One Movie from Each Country

[Water Bottle]

Hello. I have decided on a whim that I should try to watch one movie from every country in the world (that has made a movie) once a week until I have covered every country. Except for the USA because I watch American movies like almost every week in the movie theater. These international releases can be recent, they can be old, they can classics, they can be terrible. I don't know.

 

You guys are free to recommend movies. I recommend trying to pick movies that represent that country well and/or that are interesting.

 

I'm going to start this week with Canada because it's the largest country in North America.

Week 1: Canada (Atanaruat: The Fast Runner)

Week 2: Russia (Letter Never Sent)

Week 3: Brazil (Basic Sanitation: The Movie)

Week 4: Algeria

Week 5: China

Week 6: Australia

Week 7: TBD

 

If you sense a theme I went with the largest country in each continent or in the Oceanic area to start with.

 

The next movie will be 

The Battle of Algiers

[grim22]

For India, just do Bahubali 1 and 2. Its pretty much the perfect entry point into Indian movies despite not being Bollywood.

[Tower]

If you want an Israeli movie that really feels Israeli I would recommend The Big Dig.

[Goffe]

For Brazil

 

I like Basic Sanitation a lot, and it's on Netflix US. Pretty funny comedy.

 

Aquarius, The Second Mother, City of God are more boring choices, but they're critically acclaimed Brazillian movies that that made it overseas and are about Important Issues. 

 

A Dog's Will (Auto da Compadecida) is a local classic and probably the most famous Brazillian movie that is pretty much unknown outside Brazil. I doubt you gonna find it through legal means, tho.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Goffe

[Jake Gittes]

For week 2 I'd recommend The Man with the Movie Camera if you want breathless 1920s avant-garde fun, The Cranes Are Flying if you want a quality emotional mid-century drama (or, from the same director, Letter Never Sent if you want a raw survival movie that leaves Gravity and The Revenant in the dust), or, if you can track it down (I know it had a tiny theatrical release in the States, at least), 2016's The Student for a sharp look at today's Russia. 

[Water Bottle]

1 hour ago, Goffe said:

For Brazil

 

I like Basic Sanitation a lot, and it's on Netflix US. Pretty funny comedy.

 

Aquarius, The Second Mother, City of God are more boring choices, but they're critically acclaimed Brazillian movies that that made it overseas and are about Important Issues. 

 

A Dog's Will (Auto da Compadecida) is a local classic and probably the most famous Brazillian movie that is pretty much unknown outside Brazil. I doubt you gonna find it through legal means, tho.

 

City of God is disqualified because I already saw it.  Thanks for the rest of the suggestions.

[peludo]

I could recommend you many from Spain. I will choose 4 or 5:

 

My favorite is Plácido (1962). Absolute masterpiece. Maybe too local, but it is one of the best comedies I have ever seen and it shows how was the life during the Franco's dictatorship. It was nominated both to Foreign Language Oscar and to Golden Palm in Cannes.

 

More recent films:

- Pellet (2000): About violence at home against children. Great and very necessary film.

- Mondays in the sun (2002): Reality of unemployment. Drama with some humour. Maybe, the best role of Javier Bardem.

- The sea inside (2004): About euthanasia. Maybe, again, the best role of Bardem. Aclaimed worldwide. It won the Oscar, Golden Globe, ...

- Cell 211 (2009): Centered in a prison mutiny. Action, drama and suspense. Very good. 97% in RT.

- Perfectos desconocidos (2017): Hilarous comedy. A recent success.

[Brainbug]

For Germany, there are a handfull of movies i can definetly recommend.

 

Das Boot (1981), one of the best (anti) war films of all time imo.

The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen, 2006) about the surveillance society of the DDR.

Old expressionist classicls like Metropolis, Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

M (1931) about a murder mystery which also serves as an allegory of the pre-national socialism society.

Der Untergang (Downfall, 2004), though its ruined if you know the memes.

Run Lola Run (Lola rennt, 1998), a fast-paced thriller with lots of running.

The Perfume (Das Parfüm - Die Geschichte eines Mörders, 2006), a solid adaption of the bestselling german novel. Thats probably the most hollywood-like german movie i like.

Victoria (2015), a thriller that is basically without cuts.

 

And one last remark: If you see a german movie where the name "Till Schweiger" is attached to it, avoid it like the plague

[aabattery]

Wilderpeople.

[DeeCee]

30 minutes ago, aabattery said:

Wilderpeople.

Is that Hunt for the Wilderpeople?

 

Anyway, I don’t believe he’s listed New Zealand in the schedule yet. 

[aabattery]

8 minutes ago, DeeCee said:

Is that Hunt for the Wilderpeople?

 

Anyway, I don’t believe he’s listed New Zealand in the schedule yet. 

