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Kiyoshi Kurosawa with Daguerrotype and Hirokazu Kore-eda with both The Truth and The Broker.

Hou Hsiao-hsien has made films in Shanghainese (Flowers of Shanghai), Japanese (Café Lumière), and French (Flight of the Red Balloon). Abbas Kiarostami knew some English, which helped for Certified Copy, but he made Like Someone in Love without knowing any Japanese.

In Taiwan there was a roughly ten-year period (from the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s) when the industry was dominated by Taiwanese-language films, which meant Mandarin-speakers who had emigrated from China after the war often had to make them if they wanted to get work. Chang Ying (of the infamous Fantasy of the Deer Warrior) was possibly the best-known Taiwanese-language filmmaker of the time and he didn't speak a word of it; ditto Li Hsing, one of the few directors who was able to transition successfully to Mandarin films. But generally the performers in Taiwanese-language cinema had at least some proficiency in Mandarin, and sometimes didn't speak anything else (which can be very obvious in the dubbing), so communication on the set was relatively smooth. Japanese director Kobayashi Satoru, widely regarded as the originator of the pink film, made some Taiwanese-language films in the '60s and returned to Taiwan in the '80s to co-direct a Mandarin film called War After Truce.

Weren't there a bunch of Korean directors/crew members who were a part of multiple Shaw Bros productions who couldn't speak the local language?

The actors and below-the-line crew, probably, but maybe not so much the directors. I know that Chung Chang Wha and Chang Il-ho studied Mandarin at university (Chang Il-ho actually had a degree in Chinese language and literature), and Kim Soo-yong spoke English and had been an interpreter in the South Korean army. There were also at least six Japanese directors who made films for Shaw, but I don't know about their linguistic backgrounds.

DarkImbecile wrote: Tue Sep 13, 2022 12:49 pm

domino harvey wrote: Fri Jan 07, 2022 9:59 pm Almodovar’s first English-language feature, A Manual for Cleaning Women, will star Cate Blanchett— let’s hope it’s better than his English-language short

Almodóvar has left this project over his own concerns about his readiness to shoot a feature in English

Interesting to see this. As mentioned in Louis Malle's thread, John Guare (who wrote Atlantic City) recently did a Q&A where he said he was going to do another film with Malle, but that's when Malle became ill. Pedro Almodóvar agreed to step in, but apparently Billy Wilder convinced him to drop out after telling him that he shouldn't make an English-language film until he became more fluent and familiar with it.

It's amazing how "clubby" it all feels once you get to a certain level. It's no surprise, but still, every time I hear stories like this, it's become less "I was talking to [my long-time collaborator or partner]" and more often "this other member of our esteemed club of great auteurs whom I've never met before."

FWIW, he's doing a book signing at a McNally Jackson in NYC around the time he's in town for the NYFF. It's for the English translation of his new book, The Last Dream. (No other items, just this book and it has to be bought from the store.) OTOH, I haven't seen any enthusiasm for the book outside of diehard fans, just mixed and negative reviews.

Trailer for The Room Next Door.

Back in 2010, Gabriel Byrne became the first Cultural Ambassador for Ireland, and not long after, towards the end of May 2011, he curated a program at MoMA called Revisiting “The Quiet Man”: Ireland on Film. The highlight was a screening of a 35mm print of John Huston's adaptation of The Dead, which was preceded by a very long introductory discussion by Byrne and Dr. Luke Gibbons of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (which I enjoyed but clearly annoyed the impatient woman behind me who awkwardly stood the entire time).

I bring this up because Almodóvar's new film makes quite a few references to Huston's, even showing a clip of it, so it was a nice coincidence that I ended up seeing both in the very same theater from what could've been the very same seat 13 1/2 years apart in MoMA's T1.

So it pains me to say that I was a bit underwhelmed, all the more disappointing considering the cast. Some pointed political commentary that was very welcome, but otherwise it felt surprisingly thin compared to so many better films I've seen revolving around the end of life. I'm tempted to say it felt like half a film where it set the stage for so much to think about without venturing deeply into any of those ideas. In hindsight, the references to The Dead seem to highlight the film's lack of depth.

hearthesilence wrote: Sun Dec 15, 2024 9:19 pm Back in 2010, Gabriel Byrne became the first Cultural Ambassador for Ireland, and not long after, towards the end of May 2011, he curated a program at MoMA called Revisiting “The Quiet Man”: Ireland on Film. The highlight was a screening of a 35mm print of John Huston's adaptation of The Dead, which was preceded by a very long introductory discussion by Byrne and Dr. Luke Gibbons of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth (which I enjoyed but clearly annoyed the impatient woman behind me who awkwardly stood the entire time).

