Foreign Film Recap

It is too soon to unveil my Top Ten List (I am still looking forward to seeing Almodovar's Volver for one), but here is a quick rundown of my year in foreign films . . .

It started early -- in 2005, in fact -- at the AFI's beautifully-restored Silver Theater (in not-so-beautiful Silver Spring, MD) during the annual European Union Showcase. That's where I saw Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, the earnest German retelling of the true story of the tragic end of the anti-Nazi student organization The White Rose. An intense lead performance by the cute German actress Julia ('yool-ya') Jentsch (The Edukators) carries this movie beyond its rather conventional storytelling.

After my big move to Houston, I revisited all my old haunts: movie theatres! First, at the venerable River Oaks (a Landmark theater), I saw a beautiful-to-look at, but emotionally detached, and (again) conventional true tale from the WWI trenches: Joyeux Noel. It was co-produced by so many countries, I don't have a clue where it is from, but it stars Daniel Bruhl (from last year's trifle Ladies in Lavender and the superior German flick The Edukators) and the lovely Diane Kruger (she was Helen of "Troy" after all! ... before slumming with Nic Cage in "National Archives"). And she lip-syncs an opera aria, so it has its moments. Later at the River Oaks I saw the disappointing L'Enfant by the always compelling Dardennes brothers from Belgium, and the Indian film Water, where a compelling story sank into melodrama. (At least I didn't say "Water was all wet.")

But the high point of the year came soon after, at the Houston outpost of New York's own Angelika Cinema & Cafe: that's where I saw the 2005 Oscar-winner Tsotsi from South Africa. "Emotionally brutal." For the second year in a row I didn't see the best foreign film of the year until the following year! (2004's Born Into Brothels was named my #1 movie in 2005). In a rare twist, the Oscar cabal that runs the foreign film category (with an iron fist) got it right -- two years in a row!

Another great venue for movies is the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which schedules many of the same film programs (usually abbreviated) that appear at the respected National Gallery of Art in Washington. Where else can you follow-up an Isabelle Huppert film festival -- where I saw the classic Coup de Torchon (for the first time), and the gritty but beautiful La vie promise from 2002 -- with a film festival devoted to the Hollywood legend Janet Gaynor?? ("This is Mrs. Norman Maine!!") Call it my definition of heaven. That's where I saw two Jewish-themed films of merit from France: La Petit Jerusalem and Live & Become.

Two other films from France will compete with Tsotsi for the top spot this year: Cache and La Moustache. Stay tuned for more on those mind-bending movies from the best movie-making country in the world!!