One of the real treats of this site is trying to find obscure and weird foreign films to watch. I’ve been watching movies long enough that finding obscure American and English language films is a relatively easy proposition, and on the Internet it has become a bit of a cottage industry unto itself. But finding obscure foreign films? Therein lies a challenge.

Now there is a catch to that as well. If someone wants to know about foreign films soon to be sent over the pond, all one needs to do is read Twitch on a daily basis to find the most up to date films and your work is done. Sure they lean a little heavy to genre films, but nobody covers new foreign releases better then Twitch, and it really isn’t even close.

But I didn’t start Where the Long Tail Ends to compete with Twitch. Myself or anyone else would be a fool to try. Rather, I wanted to find films that were bizarre enough that they never much registered with the majority of film goers when they were initially released. There is a wealth of great films out there just waiting to be found, and while I may not have enjoyed Tierische Liebe or Lunacy all that much, I’m quite glad that I watched them. Of course, then there is Schramm.

I have known about Schramm for about two years. As far as German horror goes it is rather infamous for how disturbing it is which, considering the notoriety of German underground cinema, is rather impressive. Schramm was one of a handful of films that were the initial inspiration for me to start this site. Films that caught my eye but I was reluctant to take a chance on. Schramm is not particularly hard to track down, but until recently wasn’t easy to find without buying a brand new copy either. It would take effort, and considering the pay off meant that one would most likely be revolted and disturbed out of their skull, meant that I wouldn’t be putting much effort into finding Schramm any time soon.

So, of course, it found me.

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While it has been a wasteland for new releases in recent weeks, a slow trickle of decent fair has begun to emerge. And while their is nothing really all that interesting at the multiplex, Gomorrah is getting released at places that show foreign films. It looks like a much darker and less glamorous take on the romantic mafioso film that most US theater goers would expect, but that certainly isn’t a bad thing.

DVD releases are pretty weak as well this week, which makes me wonder why some of the titles that were released last week weren’t pushed to this one so they wouldn’t have as much competition. The only recommendation I have is for Punisher: War Zone, which is by no means a good movie, but is a totally ridiculous movie that is worth a rental. Keep on the lookout for when the Punisher punches someone’s face off!

As always trailers are after the break!

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I bet you think running this site is all fun and games. Oh sure, I have an unhealthy addiction for Mahjong that I have been trying to pass off on Anna, but that is besides the point. I don’t get to just lay around all day, watching whatever I want whenever I want. I have, like, a system. A rigorous, temperamental system.

When I first started this column it was meant to be an excuse for me to finally watch certain films I had always wanted to watch when I was younger, but for whatever reason, had simply never gotten around to doing so. But while that selfishly worked well as an initial idea, that wasn’t going to be enough to fuel a column, let alone an entire site. So thus my initial idea inevitably began to expand.

Soon I began to look for films that would push me out of my comfort zone, as well as those that would have appealed to me when I was a youth. From there it was just a hop, skip and a jump to include reviews of true independent films and hard to find foreign films as well. Finally, I began to track down movies that were out of print or simply never released in the US. And as I added on each new group of films, the list of movies I planned to watch and review grew increasingly larger and more daunting.

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Isao Takahata’s Hotaru no Haka (The Grave of the Fireflies, 1988) is a brilliant piece of cinema. Set in Kobe, Japan, in 1945, the film focuses on a brother and sister who are left orphaned and homeless by the American firebombing of the city. It is unflinching in its portrayal of the realities of the war, a harrowing account of what such attacks meant for the ordinary people living in the target area. The children’s innocence and love for each other is no defence against the trials they face: their suffering is very real, their story a classic tragedy. That The Grave of the Fireflies is animated rather than live-action does not distract from its power to move, to provoke thought, to draw tears from the eyes. It is a masterpiece.

An adaptation of Akiyuki Nosaka’s semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, The Grave of the Fireflies pulls none of the punches of the source. The novel is a guilt-ridden apology to Nosaka’s sisters, who died during World War II, as did Nosaka’s adoptive father. Survivor’s guilt and a sense of personal failure combine to make the book difficult to read on an emotional level, and the film, scripted by the director, keeps these themes, making it equally emotional viewing.

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