembene made some great films over in Senegal - I'd recommend 'Ceddo' and 'Xala'. 'Xala' in particular was a stunning film about the post-colonial world amongst many other issues addressed in this funny, moving film.

    'Samt el qusur' or 'The Silences of the Palace' - a fascinating piece about a former servant returning to the pre-revolutionary Palace she grew up in. It looks at her memories of growing up, her identity and the reality of her complicated place in the caste system. Memorable as the first film to ever be directed by a woman in the Arab world (only took till 1994!) it's one of Tunisia's finest and I'd highly recommend it.

    From a purely art house point of view I'd recommend 'The Riddle of the Sphinxes' by Laura Mulvey - a great expressionist film maker and British film theorist.

    Okay, hope that helps :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    jim, I wont quote that but wow... you have more knowledge than IMDB un that noggin of yours.

    They'res a very hilariously grewsome live action (and anime version of it) called Itchi the killer, not emotional but absolutely brilliant movie. I have it on DVD somewhere...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Cheers for that Jim :D

    I would definitely like to hear/read your recommendations on French films as I have a particular interest in French cinema. Although that said I think there is probably something worth seeing from most parts of the world if you look hard enough; its just knowing where to find it :thumb:
  • **helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
    Deffo another vote for Spirited Away :thumb:

    I'd also recommend a German film called Jenseits der Stille

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116692/plotsummary

    :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jim, have you seen Ran? Also a Kurosawa film, and a, ahem, adaptation of King Lear? It's my favourite Kurosawa film.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    *Adds Mother India to the India section*

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050188/
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386064/

    Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo - or in english Brotherhood of War is one of the more mainstream ones and of the 10 people ive known who watched it 8 have cried at the end, probably the most moving ending to a film ive ever seen!
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    la haine
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Jim, have you seen Ran? Also a Kurosawa film, and a, ahem, adaptation of King Lear? It's my favourite Kurosawa film.

    Yeah, it's a great film, one of the first Japanese movies I ever saw. Was fascinating seeing how the story played out in a strange and different feudal culture. Lots of love for it, just figured it's nice to give some of his non-Samurai work a nod :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote: »
    la haine

    Great film - A Prophet is will worth seeing if you enjoyed it. Different I think if you liked La Haine you'd love it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Erm, some good films I've seen recently:

    Taste of Cherry
    Let the Right One In
    Leningrad Cowboys Go America
    The Wayward Cloud
    The Road Home
    The Piano Teacher
    The Man Who Wasn't There
    Italian For Beginners
  • Dr PirateDr Pirate Posts: 8,303 Legendary Poster
    While everyone else is ranting and raving about Spirited Away, did you all forget about Howel's moving castle? I found that story alot more compeling than Spirited Away.

    Not sure if it can be classed as independant, but another amazing Japanese film, if you haven't already seen it is Battle Royale. A shocking view of a potential near-future that I figure wouldn't do our society much harm.
  • +Chimpy++Chimpy+ Deactivated Posts: 37 Boards Initiate
    World cinema certainly offers much more interesting and diverse films than the ones pumped out of the Hollywood studios.

    I'd second the Kurosawa tip; he's certainly done some great films: the Seven Samurai, Ikiru and The Hidden Fortress (the story of which was lifted by Lucas for Star Wars) are all worth a look as well as the ones Jim mentioned.

    In terms of French films, you've got a lot to choose from. France has one of the biggest film industries in the world, after the USA and India. There are lots to recommend but here are some films that I'd suggest to get you going:

    Jour de Fete (1949) comedy about a hapless postman
    A Man Escaped (1956) tense prison drama
    Lift to the Scaffold (1958) noir/thriller
    Jules et Jim (1962) love-triangle drama
    Cleo de 5 a 7 (1962) offbeat/stylised drama
    Bande a part (1964) crime/black comedy
    Army of Shadows (1969) tense Resistance thriller
    Les Diaboliques (1969) noir/thriller
    Au Revoir les Enfants (1987) school drama set during the war
    Delicatessen (1991) black comedy
    Le Diner de Cons (1998) hugely popular farcical comedy
    The Gleaners and I (2000) eco-documentary

    Hope that helps,
    C. :thumb:
  • **helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
    Dr Pirate wrote: »
    While everyone else is ranting and raving about Spirited Away, did you all forget about Howel's moving castle?

    No, I didn't forget about it - I own that too - awesome and Castle in the Sky is pretty damn good as well. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Black Cat, White Cat.
    the most confusing film I have seen in a long time!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You could try Barefoot Gen. Although it can be pretty hard to watch.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Cool thread :) I'll check out some of these!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My favourite (not that I've seen many) 'world cinema' movie is 'Like Water for Chocolate'. It's Spanish and I luff it.

    *resists Spanish movie spree on HMV.com*
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