So two weeks ago I posted my Ten Best Foreign Films of the 90s. And then I asked you all to tell me what I was missing. And here is what you came up with, you clever folks: 

The Top 5 Foreign Films of the 90s (That Didn’t Make My List)

1. DELICATESSEN
Not to sound condescending, but I’m so proud of y’all for choosing this over CITY OF LOST CHILDREN. Many of you noted that DELICATESSEN had a greater impact which I believe. It was the world’s first exposure to Jeunet and his co-director Caro, and it was a bit of kick in the pants. This film is still the most out there and visceral of their oeuvre. It centers around a butcher, who is also the landlord of the building over his shop. His tenants are far from normal in a post-apocalyptic world where food is scarce. As you may imagine, the landlord has some creative ways for taking care of his tenant’s needs as the new janitor Louison (Dominique Pinon) is about to find out. This is a pleasantly disturbing film and one you’ll certainly remember.

2. TRAINSPOTTING
This film was on my original list until I realized I had 11 films and had to get rid of one. I dropped this one because it was a lot more well known than the other films on my list. Well, you guys weren’t having none of it. And rightly so. TRAINSPOTTING was huge upon it’s arrival here and is well-loved. If you haven’t seen it, you should. Although beware some disturbing imagery and ‘potty’ humor. The film, directed by Danny Boyle and based on Irvine Welsh’s novel, is about Renton (Ewan McGregor) and his group of drug addicted cronies — their lives, their ‘loves’, their addictions, their somewhat disturbing hallucinations (ew that baby), and an attempted large money illegal operation. If your wondering why that plot description is a bit lacking, watch the film and you try to summarize it — not easy is it? One of the things that’s so good about it is that you can’t entirely explain what’s so good about it. Just enjoy.

3. CHUNGKING EXPRESS
Wong Kar Wai’s international smash and the film that really introduced this innovative filmmaker to the world. The reason I didn’t include it on my original list is that I like some of WKW’s less touted 90s films better (his genre work like AS TEARS GO BY and ASHES OF TIME), but certainly a lot of people have love for this languid slice of life tale. It is essentially two stories of loneliness. One of Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro) a recently single fellow, whose story culminates in a mysterious meeting with a woman in a blonde wig (Bridgitte Lin). And Cop 663 (Tony Leung), also recently single, who doesn’t quite realize how big a crush the girl at the food stand (Faye Wong) has on him. Christopher Doyle’s cinematography is always worth the price of admission but the honest performances and simple but sympathetic storylines have turned many a viewer into a certified WKW groupie. And if you find yourself so enchanted then check out the loose prequel DAYS OF BEING WILD and loose sequel FALLEN ANGELS.

4. LA HAINE (HATE)
Mathieu Kassovitz’s black and white politically charged masterpiece is often compared to Spike Lee’s DO THE RIGHT THING. The French feature focuses on Vinz, a Jewish character played by Vincent Cassel, and his Arab friend Said and Black friend Hubert. They are all outsiders and the film represents their struggle against the rascist French police. The film was quite big in France and internationally upon it’s release. But the recent riots in France helped thrust this film back into the spotlight and people have been talking about it quite a lot lately. An emotionally charged viewing experience that any viewer will certainly remember.

5. FESTEN (THE CELEBRATION)
Thomas Vinterberg is not the most well known director to come out of the dogme movement, but this film, the first film that followed the minimalist manifesto, is the most ‘celebrated’ (excuse the pun) of the bunch. An exercise of how much you can do with with a little, the film centers around a 60th birthday party for the family patriarch Helge (Henning Moritzen) when a horrific accusation ruins the festivities and underlies all the relationships in the room. There is a lot of talking heads in this exercise of restraint but it still manages to be largely affecting and introspective.

Most Interesting Suggestions
Some people actually managed to suggest things I hadn’t seen. And these were the most fascinating….

EL DIA DE LA BESTIA (THE DAY OF THE BEAST)
This Spanish cult classic is about a priest who believes the anti-Christ will be born by Christmas. When no one believes him he’s decided to stop it all by himself, forsaking his vows and goodness in the process. And next thing you know you have anything you’ve ever wanted from a gun-totting priest and more. It’s dark, it’s funny, it’s gore-y — Miike through Almodovar’s lense. It may be a bit too weird, a bit too gross but it’s so truly unique and visionary you’ll probably keep watching. It’s hard these days to find anything that is like nothing you’ve seen before, but this film might fit the bill.

