got myself a dvd of seventh seal by ingmar bergman. galing, and great to watch with the commentary.

asian film "homerun".. have watched it lang on tv.. simple lang, but kakaiba and inspiring ang story..

I watched "Machuca" last week in the Spanish Film Fest. Film from Chile of friendship under Pinochet. NICE !! I recommend it.

great thing about foreign language films, they broaden one's horizon. like there's more to life than the phils and america.

saw this good french zombie flick, "they were watching" or something like that. title escapes me at the moment.

that chilean film sounds good.

homerun ... baseball story? what country?

The Kurosawa samurai classics are definitely worth loooking into, i.e Rashomon and Seven Samurai (knocked off by Hollywood as the Magnificent Seven).

part of it is.. but its story is mainly about a boy and his sister sharing a pair of shoes to use for their schooling.. "homerun"- aside from the baseball connection, it is (i guess) also because the sister always ran her way home after school so his brother gets the chance to use the pair of shoes, and their story goes on..
very simple, but really great! singapore, if i remember it right..

Japanese films:
1. Battle Royale
2. Azumi 1 & 2
3. Pistol Opera

Italian:
1. Il Postino (The Postman) - with the famous poet Pablo Neruda
2. Amelie
3. A Very Long Engagement

kurosawa rocks.

amelie and very long engagement are french.

another great flick ... "infernal affairs" from hong kong, scorcese's inspiration for "the departed". but the hk versh is superior imho.

How about the much ballyhooed film by Marilou Diaz Abaya - Jose Rizal. It is a foreign language film in the sense that English is the norm language. Allegedly, it has won awards in various film festivals abroad. But, somehow, I found it artificial. The story was dragging and the acting by most were histrionically theartical. I failed to appreciate the artistic merit the film claims it has. Is my artisitc sense flawed and numbed by the many movies with special effects or is the film really just not that good?

I havent seen Jose Rizal yet

Another Italian film that i watched and really liked: Ovosodo (or something like that).

Les Bronzes I, II, & III. Is classic for the french, its a comedy. I only saw the 3rd and i found it quite good. A lot have told me that no. 2 is their favorite.

i brought jose rizal over to the states for the fil ams in alabama (where my parents live) to see. saw it for the first time with them, i was deeply embarassed. it had more cliches than a greeting card store.

we're not good with period pieces imo. we're either too stiff or too clumsy with it. we're better off showing some local color and stark reality.

that said, marilou diaz abaya has a fair share of pinoy classics, "brutal" stands out for me.

the other day i saw "salome" in the pinoy movie channel. either abaya or laurice guillen did that one. now that's a great movie.

know what? I was an 'extra' in the movie..
I was able to see the filmakers' hard work during the film-shooting in Pampanga. They tried to polish the scenes there and to make the the best possible shots.. very strict with the costume, setting, effects, etc..

well, I'm proud of it (the movie, of course)..



well, watch it sometime soon before it becomes too outmoded for your taste..
and try to spot my face on screen..

now, rizal dvd's & cd's now out.. after almost 10 years(?)!..

anyway, i'm planning to buy a copy when i already have enough bucks for it.. & then i'm gonna watch it again for the 'n'th time..

i'll see how it appeals then.