Coco Before Chanel

I love watching French movies and have previously seen Audrey Tautou in other movies notably Amelie which was a fun quirky movie. This movie is a drama based on Coco before she became famous. I thought it was well done and put together well. The acting was good and overall the movie was entertaining.

I enjoyed it and hope you to do too. Cheers!



Netflix summary:

Audrey Tautou stars as legendary French designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel in this lively biopic that explores the fashion icon's storied ascension from orphan to seamstress and cabaret singer and ultimately, the queen of Parisian haute couture. Alessandro Nivola plays Arthur "Boy" Capel, Chanel's lover and influential business investor who makes a lifelong impact on the young woman. Anne Fontaine directs this Oscar nominee for Best Costume Design.

Cast:Audrey Tautou, Benoit Poelvoorde, Alessandro Nivola, Marie Gillain, Emmanuelle Devos, Régis Royer, Etienne Bartholomeus, Yan Duffas, Fabien Béhar, Roch Leibovici

Remember Me, My Love (Ricordati di me)

I had high expectations for this foreign film. The trailer looked good. I have seen the actors in other movies and they are good. Unfortunately, this movie missed the mark. I think it was just a bad storyline and the characters were unlikeable. All of them: father, son, daughter, and mother were just characters that annoyed me.

Don't let the trailer fool you and skip this unsatisfying movie.




Netflix Summary:

Failed novelist Carlos Ristuccia (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) works at a finance company while his wife (Laura Morante) toils as a teacher (after abandoning dreams of being an actress). With their ambitions jettisoned, the couple has instilled little self-esteem in their teenaged son and daughter, who struggle to find meaning in life. Meanwhile, Carlos rekindles an affair with a former flame (Monica Bellucci), triggering a marital and family crisis.

En Tu Ausencia (In Your Absence)

This movie received excellent praise at netflix. It is one of those films you either love or hate. I think it is really might come down to how you relate to the characters in the film.

Frankly I hated this movie. It was extremely slow paced, camera work was awful, and the music did not match. The quality of the film used seemed cheap too.



Netflix Summary:

While wandering the southern Spanish countryside, fatherless and lonely young Pablo (Gonzalo Sánchez Salas) crosses paths with a dapper stranger named Paco (Fransisco Alfonsin) and strikes up a friendship that will ultimately give rise to tragedy. First-time director Iván Noel's affecting drama also stars Anabel Azuar, Antonio J. Atienza Sánchez and Ana Tutor as Julia, Pablo's brazen worldly friend.

Rain Fall

This was a good action thriller movie. I was entertained from beginning to end. The storyline was interesting and the acting was good.

I think if the trailer intrigues you enough, then you will probably enjoy the movie like I did. Cheers!



Netflix Summary:

In this action-thriller based on Barry Eisler's novel of the same name, Kippei Shiina stars as John Rain, a Special Forces veteran who now specializes in assassinating government officials and other VIPs. But when a CIA official in Tokyo (Gary Oldman) tasks him with killing the daughter (Kyoko Hasegawa) of a recent target, Rain determines to protect the girl instead. Max Mannix directs this drama that also features Misa Shimizu.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo aka Män Som Hatar Kvinnor; Millennium: Part 1: Men Who Hate Women

This foreign thriller movie is from a trilogy book adaptation. Unless you speak Swedish, you will have to watch it with subtitles. The movie was very good and entertaining from beginning to end.

If you want to watch a different but good foreign movie, then you will want to see this. Enjoy!



Netflix Summary:

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and rebellious computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) team up to investigate the unsolved disappearance of wealthy Henrik Vanger's (Sven-Bertil Taube) teen niece (Ewa Fröling), only to uncover dark secrets about Vanger's powerful family. Niels Arden Oplev directs this Swedish thriller based on the first novel from Stieg Larsson's best-selling trilogy.

Battle of the Warriors aka Mo gong

I personally enjoy these period piece movies. This one was a bit long, but enjoyable for me. I didn't have the foreign language version with subtitles. I had to suffer with the English dubbing. You know the type of film where they try to make the words fit in with the mouth movements.



Netflix Summary:

Tension swirls in ancient China as the evil Zhao commander Xiang Yan-zhong (Sung-kee Ahn) sets his sights on conquering the small city-state of Liang, where the residents would be otherwise defenseless if it weren't for the valiant warrior Ge Li (Andy Lau). Jacob C.L. Cheung (Hero) directs this epic action-drama based on the popular Japanese manga, based in turn on a Japanese novel about China's Warring States Period.

Tokyo Sonata

This was a great foreign film that my wife picked to watch. I was impressed with the way the story is told from the point of views from every family member. I think there were many metaphors in the film on Japanese culture and of today's times. Bottom line is I enjoyed this movie very much and think you will too.




