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My favorite is 'The Saragossa Manuscript' - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-saragossa-manuscript https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-sarag

by jagrsw 6y ago

My favorite is 'The Saragossa Manuscript' - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-saragossa-manuscript https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-saragossa-manus... - a word of warning: it's ~3h long (but well worth it) - a masterpiece of scenography and camera handling. The second would be probably The Pharaoh - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/pharaoh https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/drama/pharaoh - for its scenography + for the script which focuses on a quite interesting problem (politics + well.. astronomy;) The vast majority of those movies will most likely seem quite atypical for a person who is mostly familiar with modern Hollywood/world cinema, as they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic, and in many cases focusing on intellectually-interesting problems (e.g. The Pharaoh's 'dilemma') I can maybe compare them to video games from 80's and 90's. Today's games are visually beautiful and movie-like, but it's those games from 80's/90's which have 'soul' and ability to captivate players through well thought-out stories and hand-drawn art.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago
> they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic, I wonder if national experience rubs off on movies. Many Hollywood movies have historically been optimistic because in general, a the American myth[0] has been pretty much optimistic and triumphalist (until recently, with People's History of the United States maybe the first popular work challenge the myth). Eastern Europe on the other hand has endured centuries of misery. As the war zone between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as the war zone between Protestants and Catholics, as the war zone between the French and the Austrians, as the war zone between the Germans and Austrians, as the War zone between the Russians and Ottomans, as the war zone between the Germans and Russians, as the war zone between the Germans and Soviets, as the war zone between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. This suffering may have caused a certain melancholic outlook on life which is reflected in the movies. 0. The American myth goes that our forefathers came to a wilderness, built the colonies, fought and won against the super power of the age, marched West and conquered the rest of the continent, fought a war to ensure Union and free the slaves, industrialized, saved Europe twice from the Germans, became a super power, saved the world from Communism, landed a man on the moon, and is the shining city on a hill that people all over the world aspire to come to, and other countries envy. Like all myths, there is a lot that is not true, but a lot people in the US embrace this myth.
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  There are definitely national trends to movies. Compare the "american ending" (in which everyone gets their just deserts on-screen) with the "french ending" (which occurs in media res, allowing its viewers to debate what likely happens next). I've noticed these national trends even occur at technical conferences, where anglophone endnote speakers tend to summarise the proceedings into a coherent narrative ("conclusions"), while francophone endnote speakers tend to enumerate a bunch of loose ends that might be addressed by the next conference ("future work"). (Speaking of national trends, I was surprised to run across a russian superhero movie a couple of years ago. What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies?)
  - SSLy 6y ago
    >(Speaking of national trends, I was surprised to run across a russian superhero movie a couple of years ago. What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies?) India of course.
    - Hitton 6y ago
      India manages to make even non-superhero film look like superhero one. Japan made also quite a few superhero films.
  - MagnumOpus 6y ago
    > What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies I can think of a smattering of Japanese ones like Ogon Bat, there's the Western European Uderzo/Goscinny "heroes" of Asterix and Lucky Luke, and Hong Kong's martial-arts based superheroes steeped in Wuxia tradition. (And of course Bollywood and Mainland China have shamelessly ripped off Marvel/DC heroes and plots.)
  - watwut 6y ago
    Americans like clear delineation between good and bad. Hero must be likable. Ending must punish the bad and reward the good. If something bad happens to character, it is punishment.
virgilp 6y ago
I think mine is still Black Cat, White Cat (https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/black-cat-white-cat https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/black-cat-white-cat). From the Romanian movies present there, I liked Aferim - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/aferim https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/aferim - but only because it's a sobering look at our history; for non-romanians, it might not be so good. Filantropica (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314067/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314067/) is also a great movie that illustrates well the post-revolution atmosphere in the country (and it's more likely to be universally-enjoyed than Aferim), but they don't have it on this site.
- razius 6y ago
  Romanian I would also recommend "Moartea domnului Lazarescu" https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-death-of-mr-lazarescu https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-death-of-mr-laz...
  - virgilp 6y ago
    That's a depressing and really slow-paced movie.. one can appreciate that this is part of the message, but honestly I don't think many people will really enjoy it. Not saying it's a bad movie... it's just that it's (intentionally) not a pleasant watching experience. I also don't think it will leave one enlightened in any way - has the strange quality of being both accurate & misleading at the same time. Plus, the state of our medical system is a topic of interest for Romanians but not really anybody else, I believe.
    - lqet 6y ago
      > I don't think many people will really enjoy it. Well, it has 7.9 points on IMDB based on over 13,000 votes, so there definitely seem to be some who like it!
- muro 6y ago
  Black cat, white cat is excellent. I especially liked the Czech dubbing.
jhbadger 6y ago
"The Pharaoh" is interesting in that it is based on the Polish novel by Prus which besides being (I'm sure) important to Polish literature, is also important to Esperanto culture, as Kabe's 1907's translation of it ("La Faraono") is still considered a model of clean, non-idiomatic prose in Esperanto.
rurban 6y ago
> as they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic Only Russian. There is a whole genre of crazy Czech comedies from the 60ies which are even better than the wellknown Japanese crazy comedies. Hungarian movies from the 70ies were the best in the world, likewise Romanian neorealistic movies starting with the Death of Mr Lazetescu end of the 90ies. Poland dominated the 80ies. Russian movies from the Petersburg producer group around Balabanov were outstanding in the 00ies. Still very influential.
- aasasd 6y ago
  > the wellknown Japanese crazy comedies Teach me about those, please.
  - rurban 6y ago
    Google is your friend. Eg this one https://whatculture.com/film/10-batsht-crazy-japanese-movies-you-have-to-see https://whatculture.com/film/10-batsht-crazy-japanese-movies... Hausu the most famous, Crazy family was even in the theaters worldwide. Sion Sono is every year in your next film festival (Love Exposure his best), and many many batshit crazy small films. Like the crazy Czech comedies from the 60ies, my favorite being "Who killed Jessie". But also the crazy polish scifi comedies.
- mdmoll 6y ago
  It’s not quite the 1970s, but I really enjoy The Witness (A tanú), a Hungarian satire of communism from 1969. I’m pleased to see that it’s available on the site and strongly recommend watching it.
- olegious 6y ago
  Many great comedies from the Soviet era, ˙here are a few of my favorites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Calf_(1968_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Calf_(1968_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Arm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Arm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Other_Adventures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Oth... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style I can go on and on ;).
mci 6y ago
If movies were software, The Saragossa Manuscript would be a Go application and The Pharaoh — a Java application. I would add to them a JavaScript move: Innocent Sorcerers (1960; https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/melodrama/innocent-sorcerers https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/melodrama/innocent-sorcere...), a paragon of intimate New Wave cinema demonstrating how to build erotic tension without any sex scenes.
scottlocklin 6y ago
Both of those are great movies that are even more amazing books. Saragossa Manuscript in particular if you like gothic/spooky fiction; it's a lot older than Poe.
userulluipeste 6y ago
"atypical" and "melancholic" feels so sugarcoated to me! Watching most of these is like letting one share some psycho-trauma with you, with little regard to balance the experience for average Joe (which I'm sure film creators have profiled many times). I understand that making a movie as niche somewhat hedges it against the fallout of ending up a commercial utter failure, but when most of the filmmakers do that the market at large is left pretty dry. Why are we chocked up with Hollywood movies? Because (just like in other industries) the local producers play it safe.
anthk 6y ago
>The Saragossa Manuscript As a Spaniard, the usage of Flamenco chords in Aragon puts me really out of place.

