Non-American Movies..........

[Ashenden]

Being from Europe (but living in US) I have found that it is very scarce what non-american movies you can get in region 1. And that is despite the fact that there is so many excellent movies from around the world.

Have anybody ever seen the french movie TAXI? I think it was by Luc Besson. IMHO it is one of the best "car speed" movies ever made (I am up for some bashing, I know!).... But it is not availble in Region 1.... ...

I buy what I can get, La Femme Nikita, Run Lola Run etc etc but I still think we are missing a lot.

All this got me started thinking.....how many movies do we "miss" in R1?

So here is the final question. What movies are you aware of that is not availble i R1 that should be?

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Ashenden
My DVD List

"And if I may say so, that's a smashing blouse you have on....."
[Bottom]

[roger thornhill]

First of all I think you probably mean non-English language film, not non-American, since there are lots of British films available (e.g., James Bond films, early Hitchcock, etc.).

Assuming that's what you meant, I have to admit I haven't seen a whole lot of foreign-language films, but of the ones I have seen, there are only 2 that I liked enough to buy. M which has a great criterion dvd, and Metropolis, which unfortunately only has a Madacy release.

There are quite a few criterion titles though, so if you haven't checked out their list, you should do so.

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dds #070

[Ashenden]

That's right..... non-english movies....

[KenJ]

The Double Life of Veronique
Astrix the Gaul series from France
Mediterraneo

[This message has been edited by KenJ (edited 05-07-2001).]

[mahavishnu]

Don't mention non-American movies here! They'll burn you...

But seriously, there are quite a large number of classic foreign titles available in R1. More than in any other region. The downside is that most of those are released by Fox Lorber and the quality sucks! The other downside being that parent company Winstar just filled for bankruptcy, so those discs may not be on the market for much longer...

Having said all this, I'd like to draw your attention to a few worthwhile R2-only titles:

Profession: Reporter (Antonioni) - Jap R2 (NTSC)
Idioterne (Trier) - Uk R2
A Bout de Souffle (Godard) - UK R2
Don't Look Now (Roeg) - German/French R2
Salo (Pasolini) - UK R2
Suspiria (Argento) - Italian R2
La Casa Sperduta Nel Parco (Deodato) - Dutch R2
Beau Travail (Denis) - UK R2
La Fidelitie (Zulawski) - French R2
What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (Dallamano) - UK R2
Rosetta / La Promesse (Dardenne) - UK R2

[This message has been edited by mahavishnu (edited 05-07-2001).]

[j-bone]

Personal favorites include Beautiful People, Anatomy and Secrets and Lies. The first and last are English language films while the second is a German film.

[roger thornhill]

Don't mention non-American movies here! They'll burn you...

(whispering) "a hard day's night"

(Screaming) "Oh, the flames. The eternal damnation. Why didn't I listen to Maha. Torment. Agony. Burning flesh. Melting eyeballs...Aaaaaagggghhhhhh..."

[geekpryde]

Mahavishnu I am suprised that you did not mention Festen (aka The Celebration) since it is a far superior Dogme 95 film than Idioterne, IMHO. However, I am not sure this is on DVD in any region yet, but it very well may be. I would also like to mention some other great foreign-language films, some are on DVD others I would like to see on DVD soon in region 1:

(0) Festen. "The Celebration"
(1) The Lost Children. (fantastic french fantasy)
(2) Delicatessen. (same pair that made the above film)
(3) Funny Games. (A mind-blowing German film, #1 most suspensefull in my list)
(3) Mifune (also a Dogme 95 flick)
(4) My Life as Dog (a fairly famous french-canadian flick)
(5) Das Boot.
(6) The Never Ending Story.
(7) Crna macka, beli macor. "Black Cat, White Cat"
(8) Dîner de cons, Le "The Dinner Game"
(9) Karakter. "The Character"
(10) Ma vie en rose. "My Life in Pink"
(11) Ran.
(12) Solyaris. (The Russian equiv of 2001)
(13) Ti kniver i hjertet. "Cross My Heart and Hope to Die"
(14) Un air de famille. "Family Resemblances"
(15) Vie rêvée des anges, La. "Dreamlife of Angels, The"
(16) Wandafuru raifu. (Afterlife)
(17) Winterschläfer. "Winter Sleepers" (By Tom Tykwer of Lola Rent fame)

So many more! Non-American, non-English films are great, and this is coming from an all-American boy!

[mahavishnu]

Idioterne is far superior to Festen!

Dogme was designed by Trier with Idioterne in mind - the subject matter of the film (a group of people rejecting one set of rules, only to find themselves conforming to another) perfectly matches the dogme manifesto. And he is also not afriad to use the camera in an 'ugly' way, making Festen look practically MTV. Idioterne is also simply takes a more progressive approach to character and structure, Festen being not much more than a Bunuelian country house drama with a clear beginning, middle and end.

As for DVD - Festen is available in Denmark: www.dvddoo.dk however, it does not have English subtitles. If were to start including discs without English subtitles, the list would grow immensely, so I decided not to.