I bring this up because Almodóvar's new film makes quite a few references to Huston's, even showing a clip of it, so it was a nice coincidence that I ended up seeing both in the very same theater from what could've been the very same seat 13 1/2 years apart in MoMA's T1.

So it pains me to say that I was a bit underwhelmed, all the more disappointing considering the cast. Some pointed political commentary that was very welcome, but otherwise it felt surprisingly thin compared to so many better films I've seen revolving around the end of life. I'm tempted to say it felt like half a film where it set the stage for so much to think about without venturing deeply into any of those ideas. In hindsight, the references to The Dead seem to highlight the film's lack of depth.

That’s very interesting. I was fortunate to see The Dead and Prizzi’s Honor with Angelica Huston. She sat right behind me through the latter before her discussion and I could hear her occasionally chatting with her friend Laila Nabulsi, who was a production associate on it and later produced Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Regarding Almodovar, has anyone read his collection of short stories? It received an English translation

I thought about getting it because he was here in NYC signing copies at a McNally Jackson - I've never talked to him myself, but he seems to be pretty approachable (after one NYFF screening, he sat by the edge of the stage and casually chatted with everyone who wanted to talk to him).

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any reviews that really recommended it unless you're a diehard fan, and this one in particular is devastating.

I read his book The Patty Diphusa Stories and Other Writings [s]20[/s] (edit: oh god, 30) years ago and didn't think much of it. It seems to me his stories need actors in order to really live. Between this and Kika, it was a real challenge to remain an Almodovar super-fan in the early '90s!

Not sure if this has been mentioned but there has been an Almodovar retrospective going on the past 2 months in Toronto, and one of the programmers confirmed that they couldn't screen any of his early short films that he made because either they couldn't find suitable materials or Almodovar himself refused to let certain short films get screened.

Does anyone know what the correct runtime of Entre tinieblas/Dark Habits is? The blu-ray copy I have runs a few seconds short of 100 minutes, and the Optimum DVD has the same runtime once you account for PAL video speedup per DVDBeaver, but Wikipedia and IMDB and a few other sources say it's about 114 minutes, while TMBD and the places that take data from there (Letterboxd) say 100 minutes. Is there a longer version out there or is this just a case of a bunch of reference websites all citing the same bad source?

Unless I’m missing it, there’s not more discussion for the Room Next Door? Unlike most “Foreign auteur makes a film in another language” efforts, this manages to feel unmistakably like an Almodovar film and I liked that the New York of the movie is just that: the New York of the Movies, how someone who has primarily experienced the city through films would depict it. And if the only movie theater you’ve been to is Lincoln Center because that’s where your movies get played when you’re at a fest, of course that’s where your characters go to watch a movie too. I remember reading a lot of viewer concerns about the acting and line reads and these are occasionally valid — Moore is fine but Swinton can not always be expected to direct herself well and there’s a lot of shaky modulation in her perf. But I thought the premise and execution were compelling and much better than the more highly lauded Madres paralelas, though for me Almodovar remains the only current active director besides PTA to have no bad feature films (though PTA’s highs are more consistent) so I expected nothing less

I saw it last October and thought it was good but not up to the standard of Pain and Glory and Parallel Mothers, the latter of which I appear to have liked more than you; the biggest issue I remember was finding the flashbacks absurd, "too much" in a way I don't want from anyone. But the central narrative, and even more so, the buildup to the last shot, was very affecting. Alessandro Nivola is a great scumbag. I'm slowly making my way through Almodóvar's features in order (having been familiar already with these three) and I cannot tell you how much of a shock Pepi Luci Bom was to the system, and how insane it is to me that someone who was pretty close to the Iberian John Waters graduated to making mature prestige films about aging. My dad saw Pain and Glory and wept at it, in part because he deals with chronic pain too and related so heavily to Banderas. As to people's (lack of) response to this film, I would chalk it up to a combination of an aborted awards campaign on the part of Sony Pictures Classic (which realized a little late that they had a more marketable contender with the lousy I'm Still Here) and the pretty strong negative response I saw to Almodóvar's presumably awful second short.

domino harvey wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 7:47 pmAnd if the only movie theater you’ve been to is Lincoln Center because that’s where your movies get played when you’re at a fest, of course that’s where your characters go to watch a movie too.

