DEVILS AT THE DOORSTEP
this movie is amazing! it's advertised as a comedy but it's no comedy in spite of having some hysterically funny sequences-- most of the movie is insanely funny actually. but it's not a comedy--it can get very fucking dark and disturbing. regardless, you need to watch this. yes, you!
on the surface it's the story of a chinese village under japanese occupation in the final days of the 2nd sino-japanese war. which is why it was made in black and white-- to resemble old war movies. but there is so much going on here…
great screenplay/characters/camera work/pacing/dialogue (i mean, subtitles, but still)... really an amazing movie.
it's surprising that i had never heard of jiang wen. you probably hadn't either, but you have to watch this.
if you get the disc with sodherberg's intro definitely skip that because the sucka will spoil the movie with his spoilers. watch that thing afterwards for some interesting tidbits though.