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#Post#: 10106--------------------------------------------------
International Movie Festival
By: Allie Date: December 9, 2018, 5:13 pm
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In my last post I recommended some Brazilian films.
Can you recommend good films from your country?
#Post#: 10107--------------------------------------------------
Re: International Movie Festival
By: Allie Date: December 9, 2018, 5:16 pm
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For organisation's sake, I am going to paste my suggestions here
too (I should have started a new thread right from the start,
but... it's me, you know)
“City of God” is in the 20th position of the top 250 IMDB’s
list. However, I have never watched it, so I can’t really
recommend it.
If you’d like to use cinema to understand a little more about
the country, you can watch Elite Squad (2007).
It shows a little of the contrasting social classes, corruption,
culture and etc. It’s not a beautiful film, but it’s the truth
(it was based in a real story)
Besides, it’s one of the most beloved films in Brazil.
However, if you’re watching it for language purposes, it’s not
the best idea. Even though the accent is standard (Rio’s), they
use lots of slang and expressions. They are not only regional,
but also crime/police lingo. I had to ask about some terms that
were not 100% clear to me.
“Central do Brazil” (1998) is a great drama, with one of our
best actresses, Fernanda Montenegro.
“O Auto da Compadecida” (2000) is one of the most popular
comedies and it’s good to see as it depicts a part of Brazil’s
culture that is usually not exported. It’s based on the
homonymous play by Ariano Suassuna (an important Brazilian
writer) and it explores the customs, lingo, folklore and creeds
of the North-East region of Brazil. Again, a terrible idea if
you’re watching to learn Portuguese. The accent they put is
terribly strong and the expressions are extremely regional.
If you want to watch something for the language (you want to see
how much of Brazilian Portuguese you can understand with your
knowledge of Spanish, for example), a comedy is probably better.
Popular ones are “Se eu fosse você” (2006) or “Até que a sorte
nos separe” (2012). Nothing brilliant here, but they are easy
and you may giggle.
#Post#: 10112--------------------------------------------------
Re: International Movie Festival
By: Alharacas Date: December 9, 2018, 7:25 pm
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[quote author=Elf link=topic=681.msg10106#msg10106
date=1544397223]
In my last post I recommended some Brazilian films.
Can you recommend good films from your country?
[/quote]
Thank you, Elf!
Er... German films tend to fall into one of 3 categories:
1 - Comedies. The less said about them, the better.
2 - So artistic they're utterly incomprehensible (Wim Wenders.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Have a blast.)
3 - Problem films. The ones that make you want to stab yourself
with a fork.
You've probably guessed by now that I don't watch a lot of
German films. An exception is Tatort. It's a German institution,
there is one on practically every Sunday evening at 20.15.
Today's - well, yesterday's - was one of the better ones. Plus,
I really like the main actress, Ulrike Folkerts (Kommissarin
Lena Odenthal). Hope the link works:
HTML https://classic.ardmediathek.de/tv/Tatort/Vom-Himmel-hoch/Das-Erste/Video?bcastId=602916&documentId=58459694
Perhaps I should add that this is not a normal TV series, you
don't need to know who is who. Every episode is like a complete
film.
BTW, several Tatort episodes are mentioned in lists like 100
gute deutsche Filme. So I'm probably not the only one who has a
few problems coming up with suggestions for German films which
are worth watching.
#Post#: 10113--------------------------------------------------
Re: International Movie Festival
By: NealC Date: December 9, 2018, 8:19 pm
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I found "Das Boot" (Eine Reise ans Ende des Verstandes) to be
one of the most tense and suspenseful films I have ever watched.
After 2 and a half hours, I was exhausted.
It is also supposed to be interesting for the German accents and
dialects of the varied crew, but I wouldn't know about that.
#Post#: 10114--------------------------------------------------
Re: International Movie Festival
By: Allie Date: December 10, 2018, 4:04 am
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Now that I think of it, in all those years, no one (tutors,
teachers, LPs) ever recommended me a German film.
I remember I asked a girl once and she said “Do you like Lord of
the Rings? Harry Potter? You could watch them in German”
To this day I still watch stuff dubbed in German.
I am sure there’s something, but every time I look, it’s mostly
something war-related.
Christiane F was somewhat famous in Brazil, though.
BUT everybody praises "Tatort" and Netflix launched a series
called "Dark" that's been well received.
#Post#: 10118--------------------------------------------------
Re: International Movie Festival
By: Nikola Date: December 10, 2018, 12:32 pm
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This is hard. There are so many good movies, although I don't
really like the latest Czech movies and I generally prefer ones
that are set in the past. I checked and these should all be
available with English subtitles:
Musíme si pomáhat (Divided we Fall, 2000)
A very strong story without unnecessary sentiment, set during
WW2. A married couple offer refuge to a young Jew in a small
town in German-occupied Czechoslovakia. It shows mutual
collaboration between pro-Germans and anti-Germans and how small
compromises often saved lives. It may sound depressing but it's
surprisingly lighthearted, with moments of comical awkwardness,
typical for the Czech cinematography. Having said that, it is
still deeply humanly touching.