[mahavishnu]

Also:

Ran, Funny Games and My Life as a Dog are all out in R1 from Fox Lorber. Das Boot and The City of Lost Children are out in all regions from Columbia. The Dream Life of Angels is out on UK R2 DVD. After Life is quite possibly the worst film ever made!

[Ashenden]

Funny you should mention the Danish movies.....Festen, Idioterne.... Being from Denmark I have of course seen those and have them on DVD. I also have Mifune as well as "I Kina Spiser de Hunde" (In China they eat dogs)....... which by the way is one hilarious movie....not a dogme one, but still..... Good thing I have a DVDROM player on my PC where I can play all regions.....

I am not sure if you know but there is a new dogma movie out, I watched it during my chrismas vacation (I know, you can hardly call it "new" anymore). It is called "The King is Alive" (http://www.thekingisalive.com/). If you can ever get your hands on it, SEE IT! It is a very special movie... It is not the best I have seen, but it makes you think a lot.

One advantage for this movie is that it is in English.

Did anyone ever see Pusher? I remember it actually being published in R1 as well. Very disturbing movie but shows the direction that a lot of new Danish movies have taken in the last 5 years, I can recommend at least a rent......



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Ashenden
My DVD List

"And if I may say so, that's a smashing blouse you have on....."
[Bottom]

[Chumley]

Heh, Dogme 95 sucks ass. "The Vow of Chastity" is just an excuse to be totally cheap and lazy about filmmaking without getting flamed for it.

"Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found)."

Translation: building sets is too hard.

"The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot)."

Translation: ADR is too hard and composers are too expensive.

"The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is standing; shooting must take place where the film takes place)."

Translation: since our films are so crappy that people will vomit anyway, let's give them motion sickness to boot.

"The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera)."

Translation: it costs too much money to find a studio that can process b&w film these days. And none of our cinematographers know shit about lighting.

... you get the idea. Von Trier is a certified bonehead. You know why he did his "100 Cameras" bullshit for DitD? Because he's too stupid to know how to storyboard and plan out shots! He's just a lazy bastard. It's amazing that DitD manages to be a good film in spite of Von Idiot. I give the credit to Bjork.

[Ashenden]

Is it just me or has this discussion been going on in a lot of other threads?

We are discussing non-english speaking movies here...... not whether dogma is good or bad.......please......

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Ashenden
My DVD List

"And if I may say so, that's a smashing blouse you have on....."
[Bottom]

[egman]

Does anyone know if Trois Colouers has been announced for R1 or if it's already out? Image released the Decalogue a while back so I was hoping that would be on the way.

Also, does anyone know what the hell is happening with Fox Lorber. I know the annoucnement the other day said that they are supposedly "self finacnced." I'll be frank and say that I hope that is not true and that they are going to go out of business as well. Then someone like Anchor Bay or Criterion(sure wish they had not lost the rights to Ran and 400 Blows) would buy those rights to the films and present them in a more deserving fashion. But I guess I'm just dreaming. The possible death of Fox Lorber will probably mean limbo for the films they have.

[David2001]

for recent French blockbusters, I will recommend :

TAXI (dts)
LES RIVIERES POURPRES ( CRIMSON RIVERS ) in full rate dts !! ( released this week )
first THX certified region2 french dvd
but no english subtitles ( should be released in region 1 though ). the dts track is awesome !

LE PACTE DES LOUPS (dts) release in November 2001 kick ass movie in the 18th century about the legend of the monster of Gevaudan . the sound was incredible (dts es) and the 2.35 scope was breathtaking

PROMENONS-NOUS DANS LES BOIS (kinda Blair Witch Project but better )

all in region 2 of course.

[This message has been edited by David2001 (edited 05-08-2001).]

[This message has been edited by David2001 (edited 05-08-2001).]

[This message has been edited by David2001 (edited 05-08-2001).]

[geekpryde]

Mahavishnu I couldn't agree with you more that Afterlife is a particulary bad film. I included it because I had seen it in the theater in the last year, so it came to mind.

About Festen, I'm sorry but I can't agree with anything you have said. TThis may not be the appropriate forum for this discussion, but I'm going to try in sneak it past the censors: There have been very few films that have affected me like Festen, whereas Idioterne did nothing more me. I am talking about the feeling you come away with after a movie, not so much the technical aspect of it all. (Festen kicks Idioterne's ass here too).

Mahavishnu thanks for the information on the what movies have been released on DVD and what regions. I recommend FUNNY GAMES to everyone if you can get that on DVD! I can't seem to find it in any of the local DVD shops.

[BeanBandit]

three of my seven DVDs (yes, a humble collection...for now) are foreign films, those being Besson's La Femme Nikita and John Woo's The Killer and Hard Boiled. Of course these films have all reached a high level of popularity, so it's no surprise that they are region 1...
BTW, has anyone seen the trailer for Kiss of the Dragon? Written by Luc Besson and starring Jet Li and the guy from Nikita (forget his name). Looks good.