Le Petit Soldat by Jean Luc Godard ---> 1963

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d58Wt7FQ2f0

Don't forget to click on the 'cc' button for the English subtitles.

Kind of a typical Godard film.  A guy deserts from the French military and becomes some kind of agent in Switzerland.  He is asked to assassinate someone but freezes and finds he can't kill any more.  Even under the threat of blackmail he can't bring himself to commit the murder that will bring him an easy life.

There are some interesting conversations about ideology in the film - it's funny how everyone is always puffing on a cigarette in almost every scene. And, would it be a Godard film if there weren't horny guys lusting after chic women?  I didn't get the part where the secret agent also seems to be a fashion photographer for gorgeous ladies.

There's a 'water-boarding' scene in this movie.  Maybe CIA agents are Godard fans and learned about water-boarding here. :P

Two films starring Marlene Dietrich: Blue Angel 1930 and Morocco 1930 - Directed by Josef von Sternberg

This was the breakthrough film for Marlene Dietrich.  A prudish professor goes to a nightclub to chastise the cabaret entertainer who he thinks is corrupting his students...naturally, he gets corrupted.

In the history of film, this film is huge and it launched Dietrich's career in the USA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXGMQWdXdyU

Dietrich's first Hollywood film - also starring Gary Cooper.  This film has the first lesbian kiss ever on screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jca-ZecFEJ0


Here is a little documentary about Dietrich: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T17xfmSqlCE

Y Tu Mama Tambien directed by Alfonso Cuaron 2001

This was a pretty popular film in the early 2000s in the USA.

It's the story of two friends from two different economic backgrounds who meet an unusual woman who tries to help them become more liberated.  The film has a couple unexpected twists toward the end.  It actually turns out to be a pretty sad movie for a couple reasons.

Swept Away by Lina Wertmueller 1974

 
This was, actually, the first film I ever saw at the Parkway Theater (many years after it was made).

This version is dubbed in English - and the dubbing looks and sounds a little strange.

Madonna, of course, did a remake of this film (I never saw it).

In this film a wealthy woman and her servant get stranded on a desert island and this changes the 'power dynamic' between them.  Wertmueller directed some good films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGo2PPAmhvU