Favorite Foreign Film?

[Merrick]

I've seen tons since joining netflix. Here are some of my favorites (which I highly recommend) :

Underground - Kustarica (Bosnia)
When Father Was Away on Business - Kustarica (Bosnia)
Lilya 4-Ever - Moodysson (Sweden)
Brothers - Bier (Denmark)
The Celebration - Vinterberg (Denmark)
Man Bites Dog - Belvaux (Belgium)
I Stand Alone - Noe (France)
Irreversible - Noe (France)
City of God - Lund (Brazil)
Bus 174 - Padilha (Brazil)
Children Underground - Belzberg
Downfall - Hirschbiegel (Germany)
Funny Games - Haneke (Germany)
My Life in Pink - Berliner (France)
Chaos - Seauu (France)
The Return - Zvyagintsev (Russia)
Once Were Warriors - Tamahori (New Zealand)
The Motorcycle Diaries - Salles (Brazil
Seven Samurai - Kurosawa (Japan)
Songs From the Second Floor - Andersson (Sweden)
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser - Herzog (Germany)
The Phantom of Liberty - Bunuel (Spain)
The Idiots - von Trier (Denmark)
The 400 Blows - Truffaut (France)

what are some of yours?

[deadparrot]

1. Amelie and Life is Beautiful. nt

[scarlett1]

68. Life is Beautiful & Waking Ned Devine

Even Though Waking Ned Devine is in English ( Well Irish English not American English ) you do need to pay attention

[Arugula Latte]

95. I love love LOVE Amelie.

One of my top five films of all time.

[bicentennial_baby]

2. A Few off the top of my head...

Monsoon Wedding (India?)
The City of Lost Children (France)
Spirited Away (Japan)
Ringu (Japan)
A Bout de Souffle (France)
La Regle du Jeu (France)
Au Revoir Les Enfants (France)
The Girl on the Bridge (France)
Suspiria (Italy)

[Merrick]

17. Au Revoir Les Enfants isnt on DVD unfortunately

which sucks because it looks good.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

46. The Girl on the Bridge

is one of my favorite romantic movies.

[NMMNG]

3. The Princess and the Warrior, & Run Lola, Run

[Skelington]

4. Delicatessen, a comic "feast" !

[Merrick]

18. Not on DVD either.

Crap!

[...of J.Temperance]

100. 'Delicatessen' is available

Only on VHS, WHY I don't know. I have it on VHS, it's a fab film so I WOULD recommend it.

'The City of Lost Children' is available on DVD, so you could get that too :)

Why certain films haven't been released on DVD yet I don't know.

[...of J.Temperance]

99. Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who made 'Delicatessen'...also

Made 'The City of Lost Children' which I also adore.

[drhilarius]

5. Oh where to begin...

La Strada
Amarcord
La Dolce Vita
Nights of Cabiria (all of these are Fellini)

The seventh Seal
The Virgin Spring
Cries and Whispers (Bergman)

Blow up
The Adventure (Antonioni)

Au Revoir Les Enfants (Malle)

The Bicycle Thief (De Sica)

Naked (Mike Leigh)

Amelie

and so on...

[ghostsofgiants]

7. Damn, I forgot The Seventh Seal...

And Fellini's 8½ as well (your mention of Fellini reminded me).

[drhilarius]

9. Damn, I forgot 8 1/2...

perhaps I should rent it tomorrow to remind my self why it's on the list.

[Merrick]

23. some classics there

I really like Bicycle Thief.

Did you see Bergman's foray into horror with "The Hour of the Wolf"? Pretty abstract (predictably) and quite disturbing.

[drhilarius]

27. Haven't seen it, but I'll definitely check it out...

thanks for the suggestion. As a fan of both low horror and high art, I think this flick may just blow my mind.

[ghostsofgiants]

6. Man Bites Dog is great...the whole premise is disturbing as hell...

But the banter between the filmmakers and Ben is hilarious.

