I rarely watch German movies. There are few, with a poor variety of terrible attempts in comedy or movies covering our history since WWI.
The few movies deserving a recommendation are usually widely known, such as Downfall, Run Lola Run, Das Boot or The Lives of Others.
In recent years only "Balloon" was good.It's a shame that our writers and producers suck. We actually have several very talented actors who'd be famous had they been born in the UK or US.
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never seen Fack ju Göhte, but i think it is quite good
also honourable mention: Lammbock
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I probably never seen any German comedy... So maybe in some time I will see them
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it's a trap, we germans don't have any sense of humour :D
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We do have a sense of humor. Producing shitty comedies in series can only explained with some sick sense of humor. 😅
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German humour is no laughing matter :D
I remembered Airline Tycoon review where reviewer was "game has tons of German humour, like there's door with 'no smoking' sign so of course the person inside is smoking".
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Germany and comedy. I have a suggestion, but it's not slapstick comedy, it's bittersweet comedy with drama. Great movie nonetheless. Has anyone seen Toni Erdmann?
I had seen the film in the cinema and it's one of the very few that made me laugh out loud in front of people. 🙃
But I will agree that you produce very few comedies.
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I actually saw Toni Erdmann around it's premiere and didn't even know it was German :D I only remember it was good and actually funny but after those years, if someone would ask me where this movie was from, I would probably say Denmark or Sweden...
Even if Germany do truly funny movie, I can't remember it is from that country...
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I know one, but that's TV series => Binny und der Geist.
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Dude I hardly remember it but I know it was on Polish Disney Channel :D My little cousin had it on like 24/7 so when I was at her parents place I watched some shows with her. And I deffinitely saw this also
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Yeah, I heard about some of them (and even watched Run Lola Run in school on german class xD), but I never seen Balloon. I will definetely check it out!
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Lots of really good German films if you dig a little further back. The Tin Drum, Seven Beauties, The Marriage of Maria Braun, Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Wings of Desire. I'm just cherry-picking titles from my favorite directors circa 1970s and 80s, but there are many more. Not really obscure back them, but now, they probably are. Even further back in the 20s and 30s German cinema was brilliant, none better in the world and worth checking out if you ever get a taste for that period. All that talent fled to Hollywood in the 30s.
Here's a few from former Czechoslovakia that I really like:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061781/reference/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060802/reference/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095715/reference/
And one about but not from:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096332/reference/
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Thanks for great recommendations! I don't think I ever watched something from Czechoslovakian cinematography so I definitely will check it out
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I always try to only read plot outline before watching a movie and this really interests me. I like movies when pretty much everything could happen and we explore the world with the main character
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Already watched Downfall, Das Boot and The Lives of Others, masterpieces. Will check out Lola and Balloon for sure.
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Deutschland 83 TV Mini Series (2015)
This is not a comedy in general, but throughout the mini-series (10 episodes) there are a large number of humorous references to the era of the early 80s, to the difference between East and West in Europe then, to the first personal computers, as the GDR intelligence stole 5¼- inch disk with an allegedly secret wargame plan, but could not read it because they not have device to read this disk, bought a Western computer through the black market, but was not able to open the data, because they did not know what program to open files, how the main character was offered to buy contraband - portable cassette player Walkman, and he didn’t even know that such existed and became a fan of the device and walked several series with it.
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There are few, with a poor variety of terrible attempts in comedy
Please watch Good Bye, Lenin!, it is so good!
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I did, it was good. Mostly because it also covers the "or movies covering our history since WWI" part. 😉
The mentioned "Balloon" is pretty much the same combination.
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Another widely known German movie I really like is Knocking on Heaven's Door.
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These aren't necessarily little known within Germany but I don't think they were as huge internationally as the ones Golwar mentioned, so you might not know them yet:
Absolute Giganten
Bang Boom Bang - Ein todsicheres Ding
Das Experiment
Die Welle
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Wow, these look really good. I never heard about first two, but they look promising. I watched american version of Experiment and actually I watched Die Welle in cinema when I was in school :D (we had something called cinema academy where once a month we watched a "serious movie" and then talked about it in class). But it was so long ago I need to watch it again
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actually I watched Die Welle in cinema when I was in school :D (we had something called cinema academy where once a month we watched a "serious movie" and then talked about it in class).