by jagrsw 6y ago

RcouF1uZ4gsC 6y ago

> they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic, I wonder if national experience rubs off on movies. Many Hollywood movies have historically been optimistic because in general, a the American myth[0] has been pretty much optimistic and triumphalist (until recently, with People's History of the United States maybe the first popular work challenge the myth). Eastern Europe on the other hand has endured centuries of misery. As the war zone between Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as the war zone between Protestants and Catholics, as the war zone between the French and the Austrians, as the war zone between the Germans and Austrians, as the War zone between the Russians and Ottomans, as the war zone between the Germans and Russians, as the war zone between the Germans and Soviets, as the war zone between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. This suffering may have caused a certain melancholic outlook on life which is reflected in the movies. 0. The American myth goes that our forefathers came to a wilderness, built the colonies, fought and won against the super power of the age, marched West and conquered the rest of the continent, fought a war to ensure Union and free the slaves, industrialized, saved Europe twice from the Germans, became a super power, saved the world from Communism, landed a man on the moon, and is the shining city on a hill that people all over the world aspire to come to, and other countries envy. Like all myths, there is a lot that is not true, but a lot people in the US embrace this myth.

082349872349872 6y ago
There are definitely national trends to movies. Compare the "american ending" (in which everyone gets their just deserts on-screen) with the "french ending" (which occurs in media res, allowing its viewers to debate what likely happens next). I've noticed these national trends even occur at technical conferences, where anglophone endnote speakers tend to summarise the proceedings into a coherent narrative ("conclusions"), while francophone endnote speakers tend to enumerate a bunch of loose ends that might be addressed by the next conference ("future work"). (Speaking of national trends, I was surprised to run across a russian superhero movie a couple of years ago. What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies?)
- SSLy 6y ago
  >(Speaking of national trends, I was surprised to run across a russian superhero movie a couple of years ago. What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies?) India of course.
  - Hitton 6y ago
    India manages to make even non-superhero film look like superhero one. Japan made also quite a few superhero films.
- MagnumOpus 6y ago
  > What other non-Hollywood countries make superhero movies I can think of a smattering of Japanese ones like Ogon Bat, there's the Western European Uderzo/Goscinny "heroes" of Asterix and Lucky Luke, and Hong Kong's martial-arts based superheroes steeped in Wuxia tradition. (And of course Bollywood and Mainland China have shamelessly ripped off Marvel/DC heroes and plots.)
- watwut 6y ago
  Americans like clear delineation between good and bad. Hero must be likable. Ending must punish the bad and reward the good. If something bad happens to character, it is punishment.

