I think I’ve mentioned before that my wife is a Francophile. That means we watch a lot of French movies together. I watch a lot of French movies without her too. I watch a lot of movies. Some of them are French. Some of them are with my wife. I think we watched this one together. It is a classic. It is also a freaky horror movie.
You can read my review here.
I have not yet watched an Ingmar Bergman film for this year’s Foreign Film February. I really should remedy that. I bought a big boxed set of his films from the Criterion Collection a couple of years ago and haven’t begun to really scratch the surface of it. Bergman films tend to be very weighty, which sometimes makes them difficult to watch. They are often rewarding, but the effort it takes to watch them often makes me put them off. Foreign Film February is always a good excuse to make me make that effort, but I haven’t yet.
Goals!
I did watch this one several years ago and reviewed it here. It is definitely a rewarding watch.
In my review of this film over at Cinema Sentries I talk about how we (used) to have a monthly film night in which we invited some friends over and watched a non-English language film. Not long after writing that review my family and I moved to another state and those foreign film nights dried up. I really miss them. We tried briefly to have a regular movie night (our new set of friends in this place most likely wouldn’t take to films, not in English, sigh) but it didn’t go so well. Then COVID hit and we pretty much never have anyone over anymore.
I think I’d like to try again sometime. Maybe we should have a Midnight Cafe movie night 🙂
Until then, you can read my review here. Babette’s Feast really is a lovely film.
I often think that Ingmar Bergman is the reason most Americans don’t like foreign films. Bergman often made emotionally heavy, deeply symbolic, and frankly not all that easy to watch movies. He is the epitome of the intellectual, art-house type of filmmaker that I think a lot of Americans think of when they think of foreign language films. The fact that there are all kinds of films – silly comedies, dumb action films, etc. – being made in countries that aren’t American doesn’t matter. Foreign films = inexplicable movies that only smarty-pants film critics like.
Or something. I generalize. But it is true that when I talk to my friends who don’t like foreign films they seem to think that all foreign films are European art-house films of the kind that Bergman specialized in.
Which, is perhaps, a weird way of saying I actually love Bergman. I find most of his films to be utterly fascinating. Wild Strawberries is one of his best. Criterion released a Blu-ray of it a few years back, and I’ve got a review.
Jean Luc Godard was one of the pioneers of the French New Wave. His films have been hailed as some of the greatest movies of all time, but he also has a reputation for being difficult, for making challenging, even obtuse films. So, I’m always surprised when I watch one of his movies and find them to be utterly delightful. Band of Outsiders is one of my favorites of his films (at least from what I’ve seen) and Criterion released an excellent Blu-ray of it awhile back. I wrote a review and you can read it here.
In 1960 two French filmmakers, Edgar Morin, Jean Rouch, basically invented inéma vérité and created this film. Criterion Collection released it on Blu-ray back in 2013 and I wrote a review of it for Cinema Sentries.
I suppose for those who are not Alfred Hitchcock aficionados the version of The Man Who Knew Too Much they know is the one with James Stewart and Doris Day. That’s a fine film in its own right, but most people don’t realize it is a remake of a film from 1934. Both films were directed by Hitchock making him one of the few directors to ever remake themselves.
The earlier film was from the director’s British period and stars Peter Lorre in his first English language movie. It is an excellent film and a few years ago Criterion gave it a humdinger of a Blu-ray release. I reviewed it for Cinema Sentries and you can read that review here.
I am a complete and utter sucker for movies in which people shrink down to tiny sizes. I just love the effects of giant-sized everyday objects. The Criterion Collection recently released this cinematic adaptation of a Richard Matheson story and it has tons of fantastic special effects involving a little man up against big objects (and critters). My review can be read here.
As I mentioned in a previous post I have been writing Blu-ray reviews for my friend’s site called Cinema Sentries. I’ve decided that I am going to start posting those reviews here. I won’t be pasting the actual reviews here as I want to give Cinema Sentries all the traffic it deserves.
First up is my review of the Criterion Collection’s excellent release of the fantastic French film Hiroshima Mon Amour.
I know this is all new and possibly weird for my site. I’ve spent ten years posting nothing but bootlegs and suddenly it is all movie reviews, and pop culture musings. I apologize if that is annoying. I really do plan on posting more bootlegs in some capacity in the near future.
Out of curiosity though, what do you all think of me suddenly talking about movies and such like?
themidnightcafe.org 