One of the strangest moments of NYFF 2024 was watching this in Alice Tully Hall, for what it's worth - though not quite as strange as the pro-Palestinian protestors that interrupted the Q&A (as well as the showings of Oh, Canada and Direct Action that I attended).

domino harvey wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 7:47 pm though for me Almodovar remains the only current active director besides PTA to have no bad feature films (though PTA’s highs are more consistent) so I expected nothing less

This is a cheat answer, but you like all of Tony Gilroy's work as a credited director, right? He's making a fourth one now.

Oh, and if Almodóvar's reading this, he's thanking his lucky stars that Folle... folle... fólleme Tim! is not circulating


EDIT: In writing this all out, I googled the name of Almodóvar's non-circulating film. Google...took offense to this query:

Spoiler

I saw it earlier this year and thought it was terrible. It was so arch and artificial, acting and dialogue especially, that it was hard to take seriously as a chamber drama. Such an intimate movie requires you to buy into the characters and yet I could never believe they were real people. They talked at each other or at the audience in tones that felt contrived. The central situation had enough inborn drama to sustain my interest, and that was about it. I wish I could say something more in depth, but I’ve forgotten too many of the details. It just felt like a movie that ought to’ve been written and directed by someone else.

Yeah, I like Almodovar quite a bit, but this had the stink of arch "Netflix Almodovar" for me. I always worry in these situations that if I understood many of my favorite foreign auteurs in their native tongue I would be deeply disappointed...but really I think it's just they don't know what to do in America. Beyond the money and the industry, it intellectually suffocates them or something.

Never Cursed: Good call on Gilroy, though I’m thinking more along the lines of directors with more extensive filmographies. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other directors with similarly small number of credits that I’d feel the same about

M Sausage: Yours is the dominant reception, so I can’t say you’re alone in thinking that and I kind of get it at moments (the lawyer also comes to mind), but it didn’t impact me as much as I would have thought. It helps that I think Moore counterbalances a lot of this by being exactly right as this dying woman’s like fourth or fifth “best” friend, going along with it all out of the stilted politeness of a good acquaintance until their friendship grows (but only a little). I thought there was something deeply touching about how they weren’t connected in some grand, weepie level timeless friendship but were instead in a kind of friend-level situationship because for Swinton, anyone would do

Spoiler

to the point that she realizes she doesn’t actually need anyone at all to be with her once she’s achieved her peace

If I’d known my opinion was that banal, I wouldn’t’ve wasted everyone’s time making them read the nth version of it! But I can appreciate your reading of the subtle ironies of the movie, enough so that I wish I liked its tone enough to’ve been able to appreciate those subtleties. Maybe this is a case where the poeticism of the dialogue works better in Spanish, so the English cast was a bit adrift on how to deliver it, and Almodovar hadn’t enough of an ear for English to notice? But it bothered you a lot less than me, which is fair.

I will add that not only do the characters in this film have some of the same Blu-rays and DVDs as me, but they also have my exact Blu-ray player, which is how I can tell you that they didn’t connect it to the internet because the loading screen looks different once you do. Feel free to add this to the IMDB Fun Facts section

domino harvey wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 9:15 pm Never Cursed: Good call on Gilroy, though I’m thinking more along the lines of directors with more extensive filmographies. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other directors with similarly small number of credits that I’d feel the same about

I have no clue how his humour would fit with others, but I’d say Anders Thomas Jensen is another that as a director of features has done no wrong (though he’s not as prolific as Almodovar). If I wanted to be really insane I’d say David O. Russell as well.

Trailer for Bitter Christmas

I watched the first 35 minutes of The Room Next Door and could not shake the feeling that it seemed like a filmed play. It dawned on me that it feels that way because there is very little ambient noise. When you’re in a hospital, you’d expect hospital sounds. But no, when you’re in Swinton’s hospital room, there’s nothing but the flatly recorded dialogue. When you’re sitting in a Manhattan park, you’d expect to hear park sounds, but no.

I’m sure this is a conscious choice by Almodovar. Perhaps to highlight the isolation of these two women? Maybe he does it in his other films and I just don’t notice because I’m reading the dialogue and not really listening to it for anything other than tone of voice. I know he embraces the artificiality of the film studio, so maybe this is just one component of that.

Maybe now that I’m aware of it I’ll be less distracted by it and I can finish the film.

I’m reminded of how intolerable I found watching The Turin Horse because the sound effect of the wind is actually a fairly short loop of around 10 seconds. I noticed the pattern in it early on and it’s all I could hear for the rest of the film. I got through it by counting the shots.

That Curzon video was the teaser, the trailer is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNbVMk-nLu4

Poster

https://x.com/eldeseo/status/2018733085576352141