Why do movie critics revere foreign films so much? Recently I have rented a number of foreign films that were lauded by critics and I didn’t get it. I feel as though you can get away with murder as a filmmaker if you make the characters speak another language. For instance Talk to Her by Pedro Almodovar is basically a melodramatic mess with hokey dialogue and unrealistic situations. It’s like Melrose Place, but in Spanish. Somehow this equates to a good movie? If it were in English, the critics would tear it apart for being overly dramatic and completely void of a reality based story line.
In the past month I watched the Oscar winner Barbarian Invasions (see old post), Goodbye Lenin!, The Dreamers and Sex and Lucia and all of them were certifiable garbage. And all of them were highly recommended by many American critics. Now don’t get me wrong, I love some foreign films. Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, Leolo, Europa Europa, Amelie, Run Lola Run and The Princess and the Warrior are some of my favorites of all time. But I honestly think that most of the crap that comes out of Europe is too easily lauded as being good here in the States.
The Japanese and Chinese are more consistent with continually releasing quality films in the US on DVD or in your local art house. I rarely get burned when I go with an Asian film, wacky pissing/lactating nipples/necrophilia movies aside.
What is the point of all this? I don’t know.
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