City of God is great as well, and I've been meaning to check out The Phantom of Liberty.

As for my favourites (edited to add more)...

Spoorloos (George Sluizer)
Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu)
Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuarón)
Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale Of Two Sisters; Ji-woon Kim)
Riget (though technically not a film; Lars von Trier)
Audition (Takashi Miike)
The Machinist (english language, but technically a Spanish film; Brad Anderson)
Les Yeux Sans Visage (Georges Franju)
The Devil's Backbone (Guillermo del Toro)
The Element of Crime (english language, but a Danish film; Lars von Trier)
Lola Rennt (Tom Tykwer)
8½ (Federico Fellini)
The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman)
Das Experiment (Oliver Hirschbiegel)

[Merrick]

15. Das Experiment, Y Tu Mama and Amores Perros were all quality films

although I liked Innaritu's 21 Grams better (not technically foreign however, I realize)

and if you want to see disturbing, check out Gaspar Noe's films. They're good, but there's few movies I can think of that are more repulsive on a visceral or psychological level.

[ghostsofgiants]

16. I liked Amores Perros better...

I thought the non-linear storytelling flowed much better.

[Merrick]

21. sorry, but you're wrong.

kidding.

but seriously, the middle vignette about the narcisistic actress whose dog gets stuck under the floor drove me nuts. I know she was meant to be obnoxious, but man, I just couldn't take her.

[ghostsofgiants]

29. Haha, yeah, I can definitely see where you're coming from there

[Tyrone Slothrop]

48. You liked Audition?

I couldn't sit through the end of it. Way too gory for me.

[sundog]

8. a few

Closely Watched Trains - Jiri Menzel
Nights of Cabiria - Fellini
Contempt - Godard
any of Jesus Franco's freak shows
Like Water for Chocolate - Alfonso Arau
any of Almodovar's movies esp Tie me up, Tie Me Down & Bad Education
Burnt Money - Marcelo Pineyro
yeah, City of God is great
Pierrot Le Fou - Godard
Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears - Vladimir Menshov

there are others, but these were at the top of my head

[tjdee]

10. Red (Rouge) was my hands down favorite until Shah Rukh Khan.

:loveya:
I love any number of Indian films, particularly those with my sweet baby in them. Some of his best is Dil Se (the opening song is nuts, they're dancing on top of a moving train), Veer Zaara, Swades, Devdas...

Non SRK films? Wings of Desire, Red, In the Mood For Love....To Live...the list goes on. I dig foreign films.

[AVulgarianHue]

11. Enjoy most Almodovar movies, and..

Shall We Dance?
Bhaji on the Beach
Man Facing Southeast

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

12. My Life as a Dog and anything by Akira Kurosawa

oh..and The Hairdresser's Husband

[libnnc]

13. Here's mine

Burnt By the Sun (Russia)
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Russia)
Brother (Russia)
The Thief (Russia)
Window To Paris (Russia)

...there's a pattern here, no?

Oh and a foreign film I HATED, I honestly tried to understand it but couldn't--The Stalker.

Anyone else here seen Stalker? If so, what the hell was the point?

[Merrick]

14. seen Burnt by the Sun

it was pretty good.

added The Thief and Moscow... the others aren't on DVD yet apparently. Thanks

[KitchenWitch]

19. Cinema Paradisio

Especially the "censored" montage at the end.

[Merrick]

24. Added. Cool, thanks

[driver8]

28. My favorite, also. I love this movie! n/t

[Beaverhausen]

60. Yes, love that one

[barb162]

20. The Seventh Seal and many other Bergman films. Also

Lina Wertmuller's Seven Beauties

[Merrick]

26. Added Seven Beauties

sounds interesting. Thanks.

[flamingyouth]

38. I love "The Seventh Seal"

Also "Wild Strawberries" and "Torment" are up there for me.

"My Life As A Dog," "Jesus of Montreal," "Shiraz" (a great Indian silent film).

