Best Foreign Films

[Screwtape2]

What are you favorite foreign films and which country do you think is making the best movies at the moment?

These are the top 15 foreign films in my opinion:

1. Lovers Of The Arctic Circle (1998, Spain)
2. Gojira (1954, Japan)
3. Akira (1988, Japan)
4. Fellini’s Casanova (1976, Italy)
5. Metropolis (1926, Germany)
6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Taiwan)
7. Amelie (2001, France)
8. Talk To Her (2001, Spain)
9. Sex and Lucia (2001, Spain)
10. Save The Green Planet! (2003, Korea)
11. Sex Is Comedy (2002, France)
12. Fat Girl (2001, France)
13. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990, Spain)
14. Old Boy (2003, Korea)
15. A Real Young Girl (1976, France)

I think the best foreign directors these days are Almodovar and Breillat. Japan and Korea continue to make the most innovative films these days. France is also making classics this decade. In the end, I think Korea is making the best films these days.

 

[monkeyskin]

This was really hard to do. At the risk of disrupting your thread and if there's enough interest, could this be split this into pre/post-1970s or even continents and get the little bastard to make a poll out of the results? Anyway, my top 15 at the moment is:

1. City of God (Meirelles, Brazil, 2002)
2. M (Lang, Germany, 1931)
3. My Neighbour Totoro (Miyazaki, Japan, 1988)
4. In the Mood For Love (Kar-Wai, Hong Kong, 2000)
5. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore, Italy, 1988)
6. Rashomon (Kurosawa, Japan, 1950)
7. Pan's Labyrinth (Del Toro, Mexico, 2006)
8. Volver (Almodovar, Spain, 2006)
9. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Lee, Hong Kong, 2000)
10. Wages of Fear (Clouzot, France, 1953)
11. The Downfall (Hirschbiegel, Germany, 2004)
12. The Bicycle Thief (De Sica, Italy, 1948)
13. The 400 Blows (Truffaut, France, 1959)
14. Children of Heaven (Majidi, Iran, 1997)
15. Wild Strawberries (Bergman, Sweden, 1957)

A lot of my favourite directors are Asian, such as Miyazaki (Japan), Lee (Taiwan) and Kar-Wai (Hong Kong). There's also Werner Herzog (Germany) and Almodovar (Spain) producing some good shit. As for the best country right now, I'm going to have to cop out and sit on the fence. There are so many ace films coming out from all over the globe, so it's hard to pick just one.

 

[lazarus]

While they may not have the global impact of previous decades, I still think there is great, diverse work coming out of France, and legends Godard, Rivette, and Resnais are still working. Hard to give the edge to anywhere else.

I agree with MS, it's hard to make a short list when we're taking about almost 100 years of international cinema. I feel I've left off so much.

1. The Conformist (Bertolucci, '70--Italy)
2. Three Colors: Red (Kieslowski, '94--France)
3. Jules and Jim (Truffaut, '62--France)
4. The Rules of the Game (Renoir, '39--France)
5. Spirited Away (Miyazaki, '01--Japan)
6. 2046 (Wong, '04--China)
7. Nostalghia (Tarkovsky, '83--Russia)
8. Ikiru (Kurosawa, '52--Japan)
9. Rashomon (Kurosawa, '50--Japan)
10. La Dolce Vita (Fellini, '60--Italy)
11. 1900 (Bertolucci, '76--Italy)
12. Céline and Julie Go Boating (Rivette, '74--France)
13. 8 1/2 (Fellini, '63--Italy)
14. Band of Outsiders (Godard, '64--France)
15. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Lee, '00--Tawian)
16. Persona (Bergman, '66--Sweden)
17. Bad Education (Almodovar, '04--Spain)
18. The Lovers on the Bridge (Carax, '91--France)
19. Open Your Eyes (Amenabar, '97--Spain)
20. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Bunuel, '72--France)
21. Volver (Almodovar, '06--Spain)
22. Last Year in Marienbad (Resnais, '61--France)
23. The Saragossa Manuscript (Has, '65--Poland)
24. Millenium Actress (Kon, '01--Japan)
25. M (Lang, '31--Germany)