Netflix Summary:

From Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa comes a drama about the Sasakis, an ordinary Japanese family living a bucolic life -- until the father is abruptly laid off from his job and decides to keep the news from his wife and kids. Soon, the father's sense of shame, and the indignity he faces while passing each day in the park in his suit and tie, quickly turns into a rage that proves to hold irrevocable consequences for all concerned

The Counterfeiters

This period piece is during World War 2 and deals with the Jewish people and Nazis in a special concentration camp with the purpose of counterfeiting pounds and dollars for war purposes. I don't know if this actually happened historically, but I am sure it was an idea that was kicked around.

This movie was put together very well. The character development was good. Not just the main character but all the supporting characters on both sides. The storyline and plot was good, too and told from the perspective of the survivor. Even though this story isn't original, the movie is directed well that you never lose interest at any time.

You might have to be in the mood to see it, but I recommend you watching this movie.

Netflix Summary:

Facing an ethical quandary, Jewish master forger Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics) must choose between abetting the Nazis and saving his own skin in this taut, Oscar-winning drama based on actual events during World War II. Assembled at a death camp, a cadre of printers, artists and chiselers is tasked with counterfeiting currencies to weaken Allied economies. But will Sorowitsch's conscience begin to gnaw at him as the war draws to a close?

Prête-moi ta main aka I Do: How to Get Married and Stay Single

This was a movie that redeems itself in the end. In the beginning, I didn't care for any of the characters. They were all arrogant, rude, and selfish. However as the movie progresses, the characters become better developed and you start to like them.

The whole storyline is different and completely unpredictable. Of course, the ending was done in Hollywood fashion, so that part was telegraphed. Even so, the movie was entertaining and enjoyable. I think if this was an American made movie it may have just been simply corny.

This is a French movie and requires reading English subtitles unless you understand the language. I couldn't find a preview with the subtitles.

Netflix Summary:

Successful perfume executive Luis (Alain Chabat) is happily single, but his mother and sisters want him to settle down. After they arrange a string of disastrous blind dates, Luis concocts a crazy scheme that will make his family happy without his getting married. All he needs to do is hire a girl to act as his fiancée and then dump him at the altar. But when Luis meets Emmanuelle, the plan takes a turn he never anticipated in this French comedy.

Moscow, Belgium (2008)

This movie sounded interesting and the trailer looked decent. Of course, I was also tricked by the positive reviews by the netflix community. Why do I listen and fall for these glowing reviews.

This film for me was like watching a long boring TV show. The characters were not likeable and the scenery was a bit depressing. I wish I could say something nice about it, but I just can't recommend watching this movie. The description says it is a romantic comedy, but it was not funny or romantic at all.

The trailer is better than the movie itself. Upon seeing the trailer again, I should have known better than to listen to the netflix reviewers who are too generous with their reviews.

Netflix Summary:

When harried mother of three Matty (Barbara Sarafian) causes a fender bender with twentysomething Johnny (Jurgen Delnaet), their flirting blossoms into an unlikely affair. But when Matty's estranged husband, Werner (Johan Heldenbergh), declares that he wants back in her life, she must choose between old, familiar love and the uncertainty of starting life afresh. Christophe Van Rompaey directs this comedy.

Revanche - 2009 Academy Award: Best Foreign Language Film nominee

This was a great foreign movie to watch. I wasn't aware of this movie until my wife put it in our netflix queue. It became available as a streaming movie so that was even better. I read the reviews and it got many great ones. That always worries me because I then have higher expectations.

I watched the trailer and thought it looked OK. Then I watched the movie and just enjoyed it for what it was. The acting was good, the scenery real, and the storyline executed well. I think the development for the main character from beginning to end was well done.

This was also a 2009 Academy Award®: Best Foreign Language Film nominee.

Netflix Summary:

In a ragged section of Vienna, hardened ex-con Alex (Johannes Krisch) works as an assistant in a brothel, where he falls for Ukrainian hooker Tamara (Irina Potapenko). They hope for escape, but their plans unexpectedly intersect with the lives of a rural cop (Andreas Lust) and his seemingly content wife (Ursula Strauss). Austrian Director Götz Spielmann's Oscar-nominated drama is a tense, existential, and moving portrait of vengeance and redemption.

Ladron Que Roba a Ladron

This is a foreign film in Spanish that is very similar to the Oceans 11 movie. In this case it would be called Ocean 7 since that is how many members composed the team. It is hard to believe this is a 2007 movie because it seems much older and dated.

Overall, it was a corny and predictable movie. You kind of hope it will be a good foreign film with something different from its Hollywood blockbuster copy. Unfortunately, it falls extremely short. It is too long for what it has to offer. The twists and turns they try to put into the storyline are nothing new.

The only difference in this movie from Oceans 11 is that 50% of the purse stolen is sent back to the people it was originally conned from (robin hood ending). Not truly an original ending but a complete story just the same.

