Favourite Non British Film

[Johnny Rico]

Heres some of my favourites

Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources - An achingly tragic story which needs all of it's combined screen time to bring the characters alive. Shot like a painting , it makes the most of the French Countryside. The Elder Soubayran's face as the final twist is revealed is poignant beyond belief.

Beautiful Girls - A much overlooked ensemble piece which takes some very average actors ( Michael Rapaport , Uma Thurman ) , some actors who need good material to shine ( Matt Dillon , Mira Sorvino ) and the upcoming talent of Natalie Portman - and mixes them into this " You can't Go Home again" Story.

Robocop - The thinking Person's Action Movie? Laced with Verhoeven's trademark humour , it manages to shoehorn various themes such as Corporate Greed and Privatising Public Services into a Wham Bang Action Flick. Forget the sequels - thay miss the point by a country mile.

Kiss Me Deadly - Apparently Micky Spillane hated this film which took a thick ear Detective Pulp and turned it into a marvellous Atomic Age Noir. The "hero" is thoroughly detestable with almost no likeable characteristics. The Villains are incredibly ruthless ( there is an off-screen use of pliers which is chilling even by today's standards ). The victims all appear genuinely frightened . I'm surprised Tarantino hasnt "homaged" it yet!

The Incredibles - One of the best James Bond Pics ever made! OK , I'm joking - however this is a loving tribute to that era . The animation is superb , the characters go through changes and the Villains actually kill. Pretty adventurous for an animated film aimed at kids.

Spirited Away - Exploring a fairy tale world takes a light touch and this film has it. Scrambling Japanese mythology with a touch of Alice through the looking glass , this film grasps the elements of fantasy and weaves them into a tale of ruthlessness that is turned to right through love. It's full of the usual barmy Japanese motifs which we come to expect. Finally the " Train across the lake" sequence is wordless and quite haunting.

[scholes]

Originally Posted by DB7 There's so many but a few I often return to are firstly Dumb and Dumber. It's the perfect no-brainer when I'm in the mood to relax and want a laugh. Whilst not everyone's cup-of-tea as it's regarded as part of the gross-out genre the saving grace is that the gags keep coming at machine gun rate. Policeman: Pullover! Jeff Daniels: No, it's a cardigan but thanks for noticing. Another comedy, and something of a black one, is Grosse Point Blank. John Cusack oozes cool throughout as the neurotic hitman and the film could almost be like revisiting some 80s John Hughes characters (what would Ferris Bueller be doing now?) now they've grown up. A great cameo from Dan Aykroyd and a soundtrack including some classic alternative bands. Then there's The Usual Suspects. American films may deservedly get some stick for prioritising SFX over the script but this one bucked the trend. The first time I watched it I came out wondering who? why? what? Then like everybody else spent ages watching the film over again trying to work out who is Keyser Soze? The finale where the detective realises Kevin Spacey's whole story has been garnered from objects in his office (as the free man simultaneously loses his fake limp outside) is superb. Refreshing also to see no 'big names' in the cast just to attract an audience. Then of course there's The Great Escape, Some Like It Hot, Rear Window etc. On the European side. Fritz Lang's M is a must see, Das Boot had me enthralled when it was originally shown weekly on BBC2 in full length, also the Dutch film Spoorloos (sadly there was a watered down US remake) which touched upon many people's private nightmare of being buried alive.

Also
Hello where ya from
Austria
G'day mate.....let's put another shrimp on the barbie!

[scholes]

One flew over the cuckoos nest
The Apartment
Dirty Harry
Any film by Sierge Leone
Some like it hot
Goodfellas
American Beauty
LA Confidential
The usual suspects

[grillreaper]

12 monkeys
dead man
the believer

[Scorpio1156]

IN COLD BLOOD
MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE
ROMAN HOLIDAY [ANYTHING WITH GREGORY PECK]
SNEAKERS
THE HUSTLER
WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
ZODIAC [2007]
THE APARTMENT
SPIRAL STAIRCASE
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES
THE UNINVITED
...to name a few.

[Ragamuffin]

You don't have to go all the way across the Atlantic to find a classic, how about the captivating - Jean de Florette with the equally as good sequel Manon des sources.
Quote - Cesar Soubeyran: He's such a bigot he might confess other people's sins,
some how I couldn't see this story line fit well into a British film.

[Nita St. James]

Les Diabolique
Wings of Desire
Murder My Sweet
Double Indemnity
Laura
Sunset Blvd
La Belle et la Bête
Frida
Vertigo
Rear Window
The Trouble With Harry

[stevie boy]

Potrait of Jennie, superb

[christoph404]

Im quite partial to the films of French film maker Jean Pierre Melville and his inclusion of Americana in his Parisian underworld films. Much of the style and iconography of his films has been borrowed by modern day film makers and transposed back to the US . I would recommend "le Cercle Rouge" (1970) with Yves Montand and Alain Delon,for its depiction of a diamond heist in "Place de Voges" in Paris, its superbly done with very little dialogue in the whole film and stunning visuals, its not a well known film in the UK or US but its been ripped off thousands of times!

[dremble wedge]

Originally Posted by christoph404 Im quite partial to the films of French film maker Jean Pierre Melville

Army of Shadows is excellent too.

[batman]

Originally Posted by dremble wedge Army of Shadows is excellent too.

As are Bob Le Flambeur and Le Doulos, the latter features what is IMHO Jean Paul Belmondo's best performance.

[petandav]

Thinking of America, I don't think anyone's mentioned It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. For me, it owes so much to the performance of British actor Terry Thomas - in particular, I love his exposition as to what he thinks is wrong with America!
Across the channel, rather than the atlantic, so many good films have come from France. The wonderful Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources have already been mentioned, but how about La Gloire de Mon Pere, Le Chateau de ma Mere, Plein Soleil, La Cage aux Folles, Au Revoir les Enfants, Tatie Danielle, Le Diner des Cons and Le Placard to name but a few.

[christoph404]

Originally Posted by petandav Thinking of America, I don't think anyone's mentioned It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. For me, it owes so much to the performance of British actor Terry Thomas - in particular, I love his exposition as to what he thinks is wrong with America! Across the channel, rather than the atlantic, so many good films have come from France. The wonderful Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources have already been mentioned, but how about La Gloire de Mon Pere, Le Chateau de ma Mere, Plein Soleil, La Cage aux Folles, Au Revoir les Enfants, Tatie Danielle, Le Diner des Cons and Le Placard to name but a few.

Ah yes, La Cage aux Folles, hilarious! the US remake was awful, it just didn't translate at all.

[petandav]

Funnily enough I did like the American remake (The Birdcage) even though they usually spoil everything they do remake.
My one regret is that I've never been able to find La Cage aux Folles 3 (The Wedding) in anything other than a dubbed version. The first and second films are easily available with subtitles that preserve the original. But the dubbing on the third film (which, admittedly is a poorer film as well) is just awful.