I think I mentioned on my trip to the F2F this year, the airline movie on the tiny tiny screens was King Kong which I caught occasional glimpses of in passing. On the little screen, Kong looked regular size, and the people were teeny....

Heh, I've got King Kong on DVD and still haven't watched it. I may have to resort to it when I finish my House DVDs.

I may have to look up a few of the French films mentioned, I'm not a huge fan of them and tend to find them, ah, pretentious and self-aware. From that standpoint, Quentin Taratino should start making French films.

Tarantino was very influenced by the New Wave, especially Godard, as evidenced by his company name "A Band Apart", which I think Hec referenced earlier, and things like Uma Thurman's wig in Pulp Fiction, a copy of Anna Karina's hairstyle (Godard's wife and muse in the early 60s).

Also see list below.

For those for whom the New Wave is a bit too much, here are some more recent suggestions for French films. Almost all have been student tested, student approved. I've put them into categories, but these are only approximate.

The "Cinéma du Look" (very stylized):
Jean-Jacques Beineix, Diva (1980)
Luc Besson, Subway (1985), Nikita (1990)
Léos Carax, Lovers on the Bridge (1991)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Délicatessen (1991)

"Heritage Cinema" (period pieces and literary adaptations):
Daniel Vigne, The Return of Martin Guerre (1983)
Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Patrice Leconte, Ridicule (1996)

Comedy:
Coline Serreau, 3 Men and a Cradle (1985)
Jean-Marie Poiré, The Visitors (1993)
Francis Veber, The Dinner Game (1998), The Closet (2000)

Colonization/De-colonization:
Claire Denis, Chocolat (1990)
Régis Wargnier, Indochine (1992) (Deneuve scored a Best Actress nomination with this film)

Sexual Identity/Coming of Age:
Alain Berliner, Ma vie en rose (1997)
André Téchiné, Wild Reeds (1994)

Musicals:
Jacques Martineau, Jeanne and the Perfect Guy (2000) (A musical about AIDS)
François Ozon, 8 Women (2002) (A whodunit—Deneuve sings!)

Crime:
Patrice Leconte, Monsieur Hire (1989) (Adapted from Simenon)
Jacques Audiard, Sur mes lèvres/Read My Lips (2001)
Mathieu Kassovitz, The Crimson Rivers (2001)

Romance/Romantic Comedies (all with Audrey Tautou):
Tonie Marshall, Venus Beauty Institute (1999)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amélie (2001)
Cedric Klapisch, L'Auberge Espagnole (2003)

World Wars:
Louis Malle, Au revoir les enfants (1987) (based on Louis Malle's childhood)
Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Bon Voyage (2003) (Isabelle Adjani does comedy!)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, A Very Long Engagement (2005)

Hard to classify but highly recommended:
Patrice Leconte, The Man on the Train (2002)
Agnès Jaoui, The Taste of Others (1999), Look at Me (2005) (a bit pretentious but both very interesting explorations of power and social dynamics among the intellectual crowd)
Erick Zonca, The Dreamlife of Angels (1998)

Holy Crap!! I've seen a Louis Malle film!! And quite by accident!

Holy Crap!! I've seen a Louis Malle film!! And quite by accident!

Thanks for the list, megan! No wonder QT's style seemed so familiar from what everyone was saying.

I know I've seen at least part of "Ma vie en rose." There were times I'd rent a movie to watch with my daughter; she has a habit of talking over everything, particularly if it's something she doesn't like or can't understand. I end up watching a lot of movies without ever knowing/remembering how they ended.

Was this something you were trying to avoid?

Not at all. I just feel all accidentally culturfied.

Oh man, I loved King Kong. The big question going in was "Why make this movie?" and within the first ten minutes, I got it.

My favorite foreign film - actually, probably my favorite film, period, is Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. The mambo taxi! "You see what the Arab world has done to me!" The moped chase! The gazpacho!

I recommend The Return of Martin Guerre, as far as French films go - Gerard Depardieu before he was a man-mountain.