Do you watch foreign movies?

**KillerBob** · 08-16-2006, 07:43 AM

Can anyone recommend more German and French movies?

**KillerBob** · 08-23-2006, 07:42 PM

If you like movies or shows with supernatural content, check this out! I've posted the introduction (every episode begins with it) and the opening credits/first scene from the Danish TV show/Movie "Riget" and the opening credits from "Riget II". This is the original that Stephen King based his "Kingdom Hospital" on. Thanks to DVD, I've captured it with english subtitles.
The movie stars late swedish actor Ernst Hugo Järegård and late danish actress Kirsten Rolffes as well as the horror movie icon Udo Kier.

Riget I: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqvDztUFWLw

Riget II: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyqa2dUyRmE

Hope you'll enjoy it! More clips from "foreign" movies will come!

/KillerBob

**Mimi** · 08-23-2006, 09:03 PM

Ooh, awesome, KillerBob! I lurve those introductions. Seriously, everybody, if you've never seen von Trier's The Kingdom before, check out KillerBob's links! They make for great appetizers for the series.

Can anyone recommend more German and French movies?

The only German movie I can think of right now is Die Blechtrommel! Which seems appropriate, actually, given Günther Grass' recent surprising revelations about his past.

In any case, the movie is a wonderful adaption and very true to the book, even if the last part of the novel is left out of the script (mostly the part that deals with Oskar as an adult, at the art academy and all that). I watched it a couple of years ago and found, to my amazement, that all the actors (save one - the one who played Maria

) looked pretty much exactly the way I'd imagined them! That has never happened to me before, and surely it also reflected the brilliance of director Volker Schlöndorff's work - he's really managed to bring out the right qualities in the colourful character gallery, and the (grotesque) atmosphere of the entire movie was very true to that of the book, I think.

(For those unfamiliar with the book: Die Blechtrommel (both the movie and the book) tells the story of the Nazi regime as seen through the eyes of Oskar, a strange creature who at the age of three throws himself down the stairs in his childhood home, because he's decided that he doesn't want to grow up any further. As a result, Oskar becomes kind of a double-sighted persona, with the openness of a child, and the cynism of an adult, and it is through his lucid eye that we behold his and Nazi Germany's bizarre, distorted story.)

Ooh, and now I just thought of another German film that I love! Completely different genre, and every bit as beautiful as Die Blechtrommet is bizarre: Lisbon story from 1994, directed by Win Wenders. It's a nice, minimalistic ode to Lisbon, and to film-making. There's something beautifully serene about it, and the only downside to it is that it makes you want to get up, sell all your belongings, and go to Lisbon to start over as a professional Fado-singer. Or something

.

Thanks for the Swedish movie recommendations btw, KillerBob! I've been wanting to see Klassefesten for a long time.

/mimi

**KillerBob** · 08-24-2006, 07:30 AM

Thank you Mimi!
I've seen Die Blechtrommel and I liked it. Haven't read the book though.

By the way, I forgot to recommend one of the best Swedish movies of all time, "En Kärlekshistoria" (A Love Story) by Roy Andersson, made in 1969 I think. I can't say enough about that film, you have to see it!

**KillerBob** · 09-04-2006, 04:32 PM

Here is a scene from the opening of the Swedish movie "Klassfesten". It is subtitled in English.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se6EAnLwYVs

**Mimi** · 09-04-2006, 09:09 PM

Thanks, KillerBob, it looks great! I just ordered it from the public library, but it says that I'll have to wait for about 15-16 months for it

. Oh well, better late than never.

**KillerBob** · 09-05-2006, 05:39 AM

Oh, that was a long time to wait, Mimi. By the way, I've finally watched my "The Seventh Seal"-dvd, so now I do recognize your photo! She looked so good in that film.
And the movie was great! It started me thinking a lot.

**Mimi** · 09-05-2006, 08:39 PM

And the movie was great!

Isn't it, though! I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. There is such an intense atmosphere throughout the movie, right from that first quote from the Revelation of John about the lamb and the seals. Very powerful, that one. The phrase about the complete silence in Heaven and on Earth after the lamb breaks the seventh seal... it never fails to give me goosepimples.

And Ingmar Bergman handles the subject of joy so excellently in this movie, too! That is one of the things I don't like about his Cries and Whispers; while also dealing with the fear of facing Death, CaW seems to lack entirely any element of joy. In The Seventh Seal, however, there is that wonderful little scene in which the knight Antonius (excellent young Max von Sydow) sits down in a meadow, while Mia serves him wild strawberries and milk, and Jof plays his little tune on his string instrument. The peace and the joy depicted in this scene serve as such a wonderful celebration of Life, and it makes Antonius's desperate battle with Death so much more moving.

She looked so good in that film.

Yes, she's amazingly beautiful. I think Bibi Andersson is my dad's biggest movie crush, and he loves this movie

.

**KillerBob** · 09-06-2006, 02:56 PM

I totally agree with you. It is the same thing with "Fanny and Alexander", it is a really dark story, but there are many funny and joyful scenes. I recognized that in "The Seventh Seal" as well. I just love Ingmar Bergman's way of telling his stories.

I'm planning on watching "The Seventh Seal" soon again, I think my girlfriend may like it. I convinced her to start watching "Fanny and Alexander" with me, although it perhaps wasn't her kind of movie, and thanks to her we watched the 5 hour version in two days =)...