Film experts help me out

gtc08 · Jan 15, 2011

Im taking an international cinema class this semester and need to choose 6 films to view. 1 film for each grouping of weeks. Below are the films. I can only watch 1 American movie, keep that in mind. What would you recommend from each section. Thanks.

Weeks Two and Three – 1950s
Textbook Chapters 10 and 11
France: The 400 Blows (1959); Pickpocket (1959)
Italy: La Strada (1954)
Japan: Seven Samurai (1954)
Sweden: The Seventh Seal (1956)
United States: On the Waterfront (1954)

Weeks Four and Five – 1960s
Textbook Chapters 12 and 13
France: Breathless (1960); Jules and Jim (1962)
Great Britain: This Sporting Life (1963); Tom Jones (1963)
Italy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Sweden: Persona (1967)
United States: The Graduate (1967)

Weeks Six and Seven – 1970s
Textbook Chapters 14 and 15
Australia: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978); My Brilliant Career (1979)
France: La Cage aux Folles (1978)
Germany: The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978); The Tin Drum (1979)
Great Britain: Don’t Look Now (1973)
Italy: Swept Away (1974)
United States: Coming Home (1978)

Weeks Eight and Nine – 1980s
Textbook Chapters 16 and 17
Botswana: The Gods must be Crazy (1983)
France: Jean de Florette (1986)
Germany: Das Boot (1982); Mephisto (1981)
Great Britain: Chariots of Fire (1981)
Soviet Union: Moscow does not Believe in Tears (1980)
United States: Do the Right Thing (1989)

Weeks Ten and Eleven – 1990s
Textbook Chapters 18 and 19
Canada: The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Italy: Il Postino (1995)
Japan: Shall we Dance? (1997)
Mexico: Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
Spain: All about my Mother (1999)
Taiwan: Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
United States: The Thin Red Line (1998); The Truman Show (1998)

Week Twelve – 2000s
Textbook Chapter 21
Afghanistan: Osama (2003)
Bosnia: No Man’s Land (2001)
Brazil: City of God (2003)
Columbia: Maria Full of Grace (2004)
France: Amelie (2001)
Germany: The Lives of Others (2007)
Mexico: Pan’s Labyrinth (2007)
Romania: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)

JakeT. · Jan 15, 2011

City of God (2000s group) is one of my favorites of all-time. Pan's Labryinth is cool in a freaky way. City of God is where I'd go though.

GoSooners · Jan 15, 2011

gtc08 said:
Im taking an international cinema class this semester and need to choose 6 films to view. 1 film for each grouping of weeks. Below are the films. I can only watch 1 American movie, keep that in mind. What would you recommend from each section. Thanks.

Weeks Two and Three – 1950s
Textbook Chapters 10 and 11
France: The 400 Blows (1959); Pickpocket (1959)
Italy: La Strada (1954)
Japan: Seven Samurai (1954)
Sweden: The Seventh Seal (1956)
United States: On the Waterfront (1954)

Weeks Four and Five – 1960s
Textbook Chapters 12 and 13
France: Breathless (1960); Jules and Jim (1962)
Great Britain: This Sporting Life (1963); Tom Jones (1963)
Italy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Sweden: Persona (1967)
United States: The Graduate (1967)

Weeks Six and Seven – 1970s
Textbook Chapters 14 and 15
Australia: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978); My Brilliant Career (1979)
France: La Cage aux Folles (1978)
Germany: The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978); The Tin Drum (1979)
Great Britain: Don’t Look Now (1973)
Italy: Swept Away (1974)
United States: Coming Home (1978)

Weeks Eight and Nine – 1980s
Textbook Chapters 16 and 17
Botswana: The Gods must be Crazy (1983)
France: Jean de Florette (1986)
Germany: Das Boot (1982); Mephisto (1981)
Great Britain: Chariots of Fire (1981)
Soviet Union: Moscow does not Believe in Tears (1980)
United States: Do the Right Thing (1989)