virgilp 6y ago

I think mine is still Black Cat, White Cat (https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/black-cat-white-cat https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/black-cat-white-cat). From the Romanian movies present there, I liked Aferim - https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/aferim https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/aferim - but only because it's a sobering look at our history; for non-romanians, it might not be so good. Filantropica (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314067/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314067/) is also a great movie that illustrates well the post-revolution atmosphere in the country (and it's more likely to be universally-enjoyed than Aferim), but they don't have it on this site.

razius 6y ago
Romanian I would also recommend "Moartea domnului Lazarescu" https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-death-of-mr-lazarescu https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/comedy/the-death-of-mr-laz...
- virgilp 6y ago
  That's a depressing and really slow-paced movie.. one can appreciate that this is part of the message, but honestly I don't think many people will really enjoy it. Not saying it's a bad movie... it's just that it's (intentionally) not a pleasant watching experience. I also don't think it will leave one enlightened in any way - has the strange quality of being both accurate & misleading at the same time. Plus, the state of our medical system is a topic of interest for Romanians but not really anybody else, I believe.
  - lqet 6y ago
    > I don't think many people will really enjoy it. Well, it has 7.9 points on IMDB based on over 13,000 votes, so there definitely seem to be some who like it!
muro 6y ago
Black cat, white cat is excellent. I especially liked the Czech dubbing.

jhbadger 6y ago

"The Pharaoh" is interesting in that it is based on the Polish novel by Prus which besides being (I'm sure) important to Polish literature, is also important to Esperanto culture, as Kabe's 1907's translation of it ("La Faraono") is still considered a model of clean, non-idiomatic prose in Esperanto.

rurban 6y ago

> as they're in most cases slow-paced, melancholic Only Russian. There is a whole genre of crazy Czech comedies from the 60ies which are even better than the wellknown Japanese crazy comedies. Hungarian movies from the 70ies were the best in the world, likewise Romanian neorealistic movies starting with the Death of Mr Lazetescu end of the 90ies. Poland dominated the 80ies. Russian movies from the Petersburg producer group around Balabanov were outstanding in the 00ies. Still very influential.

aasasd 6y ago
> the wellknown Japanese crazy comedies Teach me about those, please.
- rurban 6y ago
  Google is your friend. Eg this one https://whatculture.com/film/10-batsht-crazy-japanese-movies-you-have-to-see https://whatculture.com/film/10-batsht-crazy-japanese-movies... Hausu the most famous, Crazy family was even in the theaters worldwide. Sion Sono is every year in your next film festival (Love Exposure his best), and many many batshit crazy small films. Like the crazy Czech comedies from the 60ies, my favorite being "Who killed Jessie". But also the crazy polish scifi comedies.
mdmoll 6y ago
It’s not quite the 1970s, but I really enjoy The Witness (A tanú), a Hungarian satire of communism from 1969. I’m pleased to see that it’s available on the site and strongly recommend watching it.
olegious 6y ago
Many great comedies from the Soviet era, ˙here are a few of my favorites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Calf_(1968_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Calf_(1968_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Arm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Arm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Other_Adventures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Y_and_Shurik%27s_Oth... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping,_Caucasian_Style I can go on and on ;).

mci 6y ago

If movies were software, The Saragossa Manuscript would be a Go application and The Pharaoh — a Java application. I would add to them a JavaScript move: Innocent Sorcerers (1960; https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/melodrama/innocent-sorcerers https://easterneuropeanmovies.com/melodrama/innocent-sorcere...), a paragon of intimate New Wave cinema demonstrating how to build erotic tension without any sex scenes.

scottlocklin 6y ago

Both of those are great movies that are even more amazing books. Saragossa Manuscript in particular if you like gothic/spooky fiction; it's a lot older than Poe.

userulluipeste 6y ago

"atypical" and "melancholic" feels so sugarcoated to me! Watching most of these is like letting one share some psycho-trauma with you, with little regard to balance the experience for average Joe (which I'm sure film creators have profiled many times). I understand that making a movie as niche somewhat hedges it against the fallout of ending up a commercial utter failure, but when most of the filmmakers do that the market at large is left pretty dry. Why are we chocked up with Hollywood movies? Because (just like in other industries) the local producers play it safe.

anthk 6y ago

>The Saragossa Manuscript As a Spaniard, the usage of Flamenco chords in Aragon puts me really out of place.