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

#1. El Laberinto Del Fauno

 

[Lancemc]

If we're counting all of cinema's rich history, you can't beat France. Pretty much the birthplace of much of cinema's modern thought, the great innovators continued to pour from France for the past 100 years ever since Lumiere and Company introduced the cinematographe. I'm not sure which country is producing the best contemporary work. Probably Japan/China/Taiwan/Korea, the big asian markets.

I don't think it would be fair of me to make a big list like those above just yet, but my favorite foreign films at the moment are probably Alphaville, 2046, 8 1/2, Spirited Away and Ran.

So there.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Was it Godard who said something along the lines of "All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun" ??

That is an awesome quote and I'm trying to remember where I heard it. If it was Godard, then I need to check out that dudes movies. Where would be the best place to start?

 

[Lancemc]

Sure sounds like a Godard quote.

Might as well start at the beginning with Breathless. Far from his best, but it's still pretty damn great.

 

[Screwtape2]

This was really hard to do. At the risk of disrupting your thread and if there's enough interest, could this be split this into pre/post-1970s or even continents and get the little bastard to make a poll out of the results? Anyway, my top 15 at the moment is:

That's a great idea. I think spliting it up by continent would be cool. It is up to LMP if he wants to make a poll.

 

[monkeyskin]

I think it was him. Breathless (A Bout de Souffle) and Band of Outsiders (Bande a Parte) are great places to start, but Alphaville is pretty rocking too. Good ol' film noir.

 

[monkeyskin]

That's a great idea. I think spliting it up by continent would be cool. It is up to LMP if he wants to make a poll.

Oh he doesn't have a say in it. It's his fault for earning a rep as the Interference film poll guy.

 

[Lancemc]

"Can you give me a light?"

"I traveled 9000 kilometers to give it to you."

Possibly my favorite movie.

 

[Lancemc]

Oh he doesn't have a say in it. It's his fault for earning a rep as the Interference film poll guy.

Truth.

 

[deep]

This is a bit of an odd question for me.


I see about 12 films a month in the theater, perhaps as many as 1/2 of them are not in the English language.

I just saw Frozen River and Beauty in Trouble
one was in English one was Czech


I would put them in the low budget, art type film category.


Crouching Tiger, is more of a big screen, block buster film to me.


Anyways, on subject, I will add that Claude Berri's

Jean de Florette (1986)
Manon des sources (1986) aka Manon of the Spring

are two films that should be viewed and included on these lists.

 

[monkeyskin]

Anyways, on subject, I will add that Claude Berri's

Jean de Florette (1986)
Manon des sources (1986) aka Manon of the Spring

are two films that should be viewed and included on these lists.

I really wanted to include them but just ran out of space. And even though I prefer Jean I'd want to include both of them. In fact they should just be regarded as one film. If the LotR trilogy can be, then so should these.

 

[anitram]

There are two fantastic Bosnian movies that deserve to be on a list of recent films. One is the Oscar-winning No Man's Land, which unfortunately really can't be enjoyed as well without the cultural understanding of Balkan humor. The other one is Grbavica, which is one of the top 3 movies of 2007, IMO.

 

[Lancemc]

Well, I say LorR should not be considered one film. So

 

[deep]

There are two fantastic Bosnian movies that deserve to be on a list of recent films. One is the Oscar-winning No Man's Land, which unfortunately really can't be enjoyed as well without the cultural understanding of Balkan humor. The other one is Grbavica, which is one of the top 3 movies of 2007, IMO.

I saw both of those, very good films.

