Read the full article on Firstpost, here: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/this-new-year-make-a-resolution-to-watch-more-foreign-cinema-here-are-some-hacks-5829521.html
This new year, allow me to tempt you with a relatively easy resolution, that you will watch more foreign films. Many of you already do this, but maybe some of you have fallen out of the habit. Let’s face it: it’s tough. With the glut of entertainment options around –every day, we hear about some hot new Netflix show that we just cannot afford to miss (as of this writing, it’s the interactive movie, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch) — it’s become harder to find the time to watch that Godard classic you’ve heard so much about and have been meaning to catch up on. It’s probably right there, as a DVD or a download on your computer, but every time you think you should get to it, you get distracted. That’s one of the reasons I’m grateful for this column. It forces me to keep watching foreign cinema.
Watching foreign films in a theatre (particularly during a film festival) is easy, even if the film itself is a difficult watch. There’s something about a big screen, with big sound, that draws your attention and keeps it fixed — plus, the buzziness of a festival is contagious. It makes you more invested. You hear about, say, Chung Kuo, Cina, Michelangelo Antonioni’s 220-minute documentary, made in 1972, about the working-class Chinese, and you say, “I want to watch it.” But try watching the same film at home and it’s different. It’s often impossible to give such a film — especially given that it runs 3 hours, 40 minutes — the undivided attention it needs. You keep looking at the phone. You say you’ll take a ten-minute social-media break, and find, a few hours later, that it’s time for bed.
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2019 Firstpost.
Baradwaj Rangan 
ramitbajaj01
January 4, 2019
That’s very sweet of you to give those tips, sir, thanks.
“There was a time I’d watch a foreign film, and then watch it again on mute — so I could concentrate on the visual storytelling alone. Or I’d watch a film, head to the USIS or British Council libraries (no Internet back then) and read up about those films, and then watch them again with renewed understanding.”
That’s some commitment, sir!
“Make a resolution. I will watch a foreign film once a week (or fortnight, or month).”
Cool. I want to stick with once in a week.
“Speed up the DVD, race through the film and get the plot, and now watch it again to really savour it.”
Maybe I could apply it to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like you said in the article about slow movies, I could not find anything dramatic/riveting in the slow proceedings here. I had heard so much about this movie. But I couldn’t torture myself for more than 1 hour, and I gave up. I couldn’t understand why that air hostess’s each and every step was required to be shown. I get they are showing technology or vision, or perhaps comparisons with ancient man, I don’t know. But couldn’t the point have been made in half the screen time? But then, this movie is quite a favourite of many cinephiles. So maybe I need to recalibrate my viewing parameters.
Again, I just read you Don’t let anyone bully you into liking a movie. Anyways, I’ll give this movie another try some other day, after following the following tip: Try reading the synopsis on Wikipedia and familiarising yourself with the narrative, so now you can focus on the how rather than the what.
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Mank fan
January 4, 2019
Fantastic piece boss, just realized how I take lunch/dinner, toilet breaks when I am watching a film on my laptop. Having said that, I still remember watching Raul Ruiz’s mysteries of lisbon almost at one go a couple of years back.
Dwindling attention spans are going to kill the commercial viability of arty foreign films.
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Sahir.
January 5, 2019
I love this piece! It’s going to become my grounding rock this year, I hope.
Also, it has made me guilty for hoping that watching “Crazy Stupid Love” qualifies as watching a ‘foreign film’!!!
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Rahul
January 5, 2019
Other tips
1. Invite friends over for a movie binge watch. For example 3 movies in a day . This can be combined with pot luck with food that goes with the theme of the movies.
For Italian neo realist movies you can have pizza and pasta home cooked from scratch , with no prepared ingredients added.
For Dogme 95 movies you can only bring food that is not cooked in any way.
For Korean slasher movies you can have different kinds of kababs .
Ill invite fellow readers to add to this list.
Try to pick an auteur and watch all movies of him/her. This gives you a better perspective of themes in the movies and overall a fun completist experience , it also helps develop an OCD about these kind of things , which helps in the long run.
Related to point 1 and 2, try to watch movies that belong to a specific movement or genre. For example –
a) Noir movies from Europe
b) Iranian neo realism
c) Movies exploring the theme of death etc.
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Ramit
January 6, 2019
@Rahul- My friends ditch me even for slow Bollywood movies. Can’t imagine my bullying if I invited them for an ozu or a wajda movie. But the advice regarding watching the auteur or genre specific movies sounds pretty doable. Would try to follow it.
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krishna prasad
January 6, 2019
Hope most, if not all films are released with sub titles, including our regional films. It would be infinitely helpful as one need not miss out just because one’s not gonna understand them.
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Rahul
January 7, 2019
@Ramit I hear you man ! But keep in mind the foreign films are not all slow . As BR has given the example of Old Boy , which is genuine mind-blowing entertainment. Off the top of my head i can think of Melville
https://theplaylist.net/the-essentials-the-10-greatest-jean-pierre-melville-films-20150824/
His movies are so stylish and so much fun . Once you get over the accessible films and get used to watching movies with subtitles you will start enjoying the less accessible films as well.
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Sai Ashwin
January 7, 2019
I find finishing lists on letterboxd, like scorsese’s 39 foreign films, imdb top 250, letterboxd challenge, etc are a great help.Getting that sweet 100% over a list is a good motivation for me and have watched quite many films like this which i wouldn’t have otherwise.
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AdhithyaKR
January 7, 2019
Thanks. I needed this post.
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ini
January 10, 2019
Hi BR, We didn’t get to know which foreign movies you enjoyed from the past year. Here is a shameless plug of mine. Thanks!
http://theworldofapu.com/my-favourite-films-of-2018/
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