Weeks Ten and Eleven – 1990s
Textbook Chapters 18 and 19
Canada: The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Italy: Il Postino (1995)
Japan: Shall we Dance? (1997)
Mexico: Like Water for Chocolate (1992)
Spain: All about my Mother (1999)
Taiwan: Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
United States: The Thin Red Line (1998); The Truman Show (1998)

Week Twelve – 2000s
Textbook Chapter 21
Afghanistan: Osama (2003)
Bosnia: No Man’s Land (2001)
Brazil: City of God (2003)
Columbia: Maria Full of Grace (2004)
France: Amelie (2001)
Germany: The Lives of Others (2007)
Mexico: Pan’s Labyrinth (2007)
Romania: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)

I prefer the foreign films over the American by a pretty large margin. But that's just me. I would go with:

1.The 400 Blows
2.This Sporting Life
3.A tossup between The Tin Drum & Swept Away
4.Das Boot...Jean de Florette is also very good
5.Thin Red Line...This is one where the U.S. wins out for strongest films. But Eat Drink Man Woman is fun to watch just for the food scenes.
6.City of God...No Man's Land. Both great films

cocktailsnlongshots+ · Jan 15, 2011

whatever u do...do not miss 'swept away'....one of the best/sickest movies ever made...the premise alone is worth the watch....

GoSooners · Jan 15, 2011

cocktailsnlongshots said:
whatever u do...do not miss 'swept away'....one of the best/sickest movies ever made...the premise alone is worth the watch....

The male chauvinist in me loved this movie. The girl in it isn't what you would call great looking. But she is one very sexy broad. Just make sure you stay away from the remake of it that had Madonna in it.

cocktailsnlongshots+ · Jan 15, 2011

GoSooners said:
The male chauvinist in me loved this movie. The girl in it isn't what you would call great looking. But she is one very sexy broad. Just make sure you stay away from the remake of it that had Madonna in it.

couldn't have said it better myself about the madonna remake...as a matter of fact, guy richie should just stick to what he does best-remaking quentin tarrantino films with british actors....as fer the chick=agreed..not a stunning face...but definitely sexy...and not to be a pig...but what would u do being stuck on an island w/no signs of being rescued and this blonde chick thinx yer scum but is about to fuck yer brains out til u can't see strait no more???

GoSooners · Jan 15, 2011

cocktailsnlongshots said:
couldn't have said it better myself about the madonna remake...as a matter of fact, guy richie should just stick to what he does best-remaking quentin tarrantino films with british actors....as fer the chick=agreed..not a stunning face...but definitely sexy...and not to be a pig...but what would u do being stuck on an island w/no signs of being rescued and this blonde chick thinx yer scum but is about to fuck yer brains out til u can't see strait no more???

If I was the one doing the lobster diving, I would also given her the choice of giving up the pussy or go hungry. Especially with her rich sociallite attitude. It may be hard to believe, but the director of that movie was a woman. Lina Wertmuller. She also made Seven Beauties, which is an even better film and should have been on this list.

X-Files · Jan 15, 2011

These are two of my favs, if the former is the Western with Clint Eastwood.

Italy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966)
United States: The Graduate (1967)

cocktailsnlongshots+ · Jan 15, 2011

GoSooners said:
If I was the one doing the lobster diving, I would also given her the choice of giving up the pussy or go hungry. Especially with her rich sociallite attitude. It may be hard to believe, but the director of that movie was a woman. Lina Wertmuller. She also made Seven Beauties, which is an even better film and should have been on this list.

agreed again...and yes i knew it was a woman who directed it...seven beauties is classic as well....would have changed the italia 90's film from 'il postino' to 'johnny stecchino'....just writing that title i am laughing how fucking funny that movie was...

JudgeWapner · Jan 15, 2011

Not a bad movie on the list. Enjoy!!