 

[Dalton]

1. To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995) - UK
2. The Highlander - Scottland

 

[deep]

I really wanted to include them but just ran out of space. And even though I prefer Jean I'd want to include both of them. In fact they should just be regarded as one film. If the LotR trilogy can be, then so should these.

Manon has such a good pay off at the end, one should really watch them both.

as for LOTR

I would not put them on any of my lists.

 

[Laura M]

Finally had my list finished and it disappeared

 

[Laura M]

I think the best foreign directors these days are Almodovar..

Did you hear Almodovar is shooting a new film (Los abrazos rotos)? It's supposed to be out next Spring.

I did a degree in French and Spanish so I only tend to watch films in either one of the languages when I get the chance. Even if I did have more knowledge of foreign moviles I'm pretty sure I'd still say that France makes the best films.

Anyway, my top 15, in no particular order after the first four, are:


1. Molière
2. Amelie
3. Jean de Florette
4. Volver
5. Mar adentro
6. The Counterfeiters
7. Priceless
8. The Chorus
9. La Haine
10. Etre et avoir
11. Los amantes del circulo polar
12. Breathless
13. Wings of desire
14. Cyrano de Bergerac
15. Jules and Jim

 

[lazarus]

I forgot to include Renoir's The Grand Illusion. Pretty seminal work.

 

[DrTeeth]

There are two fantastic Bosnian movies that deserve to be on a list of recent films. One is the Oscar-winning No Man's Land, which unfortunately really can't be enjoyed as well without the cultural understanding of Balkan humor. The other one is Grbavica, which is one of the top 3 movies of 2007, IMO.

No Man's Land is excellent, especially the ending.

The Germans have some excellent WW2 cinema going on with Das Boot and Der Untergang.

 

[LMP]

Oh he doesn't have a say in it. It's his fault for earning a rep as the Interference film poll guy.

I'm down.

I wish I could participate, but my knowledge of foreign cinema is still too low. I've got some Bergman, Fellini, Kurosawa, WKW, Miyazaki, Godard, Truffaut, and Lang on the list to watch though.

Okay, if we're going to make this official, then we'll do a Top 10 films by region/continent, and you can submit 1 list per region. It'll be in the same format as the Decade/Actor/Actress/Director lists... which I kind of want to bring back to see if anything's changed. Are you guys cool with this?

 

[LMP]

Anyone? Bueller?

 

[Popmartijn]

Some of my favourite foreign films:

- Once Upon A Time In The West
- Lord Of The Rings
- High Fidelity
- Blade Runner
- Once
- The Godfather & The Godfather II

Ah! The joys of coming from a small country. Lots of films are foreign for me.

 

[monkeyskin]

I'm down.

I wish I could participate, but my knowledge of foreign cinema is still too low. I've got some Bergman, Fellini, Kurosawa, WKW, Miyazaki, Godard, Truffaut, and Lang on the list to watch though.

Okay, if we're going to make this official, then we'll do a Top 10 films by region/continent, and you can submit 1 list per region. It'll be in the same format as the Decade/Actor/Actress/Director lists... which I kind of want to bring back to see if anything's changed. Are you guys cool with this?

I'm down for the region lists, it'll help to include a wider variety of films. Maybe Mexico / South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe / Africa and Asia? I think Europe has enough countries producing films to warrant the split.

Bringing back the old lists would be cool too, maybe spread them out to get more people participating. I wasn't really around here much the first time directors, etc got polled but it was fun to read afterwards

 

[LMP]

That sounds like a good enough split to me. I know we did Favorite films, actors/actresses, directors, then the films per decade lists... I'm more interested in revisiting the Fave films list more than anything after this, but it's up to everyone else, really.

 

[mad1]

I really enjoyed Jeux d'enfants (Love Me if you Dare).

beautiful ending.

 

[No spoken words]

I have not watched nearly enough foreign films, sadly.

Of the ones I've seen, Talk to Her, Chungking Express and The Lives of Others stand out for me. Oh, and the Diving Bell and the Butterfly.