[Aristus]

22. "Das Boot".

Phenomenal film. Just jaw-dropping. :wow:

I love the way the professional sailors held the Nazis in contempt. They were just ordinary guys, hoping to make it home alive.

[Merrick]

25. Naturally. Nothing more suspenseful than

those long breathless moments as the sonar pings signal the approach of the destroyers.

[Truebrit71sbruv]

31. I agree...

... and I also love the sequence when the sub is plummeting to the sea-floor and everything looks utterly bleak for the crew and by total good-fortune it ends up snagging on a deep-sea ledge - with the Captain saying "A handful of sand, God threw us a handful of sand" - wonderful moment.

[NNadir]

86. A completely awesome film.

Some other interesting films in German that you may like: DER UNTERGANG (Downfall). It's the last days of Hitler in the Bunker. Very, very, very powerful.

Then there's always Aguirre...

[NNadir]

87. Self Delete.

[Stockholm]

30. Some of my favorite foreign (US) films

Great to see some Swedish films, here are some of my favorites:

Citizen Kane
Casablanca
Gudfadern (The Godfather 1972)

[...of J.Temperance]

105. You should check out 'Double Indemnity'

'Double Indemnity', 1944, director Billy Wilder:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035775/

and:

'The Godfather Part II', 1974, director Francis Ford Coppola:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071562/

'The Godfather Part II', in my humble opinion IS the BEST film EVER made. It's COMPLETELY perfect, it's everything you WANT in a film and it's everything a film should BE.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

32. A Man and a Woman (France)

daaa-daaa-daaa-da-da-da-da-da
da-da-da-da-da


you know...that song?

[ThatsMyBarack]

33. Small Change

France, 1976.

Now those guys knew how to make little kids look funny!

[Sugar Smack]

44. I LOVED Small Change!

:hi:

Thought I might be the only one.

[Truebrit71sbruv]

34. Struth... where to start...

Diva & 37.2 Le Matin (aka Betty Blue) (both Dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix - France)
Paris, Texas & The Buena Vista Social Club (both Wim Wenders - Germany)
Once were Warriors (Tamahori - NZ) - agree totally with you there Merrick, an amazingly powerful and poignant film.
Lumiere et compagnie (experimental work in which 40 or so different international directors produced segments of no longer than a minute using the original Lumiere invention)
Breaking the Waves & Dancer in the Dark (Lars Von Trier - Denmark)
Riget (aka The Kingdom) (both Lars von Trier - Denmark) - not so much a movie but the original version of the US Kingdom Hospital remake. Much darker, more compelling and over-all much more satisfying.
Der Untergang (Oliver Hirschbiegel - Germany)
Practically anything by Pedro Almodovar, but especially Tie me Up, Tie me down and Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown
Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón - Mexico)
À bout de souffle (Jean-Luc Godard - France)
Nordkraft (Ole Christian Madsen - Denmark)

Okay... that'll do for the moment...

[LookManLook]

35. I'm glad to see "The Return" on your list

That movie was fantastic.

[LostinVA]

36. Babette's Feast and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

[AngryAmish]

37. Emmanuelle

or the sixteen sequels that are always on Cinemax late at night.

[AlCzervik]

39. Das Boot

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

40. A couple I haven't seen mentioned

Possibly not 'favorite', but I'd recommend:

Dans Ma Peau (In My Skin) - Marina de Van is incredibly talented.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337961/

Anatomy of Hell - Catherine Breillat, very hard going but rewarding.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348529/

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Oldboy - the first two films in Chan-wook Park 'Vengeance' trilogy (with Lady Vengeance coming very soon)

Sitcom - a brilliant descent into weirdness.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157044/

edit - how could I forget Jodorowsky! Add El Topo, Holy Mountain and Santa Sangre to the above. The first two can be had via a poor transfer - http://www.xploitedcinema.com/dvds/dvds.asp?title=2719 - the latter, on an excellent double DVD which has a 90-minute documentary on Jodorowsky - http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=6541

Then there's a million Asian samurai, martial arts & action films - most recently saw Stephen Chow's hilarious Kung Fu Hustle - and all the horror that's coming from over there - Acacia & The Hypnotist to name a couple of good ones I saw not long ago. Plus I'm a real Takashi Miike fanboy, so pretty much all of his ouevre (although I didn't like Full Metal Yakuza.

