Name some of your favorite Indi or foreign movies

[Lost-in-FL]

For me Anything produced or directed by Pedro Almodovar

"Nine Queens"
"Alice et Martin", etc. There's lots more but I am usually bad with names (and spelling
:blush: )

[SusanaMontana41]

1. "My Name is Joe"

Saw it once on Sundance Channel and kept searching for this movie under the wrong name. Really really fine acting, with subtitles for those of us who can't follow the strong Irish (I think it's Irish) brogue.

[AlCzervik]

2. The triplets of Belleville, it's my favorite from the past few years, it's animated, that still

counts--yes? anyhow i loved it.

[Cobalt-60]

3. Saladin!

"let the drums sound!"
I was led to it by Terry Jones' "the Crusades" documentary.

[Deep13]

4. Chainsaw Sally (indie USA), ...

Evil Aliens (indie UK)
Jesus Christ, Vampire Hunter (indie from Canada)
Lady Snow Blood (Japan)
Fistful of Dollars (Italy)

[bridgit]

5. Raise The Red Lantern...

[begin_within]

6. Here are four must-see foreign-language films:

"Tokyo Story" (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953, Japanese with English Subtitles) A universal story about family relationships and respect for the elderly that is just as pertinent today, and in any country, as it was in Japan in the 1950s. This film towers over almost all other films. Don't get the VHS tape, rent the Criterion DVD as it has improved sound and pitcure quality.

"Soy Cuba" (Mikheil Kalatozishvili, 1964, Russian-Spanish with English subtitles) The best cinematography of all time. The camera floats effortlessly around the scenes and captures life in Cuba just before Castro's revolution - and illustrates why the revolution was necessary. Unforgettable images and sounds.

"Au Hasard, Balthazar" (Robert Bresson, 1966, French with English subtitles) Enigmatic parable about the life of a mistreated donkey - is it a Christ-like symbol, or what? You decide. A depressing film, but extraordinarily well-made, and with careful interpretation, can change your outlook on life.

"El Norte" (Gregory Nava, 1983, Spanish with English subtitles) The best film ever about the subject of immigration.

[bridgit]

7. hubby used to have El Norte in his vid shop, great film...

:thumbsup:

[EFerrari]

8. Do documentaries count? "The Buena Vista Social Club"

[GumboYaYa]

9. Buena Vista is awesome.........One of the very best music docs ever.

My next film is a music doc; I am using Buena Vista to help write it. Buena Vista is a standard above most music docs IMO.

[EFerrari]

11. The first time I saw/heard it, that music was in my head for weeks.

Then I had to watch it over and over and over, like an addict. :)

[GumboYaYa]

13. It is right up there with "Straight, No Chaser" as far as music docs go.

What is amazing to me is how many great musicians lives he reinvigorated through that film and the ensuing music projects.

[EFerrari]

14. What kind of music are you filming? nt

[GumboYaYa]

15. We are filming a concert series with New Orleans musicians who

are raising funds to assist other musicians. At the same time we are telling the stories of individual musicians and the hardships they face recovering from Katrina. The proceeds are going to be donated to a charity established to provide direct aid to New Orleans musicians.

We have a series of concerts scheduled around the world and some pretty big name celebrities lined up to help promote it. It should be interesting. Unfortunately, we have to go to Europe to get any funding to make a movie about an American art form.

[EFerrari]

16. I understand. Are these the same musicians that were in Lee's

film? There was a short segment of them playing in NYC.

[GumboYaYa]

17. Some are the same. We have a bigger group, but those are some of the core musicians

we started with. We want to make a more hopeful film.

New Orleans music came from the funeral march. Going to the funeral they played a slow mournful march, but coming home the second liners jumped in any the revelry began. Out of the revelry (the mixture of African drums with European March music) jazz was born.

All the movies I have seen so far focus on the funeral march and not the revelry. Life is hard, but if we only focus on the hardship and not the beauty, we miss a lot of joy. I want to focus on the positive things people are doing now and not dwell on the destruction (but of course we have to show the destruction to get to the revelry).

[EFerrari]

20. There was a wonderful doc on last night about the birth of

jazz in NOLA -- maybe on my local PBS. One of the memes that was repeated was "unity and diversity" and they showed great clips of people dancing. It was the black community ,spoofing the white parade and it made you want to pack your bags and go, lol.

My brother is a jazz musician, straight ahead, smooth and latino. But, I think I can safely say, there is no jazz community here in CA that could hold a candle to the one in NOLA. That's what makes the diaspora so unconscionable, imho. It was incomparable. And hopefully, will be again.

Keep us posted.

[Lost-in-FL]

21. Speaking of documentaries...

I saw an excellent documentary at Sundance a few years back, it was about Street Musicians in NOLA. Music so good it touches the heart. God, I loved it!!! It was filmed before Katrina. I hope all these musicians are Ok. :cry: Their music was magnificent.

[bikebloke]

10. The Best of Youth (La Melgio Gioventu)

An Italian epic spanning 40 years from 1966 to the present. It centers around two brothers. One, an easy going med student. The other a broody lit student. Following modern Italian history the characters are involved with the great floods of Florence, the student unrest, the industrial lay-offs, Red Brigades, mafia trials in Sicily and even modern consumerism.

With a six hour length, it's a two nighter. But worth it.

[GumboYaYa]

12. My favorite indie is probably Sex, Lies and Vidoetapes, but there

are so many great films to choose from that depending on my mood, I may give you a different answer tomorrow.

I loved SL&V in part b/c I lived in Baton Rouge right after it was filmed and went to the bar in that movie almost every day.

ON EDIT I don't consider Pulp Fiction indie even though many do.

[MissMillie]

18. I loved "My Life as a Dog"

a warm and touching movie

[realisticphish]

19. "Nightwatch"

"Cranes are Flying"
"Pan's Labyrinth"