I prefer Spanish films, I really enjoyed The Iberian Trilogy by Bigas Luna starting with Jamón Jamón ("Ham, Ham", 1992), Huevos de Oro ("Golden Balls", 1993) and La teta y la luna ("The Tit and the Moon", 1994). These films "explored the darkest depths of eroticism and stereotypical Spanish machismo."[3] Jamón Jamón, which launched the careers of both Javier Bardem and the 16 year old Penélope Cruz was a major international success and won the Silver Lion at Venice in 1992.
Also the director of Amelie made a film called Delicatessen which is very good, just got the three colours trilogy and a Spanish film called princess but not watched them yet.
Favourite TV by a country mile in last few years has been Spiral or Engrenages simply stunning to watch, the French judicial system makes the story lines so gripping.
Watched 'Certified Copy' last night, I do hope theres a bit more action in the Derby game tonight ! Having said that a very strange and thought provoking film and very much saved by a brilliant performance from Juliette Binoche. I am quite happy spending a couple of hours watching her.
I prefer Spanish films, I really enjoyed The Iberian Trilogy by Bigas Luna starting with Jamón Jamón ("Ham, Ham", 1992), Huevos de Oro ("Golden Balls", 1993) and La teta y la luna ("The Tit and the Moon", 1994). These films "explored the darkest depths of eroticism and stereotypical Spanish machismo."[3] Jamón Jamón, which launched the careers of both Javier Bardem and the 16 year old Penélope Cruz was a major international success and won the Silver Lion at Venice in 1992.
Also the director of Amelie made a film called Delicatessen which is very good, just got the three colours trilogy and a Spanish film called princess but not watched them yet.
Favourite TV by a country mile in last few years has been Spiral or Engrenages simply stunning to watch, the French judicial system makes the story lines so gripping.
Thanks for the recommendations. Also a big fan of Spanish films. So much less pretentious and raw. I have seen Jamon Jamon but not the others you mention. So will see if I can get hold of them. I recently watched La noche de Los gurasoles (the night of the sunflowers) which is very good. Alongside the main storyline it gives an interesting insight into the problems facing rural Spain at present.
Been watching (Channel 4) Witnesses a French language crime drama. Six episodes four broadcast so far. Very good. Reminiscent of the Scando Noir hits a couple of years ago. The main character "Sandra" is also very easy on the eye. Available on Catchup.
Been watching (Channel 4) Witnesses a French language crime drama. Six episodes four broadcast so far. Very good. Reminiscent of the Scando Noir hits a couple of years ago. The main character "Sandra" is also very easy on the eye. Available on Catchup.
Yes I put this on the new tv series thread. Excellent viewing and has me intrigued as to how it will finally unravel in a couple of weeks time. Hope it will become a series.
The much awaited second series of Arne Dahl is on BBC4 on Saturday at 9am. First series rally was excellent and would thoroughly recommend this to any Nordic Noir buffs.
Four defrocked priests, tended to and supervised by a ‘retired’ nun, live a clandestine existence in a small Chilean beach town, out of sight (and mind) of both the public and the Catholic Church. The arrival of a new ‘inmate’ disrupts their existence and leads to the arrival of a 'crisis counsellor' from the Church to investigate this community and decide upon its future. What follows is an intense psychological drama, featuring an abundance of self-deception and concealment. The director, Pablo Larrain, does not demonise these individuals but he does offer an excoriating allegory of a church tainted by scandals and cover-ups.
This is not a mainstream or crowd pleasing film like Larrain’s last feature, ‘No’ (covering the 1988 Chilean referendum which unseated Pinochet), which was short-listed for the 2013 Foreign-Language Oscar. The subject matter of The Club is far more discomfiting and it will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It is, however, a very fine film - thought-provoking, sinister and, at times, darkly humorous. Recommended - 8/10.
I finally caught up with this film by the Dardenne brothers last night at Film Club. Sandra discovers that her workmates have opted for a pay bonus, in exchange for her dismissal. She has one weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses, so that she can keep her job.
This was excellent on many levels, including a bravura performance by Marion Cortillard . Thoroughly recommended - 9/10.
Been watching (Channel 4) Witnesses a French language crime drama. Six episodes four broadcast so far. Very good. Reminiscent of the Scando Noir hits a couple of years ago. The main character "Sandra" is also very easy on the eye. Available on Catchup.
Yes I put this on the new tv series thread. Excellent viewing and has me intrigued as to how it will finally unravel in a couple of weeks time. Hope it will become a series.
