'Jaynestown'
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
I love City of Lost Children so much. I have no French, though. And I still haven't seen Delicatessen, somehow.
That's the great thing about Jeunet, he's so visual that the language barrier is not as great as with the more "talky" French movies, or comedies.
and Truffaut is OK, but I CANNOT stand Godard and haven't watched any Melville.
It should be noted that Melville is more of a precursor to the French new wave than a participant. He shares a similar interest in American genre (particularly crime/noir) with the New Wave directors, but his style is more old school. Bob le Flambeur makes a better double-feature with Dassin's Riffifi than it does with Breathless. (And Riffifi might be the best picture in that bunch although Breathless is certainly more significant).
megan, I was also fond of Diane Kurys' movies like Peppermint Soda and Cocktail Molotov. From the late seventies, early eighties. Also Coup de Foudre (which was released stateside as Entre Nous) starring Isabelle Huppert and Miou Miou.
La Lectrice also with Miou Miou was interesting.
Just saw The Crow for the first time ever (thanks TNT, even with your "that's flipping bullspit!" replacements!)
It's the gothiest goth goth in gothonia, huh?
One of the most affecting French films in my memory is Claude Sautet's Un Coeur en Hiver, with Emmanuelle Beart and Daniel Auteuil, which is sparse and elegant and terribly wounding in a quiet way.
Sautet's 'Nelly and Monsieur Arnaud' is even more low-key, in a kind of the-characters-react-to-the-the-dramatic-moments-by-walking-down-the-street way.
I think my favourite foreign film is Jesu de Montreal. Except, I was living in Montreal when I saw it, so I'm not sure how foreign it was.
It's the gothiest goth goth in gothonia, huh?
Heh. Well, yes. That's the point, really. I think if I had to make a Goth DVD Starter Kit, it would include both Addams Family movies, Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Crow, and Gypsy 83. And maybe the original Dracula, just because. Or The Hunger.
The Crow is a very good movie -- in some ways, I think it turned out better because the director had to retool a number of scenes because of Lee's tragic death.
Heh. Well, yes. That's the point, really. I think if I had to make a Goth DVD Starter Kit, it would include both Addams Family movies, Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Crow, and Gypsy 83. And maybe the original Dracula, just because. Or The Hunger.
I very much like all of these except Gypsy 83 and The Hunger. And that's probably because I've seen neither.
Maybe I'm a secret goth somewhere under my cheerful blue golf shirt demeanor.
The Crow has my second-favorite "dramatic transformation scene ending with a cool reveal shot through a window" evah. Batman Returns being the first.
Okay, I don't think there are any other candidates, but I love those sequences, and they're kind of similar so... shut up!
Anyway. The part where you can tell they're trying to give it an actual plot where there's a problem to solve is kind of dopey. I mostly love the first two-thirds, where there really isn't any plot, just a series of violent revenge fantasies. Which is more faithful to the comic. Gris, if you liked the movie, get the comic, 'cause it's just heart-shredding.
Jilli, would Rocky Horror qualify for inclusion in the Goth archetype hall of fame? I've always felt that based on the Transylvanian characters' style and Tim Curry's song at the end, but I realize my opinion could be way off base from the intent of those in the movement.