Bad Foreign Films!

I think there should be a counterpoint thread to karl12's Good Foreign Films!

I tried for two days to watch Charulata

No go. I shut it off after an hour or so.

Firstly, it was too slow. I realize that some people like the classic B&W films for their pace and that modern films move too quickly for some people (old school) to appreciate. I don't see why a film can't be both quick-moving and deep.

The film quality was dreadful. It was more like a 1930's movie that had been improperly stored than one made in 1964. Yes, I know, third world film, yadda yadda, but even if it's a good excuse why the film quality was so bad, it didn't make it any more watchable.

The subtitling was abysmal. The people in the film spoke Bengali so fast the subtitles couldn't keep up, so even someone like me, who loves foreign film and actually loves to watch foreign language film with subtitles to get the effect of the unfamiliar language, couldn't get a handle on what was going on half the time. Add to the rapidity of the dialogue the fact that the translations were weird and didn't often make sense, and you have one hard to watch waste of time.

The things I did like about Charulata were the glimpses of daily life in a foreign land and time, and the beauty of the main characters. That is, when you could make out what they looked like through the overexposed scenery.

On Netflix this film has four stars, and on IMDB it has 8.4 out of 10.

I gave it a resounding 2 stars on Netflix. I guess I'm just too jaded to appreciate a slow-moving, puzzling, washed out, overexposed classic film such as this one.

[edit to add hyperlink to karl12's thread]

[edit on 20-5-2007 by MajorMalfunction]

MM ,Thanks (will probably avoid Charluta)
Cant think of any foreign turkeys at the moment but will get back to you on that one!
Always thought 'Love actualy' was pants though.
Cheers Karl

Ok, I don't know the name of it, but I think it was a french film. I was ten years old and this guy was taking a bath in the film. Some one was supposed to be trapped in the plumbing and their finger was sticking out of the drain feeling around the tub.

Really weird?

I just thought of something. Is an American film in China a foreign film?

Since Karl is a Brit and I'm American I think we're going on the assumption that foreign film for our purposes is anything filmed by any other country than UK/US. I don't think an American made film in China counts, though if other people think otherwise and I'm outvoted, I really don't mind.

I though "Love actually" was a really sweet movie, typical British cheese, but it had one of the best one-liners ever.

Bill Nighy "Let's get drunk and watch porn!"

Not too clued up on any recent "foreign" films as I haven't got a tv (from choice), but let's see..............

"Chocolat", English, but based in france
"La Florette", French with english subtitles & sequel (can't remember name)!
"Baraka", multicultural award winning visual/musical feast.....wonderful
"Christiane F", german with english subtitles.
"Pracilla, queen of the desert", australian.
"Merry Christmas Mr Lawrance", Japanese/English.
"Amelie", French with english subtitles.
"Delicatessan", French with english subtitles.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head,but will keep posting.

I love French films, the characters are usually so wonderful. I remember as a kid, watching old black and white French Films late at night and never wanting them to end.

What kind of films do you like?

The Science of Sleep

I like French movies. I like movies about the dream life. I did NOT like this movie.

It was hailed at Sundance. Well, whoop de do. Just because a film was so pretentious it couldn't really be followed does NOT make it good.

The dream sequences were very interesting, I'll give it that. The animations were pretty nifty. But the film was very schizophrenic. I couldn't tell if the guy was awake or asleep half the time, his dream life and his waking life were seemingly interchangeable.

It didn't make any good sense, it was slow, painfully in some spots. The main character was a weird little wimp, actually quite pathetic.

I think the film tried too hard, and I tried too hard to watch it.

Not worth a view, IMO. Even if Netflix gave it four stars. I gave it two.

Bleah.

Two otherwise well-regarded foreign films that I absolutely loathe are Jean-Luc Godard's Tout va Bien, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.

The former is the perfect example of how pompous and crashingly boring French Marxist cinema can be; the latter is as depressing as the title might suggest.

Both films have their fans, however. (Each of the directors is otherwise excellent.) Be careful of letting any film snob friends you might have trick you into seeing these. You could suffer irreparable damage to the brain, and your eyeballs may explode.

You have been warned!

Baack

Uh oh, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is next on my viewing list.

I'll be back to leave my two cents' about it when I see it. Though now I'm not very motivated to do so.

Originally posted by MajorMalfunction
Uh oh, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul is next on my viewing list.

I'll be back to leave my two cents' about it when I see it. Though now I'm not very motivated to do so.

Who knows, you might like it!

Just try to back it up with a comedy of some sort, so as to reinstate a joy in life.

I've always found Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers movies, Marx Brothers movies, or Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing to perk me right up again.

Good luck!
Baack