You who have watched it probably already know this but I just got round to checking that Le Treport as named in the series actually exists. Spectacular scenery, but with weather we are all familiar with. Like Ramsgate on crack.
In rural Turkey, five orphaned sisters walking home from school go to the beach to have some harmless fun and ride piggyback on the shoulders of some local boys. When this is related by a neighbouring busybody as the girls ‘pleasuring themselves against boys’ necks’, their grandmother and uncle remove them from school, incarcerate them at home and resolve to marry each of the five sisters off, whether they like it or not; at stake, as the relatives see it, is the family’s respectability. Short-listed for the Foreign Language Oscar, this exceptional debut film from director Deniz Gamze Ergüven offers its audience a powerful and, at times, gripping narrative, as well as having much to say about female repression in Turkish society.
In what has not been a vintage year for foreign language cinema, I think this a cracking film. Highly recommended - 9/10.
Julieta (Spain)
Julieta, a troubled woman in her mid-50s, reflects upon her life over the last thirty years and writes a long letter to her estranged daughter in order to explain some of the secrets she has kept from her. Based upon three short stories by Alice Munro, the film is episodic in nature and told with several flashbacks, although I thought it hung together pretty well and it certainly held my interest throughout. The emotional life of women is very much Pedro Almodóvar’s natural terrain and the film has all the colour and visual vibrancy associated with his films. Whilst ‘Julieta’ is not one of his classics, it is, in my view, better than his last few offerings and it is likely to do well at the box-office - 7/10
Comments
Also the director of Amelie made a film called Delicatessen which is very good, just got the three colours trilogy and a Spanish film called princess but not watched them yet.
Favourite TV by a country mile in last few years has been Spiral or Engrenages simply stunning to watch, the French judicial system makes the story lines so gripping.
Four defrocked priests, tended to and supervised by a ‘retired’ nun, live a clandestine existence in a small Chilean beach town, out of sight (and mind) of both the public and the Catholic Church. The arrival of a new ‘inmate’ disrupts their existence and leads to the arrival of a 'crisis counsellor' from the Church to investigate this community and decide upon its future. What follows is an intense psychological drama, featuring an abundance of self-deception and concealment. The director, Pablo Larrain, does not demonise these individuals but he does offer an excoriating allegory of a church tainted by scandals and cover-ups.
This is not a mainstream or crowd pleasing film like Larrain’s last feature, ‘No’ (covering the 1988 Chilean referendum which unseated Pinochet), which was short-listed for the 2013 Foreign-Language Oscar. The subject matter of The Club is far more discomfiting and it will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It is, however, a very fine film - thought-provoking, sinister and, at times, darkly humorous. Recommended - 8/10.
I finally caught up with this film by the Dardenne brothers last night at Film Club. Sandra discovers that her workmates have opted for a pay bonus, in exchange for her dismissal. She has one weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses, so that she can keep her job.
This was excellent on many levels, including a bravura performance by Marion Cortillard . Thoroughly recommended - 9/10.
"oh, this is Jens, we have sex sometimes..."
Bring it on!
In rural Turkey, five orphaned sisters walking home from school go to the beach to have some harmless fun and ride piggyback on the shoulders of some local boys. When this is related by a neighbouring busybody as the girls ‘pleasuring themselves against boys’ necks’, their grandmother and uncle remove them from school, incarcerate them at home and resolve to marry each of the five sisters off, whether they like it or not; at stake, as the relatives see it, is the family’s respectability. Short-listed for the Foreign Language Oscar, this exceptional debut film from director Deniz Gamze Ergüven offers its audience a powerful and, at times, gripping narrative, as well as having much to say about female repression in Turkish society.
In what has not been a vintage year for foreign language cinema, I think this a cracking film. Highly recommended - 9/10.
Julieta (Spain)
Julieta, a troubled woman in her mid-50s, reflects upon her life over the last thirty years and writes a long letter to her estranged daughter in order to explain some of the secrets she has kept from her. Based upon three short stories by Alice Munro, the film is episodic in nature and told with several flashbacks, although I thought it hung together pretty well and it certainly held my interest throughout. The emotional life of women is very much Pedro Almodóvar’s natural terrain and the film has all the colour and visual vibrancy associated with his films. Whilst ‘Julieta’ is not one of his classics, it is, in my view, better than his last few offerings and it is likely to do well at the box-office - 7/10