Makes a lot of sense. I'm pretty sure that movie is being shown in schools here as well.
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Can confirm. We watched Die Welle in school when it came out. No idea if they're still showing it in schools nowadays but it would definitely make sense.
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Watched Das Experiment, will check out the rest, they seem interesting. Thanks for the recommendations.
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I know some really good Canadian horror movies. One is "Scanners," where a psychic mutant is recruited by the police to hunt some criminal psychic mutants. There is also eXistenZ (sic), made by the same director, David Cronenberg, is a 90s movie about virtual reality and anti-video game terrorists, and I am underselling its weirdness. He also directed the remake of "The Fly," about an inventor of the teleporter who accidentally turned himself into a fly...very slowly and painfully!
Those from other directors include Pontypool, a zombie movie where bilingualism is a plot point. And there is also "My Winnipeg" about a man recalling his life in a real-life depressing city of Winnipeg...as a comedy!
If you prefer some lighter films, you could go for an episode of Murdoch Mysteries, a period detective drama.
You could also watch "The Wrong Guy," about an executive who runs from the law to avoid being accused of murder. The twist: no one accused him of murder and the police already knew someone else did it.
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I really like David Cronenberg. I think The Fly is one of my favourite body horror movies of all time. I still need to watch few of his movie (like Scanners from your recomendation and A History of Violence or Naked Lunch from my list)
When it comes to other movies I only know Pontypool (and actually heard of it like last week :D) I will deffinitely check rest but especially My Winnipeg because I love movies that are somehow different
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Scanners is awesome, one of my favourite horror movies.
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Bump !
I saw some Polish movies/show, if I remember there was "W lesie dzis nie zasnie nikt" (Nobody sleeps in the woods tonight 1/2) and a show named "Bogdan Boner: Egzorcysta" probably not the most glorious but it was pretty cool lol.
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Yeah, they are probably not very great exaples of polish cinematography :D But fun fact - creator of Bogdan Boner and his other creations is really well known in younger generations (even my nickname is a reference to one of his characters from different show)
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Normally i don't watch Brazilian films, but i can 100% recommend for you "City of God/Cidade de Deus"
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City of God is a fantastic movie! And actually not that long ago I watched surprisingly good movie. It is called Bacurau and it was actually not that bad for me
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I'm really not a big fan of Romanian movies, cause most of them are steaming garbage, but there are some good ones:
Doua Lozuri/Two Lottery Tickets
Moartea domnului Lazarescu/The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
Un pas in urma serafimilor/One Step Behind the Seraphim
Filantropica/Philanthropy
Also, this one is not on topic, but it's still a foreign movie, a Brazilian movie, and one of my all-time favorite movies, and I just want to share it: City of God/Cidade de Deus
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Really promising movies! I only heard about The Death of Mr. Lazarescu but it is because I watched Sieranevada (other film by Cristi Puiu). I actually think Romanian movies are really good. But it could be because I watched few movies from Cristian Mungiu :D
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Four months three weeks and two days is a great movie
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1032846/
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Oh yes! I think it is probably the most well known movie from Romania. But actually my first movie from that director was Graduation from 2016 and after watching it I had to watch other movies from him :D
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I've heard good things about it but haven't seen it myself.
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Are you kidding me? Knife in the Water is probably the most known Polish movie (along with Katyń).
Some Hungarian cult classics (we had an amazing movie industry before World War II, but communism ruined it, just like everything else in the country) not in any particular order:
Hyppolit, the Butler - comedy, 1931
Stars of Eger - historical movie, 1968
The Witness - comedy/satire, 1969
Mom and Other Loonies in the Family - comedy-drama, 2015
Eternal Winter - war drama, 2018
(actually they are in a chronological order after all :))
Oh and thanks for the gibs!
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Wow! I love discovering movies that are old, and some of them are deffinitely old (especially Hyppolit, the Butler).
I think Knife in Water could be more known than others but not everyone watches old movies :/ Polish cinematography got really good in last few years (it was mostly horrible for a long time) but i think from like 1960s to around 1980s we had probably one of the best directors in the world (like Wajda, Polanski, Kieslowski etc.)
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You can watch this from Argentina:
El secreto de sus ojos.