But in answer to your question, my 'favorite' foreign film is probably Godard's À bout de souffle (Breathless).

Finally, great to see you like 'I Stand Alone' & 'Irreversible'. Both astonishingly powerful - I wish I could get hold of Noe's short Carne which also features Phillipe Nahon as 'The Butcher'. Apparently it's on the French DVD of "I Stand Alone", but sans subtitlses.

[chenGOD]

42. Lady Vengeance is really quite enjoyable...

much more personal than Oldboy or Mr.Vengeance.

But a very wonderful movie.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

51. I'm very jealous of you ... but good to hear the positive feedback

People over here, who saw it at the London Film Festival, have been singing its praises.

[chenGOD]

84. Yes it's a good movie...

I'll be very interested to see it with subtitles and see how it translates into English. If you liked the first two though, you'll like this one.

It isn't as graphic as the first two...I won't say any more so I won't spoil the film for you...

[...of J.Temperance]

107. You mentioned 'Santa Sangre' and Jodorowsky

Jaysus, 'Santa Sangre' is on my list further down the thread. I didn't think ANYONE else would have heard of the film.

But YOU have :) Oh joy of joys!

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

114. I first saw it on Channel 4 about 15 years ago

and images from it stayed with me, but I could never remember what it was called. Describing it to people got me nowhere. Then at Uni, about 5 years ago, a Jodorowsky fan showed me (god-awful 10th gen copies of) El Topo & Holy Mountain & solved the mystery!

When you're back in the UK - if you haven't alredy - pick up the Anchor Bay 2-disc copy of Santa Sangre. It looks beautiful, has a commentary with Jodorowsky (basically being interviewed by film critic Alan Jones), a short film by one of Jodorowsky's sons (with commentary), a 25-minute Q&A session from 2002 with Jodorowsky (where he gets incredibly excited about Miike Takashi, especially 'Fudoh' - "She fires a dart from a blowpipe in her vagina! I have orgasm!") and a 90 minute documentary about Jodorowsky which is fascinating (I never knew about his past with Marcel Marceau or 'The Panic Movement') and turns into a demonstration of his 'psychomagic'. The DVD is reviewed in full here:

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=6541

It generally goes pretty cheap - I got mine for £7-99.

[trackfan]

41. Le Grand Chemin

[underpants]

43. The one that isn't BORING beyond tears

what was the name of that one again?

[chenGOD]

45. Mmmmm tough question...

But I guess some would be:

Andrey Rublyov (Tarkovsky)
Ran (Kurosawa Akira)
Kids Return (Kitano Takeshi)
Oldboy (Park Chan Wook)
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring (Kim Ki Duk)
La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz)
Naked (Mike Leigh)


a bunch more..but it's late and I'm tired...

[caty]

47. "Dear Frankie"

Great plot.

http://www.miramax.com/dearfrankie/

http://sunny.zandalea.biz/Dearfrankie/Dearfrankieopeningpage/dearfrankieopening.htm

[Merrick]

55. Can't believe I forgot that one

saw it a few months ago and yes, it's fantastic.

[bertha katzenengel]

49. Europa Europa

amazing and heartbreaking

[Tyrone Slothrop]

50. I saw a LOT of really great foreign films in college

I minored in Cinema Studies.

But I still think my all-time favorite foreign movie is Kurosawa's High and Low.

Brilliant piece of work there...

