Top 10 Personal Favorites (of all time)

[oscar jubis]

What is your opinion of foreign-language films?

[treadman]

I don't like ALL foriegn language films, but the ones I DO like invigorate me like the best of yesteryear...Here's my personal Top 10, although I could easily add more Kurosawa, Bergman and Truffaut (my three favorite foriegn directors)

1. DAY FOR NIGHT (Truffaut)
2. THE SEVENTH SEAL (Bergman)
3. RASHOMON (Kurosawa)
4. DIVA (Benieux)
5. CRIES AND WHISPERS (Bergman)
6. AFTER THE REHEARSAL (Bergman)
7. JULES ET JIM (Truffaut)
8. KING OF HEARTS (de Broca)
9. SOLARIS (Tarkovsky)
10. 400 BLOWS (Truffaut)

[pmw]

Just a reminder that you can add your top ten to your profile
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[oscar jubis]

Nice list tread. I also prefer Rashomon to Kurosawa's other masterpieces. I watched Cries and Whispers again this past weekend on IFC. Still harrowing. I'd dare to say that you would enjoy the work of Renoir and Mizoguchi. Lamentably most of their best films are not available on dvd. Truly worth checking out.

[Johann]

Originally posted by treadman
[B]I don't like ALL foriegn language films, but the ones I DO like invigorate me like the best of yesteryear...Here's my personal Top 10, although I could easily add more Kurosawa, Bergman and Truffaut (my three favorite foriegn directors)

1. DAY FOR NIGHT (Truffaut)

[Johann]

Originally posted by treadman
[B]I don't like ALL foriegn language films, but the ones I DO like invigorate me like the best of yesteryear...Here's my personal Top 10, although I could easily add more Kurosawa, Bergman and Truffaut (my three favorite foriegn directors)

1. DAY FOR NIGHT (Truffaut)

I'm curious why this one supercedes the others...I was going to buy it on vhs a few years back until I found out it was $100 for a tape!

[treadman]

Originally posted by Johann


I'm curious why this one supercedes the others...I was going to buy it on vhs a few years back until I found out it was $100 for a tape!

DAY FOR NIGHT is just my personal favorite foreign film (as well as my personal favorite Truffaut film). It's so many things: 1) a great hybrid of comedy and drama; 2) the best film ever made about filmmaking (and as a future filmmaker, it may be the reason why I love it so much); 3) a film brimming with humanity, not cruelty; 4) it's the one foreign film I watch over and over and over and over..

[Johann]

Truffaut's work has many different facets to it. (compare Shoot the Piano Player to Fahrenheit 451) DFN is indeed in the upper eshelon of "humanist" films.

I have so many favorite foreign films that narrowing it down to one is next to impossible. have you seen any of these?:


The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (all the dialogue is SUNG)
Cleo from 5 to 7
Children of Paradise
Tristana
Viridiana
Pretty Village Pretty Flame
The Sexual Life of the Belgians
The Battle of Austerlitz
Diary of a Country Priest
Stromboli
My Best Fiend
The Kingdom

[treadman]

Originally posted by Johann
Truffaut's work has many different facets to it. (compare Shoot the Piano Player to Fahrenheit 451) DFN is indeed in the upper eshelon of "humanist" films.

I have so many favorite foreign films that narrowing it down to one is next to impossible. have you seen any of these?:


The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (all the dialogue is SUNG)
Cleo from 5 to 7
Children of Paradise
Tristana
Viridiana
Pretty Village Pretty Flame
The Sexual Life of the Belgians
The Battle of Austerlitz
Diary of a Country Priest
Stromboli
My Best Fiend
The Kingdom

Didn't care for UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG.

STROMBOLI is not Rossellini's best..far better is OPEN CITY.

MY BEST FIEND..one of the best documentaries I've ever seen about films..although surely there must have been MORE happy memories of Kinski than Herzog shows in the film.

THE KINGDOM..very interesting and unique production process..shot on 16mm film, transfered to video, edited on video, transferred back to 16mm, then transferred to 35mm..as for the film itself..I have mixed feelings about it.

Some others I've seen...

FELLINI SATYRICON.. odd but brilliant all the same
THE CRIMSON RIVERS..far better than most American thrillers these days
THE GIRL ON THE BRIDGE.. wonderful black and white photography but I wish the full 2.35:1 aspect ratio would be shown instead of the 1.85:1 partial letterbox VHS in release..
LAST TANGO IN PARIS.. a great deal of this film is in French with a few sequences in English and it was made by a foreign director..same case could be made about 1900 with its' Italian and English combo..
THE LEOPARD

[Johann]

Yet another informed, interesting film buff prowling this site...

You have fine taste in cinema. What's the story behind your pseudonym?

[treadman]

The first five letters of my last name with the word man added..it's one of the nicknames I had in high school...

I adore cinema. I'm getting into directing..my first film goes into production this summer...it's a low budget digital video affair..

Can you believe that my taste in cinema may be too fine for my own good? I may have lost out on a critic's job because of it.

[Johann]

I'm taking a trip to Paris in Dec. and I'll be making a doc. of my excursion. (on digital video like you)

I plan on shooting the graves of famous film people (fade to black on each?) with the music of Dead Can Dance. I've been storyboarding/scheduling as much as can be done with a Frommer's guide and maps...

[treadman]

Originally posted by Johann
I'm taking a trip to Paris in Dec. and I'll be making a doc. of my excursion. (on digital video like you)

I plan on shooting the graves of famous film people (fade to black on each?) with the music of Dead Can Dance. I've been storyboarding/scheduling as much as can be done with a Frommer's guide and maps...

Storyboarding and scheduling are extremely important.

Some people told me that I shouldn't use a tripod for my feature because it will look like a porno film. They told me I should handhold the whole movie.

Well, I'm going to use the tripod anyway. Some scenes I'll handhold but I want the film to look professional. I'm not a fan of shaky camerawork and quick cuts.