The foreign film blackhole

I saw "Ponyo" over the weekend, the new animated feature by Japanese screenwriter/director Hayao Miyazaki. The movie was out more than a year ago in Japan, and made it to the United States after Disney picked it up for distribution. For more on "Ponyo," which I enjoyed, visit The Weekend Pinnacle on Friday.

Film distribution is an interesting business since many films get made overseas, but they don't always make it to the U.S. I've had the chance to see a few foreign films either while I was overseas or as bootlegs smuggled in from Asia - and a few of these never saw the light of day in America. The thing is, they need to find an American distributor - and for that, the film company has to persuade viewers that an American audience will actually pay to see the movie.

That was the case with one of my favorite movies, a Korean romantic comedy called "My Sassy Girl." I saw the movie because a friend got it from a friend who got it will traveling overseas. The DVD played just fine here and had English subtitles, but good luck trying to find it on Netflix or Amazon. It is a very funny movie about a 20-something guy who is kinda wasting away his life when he happens to meet a beautiful drunk girl on the subway. The girl keeps following him around and bossing him around, until he starts to fall for her. American audiences can see a watered-down version of the movie with Elisha Cuthbert and Jesse Bradford in the lead roles.

While I was studying in South Africa in 2004, I saw a movie, "Forgiveness." It was one of the most emotionally-charged movies I've ever seen and yet it has never been shown in the United States. The movie stars all South African actors, including Arnold Vosloo, who has starred in "The Mummy" movies and other mainstream American movies. The movie is about an ex-cop who wants to ask the family of a man he killed in the name of apartheid for forgiveness. The thing that makes the movie is the actors who play the family, Quanita Adams, Christo Davids and Zane Meas. The movie is probably best watched by those who understand the history of South Africa, including apartheid, and the truth and reconciliation commission that happened after it was abolished. So I guess I can see why it never made the migration to American theaters.

It's a shame that some foreign films have never been distributed, but I check in every once in a while to see if they are on Netflix.