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

52. Battle Royale (Japan)

[Merrick]

58. Yeah, that's a good one

sick, twisted and poignant. One of the few twisted Asian films I've liked - probably because it was done with humor instead of just going for shock gross-out value. If you haven't seen them you might like Man Bites Dog or Funny Games - both are pretty sick and twisted with a strong underlying dark humor (well, more so Man Bites Dog in the humor department)

[Chan790]

53. A lot of good ones on this list but:

two that I loved not mentioned thus far were

Le Pacte de Loups (France)- The original, not the heavily edited English-dubbed version released here as Brotherhood of the Wolf.

Goodbye, Lenin (German, I think. possibly Russian)

[WeRQ4U]

54. "Trainspotting" - Irish

Always liked that one.

[AngryAmish]

56. Scottish

Just being pedantic. Forgive me.

[WeRQ4U]

57. I knew it was one or the other.

Thanks.

[book lady]

59. Tante Danielle

is wonderful (France, 1990)

[Beaverhausen]

61. Camille Claudel

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094828/

The story of Camille and her relationship with Rodin.
Isabelle Adjani looking impossibly beautiful and Gerard Depardieu at his best.

I love this one!

[Loonman]

62. Das Boot, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Amelie
Lola Rennt

[KurtNYC]

63. La Strada, Wings of Desire, and La Fracture du myocarde

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099607/

[El Fuego]

64. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Mexico)

Ponette (France)

Ma Vie en Rose (France)

and

The Fifth Element, directed by Luc Besson, which is actually a foreign film!

[Merrick]

65. 2 more: Betty Blue, Time of the Gypsies

[MamaBear]

66. Talk to Her

Talk to Her ... Pedro Almodovar.

[Felix Mala]

67. 8 1/2 -- one of my favorite movies ... Women on the Verge of a

Nervous Breakdown is laugh out loud funny, even with subtitles. The male lead is hilarious. It's 25-year-old Antonio Banderas before he could speak English.

[joeybee12]

115. I'm with you--I'd put anything by Fellini and most by Almvodar on my list!

[Bullwinkle925]

69. "Raise the Red Lantern", "Mediterraneo", "Ciao Professore"

"The Widow of St. Pierre", "Shirley Valentine".

They will certainly be added to my DVD collection.

[Initech]

70. I really dont watch foreign films

And I think that's due to my insanely low attention span.

[Cats Against Frist]

71. Persona

(Bergman) That's my mosty most favorite. I like Riget (von Trier), lots of others that people have mentioned, "From the Life of the Marionettes," (also Bergman), and Alphaville (Godard) and Satyricon (Fellini).

[Mz Pip]

72. Amelie

And I liked The Full Monty

A Very Long Engagement was excellent, too.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[nytemare]

79. I just got "A very long engagement" a couple of weeks ago.

Amelie is one of my favorite movies, so I had to get it. I really enjoyed it. Have you seen "Delicatessen"? I know that was by the same filmmaker, but I haven't seen it yet.

[Amaya]

73. Recently

Good Bye Lenin! (Germany)
A must see.
:)

[Ian David]

74. Cinema Paradiso! n/t

[SoCalDem]

75. Z

Z (France-Algeria, 1969) ****

http://www.prairienet.org/ejahiel/z.htm

Directed by Costa-Gavras (Constantine Gavras). Written by Gavras & Jorge Semprun from the eponymous novel by Vassilis Vassilikos. Photography: Raoul Coutard. Music: Mikis Theodorakis. Cast: Yves Montand, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Perrin, Irene Papas, Charles Denner, Francois Perier, Marcel Bozzufi, Georges Geret et al. 127 minutes. Available without cuts on a superior Criterion laser-disc

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In 1963, Grigorios Lambrakis, MD, a popular leftist Member of the Greek Parliament, was assassinated in Thesssaloniki by goons employed by the extreme Right. Eventually the right-wing establishment fell and a precarious democracy was established, only to lead to a coup on 21 April 1967, by a military junta. The colonels' dictatorship lasted for 7 years.


