Thread: NonRussian films (work in progress)

Originally Posted by Оля

Now, I only didn't quite understand what did you mean by "missing subtitles".

There were just a few quick scenes, here and there; however, the one I recall right away and was the longest scene after he sold the mellons and he is pushing Vera, there are no subtitles at all for that entire scene. I had to make up my own little dialogue for what they were say as they went down the street. Since it was a cute scene and pretty easy to imagine what they would be saying, it was not so hard to think of things.

Of course, you know... the entire problem would be solved IF I WOULD JUST LEARN RUSSIAN!!! Like that will ever happen

Originally Posted by rockzmom

however, the one I recall right away and was the longest scene after he sold the mellons and he is pushing Vera, there are no subtitles at all for that entire scene

Hmm... Maybe something was wrong with the player or software somehow. I've just downloaded the subs file and checked: there are subtitles for scenes after he sold the melons there. Sorry for being so boring.

By the way, I tried to understand what means "he is pushing Vera" and examined my dictionary for several times, but I am in perplexity. Did you mean him carrying her on the cart maybe?

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by rockzmom

however, the one I recall right away and was the longest scene after he sold the mellons and he is pushing Vera, there are no subtitles at all for that entire scene

Hmm... Maybe something was wrong with the player or software somehow. I've just downloaded the subs file and checked: there are subtitles for scenes after he sold the melons there. Sorry for being so boring.

I am the mechanically inferior female here, I downloaded them and matched them up and let them rip… I can try it again and see if they work…

Originally Posted by Оля

By the way, I tried to understand what means "he is pushing Vera" and examined my dictionary for several times, but I am in perplexity. Did you mean him carrying her on the cart maybe?

Yes, and no...

Technically, the cart is carrying Vera and he is pushing the cart.

In the scene, Vera is sitting on the suitcases, right? And the suitcase are on like a hand trolley correct?
(picture for those who have not seen the movie, it is "sort of" something like this)


As he is "pushing" the trolley, he is in turn pushing Vera.

If he were to carry Vera, that would mean more like he has her in his arms or on his back. Does that example help?

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Technically, the cart is carrying Vera and he is pushing the cart.

Oh, now I see! Thank you!

Originally Posted by rockzmom

This was a real treat for me and I highly recommend it for any female.

I'm not a female but I like this movie a lot. The funniest of its scenes is the one in a train compartment when Andrey (Nikita Mikhalkov) says:" Come on, come on, come on, yourself, yourself, yourself..."

Originally Posted by studyr

The funniest of its scenes is the one in a train compartment when Andrey (Nikita Mikhalkov) says:" Come on, come on, come on, yourself, yourself, yourself..."

I like the scene when they're trying to settle for sleeping on a bench at the station and moving each other "a little".

Originally Posted by iriroma

And I've enjoyed a lot the "Frankestein Junior" movie! I've seen it 3 times and it never stops making me laugh

Oh, what a good time my family had last night thanks to you! All four of us watch Young Frankenstein!

Studyr, I don't know if you have had a chance to watch it yet, so I won't give too much away.

This movie has soooo many play on words and double meanings, oh my goodness.

It was interesting for me to see which ones the girls understood and which ones the girls did not. And which of the two got some and which one didn't as only a year seperates the two of them.

I could not find my favorite clip online. It was this little dialogue exchange:

- Inga- “Why look, you haven’t even touched your food.”
- Pause and then Dr. Frankestein taking both hands and pounding his fingers all over his food, turns to Inga and says “There, now I’ve touched it. Happy?”

For those of you who would like to watch the movie, it is up on YouTube (if they allow you to watch it there from your country)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKKBAoSm8XA

Originally Posted by rockzmom

I could not find my favorite clip online. It was this little dialogue exchange:

- Inga- “Why look, you haven’t even touched your food.”
- Pause and then Dr. Frankestein taking both hands and pounding his fingers all over his food, turns to Inga and says “There, now I’ve touched it. Happy?”

For those of you who would like to watch the movie, it is up on YouTube (if they allow you to watch it there from your country)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKKBAoSm8XA

The clip is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qil3iFpgWdM and the dialogue is on the ninth minute of it. I watched it on youtube too because the AVI I downloaded appeared to be on Italian which I don't understand :fool" The movie is one of Mel Brooks' genius, I love it

P.S. By the way, you needn't put [url] BBCode if link begins with http://

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by studyr

The funniest of its scenes is the one in a train compartment when Andrey (Nikita Mikhalkov) says:" Come on, come on, come on, yourself, yourself, yourself..."

I like the scene when they're trying to settle for sleeping on a bench at the station and moving each other "a little".

Okay studyr, I did not mean to sell the males short here... Just giving them a way to watch what I think is such a "chick flick!"

Olya, Yes, that was a VERY fun scene! She kept pushing back and she was smaller than him! (and no noise from the dishes). Yet, he was a gentleman and gave her the space... see CHICK FLICK!

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Originally Posted by iriroma

And I've enjoyed a lot the "Frankestein Junior" movie! I've seen it 3 times and it never stops making me laugh

Oh, what a good time my family had last night thanks to you! All four of us watch Young Frankenstein!

