Page 1 of 1

Great European Directors and their Masterpieces

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 5:33 am
by epiphany
I posted this thread on another film forum but have gotten no response. Since we're so tightly knit over here, figured there might be at least one response. I know Criticker is a movie recommendation site and it is weird to be asking for recommendations here but I want more sincere assured responses because frankly, the PSI system does not work so well for me when it comes to finding more obscure films.

---

I live in a country where there are no "arthouse" or European classics to be found except at a certain public library. A friend of mine is going to Paris, Zurich and Venice and has offered to help me to buy a suitcase full of DVDs if I give him a list by next week.

I would like your recommendation on brilliant European films that are worth owning on DVD, preferably the your favourite one or two films that great and not-too-obscure European directors have directed. Said public library carries many films but mostly those by more famous directors such as Truffaut and Fellini, however said library does not loan out films that are rated PG, so films like Antonioni's Blow-Up cannot be found.

My list at the moment:

Director (Country):
Film Title [Original title / French title] <French title> (year)

Theodoros Angelopoulos (Greece):
Eternity and a Day [Mia aioniotita kai mia mera] (1998)

Michelangelo Antonioni (Italy):
Blow-Up (1966)

Rémy Belvaux (Belgium):
Man Bites Dog [C'est Arrivé Près De Chez Vous] (1992)

Ingmar Bergman (Sweden):
Persona (1966)
Cries and Whispers [Viskningar och rop] (1972)
Scenes from a Marriage (5 hour TV version)[Scener ur ett äktenskap] (1973)
Fanny and Alexander (5 hour TV version) [Fanny och Alexander] (1982)

(I absolutely adore Bergman)

Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy)
The Conformist [Il conformista] <Le conformiste> (1970)

Robert Bresson (France)
Au hasard Balthazar (1966)

Luis Bunuel (Spain)
Belle de jour (1967)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie [Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie] (1972)
That Obscure Object of Desire [Cet obscure objet du desir] (1977)

Carl Theodore Dreyer (Denmark)
The Passion of the Joan of Arc [ La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc] (1928)

Wener Herzong (Germany)
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes) (1972)
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle) (1974)
Stroszek (1977)

Jean-Pierre Jeunet (France)
The City of Lost Children [La Cité des enfants perdus] (1995)

Krzysztof Kieslowski (Poland)
Three Colours: Blue [Trois couleurs: Bleu] (1993)

Emir Kusturica (Serbia)
Time of the Gypsies [Dom za cesanje] <Le temps des gitans> (1988)

Veiko Õunpuu (Estonia)
Autumn Ball [Sügisball] (2007)

Gaspar Noé (France)
Irreversible (2002)

Béla Tarr (Hungary)
Satan’s Tango [Sátántangó] (1994)
Werckmeister Harmonies [Werckmeister harmóniák] <Les Harmonies Werckmeister> (2000)

Agnes Varda (France)
Cleo from 5 to 7 [Cléo de 5 à 7] (1961)

Lars Von Trier (Denmark)
Dogville (2003)

-----

I have a deadline to meet! Your help is much appreciated.

(Recommending a DVD shop in Paris, Zurich or Venice would be of great help too)

Re: Great European Directors and their Masterpieces

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 8:58 am
by prowler
i'd recommend all of dreyer's films, especially ordet. but i think they're pretty hard to find in europe, at least i didn't see any when i went to england. in the usa they come in a sweet boxset from criterion, that would be great to have probably

Re: Great European Directors and their Masterpieces

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 2:04 pm
by Vertiggo
The Exterminating Angel/Viridiana/Los Olvidados/Simon of the desert ( Luis Buñuel)
Let the right one in - Sweden- (Tomas Alfredson)
The Decalogue (Kieslowski)
The Last Laugh - Germany-(FW Murnau)
Metropolis/ The Big Heat (Fritz Lang)
Last year in Marienbad(Alain Resnais)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (Fassbinder)
El espiritu de la colmena( Victor Erice)

Re: Great European Directors and their Masterpieces

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 2:51 pm
by epiphany
Let the Right One in is locally available but I do not dare to buy it less the subtitles turn out to not be the theatrical version.

Great recommendations from both of you, will definitely look into Ordet, the various Buñuels and the rest of Vertiggo's reccomendations.

(Though I think I'll go for Ali: Fear Eats the Soul for a taste of Fassbinder first)

Re: Great European Directors and their Masterpieces

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 4:58 pm
by KAH
A few of my favorites that haven't been mentioned:

Michael Haneke: Cachè aka Hidden
Andrei Tarkovsky: Offret aka The Sacrifice (Well, everything by Tarkovsky really)
Ulrich Seidl: Import/Export
Andrzej Zulawski: Possession (not to everyone's taste this one)

Good luck with finding a good DVD shop!

Re: Great European Directors and their Masterpieces

Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 2:37 am
by Vertiggo
epiphany wrote:
(Though I think I'll go for Ali: Fear Eats the Soul for a taste of Fassbinder first)


You're right. Berlin Alexanderplatz is too long .

Re: Great European Directors and their Masterpieces

Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 3:48 am
by Corleone
All Fellini movies are outstanding. Before I started watching them I thought there is no way to like them better than my favorites since then but it happened. This is stunningly beautiful cinema. There is some magic that captures you and makes the movies much more closer to you ... at least that's how it was with me. The three greatest films from the Maestro (8 1/2, La Dolce Vita, Amarcord) are on the first place among my favorites. I just can't decide which i like better.

Tornatore's Nuovo Cinema Paradiso is great too. Very similar to Amarcord.