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Devon Malcolm's Foreign Film Ponce-A-Rama


Devon Malcolm

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So I'm doing this thing on Letterboxd this month where I'm watching 30 films from 30 different countries in 30 days. Last night I watched Mandrill (it's on Netflix US), a Chilean action film which is basically a rip-off of old martial arts and spy films. It wasn't that great but it had a nice woman in it and a good ending and it used the Grand Theft Auto font on its titles so it wasn't all bad. Tonight I'm watching the cheerful sounding Russian mystery drama The Return.

 

I didn't know if we'd ever had a foreign films thread for recommendations and general discussion or anything, so I thought this would be good for doing that and stuff and throwing in my thoughts on these films.

 

By the way, did anyone ever know how many recent Korean films there are on YouTube? You can find loads on there and the best of them is 3-Iron, which is an absolutely gorgeous film and one of the best I've seen this year so far. Bedevilled also used to be on there (I think Keith Houchen mentioned he'd seen it, unless I'm mistaken?) but I can't find it now. It is also excellent. But there are loads of them on there if you keep following links, mostly subtitled, and with some real obscurities as well.

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Thought so!

 

I've got tired of all these ultra-violent Korean crime films lately but this one was fantastic and very different. I'd compare it to Audition in the way things are paced towards the violence that occurs. 3-Iron is completely different although still technically a crime film, it's also a really sweet romance as well. Highly recommended.

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I was going to suggest Audition. Possibly my favourite foreign film. The acting is incredible and the way it turns from a likeable romantic comedy to true horror is beyond anything else I have seen.

 

Enjoyed I Saw the Devil. Very twisted.

 

if you want a good comedy, try Klown. Fantastic finnish comedy.

 

The Norweigen Headhunters was a decent flick.

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Headhunters is brilliant. Great action adventure, reminded me of The Fugitive. Everyone should see it.

 

Didn't like I Saw The Devil, though. The two leads were great but it stretched the boundaries of believability far too wide for my liking. There were a couple of great scenes but it ended up more like a Korean version of The Terminator.

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The Norweigen Headhunters was a decent flick.

Was gonna chip in with that one myself. Got a loan of it off someone and didn't expect much; I hadn't heard of the book or the hype around the movie. I really enjoyed it. One of those you just stuck on in a rainy night, not expecting much, but really liked.

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Nine Souls (Japan) is a cracking road movie based around a group of escaped convicts it can get a little surreal at times but it's really worth checking out.

 

Like the sound of that, I'll add that to my watchlist.

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By the way, did anyone ever know how many recent Korean films there are on YouTube?

There's alot of asian cinema on Dailymotion as well, which i hope to get around to watching at some point. A lot of the asian streaming sites post on DM. Just searching "kmovie" "jmovie" will bring up some gems.

 

As far as youtube, i currently have 133 foreign language films saved for rainy days.

 

Also The Korean Film Archive have their own channel absolutely free with subtitles and with some uber-rare stuff Link

 

Forgot about the letterboxd 30 films/30days thing, probably wouldn't have stuck to it anyway.

Edited by ultimo the great
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May as well through some random Japanese recommendations in here.

 

For those interested in the exploitation side of things the first three Female Prisoner #701 films are worth hunting down with Scorpion and Jailhouse 41 in particular being very good Beast Stable stumbles a bit, has a weak villain compared to the previous two films and even throws some rather pointless incest into the mix but is still a decent watch with what I thought was a great finale and even a surprising character return.

Edited by The King Of Swing
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I saw a good Dutch movie once called The Lift. I liked it but my missus was bored to tears. She likes Bollywood mind you.

 

I've seen that. It was a good laugh, actually. Same director did a film called Amsterdamned which is also good fun.

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I'll chuck a couple of recommendations in

 

Youth of The Beast Yakuza! Super cool Joe Shishido! Violence! Beautifully Stylish! with a fantastic ending.

Blind Beast: A sleazy very japanese tale of a blind man who with the help of his mother kidnaps a girl and takes her back to his layer.....best not to know too much more. Twisted and odd

Cure So far the best film i've seen from "horror maestro" Kiyoshi Kurosawa, one of a kind serial killer flick

Mad Detective If you want a hong kong cop thriller with an edge try this you won't be disappointed

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