I'm really glad you've enjoyed the movie!!

I am under the desk
[video:10id10qf]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFP-MktgOKU[/video:10id10qf]

I've just watched the "Losing Isaiah"! So many emotions!! This story did touch my heart!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYuqYqD1 ... re=related
[video:1p9p3waq]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYuqYqD16AY&feature=related[/video:1p9p3waq]

Originally Posted by iriroma

I've just watched the movie "Losing Isaiah"! So many emotions!! This story did touch my heart!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYuqYqD1 ... re=related

iriroma, you could have said watch "Loising Isaiah" or "watched the movie." Either one of the those would be fine; however, you need to do something with the "the" or take it out. OR "I have just finished watching the movie "Losing Isasiah"


I have not seen the film; however, I do know about it and I am wondering what did you take away from it? Did you have any views on this matter before watching it? Did your views change afterwards?

The clip you chose was a good one because when I was growing up here in the states, there were no "black role models" for children. In fact, there were no non-white role models at all. Everyone on TV and in the print ads were pretty much white, until the Cosby Show came along. Yet here he is criticizing her for showing her son the same thing she grew up with, that millions of kids grow up with even today... the characters on Sesame Street (most likely he is referring too), and that show was the first to actually have non-white people.

Foreign Films (Not American or Russian)

My first year of photography and film school, 1981-1982, was a magnificent year for foreign films and a documentary film. “Art House” films as they are known here; because, you can usually only watch these types of films at small “art” movie theaters and not the “regular” movie theaters. There were three films that changed the way I looked at not only "art" but the world durning that time. Before then, I had no idea that there was such a thing as a “foreign film” or that a movie could just have music as its dialogue. I learned that there was a complete a totally different world of films out there than I had ever known. It was a BIG wake up call to me and I drank it all in. It was a number of years before I found another foreign filmed that I enjoyed as much or thought about as much as those other three... 1988 to be exact. The four films I speak of are Das Boot, Diva, Koyaanisqatsi, and Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.

I’ll start with Koyaanisqatsi today and we can discuss the others later.

WARNING
If you have NOT seen this film and plan to, do not search for information about it as it will give away the opening sequence and if you are going to watch it, you really should try to figure out what you are watching in those first few minutes on your own. It is very cool and once you figure it out it is like Ooooooooh. Wow. (I admit it was much cooler on the big screen.)

Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance, 1982
Koyaanisqatsi, is a Hopi Indian word translated as "life of moral corruption and turmoil" or "life out of balance."

Yesterday, I discovered that MGM has put the entire movie in one video out on YouTube for everyone to see (I hope that includes people outside the U.S.). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sps6C9u7ras

I saw this film three times when it came out and each time I saw new things in the film. With the exception of the sometimes slow rhythmic chanting of “Koyaanisqatsi ,” there are no words in this film. It is only the masterful music of Philip Glass and the slow motion and time-lapse photography of cities and many natural landscapes across the United States. The film is stunningly beautiful in showing the most spectacular images of not only some of the more recognizable landscapes of the U.S. but of also waves of rolling clouds that appear to be like their own ocean and cloud mists over such a brightly colored green mountainside you would swear it was spray painted. You will travel to cities at night and see the cars whirling around the roads at a hectic pace in a blur of red and white lights. You will watch as people scramble up and down escalators at New York's Grand Central Terminal and a San Francisco BART (metro) Station… there is so much more than this and all of it will amaze you, with its breathtaking colors and awe-inspiring views and yet... at the same time, make you think.

The movie shows the yin and yang so to speak of our world. An example of that almost irony or just plan juxtaposition is the one of the sunbathers on a beach, then the panning of the camera to reveal they are right near the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

But what exactly is the film about? The director of the film,

Originally Posted by Godfrey Reggio

the Qatsi films are intended to simply create an experience and that "it is up [to] the viewer to take for himself/herself what it is that [the film] means." He also said that "these films have never been about the effect of technology, of industry on people. It's been that everyone: politics, education, things of the financial structure, the nation state structure, language, the culture, religion, all of that exists within the host of technology. So it's not the effect of it's that everything exists within [technology]. It's not that we use technology, we live technology. Technology has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe..." From DVD interview.

I hope that you will watch the movie and make certain that you turn the volume UP to get the THX type experience. Also, remember to see how long it takes before your eyes and brain work together to figure out what exactly you are looking at in the opening sequence! Finally, remember that film was made 27 years ago.

If you do watch it or have already seen this film, please post your reviews and/or comments (but don't post what the opening sequence is, I don't want to spoil that for anyone as I remember my first time trying to figure it out)!!! I hope that MGM has not blocked it for you non-American folks!

I've seen Koyaanisqatsi years ago in our history class. I don't remember the opening scene so I can't comment on that.

Unfortunately, the video isn't available for me and since Belgium usually doesn't censor youtube, I guess it's just not available to viewers outside of the US.


