Helle there.
This may not come as a shock to you but Blockbusters has drove all the other local video shops out of business. Even Blockbusters itself halved the size of their store. Most of what they have left is shite and the good films I've seen or already own. For some reason they do have an almost decent "world cinema" section though.
Oh and they've arranged the prices so you practically have to accept the 3 for £5 offer.
So I'm accepting suggestions!
Films I've already seen and liked:
City of God
Battle Royale
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Amores Perros
Amelie
Run Lola, Run
The Seventh Seal (they have many other bergman films)
Irreversible
House of Fools
non-english language films
2One of the things I love to do is stand in front of a world cinema section and just randomly pick something. I've seen some shit mind...
The films you list are all quite mainstream, so they may not have the following suggestions. It's a good idea to go for directors - try one of their films and see if you like the style and feel, and go from there. I've put what I think to be that director's most accessible/famous work in brackets - partly because they are the films Blockbuster will most likely have in.
Fassbinder (The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant; Fear Eats The Soul)
Herzog (Fitzcarraldo; Aguirre Wrath Of God)
Godard (A Bout De Souffle; Weekend)
Truffaut (400 Blows; Jules Et Jim)
Fellini (La Strada; 8 1/2)
Kurosawa (Seven Samourai; Throne Of Blood)
Melville (Le Samourai; Bob Le Flambeur)
For the real life changing stuff, grab anything by Tarkovsky (particularly Andrei Rublev or The Sacrifice) or Bresson (try and get Au Hasard, Balthazar). There's a slim chance they may have the Vigo collection. That is very good.
The likelihood is that they'll have newer stuff - have a bash at Kieslowski (the Three Colours trilogy is GREAT), anything by Takeshi Kitano, Lukas Moodysson, Eric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol (these two still make high quality movies that seem to get well distributed)...
For some top drawer schmaltz/feelgood stuff, there are two films called Le Gloire De Mon Pere and Le Chateau De Ma Mere, or Il Postino, Cinema Paradiso or My Life As A Dog will do the trick.
There is an astonishing, unique film with a cast made up almost entirely of four year old children called Ponette, directed by Jacques Doillon (but it will make you cry within the first five minutes).
A slightly more obscure one - but they might just have it - is a Turkish film called Uzak, which is very understated and nice.
Don't get a Russian film called The Return, it's a smug piece of shit.
If by some wild chance they have Franju's Les Yeux Sans Visage, get that and have your face melted.
And for a good night in without too much stress on the brain you can't go far wrong with the likes of Betty Blue, Harry: He's Here To Help, L'Appartement, Dobermann, Nikita, or, um...Les Amants Du Pont Neuf.
You said they have lots of Bergman...go for Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring, or Cries And Whispers.
Give me a shout if you want more.
Oh, and it isn't foreign, but get Dead Man's Shoes if you haven't already seen it.
Have fun! Please let me know what you watch, and what you think of them!
The films you list are all quite mainstream, so they may not have the following suggestions. It's a good idea to go for directors - try one of their films and see if you like the style and feel, and go from there. I've put what I think to be that director's most accessible/famous work in brackets - partly because they are the films Blockbuster will most likely have in.
Fassbinder (The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant; Fear Eats The Soul)
Herzog (Fitzcarraldo; Aguirre Wrath Of God)
Godard (A Bout De Souffle; Weekend)
Truffaut (400 Blows; Jules Et Jim)
Fellini (La Strada; 8 1/2)
Kurosawa (Seven Samourai; Throne Of Blood)
Melville (Le Samourai; Bob Le Flambeur)
For the real life changing stuff, grab anything by Tarkovsky (particularly Andrei Rublev or The Sacrifice) or Bresson (try and get Au Hasard, Balthazar). There's a slim chance they may have the Vigo collection. That is very good.
The likelihood is that they'll have newer stuff - have a bash at Kieslowski (the Three Colours trilogy is GREAT), anything by Takeshi Kitano, Lukas Moodysson, Eric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol (these two still make high quality movies that seem to get well distributed)...
For some top drawer schmaltz/feelgood stuff, there are two films called Le Gloire De Mon Pere and Le Chateau De Ma Mere, or Il Postino, Cinema Paradiso or My Life As A Dog will do the trick.
There is an astonishing, unique film with a cast made up almost entirely of four year old children called Ponette, directed by Jacques Doillon (but it will make you cry within the first five minutes).
A slightly more obscure one - but they might just have it - is a Turkish film called Uzak, which is very understated and nice.
Don't get a Russian film called The Return, it's a smug piece of shit.
If by some wild chance they have Franju's Les Yeux Sans Visage, get that and have your face melted.