Nueve reinas.
Relatos salvajes.
4x4.
Esperado la carroza.
If you liked them you can ask me for more and i will search for you.
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I'm not Argentinian, and I really second the recommendations for Nueve Reinas and especially Relatos Salvajes.
That means you just brought the other 3 movies to my radar. :D
Cheers!
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They seem really interesting. I only heard about Relatos salvajes, but still didn't watch it yet. I will check out rest of it!
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I am in the US and watched Nueve Reinas many years ago. You really need to put this one at the top of your list.
Also, one of Costner's first movies was in 1980s?: No Way Out.
DO NOT read a plot summary beforehand.
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Nueve reinas
Arguably the best con movie ever made. The American remake was a disgrace despite a great cast. So much was lost in the script.
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First of all, it's been several years since I've seen the Nueve reinas. Great movie, I really liked it a lot. It was probably the first movie I saw with Ricardo Darin.
But for the best con movie, my friend, I'm not sure. There will be quite a few that I'm missing, but I could think of 2 that might be better for some people. La migliore offerta / The Best Offer by the great Tornatore and The Sting. :)
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La Migliore Offerta is quite good, and underrated, imo, with brilliant performances. And The Sting is ofc a classic for a reason. It literally launched the con movie genre.
The reason why I ranked Nueve Reinas higher is that the movie itself is a con. You're being conned and you don't know it.
I enjoyed La Migliore Offerta (and the direction is excellent) but I figured it all out within 30 mn
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Oh I see... as if the Nueve Reinas was made by a con artist. 😜
I probably saw the movie over 20 years ago, and I've seen quite a few in between, so my memories are somewhat faded. I know, I have to watch it again. However, based on my ratings, it's second out of those three movies.
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Мавка. Лісова пісня/Mavka. The Forest Song/Mavka i strażnicy lasu
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It actually was in my cinema sometime ago but didn't know if it was worth watching (I'm very careful about animated movies because not many European ones are good...)
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If you can find it somewhere with subtitles, I highly recommend this short film: Από το μπαλκόνι / From the Balcony. Excellent animation accompanied by an excellent story.
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I will try but finding short movies on the Internet is a roulette. Seems like half of them are easly available (even on YT) and others pretty much doesen't exist anywhere
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I know... at some point was available on the Onassis Foundation page at Youtube, but I don't remember if it was with subtitles. It has been shown in some countries, so I guess there will be subtitles somewhere.
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Admiral. A movie about Michiel the Ruyter.
Story about the best admiral of the Netherlands during the English-Dutch wars.
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I always like good movies about history (especially when it comes to events that I'm not familliar with)
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I'm also from Argentina, I will also help with some movies:
The links are from IMDB so you can go with english or polish engine, in case helps to better find the movie/subs :)
- La historia oficial - 1985
- Esperando la carroza - 1995
- Pizza, Birra, Faso - 1999
- Nueve reinas - 2000
- XXY - 2007
- El secreto de sus ojos - 2009
- Relatos Salvajes - 2014
- 4x4 - 2019
- El robo del siglo - 2020
- Argentina, 1985 - 2022
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I actually don't like much spanish cinema, so the ones I'm going to mention aren't exactly unknown, rather the reverse. I'm pretty unaware of smaller, indie spanish cinema. It has something I don't connect with, so I've not interested in it for a long time. I am also a cinephile so these are kinda the shortest "you-must-watch" of the spanish cinema.
- Amanece que no es poco (1989). "Dawn Breaks, Which Is No Small Thing" is a surrealist comedy which relates the Transition, the time between the death of dictator General Franco to the democratic monarchy (such an incongruent thing, really) of king Juan Carlos I. It's kinda rare to find outside here, so you should aim to get it in spanish with subtitles. iMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094641/reference/
- Los santos inocentes (1985). "The Holy Innocents" is probably, or at least in my opinion, the best spanish movie ever. It tells the story of a family with pretty much nothing but suffering, working for the local aristocracy. While it might seem exaggerated, this kind of master-worker relationship has existed until the XX, and it's quite a lot like in feudal times. It's a really deep and tough drama so be prepared if you're sensitive. iMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088040/reference/
- Airbag (1997). "Airbag" is the resurrection and reinvention of spanish comedy, kinda stuck with Almodovar (which is a director I personally dislike). It's probably one of those cases where not being able to understand and enjoy the original voices and words is a shame because it gives life to characters like few movies do. Lots of known faces from old and new spanish cinema make for a sometimes absurd, but always interesting, fun, delirant, irreal buddy-trip-movie. The world is blue. iMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115487/reference/
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Thanks for older movies! I will happly check them out!. I actually watched some good Spanish movies and last one that I remember was Alcarras (it was really cool because most of the actors weren't even a real actors, just some random people from the city)
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The thing about this movie that really ircs me is the fact that they renamed it for international market. Dutch title is just his name. International is Admiral, in my opinion it sounds like a C-rank movie.