MEDITERRANEO
This film was pretty well received (it won an Oscar) and seen by a good amount of folks upon it’s release in 1991. But since I wasn’t watching foreign films yet in 1991, I had never heard of it and as it turns out, it is quite lovely. This Italian film is certainly of a foreign film type — a feel-good touristy romp. This film is equal parts fantasy and comedy with a beautiful setting. It takes place on an island during WW2, where a group of soldiers, being sent there, find the pluses of peace and find themselves and all that. These are some truly fuzzy lovable characters. Sometimes you just want to watch something that’ll make you smile and doesn’t bring you down and also not be stupid and this film should be the first place you look.

MISTER FROST
Well this would seem to be a movie that polarizes people. IMDB tells me the film is in fact from “France/UK” despite the starring presence of Jeff Goldblum. It also stars the always lovely Alan Bates and a whole host of French people. The premise is that a mass murderer (Goldblum) is sent to a mental institution where he’ll only talk to a female psychiatrist (Kathy Bates) and of course he attempts to manipulate her. As it turns out there’s a lot more to him then there seems. That’s vague but I don’t want to give away the ‘twist’ even though they reveal it to you relatively early on. Whether you enjoy this film or not depends a lot on whether you see it as a comedy or a drama and your ability to stand Goldblum at his Goldblumiest. But the film is nothing if not interesting…

The Professional’s Opinions
I know that I’m not the end all of foreign film criticism on the web, although I like to think I am. So here’s the opinion of some of the web’s most prominent bloggers and website maestros on the topic of the Best Foreign Film Of The 90s:

Filmbrain: Sátántangó, Bela Tarr, Hungary (1994)
“To select a single film from a very strong ten-year period was nearly an impossible task. Lars von Trier, Wong Kar-wai, Hou Hsiao Hsien (to name a few) released some of their finest works during the 90s, not to mention the myriad of films from newcomers such as Arnaud Desplechin and Takashi Miike. Yet of the many contenders, there is one film that rises to the surface ““ one that I’ve seen three times, which is quite a feat considering its seven-and-a-half hour length ““ Bela Tarr’s masterpiece, Sátántangó. Don’t let the running time intimidate you ““ this films grabs you from the first shot and doesn’t let go until the very end. And though a black and white portrait of a tiny village in post-Communist Hungary might not sound all that exciting, Tarr manages to create an uneasy tension that sustains itself all the way through. There are images in this film that, once seen, are not soon forgotten. But please, don’t ask about the kitten.”

Todd from Twitch: Jeunet et Caro’s Delicatessen.
“Again, many would point to City of Lost Children as a better film and in many ways I agree that it is, but for some reason Delicatessen just sticks with me in a way that City doesn’t. Domenique Pinon is at his best here and gives the high style of the directors its human heart. Unlike much of City, which is purely cerebral (ha, ha), the human relationships in Delicatessen actually work, which is what I think gives it the edge.”

Thanks for all your e-mails. Even if you suggestion didn’t make the list, many of you have given me fantastic ideas for future columns. There were a lot of Australian films represented in your e-mails (although not enough votes for any one movie for it to make it on here) and that’s certainly something I’ll cover in the future. Anyway, I hope this list will keep you all busy till I demand you watch something else in two weeks time….

 

 

-By Alison Veneto

Welcome to my first Quick Stop Entertainment version of International Intrigue. I can only imagine it’ll be quite similar to the Movie Poop Shoot version, but anything is possible. Perhaps the changeover will make me more clever and intelligent. We can dream anyway.

An introduction for any newbies who have drifted to our fine new shores — as your deductive reasoning may have already figured out this is where I write about the foreign films. A quick look through the archives when are they are brought over will show you that this largely means always talking about films from Asia and pretty much never talking about films from other continents except occasionally Europe. But I always do my best to cover what you want to know about based on your e-mails and now your posts (I’m sure a link somewhere at the bottom will direct you to my shiny new section of the forum).

Since the newbies do not know about my tendency to have some of the longest columns on the site, I’ll try to keep to the spirit of “˜quick stop’ and write columns slightly shorter than a Russian novel so you can read them in one sitting instead of over the course of a number of hours. Although all this pre-column blabber is not helping me any, so let’s get on with it:

The Top 10 Foreign Films Of The 1990s.
And let’s start right off with controversy shall we? Every time one makes a list of any sort, the amount of angry people always manages to out-number the amount of satisfied ones. Obviously it’s all a matter of taste. But a lot of people who are not well schooled in the ways of foreign films often have trouble knowing where to start. And at the very least, I’m going to try to help with that. Here’s a list of where to begin your education so you can impress all your friends at tea parties.

