Comments on: 8 Foreign Genre Films Worth A Look

By: Mr. Lister, Sir

Mr. Lister, Sir — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:38:27 +0000

I truly love Night Watch. It has by far the best use of subtitles in any movie i have ever seen. They do not just appear and disappear like a normal movie. They come and go with the camera movement. They are wiped away by cars and doors opening. Also they are often colored or written differently to emphasize the words that are being spoken. For example there is a spookey vampire telpathic call calling in a victim. The words are written in red and as i reacall are not a clean font almost as if it were hand written.

Two more films that deserve to be on this list are the french films City of the Lost Children and Delicatessen. Both are dark dissutopic tales set in France. Both are also made by the same dude who made Amalie so you can anticipate amazing visuals.

Delictessen takes place in a post apocalyptic suburb of in a Deli and the Apartments above it. The residents, scarce on food, turn to hiring a handyman and eventually, when their previous meat supply runs low, eating him. It follows the story of the new handyman arriving falling in love with the shop keepers daughter and the hilarity that follows. Its a really Dark Comedy but the visuals are amazing.

City of the Lost children is the story of a young street urchin and her new friend a Circus Strong Man (played by Ron Perlman who learned french for the movie) investigating why kids are going missing in a sort of Steam punk France. Its kind if a bizarre very loose mashup of Monsters Inc., The Professional, and Annie.

By: MercuryShadow

MercuryShadow — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 17:16:06 +0000

Let The Right One In is the best movie I saw in 2008, by far.

By: coco

coco — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:45:46 +0000

The Night Watch (and the trilogy) are some of my favourite movies. (Weirdly enough, I actually saw Day Watch on a plane. Interesting viewing experience, that’s for sure.) Thanks for including them in the list.

2046 is somewhat interesting, but I’d say definitely not one of Wong Kar-wai’s best movies; and I agree that its only very loosely related to the sci fi genre.

By: John

John — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:41:30 +0000

Thanks for the recommendation, FrenchToast! 2046 is on the top of my queue, now. I’m a big fan of foreign cinema (not just sci-fi/fantasy), so I’m always on the lookout for new ones.

By: FrenchToast

FrenchToast — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:03:00 +0000

Awesome list! Thanks for this great blog!

May I also suggest the film, 2046, written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. Not strictly sci fi but enough elements to claim the genre (there are androids, for godz sake!) It’s beautifully filmed, and haunting…but may be a little slow for action-oriented Coolerheads out there!

By: Casilda

Casilda — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:52:49 +0000

I really enjoyed Solaris (and for those who haven’t seen it, it’s really quite good), but I have to admit, the other two on your list that I’ve seen (Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth) I didn’t really like. That said - Alfonso Cuaron’s also the director of the 3rd Harry Potter movie, which I love.

Also, it’s cool that these are all more or less available! Yay!

By: Solai

Solai — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:44:47 +0000

Prep the Frak parties…we have a bunch of new material to cover. Great article! I am looking forward to seeing these films with the GWC crue!

By: Thx1966

Thx1966 — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:28:38 +0000

I agree with you on the ones I have seen ( Children of men and Pan’s Labyrinth) So I am going to work my way through this list…. Thanks.

By: Pike

Pike — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:19:03 +0000

“Let the Right One In” is a must-see, but get the UK version. The US version uses a different, worse translation (I have no idea why.)

By: Default Prophet

Default Prophet — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:06:02 +0000

I’ve seen all of these but Let The Right One In (Gonna watch it soon), Time Crimes (Never heard of it), and the original Solaris (Might watch it soon). The only thing I can POSSIBLY disagree with is Sunshine…I really don’t like that movie. Well I love 90% of it. You know what I’m getting at if you’ve seen it.

Great list though. I didn’t think anyone but me had seen Returner =D

By: Chuck

Chuck — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:45:19 +0000

Wow — this is an awesome list. The only films on the list I’d heard of were Solaris and Pan’s Labyrinth. I’m definitely heading to Netflix…

By: Tanu

Tanu — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:30:21 +0000

Night Watch is a great movie! So is the sequel, Day Watch. I think they are completing the story with a third sequel called Twilight Watch but this one isn’t out yet.