Tag Archives: Black Book

May23

Top Five Foreign Films

Posted on by
Standard

FAVORITE FILMS NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Since listing my all time top 5 films is an impossible task for me since I’m very much into films and have lots of favorites, I’m going to alter the prompt a mite bit and name my top five foreign films instead.

1. First and Foremost, if you have never watched a foreign film (and by that, I mean one not in English) I recommend you start with this one. My number one choice. It’s exciting and the story is complex and well done. The movie? BLACK BOOK. It is sooo good. I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s about a Jewish girl who works for the Dutch resistance in WWII. She becomes involved with a Nazi officer. It’s such a powerful story.

2. BREAD AND TULIPS is another good foreign language film. It’s light fare compared to #1 above. It’s a romance and a lot of it takes place in Venice, Italy, a place I love.

3. WALK ON WATER is a story about a member of Mossad (a very handsome Lior Ashkenazi) who is assigned to a misson whereby he must get close to the grandchildren of a Nazi war crminal. This is a lovely story and is pretty light fare as well. It’s a drama, but it’s not as dark as BLACK BOOK.

4. ARMY OF SHADOWS is another dark one about WWII. It is another resistance group movie. It seems like a lot of the foreign films use that era as their setting and story base. I guess it’s because so much happened during that turbulent time in history. This one has Jean-Pierre Cassel, the very handsome father of Vincent Cassel, in it. This is a tragic film, so be ready to have your heart hurt with this one.

5. Another foreign film with a lot of drama is THE THIRD MAN. This one is set in Vienna, Austria and is a cold war film. It has Joesph Cotten and Orson Welles in it. This one is also dark, but that’s the beauty in this one. The director captured the dark tone quite well with the shots of the city at night. The city of Vienna is almost another character in the movie.

So, check some of these out sometime. It’s fun when the film itself is so excitng that you forget you’re reading the words. One word of caution, though, don’t watch HIROSHIMA, MY LOVE if you want action and fast pace.

Feb20

“Unknown”- A Movie Review

Posted on by
Standard

For the first time in a while, there was actually a movie I wanted to see out in theatres. I went today to see Unknown.  Liam Neeson is the star, and as usual, he’s his normal kick-butt self.  There were two women in the film. One was January Jones and she played his wife. The other was Diane Kruger, the woman that helps him when he’s being pursued. I much preferred the performance of Diane Kruger. She did a great job with a hard to play role. I think it was hard to play as the character was full of implausibilites. Some of the stuff she was asked to do would have never been done by a woman in her position.  A lot of this film stretched credulity. But it was a fun ride for two hours.

I loved that Aiden Quinn was in this film. I very much enjoy the film Michael Collins where Liam and Aiden play best friends and rivals for the love of Kitty.  It was fun to see them together again.  And it was also great to see Sebastian Koch in this film. One of my favorite foreign language films of all time has him in it. It’s called Black Book.  He’s an excellent actor. He plays the scientist, Professor Bressler.

For an afternoon of mindless entertainment, I say check this one out- it’s a wild romp.  AND if you’re so inclined, rent Black Book– an excellent, excellent choice.