And for a good night in without too much stress on the brain you can't go far wrong with the likes of Betty Blue, Harry: He's Here To Help, L'Appartement, Dobermann, Nikita, or, um...Les Amants Du Pont Neuf.
You said they have lots of Bergman...go for Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring, or Cries And Whispers.
Give me a shout if you want more.
Oh, and it isn't foreign, but get Dead Man's Shoes if you haven't already seen it.
Have fun! Please let me know what you watch, and what you think of them!
Back off man, I'm a scientist.
non-english language films
3I forgot to mention Spirit Of The Beehive.
Back off man, I'm a scientist.
non-english language films
4here are a few stellar films comng out on DVD very soon (the first two come out tomorrow in fact)...
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=PCT005491
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=MGD008911
http://www.criterioncollection.com/asp/release.asp?id=314
as for Bresson, i think the best film of his to see first (that's currently out on DVD) would be A Man Escaped. check out Diary of a country Priest, L'Argent, and Balthazar afterwards, but try to avoid Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (it was made before he really developed his style).
i'd say the best Takovsky to start out with would be the Stalker. that film really stays with you and it's very soothing and accessible.
Herzog's My Best Fiend, about his love/hate relationship wih actor Klaus Kinski, is the funniest movie ever. after that, check out Stroszek (which ian curtis watched before he killed himself), Kasper Hauser, Aguire, Heart of Glass (the one wherin he hypnotized everybody) and maybe Fata Morgana (commentary track avec Crispin Glover).
yeah, vigo's l'atalante is a fucking classic. and not liek casablanca either.
you guys ever see Agnes Varda's Vagabond? i can't BELIEVE how good that film is, and that i hadn't seen it until this year.
also, if you liked Irreversible, you should check out Noe's I Stand Alone.
christ, i could be here all night rattling shit off.
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=PCT005491
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=MGD008911
http://www.criterioncollection.com/asp/release.asp?id=314
as for Bresson, i think the best film of his to see first (that's currently out on DVD) would be A Man Escaped. check out Diary of a country Priest, L'Argent, and Balthazar afterwards, but try to avoid Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (it was made before he really developed his style).
i'd say the best Takovsky to start out with would be the Stalker. that film really stays with you and it's very soothing and accessible.
Herzog's My Best Fiend, about his love/hate relationship wih actor Klaus Kinski, is the funniest movie ever. after that, check out Stroszek (which ian curtis watched before he killed himself), Kasper Hauser, Aguire, Heart of Glass (the one wherin he hypnotized everybody) and maybe Fata Morgana (commentary track avec Crispin Glover).
yeah, vigo's l'atalante is a fucking classic. and not liek casablanca either.
you guys ever see Agnes Varda's Vagabond? i can't BELIEVE how good that film is, and that i hadn't seen it until this year.
also, if you liked Irreversible, you should check out Noe's I Stand Alone.
christ, i could be here all night rattling shit off.
non-english language films
5also, the Bergman triology on Criterion is ace. Winter Light being my favorite of his.
oh, also try to see something by Carl Dryer like his famous Joan of Arc film or maybe Day of Wrath.
for lighter stuff i recommend Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle or Playtime) or that Aki Kaurismaki film The Man Without a Past --- can't wait to see more of this dude's stuff.
oh, also try to see something by Carl Dryer like his famous Joan of Arc film or maybe Day of Wrath.
for lighter stuff i recommend Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle or Playtime) or that Aki Kaurismaki film The Man Without a Past --- can't wait to see more of this dude's stuff.
non-english language films
7Eksvplot wrote:also, if you liked Irreversible, you should check out Noe's I Stand Alone.
Have to disagree here. Irreversible is some kind of masterpiece, but I Stand Alone is a piece of worthless juvenile shit. I can only just accept it's the same director, to be honest.
Back off man, I'm a scientist.
non-english language films
8Eksvplot wrote:also, i am the loneliest man alive.
I loved that movie!!!
non-english language films
9run joe, run wrote:Eksvplot wrote:also, if you liked Irreversible, you should check out Noe's I Stand Alone.
Have to disagree here. Irreversible is some kind of masterpiece, but I Stand Alone is a piece of worthless juvenile shit. I can only just accept it's the same director, to be honest.
well, i think if you can tolerate the heavily transgressive nature of Irreversible (which, understandably, not everyone can), you could find value in I Stand Alone. yeah, the guy's an asshole, he sleeps with his daughter, the storyline is terribly bleak. however, i like it for the simple fact that it allows you to get into his head and see his predicament from his perspective. to me there's a nigh infinite gulf between a film like this and something like Baise Moi which just revels in baseness for the sake of it with nothing approaching insight or pathos.