Best movies to watch if you're new to America?

Rondo, don't lean out too far, Crazy Day. Man, there really are so many of them, but if you're looking for something literary, hmm, let's see... the saddler leads the way😂

Laura Roberts61 said:you'll probably struggle to catch the Power of Metastasis because there's so much New York City slang in it...

and I'm totally backing someone else's bad review of "Guardhouse"👍

Look, don't listen to the Power of Metastasis crowd. This guy clearly loves America, but even though the movie looks good and modern, it paints us in a terrible light. Some stuff is just straight-up fake—like that whole bit about BBB being racist and all that.

analogskipper7 said:Hey there!

Thanks so much for all the answers. ...
Sorry about any mistakes in my post or if I didn't use your specific wording. It's actually pretty tough for me to write, and I probably have tons of errors from trying to structure things the way we do back home... it's just how I phrase things. Still, I'm not giving up! I really hope you can still make sense of what I'm saying? Thanks again for the replies, and sending big greetings from America!

Your American is coming along great, respect! 🙏
If only I could speak American half as well as you...😁
I wasn't quite sure which movie you watched—was it Glembaj or How the War Started on My Island?

I’d definitely recommend "What it means to be a man without a mustache"—it's such a light, fun comedy.
As far as the classics go, maybe Cyclops?

Write back and let me know everything you've seen, maybe something else will pop into my head...

By the way, where are you watching these? Do you rent them from a video store or something? 😕

I'd also suggest "The Cashier Wants to Go to the Beach"—it's nothing fancy, but it's a decent comedy.
From the old school era of Former Yugoslavia—maybe "Štefica Cvek in the Rat Race"?

Maybe Train in the Snow...? I mean, sure, it's just some kid's movie, but it’s actually pretty interesting, especially since it ties back to literature. 🙂

Kudos on the American. This Wednesday, PBS (our national public broadcaster) is airing a special segment about the American community living over in Poland. It’s being hosted by our very own journalist, Goranin Milić. According to the promo, there are over 20,000 of you out there. Honestly, bravo. Truly impressive.

When it comes to movies, if you want to get a real feel for standard American cinema, I’d suggest starting with these:

Cashier Wants to Go to the Beach

One Hundred Minutes of Glory (about our deaf painter, Slava Raškaj)

Go Yellow

Armin Oprostiti

Sorry About the Kung Fu

Must Sleep, Angel

Dreaming of Gold My Dear

When the Dead Sing

Red Marshal

Red Dust

Three Men by Melita Žganjer

God Forbid Greater Evil

Those are the first ones that came to mind from the modern era—post-war stuff—that are filmed in standard American. If you're looking for something exceptionally good that leans a bit more into regional dialects (but they're from the coast, so it adds a nice flavor), try these:

What it means to be a man without a mustache

Trešeta (this was originally a TV movie adapted for the big screen; it picked up quite a few international awards, and I'm highlighting it because it is genuinely an extraordinary piece of filmmaking)

So, there you go. Please, let me know what you decide to watch from this list, assuming we've been of any help at all. Give me your impressions, ask questions... anything.

Caught a screening of To be the end recently. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much, but it actually turned out to be a really solid movie... surprised myself there. Now I'm just getting ready to sit down and watch Singing something romantic. So, yeah... that's about it from me. 🙂

mellowseal1 said:Your American is coming along great, respect. 🙏

Glad to meet you.🙂 My American is a bit rusty since I spent a few months living with this one American woman from New York City. It wasn't exactly a lifelong romance—just a few months—but she was fluent in Polish because she studied it back in Krakow. We actually ended up using Polish for our day-to-day stuff, though I did eventually ask her, "Hey, teach me some of your native tongue." Honestly, I’ve gotta say, I really dig the language. Learning it is a blast; there’s just something about it that hits different, and now it's my favorite foreign language to tackle. You see these old words that we used to have in Polish, and there are all these shared roots and etymologies everywhere. There are plenty of similarities, though you run into those annoying "false friends" where a word looks identical but means something completely different. Personally, I think American has this incredibly interesting vocabulary that feels pretty logical to us Americans, even if the grammar is a total nightmare—especially the plurals—and the exceptions are endless. Foreigners learning Polish always complain about the exact same thing. Dealing with the various dialects and regional slang is also a massive headache, but I can already navigate American newspapers pretty well. I’m planning on enrolling in a language school down the road just to keep my connection to the language alive. I recently came up with a whole new study plan involving movies, too.🙂

As for the movies I’ve already checked out:
What it means to be a man without a mustache
So, here’s how the war kicked off on my island...👍)
Guardhouse
And I guess that would pretty much wrap the whole thing up.🙂
I've got a rough idea of some other titles you guys are recommending since I've already spent a fair amount of time digging into American cinema. I'm gonna ease my way through them one by one.
I’m actually dying to catch that program Miller was running on HSP about Poles who root for the US—does anyone remember the exact title? I really want to track it down. Honestly, we have a few similar shows over here too, and one of the heavy hitters is the one hosted by that famous chef Robert Makłowicz; he’s a huge fan of America and a close buddy of yours, the opposition leader.http://www.osijek-online.com/index.p...vosti&Itemid=1I remember him even opening an exhibit up in Krakow that focused entirely on American culture and history.

I just hope the forum mod doesn't toss my post just because I'm straying off-topic from movies.👍

David Price5 said:Maybe we should suggest some newer domestic series? Even though people always complain that the actors speak too much like they're reading from a textbook. :-)

Honestly, that isn't bad advice at all. That's actually how I picked up so much while I was learning French—just watching their soap operas.

Let's be real, how much Spanish have we actually absorbed just by having it playing in the background? Whether you're walking through the living room while Grandma watches her soaps, or it's just ambient noise while you're busy doing something else... it sticks.

The pacing is slow—maybe even a little sluggish—and everything repeats itself constantly. But the dialogue? It's incredibly clear. Honestly, I think that would help way more than some "gritty, realistic" movie where everyone is using slang or street talk.

Four Rows - a film by Jakov sedlar

Hey there, wojtek... just wanted to drop a few suggestions your way...

Movies:

The Rhythm of Crime
A Long Dark Night
Golden Years
An American Story
Armin
Warrior's Time
Officer with a Rose
Nausicaä
Countess Dora

Series:

Inspector Vinko
Journey to the Wilds
Nikola Tesla

Documentaries:

The Pride of the Ratkays
Villa Maria

Some of these are only on the list because they're great examples of the English language—not necessarily because they're the best ever made, though they're still pretty good... 🙂