The trailer was decent, the movie was OK, but if you want to watch one of these types of movies, don't watch this one. Instead, go for Oceans11, 12 or even 13. They are better made and much more enjoyable.

Netflix Summary:

A pair of reformed crooks team up to pull one more heist. Their target? Master con artist Moctezuma Valdez (Saúl Lisazo), a popular television infomercial pitchman who's gotten rich by swindling countless unsuspecting immigrants. The former thieves attempt to recruit some of their criminal cohorts to help pull off the plan, but when they refuse, the two turn to day laborers to participate in the elaborate robbery scheme.

Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan

I was always curious about this famous conqueror I have read about. They have it on Netflix streaming so I thought I would give it a chance. Luckily for me the subtitles were available.

The movie is well done, the acting good, and the storyline may not be completely accurate, it gives a good recount of what may have happened. The effects were great and the filming of the landscape was very impressive.

I enjoyed the movie for what it is, even though it fell short of my expectations. If you like foreign movies, then I think you might like this too.

Netflix Summary:

In 12th-century Asia, an orphaned young slave named Temudjin (Tadanobu Asano) escapes from his captors' clutches and begins a journey that will lead him to become one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known. Honglei Sun and Ying Bai co-star in this Academy Award-nominated epic from writer-director Sergei Bodrov, the first in a trilogy of adventure films relating the life story of Genghis Khan.

Gloomy Sunday

My wife picked this foreign movie from 1999. We usually try to watch the newer stuff, but this movie got great reviews from some other netflix users that have "similar" tastes as us.

The movie was great and takes place during the Nazi invasion and the Jewish Holocaust. You can read about the plot on the internet, but I think if you haven't seen it or heard about it, you should just watch it and form your own opinion.

The movie was interest enough that I googled it after watching it and then realized this is based on true events. Although wikipedia mentions that the suicides could be urban legend stuff or a marketing ploy.

If you like foreign movies and don't mind subtitles, then I highly recommend watching this movie.

L'annulaire aka The Ring Finger

This was another French foreign movie that I thought would be good. The movie was actually engaging from beginning to end. The acting was fine and the story line was well paced. Not too fast and not too slow.

The problem is there are too many questions left unanswered. There is a picture of the conservator that Iris (the main character) finds from many years ago, but he has not aged since that picture was taken. All the other ladies in the picture have grown old. Is this a conservator trick? Why hasn't he aged? Is he the devil, a spirit, or even a real person? Who is the little boy ghost who keeps peeking out? Why do they even have the sailor character in the movie? Why does it take her a day and half to pick up the broken mahjong set?

They hook up during the movie, and the way they go about it is really awkward. Even the first love scene was surreal. One thrust and it was over. And they start to converse. No kissing, no hugging, nothing. Pretty hard to believe that particular scene.

In the end, there are too many metaphors to determine what happens and why it happens in the end. It isn't a David Lynch type of movie where enough clues allow you to speculate what happens next. It just leaves you with an unsatisfied feeling. It had all the elements of being a great movie, but for me fails in the way it ends.

The music in the movie by Beth Gibbons (of Portishead) was quite nice. My wife found the mp3 for it online. It wasn't one of the 3 songs in the credits.

I would not watch the movie again and so I can't recommend you watching it either.




Netflix summary:

After losing part of her finger in an industrial accident, gorgeous Iris (Olga Kurylenko) takes a job as an assistant to a man (Marc Barbé) running a lab where people bring keepsakes to be preserved -- and enters his strange, slightly disturbing reality. As she becomes ensconced in an odd, sensuous world of fetishes, ghosts and hauntingly silent unclaimed mementos, Iris falls into a steamy, bizarre affair with her boss in this erotic drama.

La Finestra di Fronte aka Facing Windows

You must know that I love foreign films. Especially when they are put together well. This Italian movie is a romance and drama, but doesn't feel that way. It seems to have two main characters that is the center of the movie. An unhappy wife who works in a chicken factory and an old Holocaust survivor who temporarily loses his memory.

I liked the movie from beginning to end. It comes together as it tells the stories of the past and present. Another thing I liked about the movie is the language and the passion they seem to all have in their voices. Yeah, I know it is just appears they speak mad all the time, but I think the people come across passionate too.

The preview video definitely made me want to watch the film. Check it out below.



I wound up eating cake with my coffee after the show. Lol.

Netflix summary:

Feeling overwhelmed and stuck in a dull marriage, Giovanna begins refocusing her attention (or repressing her emotions) by caring for the Jewish Holocaust survivor her husband brings home one day. As Giovanna reflects on her life, she turns to the man who lives across from her and whose window faces hers. Stars Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Massimo Girotti, Raoul Bova, Filippo Nigro and Serra Yilmaz. Directed by Verzan Ozpetek.

