aren't there any fun foreign films? (1 Viewer)

[Oliver Kopp]

Bang Boom Bang. One of the few German movies I have in my collection. Very funny story and great acting. If you liked The Big Lebowski you will not regret buying this movie.

 

[Steve_Ch]

>>If foreign film fun has a name, it must be "Zatoichi"... however, none of the 26 engrossing, funny, exciting "Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman" films are currently available on Region 1 DVD.

 

[Steve_Ch]

>>George, by the sound of it, if you didn't like Cries and Whispers or Alphaville, then, with the greatest of respect, it's unlikely you are going to like the majority of intellectual/art house foreign movies.>Unfortunately, that is largely what the better products of non-US movies are about.

 

[David Hill]

Ah, someone did mention Les Visiteurs!

A ridiculously enjoyable/silly film about some knights that accidentally fall through a time warp and appear in modern day France. When almost their first encopunter with modern life is tarmac and a Citroen 2CV you KNOW you're going to smile your way though this film.

And you do.

David

 

[Rain]

You may also want to try The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It's got bright colours, Catherine Deneuve and the whole damn thing is sung!

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Actually Rain, he mentions in his original post that he'd agree that The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is great art but didn't enjoy it. I would think it would fit in the "fun" category too.

 

[Jay Gregory]

Apparently no one else thinks Jules And Jim is fun. I suppose it's overall a downer, but it's just so damn beautiful and gleeful that I think it's very "fun."
Judging by the "fun... not fun" list it's really hard to gauge if you would enjoy Jules And Jim: I suppose the, say, meta-cinema aspects may be off-putting judging by your dismissal of Annie Hall; then again, Goodfellas shares a similar energy. Hmmm....
And Two English Girls is sorta like Jules And Jim with masturbation jokes! Even more fun!

Don't know why anyone hasn't mentioned, but Irma Vep is great fun...

Watching Maggie Cheung is generally always fun in my book, and watching Maggie Cheung in a leather catsuit is extremely fun.

 

[Hakan Powers]

You might want to check out The Crimson Rivers, a recent french movie staring Jean Reno that has quite a "hollywood feel" to it - yet feels pretty innovative.
Also, a semi-foreign movie that could swing either way based on your lists i The Red Violin

 

[Nathan_R]

another nod for Les Visiteurs and Taxi. As for an older mindlessly entertaining French flick, try La Grande Vadrouille.

"Are you Big Mustache?"

Regards,

~~Nathan

 

[Steve Hauben]

A few that come to mind...

Tampopo

The Wedding Banquet

Il Mostro

Johnny Stecchino

 

[Phil L]

Chungking Express

Amalie

 

[Ken Situ]

How about John Woo's early movies like Hard boiled, The Killer, ..etc?

 

[george kaplan]

Actually Rain, he mentions in his original post that he'd agree that The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is great art but didn't enjoy it.

I think maybe it was a poor choice to include Umbrellas in my list of foreign films I didn’t like. Even though in the end this film isn’t one I would buy, it is the ‘type’ of film I was looking for. I only really liked the one song (I don’t know the title, it was the I will wait for you when they first parted), and the rest of the music was too ‘aimless’ for my taste. But if more of the music had resonated with me, then this probably would be a fun film. Fun is a continuum, and Umbrellas is a hell of a lot closer to what I was asking for opinions on than Cries & Whispers.

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Well, if Umbrellas kind of fits the bill, you might want to take a look at The Young Girls of Rochefort. I'd consider Umbrellas a better film, but Young Girls is a fun follow-up to it. Slightly weirder and someone told me it helps if you're familiar with everything Demy has directed. Plus, it's coming out on DVD on the 22nd.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

You might also want to stay away from Last Year At Marienbad.
Umbrellas is worth a look.
~Edwin

 

[Walt Riarson]

I enjoyed The Vanishing quite a bit, although I've never seen the Hollywood remake.

I also recommend Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. It's my favorite Kurosawa film, and gets better with each passing year.

If you're into horror films a bit, you can't go wrong with Dario Argento's Suspiria (and maybe Deep Red), as well as the early work of Mario Bava (Black Sunday, Twitch of the Death Nerve.)