I do remember having mixed feelings about this movie when I saw it. I loved the images and the music but I couldn't help but thinking why on earth we were watching this movie in history class. Also, we watched on a regular television set so I reckon a lot of the effect was lost. I would love to watch it on a big screen with a surround sound system.
You made me want to find a copy now and watch it again!

Originally Posted by devochka

I've seen Koyaanisqatsi years ago in our history class. I don't remember the opening scene so I can't comment on that.

Unfortunately, the video isn't available for me and since Belgium usually doesn't censor youtube, I guess it's just not available to viewers outside of the US.


I do remember having mixed feelings about this movie when I saw it. I loved the images and the music but I couldn't help but thinking why on earth we were watching this movie in history class. Also, we watched on a regular television set so I reckon a lot of the effect was lost. I would love to watch it on a big screen with a surround sound system.
You made me want to find a copy now and watch it again!

devochka, that is interesting that you saw it in history class. I was also surprised that it is under the "Documentary" genre.

I don't know about your library system over there; but, ours actually has a copy of it and I placed a hold on it because my Hubby HATES to watch things on the computer.

You are correct, I would LOVE to see this one remastered and rereleased in a large theater in surround sound!!! So, dim the lights, and crank up the volume!

I also found it on these sites with no downloading, fees, signing up or anything like that, maybe one of them will work for you. If not, let me know and I will keep hunting:

http://quicksilverscreen.com/watch?video=42923
http://www.fancast.com/movies/Koyaan...isqatsi/videos
http://antigravitybunny.blogspot.com...anisqatsi.html
http://www.watchdocumentaries.net/20...f-balance.html
http://beta.sling.com/video/show/80055/74/Koyaanisqatsi

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Originally Posted by iriroma

I've just watched the movie "Losing Isaiah"! So many emotions!! This story did touch my heart!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYuqYqD1 ... re=related

iriroma, you could have said watch "Loising Isaiah" or "watched the movie." Either one of the those would be fine; however, you need to do something with the "the" or take it out. OR "I have just finished watching the movie "Losing Isasiah"


I have not seen the film; however, I do know about it and I am wondering what did you take away from it? Did you have any views on this matter before watching it? Did your views change afterwards?

Rockzmom, thanks for having corrected me.
No, I didn't have any views on it. I just bought the DVD because I liked the plot of the movie. (BTW the plot summary you'll find here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Losing_Isaiah.)
Actually, I feel sympathy just for the baby who had to suffer thanks to his biological mother (who was black). I didn't like Isaiah was given back to her only because the court decided that his adoptive mother (who was white) wasn't capable to raise the black baby. But did anybody ask the child WHAT he wanted?!
At the end they didn't make any final decision - Isaiah's biological mother had to look after him but she didn't cope with it, so she called the adoptive mother...
But those scenes when the baby was being taken away from his adoptive mother, when he fell asleep in the bathroom squeezing in his little hand the hairpin his mother gave him, the way he was missing his mother and some other scenes were really heart breaking.
Also I have to admit that I liked the perfomance of the actors.
And in conclusion - it's a heavy movie and it's quite difficult to say who is right and who is wrong.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Koyaanisqatsi

As the director stated the movie really creates an experience or impression sequence to a viewer. The viewer should make himself ready to such an approach where the screenplay is not some kind of a story where some meaning must present but the screenplay is a sequence of impressions. Like an instrumental music at the end of a songs album.

Nevertheless, having such an aim to make an experience giving movie, Reggio still had to choose something what to shot for visual sequence. So, he chose a surveying type of shots. Except opening and closing sequence, the movie resembles some kind of a nature series about bugs or ants. The resemblance is enhanced due to absence of human personality of any kind. Like a silent photo of what somebody outside can see if he is able to see such an infinitely wide angle of things. So, the movie occurred to be a snapshot of the cross-section of that time. I suppose this is why the movie was used to the history class.

Going back to the posts about Mark Zakharov’s movies, I think that one of his masterpieces, The Very Same Munchausen,
is full of sarcastic irony and humorous allusions to Soviet reality.
So, no wonder why this film was so popular during Brezhnev's rule.

I found very humorous (doubly humorous) these two sentences:

Итак, господа. Я пригласил вас, чтобы сообщить пренеприятнейшее известие.
Черт возьми, отличная фраза для начала пьесы.

So, gentlemen, I have invited you in order to inform you of a most unpleasant bit of news.
Damn, a very nice sentence to begin a play with.

And I’d like to wish a good 32nd of May to everybody who is happy to have a new day and, of course, is fit for it.

Originally Posted by Vbar

is full of sarcastic irony and humorous allusions to Soviet reality.

I find this observation surprising, but... thinking more about the movie I think that it might be correct.
Funny, but I never saw anything hinting at Soviet reality in this film; although there are many others in which I saw it (which means it's not because I never lived under Brezhnev). For instance, in another Zakharov's film, "To Kill A Dragon".
I always thought that "The Very Same Munchausen" tells us about universal human's values/troubles, such as stupidity, betrayal, irony, and many others... Although it's hard to deny that there are many things in the film which have very much common with Soviet reality.