Le Silence de Lorna aka Lorna's Silence

Another foreign flick because I love watching them. This particular movie had high reviews from Netflix users who are supposedly similar to me. How accurate does it come? Well, it's hard to say but lately I think they have been completely off.

I had high expectations of this movie. It had great acting, an interesting storyline (at least by the trailer), and great reviews from the netflix community. Quite honestly it starts off interesting with our main character Lorna talking to Claudy the drug addict she married for money. As the story goes she starts to become more attracted with him. For me I never saw the connection of why they were physically or sexually attracted to each other. He seemed to be an annoyance to her most of the time.

Even if you give that part of the story the benefit of the doubt, the ending is awful. It is there, but a few questions remain unanswered for me. Why does she think she is pregnant when the hospital tells her the results are negative? Then why does she lose her common sense in the end? I don't think the director intends her to become insane at the end, but that is almost the only thing you can conclude base on her actions. I expected the story to go a bit further, but just like some other French movies I have seen, it seems like they end the movie as soon as they run out of funds. Does the whole story make sense? It doesn't matter...The End


Lorna's Silence (2008) Movie Trailer - Click here for funny video clips

Netflix summary:

While saving up to open her own snack bar in the Belgian city of Liège, Albanian immigrant Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) is given a shot at citizenship when local mobster Fabio (Fabrizio Rongione) arranges a sham marriage to drug addict Claudy (Jérémie Renier). But when Fabio plots to kill Claudy, Lorna gets dragged into the mobster's sordid plan in this gripping drama from the acclaimed Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

Wuthering Heights

I like watching British movies and enjoy BBC productions. This update or remake of Wuthering Heights is not what I remembered from the first movie.

For some reason, this novel adaptation does not depict the characters in a good light. Most of the characters are not likable which is weird because I did like the first movie. The acting is good but still doesn't make the movie any better to me.

After watching this movie, I can't say I like it or hate it. But I definitely can't recommend watching it. For some reason, I didn't feel entertained by this version. On top of that it was much longer.

I couldn't find a movie trailer to embed. They all had singing in them that seemed to make the movie more appealing even thought those songs were not part of the movie at all. I think this clip will give you a better idea of the movie's feel.





The netflix viewers gave this movie high ratings, but like I said the previous versions I have seen were better.

Netflix summary:

Emily Brontë's sweeping tale of romance set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors gets the "Masterpiece" treatment in this lush made-for-television adaptation starring Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy. Cathy (Riley) eventually fell in love with Heathcliff (Hardy), the young Gypsy boy her father brought home years ago. But now that they're adults, another man (Tom Payne) is offering her his affections -- and a far more comfortable life.

The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008)

My wife and I tend to watch foreign language films and usually try to watch the movies that have won awards or recognition. This particular movie The Baader Meinhof Complex was a long movie and is based on actual events.

It is good to see histories of other countries. It gives you insight into that culture. This movie definitely did that. Yet, I can't say I enjoyed the movie. I don't know if it was the subject matter or the way the portrayed the people. They were definitely terrorists, but the movie painted everyone as a bad person.



The trailer looks interesting. For me, the movie just doesn't deliver and I would not recommend watching it.

The Baader Meinhof Complex - uk Trailer
Uploaded by gsides. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

Most of the reviews on Netflix were good, but I guess everyone has different tastes.

Netflix summary:

Uli Edel directs this Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee charting the birth of West Germany's Red Army Faction, a radical left-wing terrorist group formed in the late 1960s amid a climate of revolution and a fallen generation. Staging a series of bombings, kidnappings and assassinations, the RAF waged a war against fascism with a direct assault against the powers of American imperialism and the fledgling German democracy.

Lost in Beijing

Yes, I have been watching a lot of foreign films lately. I like most of them. They don't have the big Hollywood budgets or famous movie stars, so the directors tend to be more creative. Lost in Beijing has been out for awhile, but it just became available on the immediate play in the netflix streaming movies.
Honestly, the previews did not look that interesting, but it does take place in Beijing and sometimes for me being able to see movies in these different locations is a plus. Kind of being able to travel on film without going to the tourist traps.
From Netflix:

From one of China's most celebrated female directors, Yu Li's provocative drama, set against the hustle and bustle of the country's booming capital, explores the complicated relationship between three women and two men, all entangled in a web of sex, desire, jealousy and revenge. Distinguished by stellar performances, the darkly comic film stars Tony Leung Ka Fai, Bingbing Fan, Elaine Jin and Dawei Tong.

I am not sure, but I think this movie was banned in China. This is definitely an "adult" oriented film that has profanity and nudity. As for the storyline, it involves adultery, revenge, promiscuity, and other things that happen in real life.




This movie was a bit on the long side for me, but overall I would recommend seeing it. I think it captures the differences and similarities that exist in both our cultures.