The Eurocult Film Thread

[firefinga]

One of craners many contentious opinions is that the French don't understand cinema and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near movie cameras

There is this tradition of French film making which appeals mostly to the arthouse-crowd and frankly, that branch indeed is somewhat questionable. But then there is this rich tradition of popular French cinema (the mentioned crime stories, but also tons of comedy) which was very successful at the pan-european box offices (and possibly looked down on by the arthouse-snobs) that is quite unknown in the english speaking world. After all, the French were able to produce commercially successful films at least up until the late 1980s.

[craner]

Honestly, I am willing to believe you despite my stubborn cinematic Francophobia, but in this day and age, when every piece of genre trash and gold is being dug up and restored by so many companies like Arrow, Blue Underground, Severin, 88 Films, Criterion, Mondo Macabre, Kosch Media, Something Weird, Retromedia, Eureka, Synapse, Raro, Shameless...how have these been ignored? Spain has had the treatment, even Turkey, the Philippines, South America...

[firefinga]

...how have these been ignored?

The stuff gets rereleased on DVD/BluRay constantly, at least for the German-speaking countries and also Spain and Italy. I think it got really to do with the fact they weren't originally released in English-speaking countries and the companies don't think the stuff will shift many units there. In fact, many of these movies I was posting the trailers for were done/financed by rather big companies and studios which still exist, so there won't be smaller publishers releasing the movies for niche markets.

[bruno]

i would follow kinski, delon and pal maurice ronet for a romp through the best stuff. not sure how this fits the eurocult cannon, but in spirit this is all curious and (mostly) gallic, the obsession with state/secrecy/power being a hallmark.

some faves:

l'attentat (1972)
political assassination thriller with an all-star cast (trintignant, seberg, volonté etc.). the fate of one man against dark factions in french politics, very bleak and not the kind of thing that will ever be picked up by criterion.

le dossier 51 (1978)
weird, electronic spy film film sees up-and-coming politician targeted by a shadow intelligence outfit, setting him up for ruin via a very french dark art: psychology.

brigade mondaine (1978)
a wonderful, trashy view into the world of the vice squad as immortalised by gerard de villiers, the brilliant (dead) writer of french pulp crime. also great soundtrack by french disco master cerrone.

mort d'un pourri (1977)
perfectly cast film (delon, ronet, kinski as baddie, ornella muti) laying bare the sinsiter world of french politics with its corporate masters; dark and ever relevant in my view.

there is other stuff (la chair de l'orchidée, killer truck/haine) that does not fit the canon but shows the other france in a way that may be of interest to eurocult watchers.

also out of the canon but a personal favourite is the day of the jackal (1973). not french, but french in spirit (and set in france), this follows a brit hired by the oas to assassinate de gaulle. all the minutae of preparation, deception and political high stakes are as french as it gets, embodied in a perfectly dressed killer and his very french detective arch nemesis. terrific.

[craner]

RIP the great Tomas Milian

[bruno]

where are the merlis, kinskis, delons and all that brilliant/mad stream of actors and films? they have disappeared along with everything else into a timid, safe shadow of itself. rip europe.

[craner]

I watched Caltiki - The Immortal Monster - an effective old school monster movie (a rip-off of The Blob I guess) with some enjoyably nasty special effects. As good as can be expected, but probably for hardcore Bava fans only. (Arrow are treating us very well indeed, with Erik the Conqueror and Kill, Baby, Kill! both scheduled for release on blu-ray. Planet of the Vampires and Hercules in the Haunted World only a matter of time now, surely.)

I also recommend 88's blu-ray versions of Amuck and The Cynic, the Rat and the Fist, essential Euro-schlock gear.

[craner]

This is a very bad, but very entertaining, made-for-TV film from the fag end of Fernando di Leo's career (1985). Has a really catchy synth score.