What a lineup! And not a single American movie in sight!

Lately, thanks in large part to this community, I’ve been on this incredible run of watching some truly solid, even brilliant, movies. I'm talking about stuff like Lantana, All or Nothing, Amelia, Dog Love, The Princess and the Warrior, and even The Others... If you look closely, there's a pattern emerging here—not a single one of them is an American production (well, except for the US dollars used in The Others). Every single one of these films feels like I'm sitting down for a real conversation with them; they just keep talking, and once the credits roll, it's like they've spent two hours decoding life for me, offering answers, setting moral benchmarks, or even inspiring me to take actions I'd normally never dream of considering...

I rarely get that kind of connection from American cinema, and honestly, never from anything coming out of Hollywood. There was a time when I actually enjoyed American movies, but nowadays, I can barely recall a single one worth mentioning.

So, what about you guys? How does your watchlist look?

Everything in Hollywood is laid out so clearly. Even aliens speak perfect English, just like Germans or Russians. It’s all about the special effects—which they make look great—and the music, obviously. This stuff is tailor-made for the average American who, after watching J. Springer or R. Lak, doesn't really feel like straining their brain over real-life problems. Luckily, there are still indie films holding the line. I’ll mention Lynch's "The Straight Story" or Lonergan's "You Can Count on Me," which have that sophisticated, international feel. Back in the day, Americans made truly great movies, but nowadays, everything just boils down to the bottom line. There are still traces of good actors who used to be professionals, but when studios churn out four movies a year just for profit, you end up with a lot of junk (De Niro, for instance).
An international film?
It's about individuals, regular people, and their everyday struggles. Manzel's "Postriziny" is a perfect example of the kind of cinema I mean. An entire small town is infatuated with one woman riding her bike through the streets. The movie is full of these tiny details, yet seemingly nothing "happens." You wouldn't believe how great Germans can be at making top-tier comedy. Then you watch Manitov and suddenly nothing makes sense anymore. I won't even get started on the old classics from overseas.
Lately, it seems like Hollywood just copies international films, polishes them up for the US market—making everything bigger and adding more effects—but the movie can never quite live up to the original. Just look at "Pledge" or "Vanilla Sky." Why bother? Honestly, I don't think it's just about money; it feels like the average American wouldn't even appreciate or understand those types of stories anyway.
On the flip side, Hollywood does look toward international cinema, and we can actually be pleasantly surprised. Take the Danish films "Pusher" or the gritty take on the mafia in "China"—they handle those themes with such local authenticity.
And why on earth do they keep making endless sequels? "Rocky"? A third movie with Laden and then a fourth fighting him? Why bother filming "The Godfather IV"? Or "Best of the Best 2"?
I watch plenty of American movies, but usually, I already know what to expect because my usual critics have already weighed in. But at the end of the day, there is a massive difference between quality and quantity.

American movies... I don't know where you're based, but still 😉

Gangs of New York
Far from Heaven
About Schmidt
Max
Secretary
Catch Me If You Can
The Ring
The Pianist
Narc

They're all worth a watch.

It's an American movie... I don't know where you're living, but obviously.

Seems like it’s in Europe... such a local patriot 🙄

Jessica Nguyen85 said:Gangs of New York
Far from Heaven, About Schmidt, Secretary, Catch Me If You Can, The Ring, The Pianist

Thanks for the heads up. Honestly, I think I need to crank up the dose a bit just to get my faith back in this stuff.

About Schmidt isn't a bad watch. While certain segments feel perhaps a bit too stylized for my taste, I won't dwell on that. At the very least, we finally get to see Jack Nicholson playing a man who actually looks his age. It is one of those rare films that truly speaks to the American moment, though one might wonder if every director attempts to tackle such themes in this exact same fashion? Mark my words, we will still be discussing this film for years to come.

The USA possesses an incredibly rich independent film scene, which typically reaches a broader audience through Sundance (though one wonders if a festival like Cinematheque might eventually take its place, given that Sundance seems to be losing its momentum).

Looking at recent offerings—we have seen Donnie Darko, the works of Todd Solondz (Happiness, Storytelling), and even those post-Fellini-esque films such as Julie Taymor's Titus (a film plagued by a disastrous script and dramaturgy that fluctuates wildly in its execution—Alan Cumming is quite desperate here, despite it being a concept we've already witnessed in Richard III—yet it features incredible montage, brilliant choreography, and is visually meticulous).

Has anyone had the opportunity to watch Personal Velocity? I have heard quite a bit of discussion regarding it.

Then there is also The Horse and Adaptation. As far as mainstream Hollywood productions are concerned, this year hasn't actually been all that bad.

One shouldn't overlook Spike Lee either, even if his output has slowed down slightly.

Ultimately, Hollywood is an industry that rarely seeks to pose difficult questions through its cinema.
Despite this, is it not unfair to uncompromisingly expect non-American cinema to mirror the style of European film? We are dealing with entirely different cultures, mindsets, and distinct thematic inquiries within the narratives.

About Schmidt possesses a quality that reminds me of the realism found in New Hollywood during the 1970s (think of Rafelson, Milius, early Spielberg, Arthur Penn, early De Palma, or Scorsese). Though, in this specific instance, one could certainly draw parallels to European cinema of that era.

Let’s not get carried away here, because honestly, American film production is just so massive that you can always dig up something genuinely interesting if you look hard enough: we have Ghost World from a couple of years back, Linklater’s Waking Life and Tape, the aforementioned Solondz, Spike Jonze... even some of that earlier Hal Hartley stuff. Just a few weeks ago, I found myself watching Death to Smoochy, which is this biting black comedy starring Edward Norton and Robin Williams—and man, let me tell you, Robin Williams was incredible in it—it’s such a subversive piece, really dissecting how the TV industry treats children's shows as nothing more than glorified vehicles for selling advertisements.

There was this one "gritty" movie I mentioned before—one I actually think is a masterpiece, though it didn't exactly break records at the box office and went straight to video—it’s "The Great Salt Lake" starring Val Kilmer.