Next Ten for Netflix: Foreign Films and Docs

Greetings to our blog readers in Turkey, Greece and the Czech Republic.....

Today, we look at the next ten foreign films and documentaries that we hope to watch via Netflix streaming. These days, we've gotten hooked on streaming, and perhaps the late Roger Ebert would have been proud of us!

The images are of 1) Boo Boo Bear, Yogi's sidekick, this image is used for the Turkish film "Winter Sleep" since bears hibernate zzzzzzzzzzzzzz during the winter, 2) the Hollywood sign is being used for the documentary "L.A. Plays Itself, and 3) lastly, Hot Stuff, the Harvey Comics icon, is used for the South Korean horror film "I Saw the Devil."

It may be a while before we get to watch "Winter Sleep" and "L.A. Plays Itself" as the two films combined would run for six hours!

The films are listed according to Internet Movie Database (IMDB) ratings, which are listed to the right.

Here is the next ten on Netflix:

1) Winter Sleep. Turkey. Nuri Bilge Ceylan. 2014. 8.4/10

2) LA. Plays Itself. documentary (USA). Thom Andersen. 2003. 8.0

3) I Saw the Devil. South Korea. Jee-woon Kim  2010. 7.8

4) A Summer's Tale. France. Eric Rohmer. 1996. 7.6

5) Force Majuere. Sweden. Ruben Olstlud. 2014. 7.4

6) A Coffee in Berlin Germany. Jan Ole Gerber. 2010. 7.4

7) Sister. Switzerland. Ursula Maier. 7.1

8) Stray Dogs. Taiwan. Tsai Ming Ling. 2013. 7.0

9) We Have a Pope. Italy. Nanni Moretti. 2011. 6.7

10) Anita (doc on Anita Hill; USA) Freida Lee Mock. 2014. 6.4

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com (For our other Netflix list, for English-language films)

http://www.netflix.com

http://www.imdb.com

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Jack-O-Lantern

Of course, October is a great time of the year to visit a nice country town like Abingdon, Va., where the Barter Theatre is currently performing the stage version of "The Full Monty" (admitedly not my cup of tea, but my 70-year-old mom would probably enjoy it).

However, if one is staying home because they are overwhelmed with cleaning house, grading papers or awaiting a call from an All-State agent, they can watch lots of horror films.

Even many fellow film fanatics are a bit surprised when I tell them there is a Turkish version of "The Exorcist!"

The film called "Seytan/Satan/The Devil" was made in 1974 a year after Linda Blair shocked cinema audiences around the world. The director Metin Erksan was actually one of Turkey's most accomplished filmmakers at the time!

The plotline from the film which is available from Netflix (which is how I saw it on dvd) revolves around a troubled girl named Gul, played by Canan Perver, who becomes possessed by the devil.

Perhaps, the most singular cultural difference between the two versions is that Gul is saved by a shrink rather than a priest which seems appropriate given that Turkey is a Muslim country!