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Great recommendations! I know this newer Ukrainian movies but didn't watch them yet. Whet it comes to polish movies I'm actually suprised because I never heart about Avalon and it looks wild :D I need to check it out as soon as possible!
When it comes to Spiral and other Zanussi movies they are really "art-housey" (or simply weird). When it comes to not-that-typical movies from Poland (that are still considered classics) i recommed movies from Piotr Szulkin (he did post-apocalyptic moveis in Poland, in the 80s) and On the Silver Globe from 1987 (and also Escape to the Silver Globe which is a doc about production because story about this movie is as interesting as the movie itself)
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I just found out that creators of this movie is the same who created Ghost in the Shell from 1995 (probably one of the most well known anime sci-fi movies)... I totally need to read about production of this movie because i think it could be pretty deep rabbit hole...
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Yeah, I'm also not a big fan of anime. Basically I like Ghost in the Shell and Studio Ghibli movies (same as you), and Pokemon because it was my favourite show when I was little :D
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I actually seen it as a kid! But totally didn't remember Rainn Wilson playing in it (at the same time he was in The Office)
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I would add 1 more movie from Poland:
- The War of the Worlds: Next Century - a visionary 1981 Polish film by already deceased Piotr Szulkin, one of the best Polish film directors of all times and probably the most underrated of all of them (and also not a man having sex with 13 y.o. girls).
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That is a tough one. I have watched a lot of movies and I can't remember them all. I did a search and found one that I do remember watching. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010). It is an odd movie but I did enjoy it.
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I'm from Germany. Here are some of my favourite movies (and one TV series) from my country:
Movies:
Der Schuh des Manitu
Das Leben der Anderen
Goodbye, Lenin!
Er ist wieder da
Der Baader Meinhof Komplex
TV-Series:
Biohackers
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Thanks for great recommendations. Fun fact - Der Schuh des Manitu and Traumschiff Surprise – Periode 1 (the other movie from this guy) are pretty well known in Poland :D Deffinitely less than eg. French series about Asterix & Obelix (because it became cult classic) but i remember watching this movies few times on TV
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Πολίτικη κουζίνα / A Touch of Spice: This movie combines history with drama... and cuisine. With incredible cinematography and a nostalgic soundtrack. (trailer, I couldn't find it in better quality)
Ευτυχία / Eftyhia: The story of a not so well known, by many, (female) lyricist. Several of her songs are among the most well-known. The soundtrack of the entire film consists of her songs. (trailer)
Έτερος εγώ / The Other Me: Mystery film about a serial killer. I had seen the movie in the cinema. After a few days, due to a crime that happened in my country, they accused the film of promoting violence and banned it from cinemas. Since then the director (Sotiris Tsafoulias) has made it available on his[YouTube channel.
Μικρά Αγγλία / Little England: I'll keep the IMDb description: An epic tale of lost love and a beautiful story of the love between sisters, set in the Greek island of Andros at the beginning of the 20th century.
That film contains a sequence of powerful scenes that I have seen in very few films. If anyone was impressed by the unrequited love in The Remains of the Day, this is a must see. (trailer)
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Thanks a lot for those recommendations because I don't think I ever saw any Greek movie. So now I have at least four :D
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Weirdly enough, many brilliant anti-war movies were made both in the USSR and in Russia. My favourite one is Кукушка (The Cuckoo).
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Yep, these two are golden classics, but I'd hardly call them «little known».
