I really have no clue where to start, I really only got started when I saw Ingmarr Bergman's Wild Strawberries film and liked the use of shadows, symbolism, and just about everything.

If you could help me out by naming maybe one or two films that you would think a beginner movie geek might like, I'd appreciate it.

I don't even know where to begin, but a few I love are:

FITZCARRALDO & AGUIRRE WRATH OF GOD by Werner Herzog when he was on the top of his game.

Bertolucci's THE CONFORMIST is a terrific film with brilliant cinematography by Vittorio Storaro so a little will be lost if you view it on video.

Among Fassbinder's films, I like ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL best

Almost all of Bergman is worth seeing, but if I had to single out one must see, I'd opt for FANNY & ALEXANDER, which was the first Bergman film I caught.

Kurosawa is another terrific director and SEVEN SAMARAI, RASHOMON & RAN are among his best, but two of my favorites are HIGH AND LOW and THE BAD SLEEP WELL.

Check out the Italian Neo-Realists including De Sica's UMBERTO D & BICYCLE THIEF and Rossellini's OPEN CITY. Visconte's masterpiece, or one of them, is THE LEOPARD. TWO WOMAN, by De Sica, won the lovely Sophia Loren her Academy Award.

So, many.

Thanks much! I'm compiling a short list right now, and thanks for splitting them up into separate countries, didn't even think of that.

Have you checked this thread?

I did read it, but this thread was made mainly so that I could just get a few ideas, not a huge list of movies. I'm still new at foreign films, and I want to start off with, I suppose, the most well known or easily recognized.

Well, I personally highly recommend the FIRST post (mine)

Well, I've seen Wild Strawberries so I'm probably going to check out the Seventh Seal next, seems it was his most popular. Oh, and I read War and Peace, so I'll see if the library has it next. Thanks

I'd go with any felinni stuff, specially 8 1/2 and La Dolce Vita, although his satiricon, roma and amarcord are pure brilliance. You should also watch some truffaut, and a must, a MUST is the three colors trilogy by (I always have a hard time writing his name, somebody help me!)..those are some great films you might dig

quote:

Originally posted by Anderton:
You should also watch some truffaut, and a must, a MUST is the three colors trilogy by (I always have a hard time writing his name, somebody help me!)..those are some great films you might dig

Some good choices here. If you go with Truffaut, go with his first three, THE FOUR HUNDRED BLOWS, SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER and JULES & JIM, with the lovely New Wave icon, Jean Moreau.

And it is the late, great Krystoff Kieslewski who made the THREE COLORS trilogy and I second the recommendation. Another Kieslewski film worth seeing is THE DOUBLE LIFE OF VERONIQUE.

And don't forget Godard's BREATHLESS, with Belmond & Jean Seberg.

I would recommend Son of the Bride (2001) starring Ricardo Darin from 9 Queens. It is a touching movie about a middle age business-burnout and his mother's health problems. Well acted all around and a heart warming story. Look for Natalia Verbeke who plays the girlfriend. Talented and beautiful.

"Love Me if You Dare" is a really well made film. Another great French Film is "Amelie" (I'm sure you've heard of this!) Good luck in your future film watching pursuits.

If your interested in Italian cinema you might want to get Scorsese's wonderful "My Voyage to Italy".
He discusses Italian cinema and presents clips from the great movies.

"Seven Beauties"
"Derzu Usala"
"Amelie"

There is a one-year old label that releases esoteric Italian films on DVD. The name of the label is NoShame films. It features enhanced and re-mastered movies, as well as supplementary features. A recent one that I purchased from NoShame is titled Love and Anger. It is a 1969 film chronicling four tales from four film directors (including Godard and Bertolucci.) It is a very poignant and triumphant movie; that provides your mind with vivid images and solid storytelling.

Check it out.

Here are a few films that I did not see mentioned above. My apologies if I overlooked any of the following:

France - Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise) (1945), Directed by Michel Carné. A beautiful film. Made particularly interesting because of the difficulty of filming during the Nazi occupation.

Germany - Wings of Desire (1987) or Der Himmel über Berlin (Heaven over Berlin), Directed by Wim Winders. A philosophical film about angels secretly living among us.

Russia - Solaris (1972), Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. A slow, but rewarding science-fiction film often compared (favorably or not) to Stanley Kubrick's 2001, A Space Odyssey.

Japan - Onibaba (1964), Directed by Kaneto Shindo. A dramatic horror film set in 14th century Japan. (One of my personal favorites, but certainly check out the Kurosawa films others have mentioned first.)

Brazil - Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus) (1959), Directed by Marcel Camus. Filmed in Brazil by a French director, this is a retelling of the classic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Just a few more to help you along. The other recommendations of Bergman, Fellini, Herzog, Kieslowski, Kurosawa...they'd all be tops on my list of recommendations as well. Happy viewing!

Thank you for contributing. My faves of yours are Onibaba and Black Orpheus. Please keep contributing.

i cant seem to watch onibaba online that has an english sub....better download the http://www.allsubs.org/ subtitles first! i'll get back to this real quick!

The Host and City of Violence

"Maria, Full of Grace"
This movie, I believe does not have any music playing in the background, which may be necessary at times to add to dramatization. But I love this movie, the struggle the location the environment of the settling of the movie. Beautiful.



Also, you can't go wrong with "Life is Beautiful"

Italian movies
Roma, città aperta and Stombolli films by Roberto Rosellini in the 40's
It's nice to watch Ingrid Bergman speaking italian

Nuovo cinema Paradiso (1988) film by Giuseppe Tornatore.
It a really nice movie about the childhood of a filmmaker in a little village.

Spanish movies

Tesis first film by Alejandro Amenábar. It's a thriller very pshycologist about snuff videos at the university. You must watch it

El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive) 1973 a film by Victor Erice, one of the best spanish filmmaker. It's about the fantasy of eight-year old girl living in a small village after watching movies about frankestein. It' is increible film.

http://helenaiguess.blogspot.com/