Želary (2004)
Another movie set in Czechoslovakia (Protectorate of Bohemia and
Moravia, to be precise) during WW2. A nurse from Prague who
delivers important documents within the local Resistance
network, is forced to go into hiding in a remote village in
Slovakia. She leaves with a patient who's recovering after
having undergone a risky operation where Eliska (the nurse)
saved his life by giving him her blood. She has to start a new
life somewhere in the Slovakian mountains, amongst strangers who
are very suspicious of her. In order to gain their trust, she
has to marry the man who brought her to the village...
Kolja (Kolya, 1996)
The movie begins in 1988. A musician and a ladies' man accepts
an offer to make some money through a fake marriage to a Soviet
woman. What a surprise when the "bride" emigrates to West
Germany, leaving a five-year-old Kolya behind. At first, the guy
refuses to take care of the little boy (after all, Russians were
not exactly popular in the country back then) but ends up
looking after him anyway. The movie has some hilarious moments
in it and would also please those interested in Slavic
languages, as the two main characters "sort of" understand each
other and come across several "false friends" between Czech and
Russian.
Samotáři (Loners, 2000)
A hyperlink cinema style movie with multiple story lines - a
group of young people are trying to get on with their lives
while various things get in the way, including their parents,
drug dealer, a group of Japanese tourists or a creepy stalker.
It's laid-back and funny.
#Post#: 10122--------------------------------------------------
Re: International Movie Festival
By: SHL Date: December 10, 2018, 4:40 pm
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One of the best German films I’ve ever seen. It contrasts the
poverty of Peru with the wealth of Germany, in a suspenseful
courtroom drama. Alharacas might like it because it has a lot of
Spanish in it, with German subtitles, and a lot of courtroom
scenes with spontaneous German-to-Spanish translations.
Apart from that, it‘s a gripping film which first appeared on
ZDF, but is no longer available.
HTML https://youtu.be/37KoAuKmx1s
#Post#: 10126--------------------------------------------------
Re: International Movie Festival
By: Alharacas Date: December 11, 2018, 3:30 am
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I'm not surprised, Elf. ;D
There is a film I quite liked at the time (1997): Rossini.
A friend of mine had won two tickets to the premiere and he
invited me. I remember thinking "Oh heck! A German film!", but
going anyway, mainly because the friend was so pleased. So,
maybe I just liked it because my expectations had been rather
low. ;)
Unfortunately, some scenes take place in a full restaurant, so
even native speakers have problems hearing/understanding all the
bits and pieces of conversation (I did, at least). It's
therefore not quite ideal for language learners, I think.
It's a satirical portrayal of the moneyed/nouveau-riche and
actors'/poets'/writers' circles in Munich, with lots of
real-life portraits thrown in. The super shy author (guy with
the cap with the ear-flaps) for example, is supposed to be
Patrick Süskind, who kept refusing to have his best-selling
novel (Das Parfüm, in the film it's called Loreley) made into a
film.
Apart from that, there's no plot to speak of, just lots of
affairs going nowhere (or self-destructing), because they're not
so much love affairs rather than affairs of vanity.
If any of you would like to watch it, but feel you'd rather have
some bits explained to you, I'd do my best to try and help. :)
#Post#: 10127--------------------------------------------------
Re: International Movie Festival
By: Sudeep Date: December 11, 2018, 3:42 am
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Elf, I don't know whether you have watched any Bollywood movies,
but if you haven't, I would recommend watching "3 idiots". One
of my Korean friends told me that he watched that movie 22 times
;D
BTW, I didn't know martians are elf :P
#Post#: 10129--------------------------------------------------
Re: International Movie Festival
By: Allie Date: December 11, 2018, 5:48 am
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@Nikola
Thanks for sharing!
(In order to watch those, do I need an avocado latte or any kind
of deconstructed hipster food or will good and old popcorn do?)
@SHL
Thanks for the suggestion. Seems great.
@Alharacas
I like Patrick Süskind, so I may try.
By the way, a new series inspired by “Das Parfüm” has been
produced in Germany recently (however with a completely
different atmosphere from the film).
@Sudeep
Well, had you ever met a Martian before to know what we look
like?
When I think about Bollywood, I think about music and dance.
Don’t get me wrong, I actually like musicals, but I don’t
really like musical films.
Maybe because usually they choose popular actors instead of
actors who can sing (at least in Hollywood), so I didn’t give
Bollywood a try.
But I love Slumdog millionaire (it’s a cliché, isn’t it?)
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