 

Week 7 is TBD 

[DeeCee]

Antarctica?

 

@Water Bottle I’m guessing you’ve seen some Australian films since quite a few have found some success in the US. What have you seen?

[Water Bottle]

6 hours ago, DeeCee said:

Antarctica?

 

@Water Bottle I’m guessing you’ve seen some Australian films since quite a few have found some success in the US. What have you seen?

 

The first Mad Max movie as well as Fury Road. Happy Feet and Lion as well. The Crocodile Dundee movies. Babe. Maybe a few others but those are the ones that come to mind.

 

Obviously skipping that whole Antartica continent.  

 

7 hours ago, DeeCee said:

Is that Hunt for the Wilderpeople?

 

Anyway, I don’t believe he’s listed New Zealand in the schedule yet. 

 

Doesn't have to be on the schedule yet to recommend movies.

[DeeCee]

Here’s a few suggestions.  

 

Gallipoli-WW1 film directed by Peter Weir and staring Mel Gibson. 

 

The Castle-Comedy about the government trying to take a families home to expand an airport (Eric Bana in a supporting role)

 

Picnic at Hanging Rock-Mystery/Drama from Peter Weir and part of the New Wave of Australian cinema in the 70’s. 

 

Two Hands-Heath Ledger and Rose Byrne in a comedy/drama crime film set in Sydney. 

 

Looking for Alibrandi-Coming of age  comedy based on a popular book about a girl of Italian heritage trying to fit in.  (You’ll often see me mentioning the George St Cinemas. They’re actually a location in this movie)

 

The Dish-Fictionalised version of the role of the Parkes radio telescope receiving the signal from the moon during Apollo 11. 

 

[Spidey Freak]

On 5/20/2018 at 5:07 AM, DeeCee said:

Picnic at Hanging Rock-Mystery/Drama from Peter Weir and part of the New Wave of Australian cinema in the 70’s. 

Excited for the Natalie Dormer starring Amazon mini series dropping on Friday. It received raves at Berlinale.

[DeeCee]

21 hours ago, Spidey Freak said:

Excited for the Natalie Dormer starring Amazon mini series dropping on Friday. It received raves at Berlinale.

It’s already on here although I haven’t watched it. 

[Water Bottle]

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner

Budget: $1.9 million CAD

Box Office: $5.1 million WW

91% Rotten Tomatoes with 96 reviews

Critics Consensus: Compelling human drama and stunning cinematography make The Fast Runner an absorbing experience.

Winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes

#1 Canadian Movie by the Toronto Film Festival

 

I think it's kind of funny how for the Canadian movie I ended up watching a film that's more a Telemachos kind of movie than a @baumer but there you have it. 

 

This is a movie directed by, written by, acted by, and produced pretty much exclusively by the Inuit people. The dialogue is in Inukitut and is based on an oral tale passed down for generations by Inuit elders. The production valued historical accuracy: they did a lot of research to try and capture what life was really like for the Inuit people before they encountered Europeans. In other words, this is a pretty unique movie for a lot of reasons and holds a lot of cultural and historical value. 

 

It's also a 2 hour and 43 minute movie. This is supposed to be the epic movie after all that helps capture an entire culture on film. So if you decide to buy the DVD (sadly this film doesn't have a blu-ray release even though the cinematography demands it), be prepared to watch a long movie. There's also a whole second disc full of special features so if you want to learn more about the movie and such, you can! I think that's pretty much everything you need to learn about this movie if you want to check it out.

 

Here's a link:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Fast-Runner-Atanarjuat-Natar-Ungalaaq/dp/B00006RG78/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527397600&sr=8-1&keywords=Atanarjuat%3A+The+Fast+Runner

 

I didn't get it but if you want or really dive deep into the production of the film there's also a book:

https://www.amazon.com/Fast-Runner-Filming-Atanarjuat-Indigenous/dp/0803222084/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1527397600&sr=8-5&keywords=Atanarjuat%3A+The+Fast+Runner

 

Review:

There Be Spoilers 

 

 

 

It's 2 hours and 43 minutes that's true but sadly there's not really enough plot to actually fill those 2 hours and 43 minutes. I'd say an actual hour is spent on the actual plot with the rest of the runtime being filled with (beautiful) shots of people doing everyday stuff or just looking or maybe it's just some shots of birds. Some shots simply last too long to the point where I think you could cut the movie in half by just cutting the first and the last bit of almost every shot and not lose a thing.

 

This isn't a bad thing necessarily: I'm sure some people will find the shots of women grinding meat for ten seconds to be fascinating. But for the rest of us, it'll be moments when the film sort of loses you and you check your phone because nobody's even saying anything so your not afraid you'll miss a subtitle. You'll get to see a lot of daily life authentically recreated for this movie which I guess is good but not necessarily always compelling. Impatient viewers might wish for the movie to get to the point sometimes.

