Foreign Films

I just watched a French film and in thinking about that I remembered another movie that I saw one time at International Cinema. The movie I just watched is called Toi et Moi, or You & Me. Some foreign films are very similar to American movies and others are worlds away. Toi et Moi was different in it's little "dream sequences" for lack of a better term. I guess in France they have magazines where they include photo novelas (that might not be quite the right term) which are kind of like graphic novels and chick lit combined I think. Anyway one of the characters writes them and draws inspiration from her life and her family and so from time to time we would have sections that were photo novelas.
Anyway, in thinking about how the movie was so different feeling than American movies, I was reminded of Run, Lola, Run; a German movie that I saw at the IC. Run, Lola, Run is a very different movie, I personally thought it was on the strange side. Parts of the movie are live action and other parts are animated, the movie centers around Lola and something she's mixed up in (I don't recall exactly what.). Lola spends most of the movie running to various places trying to get the problem fixed. We come to the end of the plot and then rewind back to the beginning and it starts all over this time but with a slightly different twist, and this happens at least twice, possibly three times.
It's interesting how movies differ from country to country, and something that we take for granted in one country may not be there in another.

My own international cinema

I'm excited, I have two of my favorite foriegn films from the library: Life is Beautiful/Vita e Bella and Dear Frankie. Life is Beautiful is an Italian movie and Dear Frankie is from the United Kingdom. I love both these movies, however I wasn't introduced to either one by International Cinema. Besides my excitment over these two movies I'm excited because I realized that there's a section at the library where they have foriegn films set aside. This was sort of a 'duh' revelation because the movies are in the same spot they have been for at least a year and I have not discovered this until now, never the less I hope to start up my own version of International Cinema. I am a little daunted in the fact that a good deal of Italian movies are rated R, as well as movies from other contries. If you have any recomendations I'd love to hear them!

Dear International Cinema,
I miss you.

International Cinema is something they've been doing at BYU for years, I've probably talked about it before but they play foreign films ever week during the fall and winter semesters, there's usually 3 movies each week to choose from. The best parts about International Cinema are that the movies are edited to BYU standards and that it's free.
I went sporadically during my time at BYU although one semester I went just about every week. It's very interesting to get a glimpse of different cultures through their movies, or maybe just to see how movies differ in different parts of the world. I've found that happy, conclusive endings are not something that always happens...I've also found that I prefer happy, conclusive endings. I saw movies at International Cinema that I never would have seen otherwise, either because I wouldn't have heard of them or wouldn't have wanted to watch some of the things they would contain unedited. I've seen movies from Japan, Italy, Germany, England, some volitial Middle Eastern country which I don't remember at present....
One semester they showed some American movies and the foriegn films that they'd been based off of.
If you're ever in Provo you should check out what's playing at International Cinema.

Snow and cathing up on international cinema

First off: it snowed today!!! And while you may rant and rave and holler, I was excited. I love watching snow fall, I love waking up to snow, I love snowy nights and the way the clouds seem lit up. I love snow. I'm not ready for the full impact of winter yet but I'm enjoying the snow while it's here. Soon enough it will melt and we'll go back to fall for another month or so. It will be alright you snow haters, it's not winter yet.
So I've talked about international cinema before and I bring it up again because I just watched a movie that they played that I didn't see then. Now that I'm back with a wonderful library system (not to down play the Harold B. Lee Library, but movie wise, this one's way better), I'm catching up on movies that I haven't been able to get my hands on before now. I'm watching movies that friends have recommended and movies that I missed when they were playing at International Cinema ( that happened pretty frequently, you needed pretty strong motivation to leave a warm apartment on a dark and chilly winter night to walk to campus to see a movie quite often by yourself). Anyway one semester they did something which I thought was really cool, they showed American movies that had been based off of foreign films and the films that they'd been based off. One week they showed Shall We Dance? and Shall We Dansu?, The Magnificent Seven and The Seven Samurai and possibly something else. I ended up seeing Shall We Dansu? and loving it so much that I walked out on Shall We Dance? Tonight I watched The Magnificent Seven and it was awesome! I just put the Seven Samurai on hold and I hope I can watch that soon.
I've been able to watch movies I missed or that I just wanted to see again. I really like it. It's exciting to go beyond the everyday American movies and to see other movies done another way.
In watching these movies I've noticed that Miramax seems to be connected with a lot of foreign films being made availible over here. I'm sure there are others that do it too but I thought that was interesting. Anyway, I guess I'll let you know as I find foreign films that I love.

International Cinema

So at BYU they have International Cinema where every week they play foreign films, usually three and it's free to go. Durring my time at BYU I watched several movies from different countries like Germany, Italy, England, someplace in the Middle East, China, Japan. I didn't love all of the movies I saw, but I did enjoy quite a few of them. It's interesting to watch movies from different countries, to see how similar or different their movies are and to get a glimpse at another culture. Last year I was in the Italian Club and they hosted movie nights twice a month so I got to see a lot of Italian movies Such as Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief(s)), Il Postino (The Postman), and Nuovo cinema Paradiso (The New Paradise Movie Theater). I've been able to see some movies that I never would have seen otherwise and that I love.
It's been fun now that I have access to a really good library system to be able to go back and find movies that I missed or just that I wanted to see again. I'm excited to watch a German movie that I missed called Mostly Martha, one semester they showed American movies that were based on foreign films, If you've seen No Reservations, it's based (so I'm told) on Mostly Martha, I'm going to watch both and see. Another time that semester some friends and I went to see the American movie Shall We Dance? which was based on a Japanese movie called Shall We Dansu/Dance? We watched the Japanese movie first and later walked out of the American version, what we'd come to see, because it wasn't anywhere near as good as the Japanese movie.
I found that when I found foreign films that I really loved, they seemed to be more enjoyable than American movies, they seemed more real and sincere, less commercialized than American movies however this might just be a perception, I doubt I'm qualified to make such a judgment after seeing some movies from several countries, it's probably just a sweeping generalization. I would urge you however to try out foreign films, you might be surprised by them.
Here are some that I like if you're interested:
Dear Frankie - Scottish with British Sign Language
Shall We Dansu/Dance? (I've seen it both ways) - Japanese
Vita e bella/Life Is Beautiful - Italian (This is possibly my favorite movie ever)
Il Postino/The Postman - Italian
Tokyo nagaremono/Tokyo Drifter - Japanese (I found this movie hillarious, a mix of James Bond with lots of go-go boots, but there's a lot about Japanese culture I don't understand and thus didn't get about this movie)
Nuovo cinema Paradiso - Italian
Goodbye Lenin - German
I know there are more but I can't remember what they are at the moment.