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I signed up to the Amazon DVD rental a couple of months ago thing because I was sick of my local place not having anything even slightly off mainstream or anything but the biggest foreign films and so far I have seen, in reverse order:
Kinky Boots - English film about a shoe factory that's going to close down until it finds a niche market making kinky boots for drag queens. It's alright.
The New World - The Terence Malick show about John Smith and Pocahontas and all that bollocks. It's as you expect: loads of scenery with long sequences with no dialogue or with whispered inner thoughts, interpersed with bursts of narrative. It's pretty long but I really enjoyed it and I didn't really like The Thin Red Line that much.
Irreversible - infamous French film because the graphic head smashed in scene and the horrible rape and beating of a woman. Those two scenes are memorably grim and tough to watch, particularly Bellucci's character getting beat up after being raped, but it's more than just those scenes. Good show.
Hidden (cache) - another French film. A family gets mysterious tapes in the mail from an anonymous person. The tapes just show images of the front of their house or of other places with no commentary or clues as to why apart from cryptic child-like drawings packaged with the videos that hint at something in the husband's past. It's a slow burning creepy sort of show with only one shocking moment, but which so outrageous that it actually made me flinch.
La Haine (Hate) - yet another French show set on an estate on the outskirts of Paris following a day in the life of 3 young French men - a Jew, an Arab and an African by descent. One of their friends is in a coma after being badly beaten by police interrogators and the night before a huge riot broke out on their estate. The film follows the entire day afterwards. Brilliant film. Vincent Cassel is great in this and Irreversible.
Jarhead - everyone knows.
Historias Minimas (Minimal Stories) - Argentinian film which is basically what it says. It's pretty small, relatively uneventful stories. Just following a couple of men on seperate journeys, an old man looking for his dog Badface and a lonely salesman, and the people they encounter. I really liked this. It wasn't very long, but it was funny and well-acted, especially considering there was only one professional on the cast.
Lady Vengeance - everybody knows this one too by now. One of the Vengeance series which includes Oldboy. I thought this was ok but no where near as good as Oldboy.
No Man's Land - A film set during the Balkans conflict of the 90s, in an abandoned trench between Bosnian and Serbian lines i.e. No Man's Land. Two Bosnians and a Serb are brought together in an unfortunate situation that requires the intervention of the UN to sort out and which draws in the world's media. This film is really fucking good and is maybe the perfect satire on how the big nations view the horrible wars that take place in the "smaller" nations. It really is perfect. It speaks volumes about the Balkans conflict but could apply to possibly any other conflict in a "difficult" part of the world. Can't recommend this enough.
Sympathy For Mr Vengeance (Collector's Edition) - First installment in the Vengeance series. I thought this was a bit crap. Nicely shot, but just meaningless, gratuitous violence.
Thumbsucker - It's ok. A bit boring and not that funny, but watchable.
Dig! - Great show. Documentary about the Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols. Just hilarious.
O Homem Do Ano (Man Of The Year) - this is a Brazilian film about a guy who dyes his hair blonde for a change then shoots a local gangster who insults it. He suddenly becomes Mr. Popular for removing the local bully. The film follows on as the guy's life sort of spirals out of control from there. It's pretty funny at times in a very black way.
Nuevas Reinas (Nine Queens) - Argentinian film re-made in the US as "Criminal." Having seen both versions, this one is much better. It's basically about a big con revolving around some rare stamps called the Nine Queens. Very good indeed.
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