(I’m going to wuss out on numbering them and just go alphabetical):

AFTERLIFE (Japan)
Japan had some really great movies in the 90s and it was hard to pick (I ended up naming two). They’re all very diverse — from Anime like Ghost In The Shell, to horror like The Ring to comedy like Shall We Dance? or drama like Fireworks. But now to talk about Afterlife. This film shows us a purgatory of sorts, where go when you die, and watch videotapes of your life. It’s a very quiet, simple kind of film but that’s what makes it so affecting. It’s one of those films that stays with you days later. And gives you a very pleasant feeling just watching it.

AUDITION (Japan)
I think director Takashi Miike is a genius. All of his films are really about something, usually intelligent analogies on Japanese society. Also, all of his movies are absurdly entertaining (or entertaining in their absurdity perhaps). The problem I have with him though is that since he makes a million movies a year and makes them very quickly, they don’t always look technically very good. But AUDITION is an exception. An impeccably filmed movie in which the topic of female repression in Japanese society is played out with sadist horror. The film might be a bit hard to sit through as there are very intense scenes of torture, but it reminds me of a time when horror was a genre for exploring questions like these.

CHARACTER (Netherlands)
This film, the winner of Best Foreign Film at the Oscars in 1998, is often forgotten now. Director van Diem creates a fantastic world for his family drama. A revenge tale that deftly weaves otherwise-tired conventions and themes in a unique way. The oft used themes of which I speak include the office as a machine and the Oedipus complex among others, but it all seems somewhat fresh here. And in the end, it is of course a “˜character’ study. But what really stands out is the moody look of Rotterdam van Diem creates as his tale unravels. The film is most easily compared to the works of great writers like Kafka and Dickens. You may not always know what is going on, but you’ll probably still enjoy it, at least until you realize how depressing it all is.

FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE (China)
It’s no secret that of director Chen Kaige’s films I think TEMPTRESS MOON is the best (if not one of the best films ever made). But for the purposes of this list I’m going to jump on the bandwagon and suggest the easier-to-get film FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE. This film is fantastic with a great epic story spanning several years over the Cultural Revolution in China following two Peking Opera performers. The acting is fantastic, the cinematography is fantastic — it’s an epic worthy of David Lean, the kind rarely seen in America anymore. It’s a great statement on the cultural change in China but put in a story that any audience member anywhere can easily become involved in. A bit of a warning though, the first third of the film shows the torture young children in Peking Opera camps normally had to endure. It may or may not be of interest to you that this portrayal is similar to Jackie Chan’s upbring.

HEAVENLY CREATURES (New Zealand)
I still believe this is by far Peter Jackson’s, director of LORD OF THE RINGS, finest achievement. An inventive tale of two young girls and their relationship with each other and their fantasies. Sure it’s in English so it’s a bit of a cheat, but New Zealand is still a foreign country after all. This film introduces us to Kate Winslet for the first time and she’s outstanding as is Melanie Lynsky (whose career since has not gone quite as well despite her talent). It’s especially enjoyable for filmlovers as you see fantasy lust scenes with computer generated characters like Orson Welles. The whole film explores creative use of CGI as created by the now famed WETA Workshop. And the story explores both the joys and dangers of a fantasy life and makes you feel a lot less weird if you’ve ever had one. And yes there’s all kinds of weird underage lesbian undertones (and overtones) but that’s hardly the point now is it?

LOVERS OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE (Spain)
I’ve never met another person who has seen this film but I was happy to find out through a quick internet search that others who had liked it as much as I did. A quirky little picture about two lovers with palindromic names (Otto and Ana) and the fate that is more in control of their lives than they are. A fantastic, if not quirky, love story that spans a good amount of the globe. The story and the dialogue are often very matter-of-fact. Although it’s a love story it’s never too emotional or sentimentalized. But I really understand the connection between the characters and this style really works in a film where fate plays such a large role. And despite an assertion of the role of fate in our lives, the movie also posits if there’s any rhyme or reason to life at all. The film is very well made and the great locations add a lot to this universal tale which is told in an unorthodox way.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA (Hong Kong)
This movie might be a bad introduction to Hong Kong action films of this period since the quality of the fighting, production values, and even the story are better than a lot of other films in the genre. But in this film, Jet Li, fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping, and director Tsui Hark are all in top form (and that’s saying something because these three guys are generally pretty good). The story surrounds the occupation of Hong Kong by the British and the somewhat common theme of martial arts versus guns. Jet Li plays Wong Fei Hung, a legendary character in China who has more films made about him than any other character in history. And while there are certainly moments of melodrama and as in all Hong Kong films all English speaking actors are comically horrible, it all comes down to the fights which are some of the most outstanding in genre history. As a side note, it’s always fun to watch IRON MONKEY after this one to see how Yuen Wo Ping weaves the same choreography themes into the prequel.