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Thank you for these. I never heard of any of them but they seem totally worth watching. I think I only saw 9th Company when it comes to simillar topic but I think it is pretty good
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hmm.... "Repo! The Genetic Opera" is American, but it's a weird little cult classic horror movie that I love a lot. It's not good, exactly, but it's... fun? Funky? it's. something. watch it if you have time, haha.
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I'd qualify it as «so bad that it's actually pretty good» :) Basically, it's a mess, but a really entertaining mess, yeah.
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I love this type of movies. Basically so bad it's good films is probably one of my favourite genres :D
In my cinema once a month we even have a special screening of this type of movies and they already shown like The Room, Toxic Avenger, Ed Wood movies and other "creations". Watching those type of movies in cinema is something else.
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Well then, this is for you I guess :)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057181/reference/
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I never heard of it but surely I need to watch it now :D
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I'm from Ireland. I don't know how well known all of these are outside the country, but I liked them:
In the Name of the Father (1993) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04ZYTB2ZXVc
Into the West (1992) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHcMIXxkn3M
Waking Ned (1998) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DmeomYcb2M
The Secret of Kells (2009) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UuUOXfiz9Q
Once (2007) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4uFFNl6FQ4
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yvHe_ksnDA
My Left Foot (1989) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZLUZ1eONhk
Dancing at Lughnasa (1998) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6zdcNcxNwU
Man About Dog (2004) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=331YmwuQUGU
An Cailín Cúin/The Quiet Girl (2022) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGWyqty2m-A
And one of the worst films ever made comes from Ireland lmfao. It's so bad that it has a cult following:
Fatal Deviation (1998) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX4td1XCkP0
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I think Irish movies are a bit underrated. Maybe it's because British cinema gets all the spotlight, but in my opinion Ireland have totally awesome movies. Many movies with Daniel Day Lewis (eg. My Left Foot) are amazing and animations from Tomm Moore are simply something else (he's probably one of my favourite animated films creator)... I watched many of those movies you showed here but I still need to check out few of them (especially Fatal Deviation :D)
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Haha! Dunno if your in for a treat with Fatal Deviation, but you can laugh at how terrible it is. Also "Ireland's only martial arts film"... I wonder why. Heheh
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Hello there! I watched "Waking Ned" not long ago and it's very darkly hilarious.
The others ones look very intriguing as well. I have a soft spot for films made in the British Isles.
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In the same category as Waking Ned, I would put The Grand Seduction. It's based on a French movie, but I've only seen the Canadian one I'm mentioning. In case you missed it, it's worth a watch.
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SG International Movie List
So yeah, I might've been a bit stupid some time ago and buy too many Mystery Bundles from Fanatical... :))) I got some pretty good stuff, but i already got about 70% of games I got, so here they are! (TRAIN ENDED)
Instead of bumping (you can still simply do it, but it is less fun) I would like you to write some of less known, but great movies from your country. I love movies and probably watched somwhere around 2000 of them :D It could be my biggest hobby (even bigger than gaming). So because I watched so many of them, I'm pretty bored. I love to discover new movies and especially from countries that haven't got Hollywood :D Don't get me wrong, I also love films from USA, so if you are American and have fantanstic movie to share, feel free.
Of course I will start :D I'm from Poland (you know, Ku.wa country) so here are mine:
Dom zły (eng. The Dark House) - great thriller set on polish countryside in the 70s-80s.
Ostatnia rodzina (eng. The Last Family) - biopic about Zdzisław Beksiński and his family (you probably know some of his paintings)
Jestem mordercą (eng. I'm a Killer) - thriller inspired by true events. It is set in the 70s and follows a case of The Zagłębie Vampire.
Film balkonowy (eng. The Balcony Movie) - documentary about pretty normal people, but I personally love it. Director simply set a camera on his balcony and for about a year, talked to people that went by
Nóż w wodzie (eng .Knife in the Water) - movie from 1961 about three people that go on a boat trip. At first it sounds not very great, but it's great. Fun fact - it's one of the first movies of Roman Polanski, one of the greatest polish directors (The Pianist) and husband of Sharon Tate
Edit:
I didn't expect that thread will be so active :D I will try to make a list consisting movies that are recommended here. If you want to help, you can also share legal websites and YT Channels that offer movies for free. Many of National Film Institutes and similiar institutions share some of their movies for free in some form, so if you want to contribute, feel free :D
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