A Greek writer, Vassilis Vassilikos, recounted the events around the Lambrakis murder in a thick novel, Z, in 1966. The title comes from a combination of the sound of the Greek letter Z, which is pronounced approximately like "Long Live", and the English sound of Z, which means in Greek, " he lives, he is alive" . Such shouts were uttered by the record crowd which attended Lambrakis' funeral in Athens. (Some people think that Z symbolizes the end, but the last letter of the Greek alphabet is Omega. )

When the movie came out, the Junta was already in place. The film was made with French money. It could not, of course, be shot in Greece, so Algeria was used as a substitute. Sharp-eyed viewers will detect Algerian faces and places, but overall the stand-in country works nicely.

The movie never mentions Greece by name, but its anonymous country is patently and transparently Greece. The uniforms are Greek, the references are Greek, the names are Greek Among others, note the scene of Yves Montand, (The Deputy and victim-to-be) in a police office : he looks up and sees on the wall the portraits of King Paul and Queen Frederica, but with faces hidden by the reflection of lights on the glass frames.

Z was a sensation in its time and, even today, when shown to students who don't even know the first thing about the American Civil War and the two World Wars--not to mention modern Greece!--the film works very well as a high-pitched, easy- to -grasp, technically excellent thriller.

Z is a film of Greek inspiration, made by a Greek filmmaker, but as a French production it straddles French and Greek cinema, and is considered a part of the French repertory.

Costa-Gavras is really Constantinos Gavrás (note the accent). His father, a Greek from the USSR, has started to emigrate from Russia to the USA--but his stopover in Athens became a permanent residence. The son, Constantinos (Costas for short) was born in Athens in 1933. The father, a small bureaucrat, was suspected of communism and harassed, even after the war, at a time when leftists could be denied such niceties as passports, driver licenses and entrance to the university. The son suffered much of that.

Costas went to Paris at age 20 to study literature at the Sorbonne. Later he went to the main French film school, the IDHEC. He worked with major directors, made a fine murder thriller, THE SLEEPING CAR MURDERS, which starred Yves Montand and his then-wife Simone Signoret.

C-G's next work was about choice and conscience set among the French Resistance in World War II. Fame came with Z. In the meantime the name had been fancifully and mysteriously changed by the French (and the acquiescent director) to the easy, hyphenated, Costa-Gavras.

In Z, Gavras used a simple trick, so to speak, but a revolutionary one. His innovation was to combine European political awareness and commitment with the vigorous, dynamic, well-paced style of Hollywood action movies. The combination was unique and uniquely effective. There had been political films in Europe but these were in the intellectual mold or--in the case of the more familiar ones--in the shape of propaganda movies, whether Eisenstein's classics on the Russia Revolution (The Battleship Potemkin, 10 Days That Shook The World, etc. ) or Leni Riefenstahl's paeans to Naziism ( The Triumph Of The Will, Olympia) .


more

[RedCloud]

130. Indeed!

Sorry I missed this the first time around as the title isn't exactly the longest one ever!

[Metta]

76. The Children of Paradise, Dreyer's silent Joan of Arc,

So many.

[theliberalavenger]

77. Trainspotting, Amelie, Snatch, RAN, Rabbit-Proof Fence

[Texasgal]

78. YES!

Trainspotting...man, I forgot about that film. Very good.

[AlCzervik]

80. i forgot to add-"The Triplets of Belleville"

[bigwillq]

81. Run Lola Run (nt)

[Taxloss]

I second that. Wonderful film.

[Taxloss]

132. "Run Lola Run" and "Goodbye, Lenin!" are both excellent.

"Monsieur Hulot's Holiday" is another classic, along with "Shoot the Pianist" - Tati and Truffaut respectively.

And so many others ...

[...of J.Temperance]

82. Okay...deep breath...two films WILL be considered controversial I know

My favorite film EVER is the original version of 'Les Diaboliques' - unfortunately it was remade with Sharon Stone, lest we forget, I was LIVID at the time.