THE PROFESSIONAL (France)
Once again, I may be going against the grain here since of Luc Besson’s directing work LE FEMME NIKITA is usually considered the better film. But when sitting around on a Sunday afternoon, I’m a lot more likely to throw on THE PROFESSIONAL. A young Natalie Portman is great as the young girl taken in by the hitman Jeno Reno. Gary Oldman is deliciously almost-over-the-top as the villain. And Besson takes the stale tale of a lonely man and a spirited child finding meaning and happiness in each other and adds blood and bullets. Besson is always finding new ways of using his camera. His action scenes are great and the story is very well handled. Besson is (was?) one of the few men in the world making action film with gravity of dramas — trying to make the popcorn genre into an art.

THE ROAD HOME (China)
Of all of director Zhang Yimou’s works, many think that RAISE THE RED LANTERN is his masterpiece. I like that film quite a lot but have instead chosen to highlight THE ROAD HOME. From a director known for larger epic films like LANTERN, this small film is truly a delight and an achievement. It’s deceptively simple — a country story about a young girl and boy falling in love. It’s Zhang Ziyi’s film debut and she’s radiant, carrying the whole picture on her own. And director Zhang Yimou shows that he doesn’t need big tragedy, big sets and big stories to affect an audience. A scene where Ziyi’s character loses a hairpin is as heartbreaking as anything I’ve ever seen. This is a small film that packs a big emotional punch. One of the few times I’ve cried from happiness. A word of warning though, when I first saw this movie in the theater I was about to walk out after 10 minutes because the film starts in modern China in black and white before flashing back. So, give the film a little time to get going and you’ll be well rewarded.

RUN LOLA RUN (Germany)
I feel like there’s some backlash toward this film at this point, but certainly when it came out it was a jolt of high octane filmmaking. A film that honestly isn’t about very much but contains some good ideas in it’s use of animation and montage still holds up as a very enjoyable use of 80 minutes. The flood of imitators may seemingly have lessened this film’s impact but watching it again it’s as entertaining and full of energy as it ever was. Franke Potente is Lola, who has only minutes to find the money to keep her lover alive. She leads us through a time bending run of desperation that never lets up. The film shows us that small things in life can make as much a difference as the big ones. A great creative effort that will keep you pumped for hours as if you drank a whole vat of Jolt cola.

Your Turn
Now, as shocking as this may seem, I did not see every foreign film that came out in the 1990s. So let’s try a participatory exercise: I’m looking for your e-mails filled with your insightful opinions about what the best foreign film of the 90s truly is (Although I know you are all going to say CITY OF LOST CHILDREN, PRINCESS MONONOKE and ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER, but that’s fine). And my next column, two weeks from now, will be a list of 5 or so of the most voted for, or simply most interesting sounding films. I’m very much looking forward to watching some things I haven’t seen (although probably not looking forward to finding the more obscure of your suggestions). You can hit me up at alisonveneto@yahoo.com.

Also a note to any of you in New York. The truly fantastic New York Asian Film Festival is running until July 1st. More info here. I have seen almost none of these films and am salivating with jealousy at this very moment.

IN TWO WEEKS: Your films. Reviewed.

June 1, 2006

The International Intrigue hiatus is officially over. I donÂ’t know how you went about watching any foreign films at all in the past couple of weeks. DonÂ’t worry, IÂ’ve returned to guide you through the murky waters of languages not quite our own.

But in the interest of easing back in, I’ve just got one single solitary review for you (regulars will know that oftentimes I have many). So I dedicate this still not-all-that-short column to the “I love your column but it takes me all week to read it” crowd.

TYPHOON

Director Kwak Kyung-Taek found enormous success in Korea in 2001 with his film FRIEND which is still one of the countryÂ’s highest grossing films. And heÂ’s been trying to regain that success ever since. He directed two more films CHAMPION and MUTT BOY, fairly well regarded efforts but neither of which struck the chord with people that FRIEND did. But TYPHOON is the most high profile film heÂ’s ever done and is a clear attempt at mainstream success.

The film centers on Sin (Jang Dong-gun), who as a child attempted to defect from North Korea with his family. But due to bureaucracy they were denied. Ultimately, his whole family was killed except for himself and his sister Choi Myeong Ju (Lee Mi-Yeon). But they were eventually separated. He ended up as some sort of indentured child worker in Thailand and she ended up as a prostitute in Russia.

