Foreign tells you about nothing but the language spoken

Absolutely. However, I know people who think it's weird my sister likes to "read" her movies, and my sister bemoans not being able to find enough foreign movies in Jamaica.

So even before you get to the specific language spoken, there's a perceived commonality that's useful for those that don't participate and for at least one (and she's just the first example that came to mind, since she mentioned she was going to try and rent a foreign movie for her birthday today).

Black music, without an implied understanding of which black folk and all the values that implies, I think is less useful.

Hell, even French as a genre wouldn't tell you enough to figure out if you'd prefer Bob Le Flambeur to Au hasard Balthazar.

But isn't French cinema often spoken of as a genre unto itself? I'm not saying there aren't useful subdivisions, but still...I know people who will characterise HK movies as of interest to them, for example.

Don't worry, Springy, we all had to start somewhere. And there are some of us ::voice drops to a whisper:: who have seen a fair number of those films and didn't care much for them.

My three essential French language films: Diva, Delicatessen and La Belle et La Bete. Which ain't nobody here mentioned yet, even though I personally think they'll be very accessible to anybody who is a Whedon/Buffy-type fan.

Absolutely. However, I know people who think it's weird my sister likes to "read" her movies, and my sister bemoans not being able to find enough foreign movies in Jamaica.

Which is exactly why I hate foreign films as a category. I think it means that many people dismiss films they might otherwise enjoy.

Le Samourai is a case in point. A student's father, who would never choose to watch a "foreign film," came in while she was watching, loved it, and decided he wanted to see more movies by this Melville dude.

My three essential French language films: Diva, Delicatessen and La Belle et La Bete. Which ain't nobody here mentioned yet, even though I personally think they'll be very accessible to anybody who is a Whedon/Buffy-type fan.

All favorites of mine. And I agree, all very accessible, with Diva being a great example of a film that doesn't really fit into what many people think of when they think of "French" films.

A student's father, who would never choose to watch a "foreign film," came in while she was watching, loved it, and decided he wanted to see more movies by this Melville dude.

My dad, who was very averse to anything non-Hollywood previously, watched The Seven Samurai with us one night and joined Netflix to rent Japanese movies, Kurosawa flicks in particular.

Oh man, Matt, I've been re-watching the syndicated episodes of, um, that certain thing that you mentioned that isn't a movie. So awesomely bad. S6 is great because you can tell exactly when it was cancelled from the way all the peripheral characters abruptly vanish. Plus, Jensen Ackles.

To regain some small shred of credibility: I love Diva! I couldn't sit through Delicatessen, though. But that quite was a long time ago.

I own Diva. I liked it enought to track down Delacorta's novels (one of which is the basis for the movies). Girodish (obviously based on Serge Gainsbourg) and Alba had many adventures.

Though Alba is a blonde French girl, not Asian, in the books.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 is playing on TNTHD right now.

And can I just say that, even though I've seen this movie all of twice before now (I'm waiting for the "Ultimate Criterion Super-Secret Special DVD with your own personal Tarantino Sperm Packet Included" before buying the Kills Bill), I can perfectly recall almost every. single. scene. it's pretty much perfectly done in that respect.

Why didn't this movie win best director, or cinematography, or... something the year it came out? No movie this memorably great should go Oscar-less.

ETA:

"For Ridiculing you earlier... I apologize."

"Accepted..... Ready?"

I really liked the first Kill Bill. Though I did come to realize that as much as QT likes action, he's not a great action director. Even the Crazy 88 sequence falls far short of what Walter Hill or George Miller (much less John Woo or Ringo Lam) can do.

Quentin's really good at iconography. It's something Mark Romanek talks about on his video collection - finding those crucial/key/iconic images.

Oh yeah, the action scenes are there as tribute, not as the point, in my head. They're fun, but the things that stick in my head are the gimmicks - the switch to black-and-white, and back to color, for example. I love the lack-of-action-in-action of the fight with O-Ren, though. Beautiful. The fountain doing it's thing as they fight is beautiful.

Honestly, I liked the second movie better. Tarantino is somewhat better at expansive than action, I think. But, God, I love them both so very much.

The second movie doesn't have the anime sequence, though. I love that bit so very much. "W...h...i...m...p...e...r"