JudgeWapner · Jan 15, 2011

If I had to choose:

On The Waterfront
Tom Jones/The Good The Bad and The Ugly
Swept Away/Las Cage Aux Folles
Jean De Florette/The Gods Must Be Crazy
Il Postino
No Man's Land

Soriano12 · Jan 15, 2011

If I had to choose:

Japan: Seven Samurai (1954)
Italy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966)
France: La Cage aux Folles (1978)
Germany: Das Boot (1982)
Taiwan: Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)
Brazil: City of God (2003)/France: Amelie (2001) <-- City of God is one of my alltime favorite movies, but I also really like Amelie, so would have a hard time throwing out Amelie

BostonBettor · Jan 15, 2011

Regardless you should watch all the films in the 1950's category. They are all classics. My preferences would be:

The 400 Blows (1959)
The Graduate (1967)
Swept Away (1974)
Mephisto (1981)
Italy: Il Postino (1995)
Mexico: Pan’s Labyrinth (2007)

celticGreen+ · Jan 15, 2011

City of God, Dad Boot, Seven Samurai, No Man's Land, Pan's Labyrinth

Akillies · Jan 15, 2011

The Tin Drum (1979)

celticGreen+ · Jan 15, 2011

if you want to impress the prof, ask if you can count "burnt by the sun" as one.. it won the Oscar for best foreign film, and is very, very good.

KingofNicotine · Jan 15, 2011

Holy crap is City of God one of the most overrated pieces of crap ever made and so is the pointless Pan's Labyrinth. Amelie is a good movie like someone else said.

celticGreen+ · Jan 15, 2011

celticGreen said:
City of God, Dad Boot, Seven Samurai, No Man's Land, Pan's Labyrinth

sorry - didn't read the part about one from every section.

YourAllAmerican · Jan 16, 2011

1950s
Japan: Seven Samurai (1954)
If you've ever seen the American Western "The Magnificent Seven," this was the basis for that film

1960s
Italy: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Good example of the Spaghetti Westerns that were briefly popular.

1970s
Germany: The Tin Drum (1979)
This film (and the novel on which it is based) is an excellent anti-Nazi/anti-war piece.

1980s
Botswana: The Gods must be Crazy (1983) OR Das Boot (1982) OR Chariots of Fire (1981) OR Do the Right Thing (1989)
You can't really go wrong with any of these four. The Gods Must be Crazy is the funniest, Das Boot is the deepest and darkest (and probably the most difficult to sit through), Chariots of Fire is beautiful but a little dry and Do the Right Thing is a good example of how good Spike Lee can be when everything hits just right for him.

1990s
Canada: The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
The movie is a real downer, but the story is compelling and it will stick with you for a while

2000s
Amelie (2001)
I don't really care much for any of the movies on your list, but Amelie may be the easiest to watch, if for no other reason than the lead actress is such a pretty woman.

gtc08 · Jan 16, 2011

this is my tentative list

50's La Strada: Story just seemed so intriguing and the trailer was interesting. Lot of people like Seven Samurai and it's on a lot of the top movie rankings, as high as top 20 on some sites. I watched the trailer and it didn't look like something id be interested in. Seventh Seal interests me much more, i think i'd go with la strada or seventh seal.

60's Good Bad Ugly: Never seen a movie with Clint Eastwood or a western. Not into those, but this movie is regarded as one of the best ever. breathless looked solid as well, but I want to see the good bad and ugly just because I haven't gotten into that genre and the trailer looked real good.

70's Tin Drum: Looking forward to this one the most. Nothing else interested me outside of the Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, but tin drum I'll see for sure.

80's Das Boot: Regarded as one of the best war movies of all time, and trailer looked good. Mephisto looks real good to, unsure between the two of them.

90's Truman Show: Have seen it before and is the best movie in the 90's category. 90's is the weakest category imo.

2000's: City of God looks ok but Osama interests me more and so does Maria Full of Grace. It'll be between one of those 2.

I agree though with one of the other posters. The 50's at least to me had the most interesting movies. La Strada, Seven Samurai, Seventh Seal, 400 blows and pickpocket all look real good.

Film experts help me out

New member

New member

Member

"i had a hundy but i bet a grand"

Member

"i had a hundy but i bet a grand"

Member

fbi

"i had a hundy but i bet a grand"

Member

Member

Member

Member

New member

Member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Forum statistics

Share this page