A Foreign Affair (2003)

One of my all time favorites.

How sad is this?

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Watched it on Netflix streaming movies, nice picture and sound.Tim Blake Nelson is older brother Jake Adams and David Arquette is his younger, timid brother Josh Adams. They live and work on their farm, and their mom still lives at home with them.Mom takes care of the boys, she cooks and cleans while the boys take care of the farm and selling the produce. But one morning they find that mom has died. To demonstrate Jake's frugal nature, they are in the funeral home looking at caskets for the funeral. They hear the price $13,000, ask to discuss it, and next we see them carrying a brass urn with mom's ashes in it.Jake and Josh are totally helpless at home without mom, only managing to eat canned food and almost burning the house down trying to fix french toast like mom did.So they do what any industrious American farmer would do, they contact an agency and go to Russia to find a bride, for the brothers to share, one who will be content to stay home to cook and clean house, there will be no sex, and after two years she can go her own way with a green card that will enable her to stay in the USA.Most of the movie is about their attempts at meeting and screening Russian ladies, many that do not speak English. There are misunderstandings, the brothers don't always cooperate with each other. They meet Emily Mortimer as Angela Beck, they first take her for one of the Russians looking for a husband, but soon they find she is a British journalist with a camera man,they are making a documentary about men coming to Russia to look for wives.It is comedic, but not strictly a comedy, more a drama about relationships. Moderately interesting.

I've had a lot of experience with women in Russia, and this movie portrays what a lot of them are like. They are very cunning, ruthless, and greedy, as well as highly unfair. From the robotic sex, the hustling for gifts, to the lies and betrayal, I've experienced it all in Russia. And the process of dealing with the big agencies and their commercialism was pretty accurate too. I don't know why A Foreign Affair endorses and recommends this film though.I know what I'm talking about. And here are my qualifications to prove it: Here are the photojournals of my three trips to Russia in search of a bride. It includes thousands of pics of many hot Russian girls I met, black comedy, scams I was privy to, and the story of my mugging and appearance on Russian national TV.http://www.happierabroad.com/Photojournals.htm It's like Reality TV. You will love it. I spent a ton of time putting it together. So check it out. The Russian woman that hustles for that farmer to buy her gifts is a lot like the Julia and Katya in my photojournals.My 3 bride seeking trips in Russia happen to be very exciting and would sell, so why don't they make a movie out of my bride seeking adventures in Russia? WuMaster I got everything I wanted by going abroad! You can too! http://www.happierabroad.com

I was just settling in to see what I had on TIVO when I picked up some of the wry humor in this film. I looked at the details and since it was less than 1/2 hour in progress, went to the beginning and enjoyed it.I like the ending (which I will not spoil) and it was certainly not expected, despite the wild character arc that the younger brother's character went through.I kept thinking about "O Brother Where Art Thou" because of Nelson's familiar hangdog look... but his characterization here was a bit uneven, wavering between the bumpkin to a shrewd and sagacious character.It was also fun seeing an inside look at the often infamous mail order bride industry. I had seen a documentary that completely trashed that industry... based on some guys' bad experiences. Nice to see a different play on the theme.

A Foreign Affair will open on May 7, 2004 in Los Angeles, Phoenix (where the A Foreign Affair romance tour company is located) and Grand Rapids, Michigan, home of Calvin College, where screenwriter Geert Heetebrij went to school. I'd highly recommend seeing the film that weekend if you live anywhere near one of these cities. The film was made on a shoestring budget and so it depends not on special effects, car chases and elaborate scenes, but simply on good acting, a compelling storyline and beautiful cinematography. The premise of the film is simple: two brothers live with their mother and when she dies they're left alone with no abilities to fend for themselves. They head to Russia on a romance tour to find a "wife." They want someone to cook and clean for them for the two years it would take their "bride" to get her green card. Along the way both brothers discover things about themselves and each other, with unexpected results. A Foreign Affair is a quirky, funny, sometimes sweet and always thoughtful piece of filmmaking. It was produced as an independent film, outside of the Hollywood process, and it shows. Well done.