I have noticed that nine out of five times that I recommend a foreign film (Most recently The Red Violin) to someone the response is, "Oh is it like Amelie?" And then I want to respond, "ummm by 'like Amelie', do you mean a movie where there's English words on the screen and not English words coming out of character's vocal folds? NO they're not alike: one is light-hearted and silly and the other is romantic, dramatic, and cerebral."
Here's a good way to explain the difference between Amelie and the Red Violin.
SAT question 1
Amelie is to The red violin as The Proposal is to .
a. While you were sleeping
b. Inception
c. Two Weeks Notice
d. Miss Congeniality
Did you put B... because that would be the 'most correct' answer. The Proposal and Inception have the following in common with each other... umm, they're both in English.
So the next time you feel inclined to compare any other foreign film with Amelie in your mind, try to remember that there are different genres of movies in the foreign world too.
6 Responses to "Recommending foreign films"
Right, right, all very true. But you never answer the big question brought up by this delightful monologue:
What foreign films DO you recommend? I expect a blog post about that soonish.
9/5 times. YOU DEFY THE ODDS! heehee
Anything by Zhang Yi Mou (e.g. "To Live", "Raise the Red Lantern", "Not One Less", "Hero")
Children of Paradise
Jean de Florette
I think part of the problem is that people see foreign films as a genre when that makes little sense for exactly the reason you describe. I blame it on people who can't handle reading subtitles, so they won't let a sub-titled mystery go in the mystery section.
Silly Muffin Man. The French have no differentiation in their personality and therefore have only one type of movie. This is just like the British having only on accent and set of slang words. Only Americans have regional accents and different genres of movies. That's why we're better than everybody else.
9/5 joke comes from here..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ArIj236UHs
My favorite foreign films: Blue, Together, Not One Less, Mostly Martha.
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