Top Ten Gift Ideas for the Foreign Film Buff

In the world of movie buffs, there are those who march to the beat of a different drummer. When most people are flocking to the local megaplex to catch the latest Hollywood zillion-dollar blockbuster, these folks quietly head to the art cinema to catch that intriguing new foreign release or a screening of a long-unseen classic. This holiday gift list is for the person who falls into that latter group.

DVDs
Of course, no experience is more enjoyable for the film fan than watching a great flick. These films all came out on DVD in November 2006 and later, so the movie lover on your gift list probably doesn't have them yet.

1. "Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films"
For that discriminating cineaste who deserves only the best (and most expensive) gift, one item stands head and shoulders above the rest: the massive new box set commemorating half a century of Janus Films, the distributor that brought many of the century's best foreign directors and films to the U.S.

The set provides 50 immortal films on DVD, most of them foreign classics. The treasure trove includes French notables such as "Jules and Jim" and "The Four Hundred Blows;" "Pygmalion" and "The Lady Vanishes" from Britain; Italian gems such as "La Strada" and "L'Avventura;" Japanese films such as Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" and "Rashomon;" and Swedish classics including Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" and "The Seventh Seal."

Among the English-language classics included in the set are Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" and "The Thirty-Nine Steps." The set also includes three documentaries that survey classic pursuit scenes from silent films, sexy screen stars, and a tribute to Paul Robeson.

The set packs a hefty price tag-a list price of $800 (but available for $650)-but that works out to only about $13 a disc, and the package includes a beautiful book with more than 200 pages providing production credits and an informative essay for each of the films (along with a tribute to Janus Films by Martin Scorsese). The book makes up for the lack of DVD-style extras such as directors' cuts and outtakes.

"Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films" is an instant start to a great library of foreign film classics for the aficionado.
DVD Release: November 7, 2006
List Price: $850.00

2. "Cinema Paradiso (Limited Collector's Edition)"
This latest edition of the much-loved Oscar-winning foreign film features 3 discs that include the U.S. theatrical and director's cut versions of the movie, and that's just to start. Also included are two new documentaries, lobby card reproductions, and even more (including a "Food Network tribute to the film"-I have no idea why). A beautiful story of a famous film director who returns home to his childhood village in Sicily and reminisces about his youthful love of cinema-and of a local sweetheart.
DVD Release: November 7, 2006
List Price: $39.99

3. "The Double Life of Veronique - Criterion Collection"
An intriguing 1991 film from late Polish master Krzysztof Kieslowski. "Veronique" examines topics including identity and love, with Irene Jacob playing two different women, one in Poland and the other in France, who unknowingly share an unusual emotional bond. Two discs.
DVD Release: November 21, 2006
List Price: $39.95

4. "49 Up"
The latest in director Michael Apted's fascinating series of films that looks at a diverse group of British people every seven years, starting when they are seven years old, examining what hopes they had for the future and how these pan out (or don't) over the years and decades.
DVD Release: November 14, 2006
List price $29.95

5. "Sophie Scholl - The Final Days"
This 2005 Oscar nominee for best foreign language film portrays the true story of the famous German anti-Nazi activist who stood up to the Third Reich, drawing on historical records of her imprisonment. It recreates the last few days of her life from arrest to interrogation, trial, and sentencing.
DVD Release: November 14, 2006
List Price: $29.99

6. "Un Coeur en Hiver" (A Heart in Winter)
Starring Emmanuelle Beart and Daniel Auteuil, this sensual film is the story of a lovely violinist with a strong passion for music-and for her lover's a friend, a skilled violinmaker who is emotionally detached.
DVD Release: November 7, 2006
List Price: 29.98

7. "Pandora's Box - Criterion Collection"
Director G.W. Pabst was an early master of German film, and was also known for discovering Greta Garbo. This 1929 classic silent film features another of his discoveries, Louise Brooks, in the tragic tale of a headstrong showgirl who inability to control her self-destructive sexual urges send her spiraling downward. Two discs.
DVD Release: November 28, 2006
List Price: $39.95

8. "Gabrielle"
The seemingly perfect marriage between Gabrielle (Isabelle Huppert) and her husband (Pascal Greggory) takes a turn for the worse when he finds a letter from her that casts doubt on her intentions and their relationship. A very interesting 2005 films from director Patrice Chéreau.
DVD Release: December 19, 2006
List Price: $24.95

BOOKS
9. "Never Coming to a Theater Near You" (new edition) by Kenneth Turan
The subtitle of this book spells out the author's viewpoint: "A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie." To Turan, the lead movie critic for the Los Angeles Times, that kind of movie is the quality film that is unheralded or neglected (and is available on video or DVD). This book collects his reviews from the Times of some of the best of those films he's viewed over the years. Some of the English-language films are actually familiar (including "Election" and "Dead Man Walking"), but the book's real value is in highlighting of foreign and obscure films, including movies from Hollywood before the Code, Yiddish film, and works from directors such as Max Ophuls.
Paperback, 400 pages. Published November 2005.
List price $14.00

10. "Beyond the Epic: The Life And Films of David Lean" by Gene D. Phillips
Combines biography and film criticism to examine the work of Sir David Lean, the British-born director behind such classics as "Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago," and "The Bridge on the River Kwai." It looks at his landmark films as well as his less-studied works.
Hardcover, 600 pages. Published November 2006.
List Price: $39.95