Subsequently, the film takes place not only in Korea but also in Thailand and Russia, making it a complex mix of languages (that you probably wonÂ’t even notice unless you can tell them apart by hearing them). And thereÂ’s even some heavily accented English thatÂ’ll make you wish they kept the subtitles going. But the exotic scenery is at least of interest and gives the film a worldliness and visual panache.

But cut to the current day and Sin is a pretty hot tattooed pirate. But a pirate who is full of anger and bitterness and bent on destruction of the two Koreas that made him so miserable. Thanks to the US breaking some Nuclear treaties, now he has his chance.

Trying to catch up with SinÂ’s truly complicated plan is Kang Se-jong (Lee Jung-jae), a South Korean agent. Kang is always one step behind until he finds SinÂ’s sister first and then tables are turned. The cat and mouse game eventually leads up to the climactic attempted realization of SinÂ’s grand plan (which relies heavily on the chance arrival of a typhoon) and a massive showdown on the high seas.

The film stars Jang Dong-gun, an actor that Kwak pretty much made into a celebrity with FRIEND, and who had gone on to even more success in the huge Korean blockbuster TAEGUKGI and the very high profile Chinese production THE PROMISE. But the poor guy, who was already forced to speak Mandarin in THE PROMISE and Japanese in 2009: LOST MEMORIES, is once again subjected to languages he doesnÂ’t know and valiantly attempts tackle Thai and Russian (and if I recall correctly, a bit of English). When will they stop doing this to this guy?

The film also stars Lee Jung-jae (IL MARE). He brings real empathy to a pretty one dimensional role. And LeeÂ’s down note, duty bound agent is a good counterpoint to JangÂ’s more outrageous, angry pirate (full with Jang doing his bulging eyes thing, which made a memorable debut in TAEGUKGI). In fact, both the actors are rather good in the film.

This kind of cast and director in a big North versus South action picture with the biggest budget to date in Korea is about as sure a bet as one can get there. It was bound to make money and it did. Too bad they made the most American of mistakes and neglected to put all this effort into a worthy screenplay.

As you probably gathered from my summary, the story is just outright confusing. Even though we tediously follow Sin through every step of his plan, it never really begins to make any logical sense. He gets the US nuclear something or other but thatÂ’s not what heÂ’s using, heÂ’s trading it for something or other. And why are there two typhoons? The film works best in the honestly emotional scenes between Sin, his sister and the Korean agent. Also, the most affecting scene of the film is easily the flashback to SinÂ’s childhood. But the actual thrills and intrigue tend to bog the story down.

On the plus side, the film is well made. Like a lot of top notch Korean films, the cinematography was good and the sound was good for a foreign film (Korean films often have some of the best sound youÂ’ll find outside of Hollywood). Even the effects are fine. And I really liked the score even though some might find it heavy handed. But in the end it comes down to the story. And itÂ’s just not there.

At least the themes are there, but theyÂ’re nothing new. It is ballsy making the South Koreans the bad guys in the way they do. ItÂ’s easy to empathize with Sin as a victim of diplomacy. He never would have tried to destroy the country if the South Koreans didnÂ’t treat him so horribly by denying his family entry. ItÂ’s the South Koreans who made him who he is, not the North. But in a way heÂ’s a martyr to a greater cause (is one family too much a price to pay for the possibility of peace?). But TAEGUKGI and SILMIDO tread some of the same ground, inferring that the North wasnÂ’t entirely to blame and that the South shares some blame as well.

The US aspect of the film is interesting and something different. As it is now, the movie seems to indicate that if the US never got involved (by shipping illegal nuclear something or other) then there would be no catalyst for North Korean revenge. But from a Western point of view, the film would have been more potent if the Americans had caused the original offense instead of the South Koreans. Just this week, documents were uncovered alleging that Americans did shoot refugees (or at least were told to). But these kinds of big budget South Korean films are really about the North-South divide, not AmericaÂ’s place in it.

The relative mediocrity of this film makes me wonder if the golden age of really fantastic action films that delve deep into the question of the North-South Korean divide have run their course. Is there anything left to say? Any angle left to explore?

TYPHOON is being released tomorrow (June 2nd) by Paramount Classics as the “DirectorÂ’s International Cut”. IÂ’ve heard some negative things about the original Korean cut of the movie but I donÂ’t actually know what the differences are. But from my estimation, this one doesnÂ’t seem to be all that better. Yet, in the end, itÂ’s a pretty enjoyable romp and not a complete waste of time. ThatÂ’s the backhanded compliment I have for you TYPHOON…