 

The actual story...well there is a reason it's been handed down for generations with a whole culture of people. It's a pretty solid one filled with betrayal, murder, and sex. The premise is that there's two brothers, one whose very fast, Atanarjuat, and one whose very strong, Amaqjuaq. The fast one marries two women (this is accepted by their culture and the women) and in different ways this upsets one evil man, Oki. Oki eventually tries to kill the two brothers but Atanarjuat is able to get away (naked) even though the strong one dies.  I'm not going to spoil what happens next. I also copy-pasted the names from Wikipedia so if I misspelled one, blame Wiki.

 

It's not all drama and shots of people living their daily lives. There's lots of moments of humor. But not like Marvel humor. This is more like real life humor and it's not always clean but it helps make these characters feel more real. And that's the point, right? There are some goofier moments as well although not necessarily on purpose. These generally have to do whenever the film explores the more shaman side of the story but luckily they aren't that many. I'm not trying to be disrespectful here: it's just generally the way they are shot and edited together. I think with a slightly higher budget they could have achieved what they wanted without it coming across as a bit goofy so i think this is more of a budget (and film's age) issue than anything.

 

Oh, yeah, for a film telling an Inuit legend that occasionally dives into shamanism, there is surprisingly little exposition explaining what happened. The film trusts you are able to figure out enough of what happened to follow what's happening. I'll admit I was a bit confused by the opening sequence but wikipedia also cleared that up for me.

 

In the end, it's a good movie even if it's a bit too long.

 

 

[Water Bottle]

The Russian movie will be 

 

Letter Never Sent

Recommended by @Jake Gittes

 

Picked this movie because it was in the Criterion Collection. Other than what Gittes said about the movie, I know very little about it. 

[Jake Gittes]

looking forward to your reaction

[Water Bottle]

Neotpravlennoye pismo (Letter Never Sent)

Budget: Unknown

Box Office: Unknown

N/A Rotten Tomatoes with 4 reviews

Critics Consensus: N/A

Criterion Collection Selection

 

Recommended by @Jake Gittes

 

This is a Russian film made during it's Soviet Union days. The only thing I knew about it was what Gittes had told me: that it was a more intense survival story than Gravity or The Revenant. I picked it because while looking for the movies he recommended, I saw it was in the Criterion Collection. It's black and white and it runs only 96 minutes. It was released in 1960.

 

If you want to check it out:

https://www.amazon.com/Letter-Never-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B006ML50S8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528003921&sr=8-1&keywords=letter+never+sent+bluray

 

And here is a Criterion Collection essay if you are interested (beware of spoilers):

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2207-letter-never-sent-refining-fire

 

 

Review:

There Will be Spoilers

 

 

I don't know if the film is more intense than Gravity since once that movie gets going, it doesn't really take a break and keeps going. I'll say it's definitely better than the Revenant even if that movie might be considered more realistic. 

 

The absolute strength for this movie is the cinematography. It's so well shot with such beautiful imagery that it's worth watching for that alone. Seriously, almost every single shot I wanted to pause the movie, take out my phone, take a picture, and upload it to my computer so I could use it as my new screensaver. I wanted to but I didn't largely because I didn't think my phone would capture the quality very well. Seriously, though, this is a movie that might be in black and white but it uses that to it's full advantage: the silhouette shots over the forest are simply hauntingly beautiful. If you appreciate filmmaking craft as an artform this movie will make you happy.

 

The actual story on the other hand? It's pretty interesting how it's executed. The first half of the movie finds our main character, Sabinine, leading a small group of characters to find diamonds in Siberia. There is also a love triangle between two young geologists (Tanya and Andrei) and their guide, Sergei which you think is going to be pay off sometime near the end of the movie. I'm not going to spoil whether they find the diamonds or not but eventually their expedition does come to an end. 

 

It's as they plan to go home when all hell breaks loose...literally. They lose access to their supplies, the guide dies, and the three geologists must try to escape and return home. Once again, I don't want to spoil too much, but I will say that this is really where the movie shines. When it's man (and woman) vs nature and as nature takes a huge toll on them, we get a strong sense of the preservation that our species is capable of. A lot of Soviet films tended to have some kind of propaganda attached to it. While Letters Never Sent has some of that, it doesn't really get in the way of the story it's telling.

 

The actual characters well we don't really learn a lot about them. This might lead a lot of people to criticize them for being underwritten or two-dimensional but I'm gonna reveal a big secret: it's usually the actor and actress who make a character multi-dimensional. In this case, it's no different. The cast is able to bring the characters to life even though the writing barely even gives each one a trope. And the movie still works really well because of how great the actors are.

 

This movie is definitely worth checking out.