I've included links to ALL the below films, the IMDB was the quickest to get those links, so that's what you have. I've included the links because I'd recommend all of the films to people who might not have seen ALL of them, and the majority of these films are available on DVD, which is good.

'Les Diaboliques' - 1955, Director Henri-Georges Clouzot (France):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046911/

Then in NO particular order:

'Rififi' - 1955, Director Jules Dassin (France):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048021/

'Stray Dog' - 1949, Director Akira Kurosawa (Japan):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041699/

'Orphee' - 1949, Director Jean Cocteau (France):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041719/

'The City of Lost Children' - 1995, Directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (France):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112682/

'The Leopard' - 1963, Director Luchino Visconti (Italy):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057091/

'L'Age d'or' - 1930, Director Luis Bunuel (France):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021577/

'Lift To The Scaffold' - 1958, Director Louis Malle (France):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051378/

'Les Amants' - 1958, Director Louis Malle (France):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052556/

'Ossessione' - 1943, Director Luchino Visconti (Italy):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035160/

'M' - 1931, Director Fritz Lang (Germany):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022100/

'The Gospel According To St. Matthew' - 1964, Director Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058715/

'Rome, Open City' - 1945, Director Roberto Rossellini (Italy):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038890/

'A Man Escaped' - 1956, Director Robert Bresson (France):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049902/

'Fahrenheit 451' - 1966, Director Francois Truffaut (UK):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060390/

Okay, it's NOT a foreign film in the sense everyone talks English, but in my opinion it IS Truffaut's best film.

'Santa Sangre' - 1989, Director Alejandro Jodorowsky (Mexico/Italy):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098253/

'Fitzcarraldo' - 1982, Director Werner Herzog (Peru/West Germany):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083946/

'The Blue Light' - 1932, Director Leni Riefenstahl (Germany):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022694/

'Olympiad' - 1938, Director Leni Riefenstahl (Germany):

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030522/

'Olympiad' is a complete work of art, it's beautifully shot and the lighting and camera angles are absolutely AMAZING. Yes, it's partially propaganda, but I can appreciate it for it's artistic wonder.

Damnit, I should have gone to film school when I was offered the chance :(

[yellowdogintexas]

83. "Amelie", "Life is Beautiful:, "A Man and A Woman", "Belle Epoque",

"Like Water for Chocolate"

Miyazaki animated movies
Triplets of Belleville
"Badjhi on the Beach"

[I Have A Dream]

85. "Ponette" - Jacques Doillon (French)

"An extremely captivating movie on how a little girl copes with her mother's death. She withdraws from all the people around her, waiting for her mother to come back. She tries waiting, and when her mother still doesn't appear, tries magic chants, praying to God, and then becoming a child of God, to have some power over Him. All to no avail. ..."

- Rahul Dodhia




This little 4 year old's acting was amazing! I cried & cried. :cry:

[I Have A Dream]

90. Here's another image -- hopefully this one stays available.

[gardenista]

127. One of my favorite films. The young actress was wonderful.

I believe she is the daughter of the director?

Anyway, I watch it at least once a year.

[smirkymonkey]

94. I loved that movie too - I was about the same age when my

mother died and it really touched me deeply.

[gardenista]

128. .

It's also one of my favorites.

:hug:

[StaggerLee]

103. I'm gonna have to check that one out

Thanks.

[StaggerLee]

104. Bookmarking this thread

Another fine resource.

[I Have A Dream]

109. Good idea! I hadn't thought of it, but I'm going to do it also. n/t

[NNadir]

88. I have always loved "My Life As A Dog."

I always tell my wife, "You have to compare..."

[La_Fourmi_Rouge]

89. "Red River Valley"

Epic Chinese film about the Revolution...unfortunately I do not know the director.

[Chovexani]

91. Kikujiro

A very funny and poignant movie by Beat Takeshi. It's about a little boy who lives with his grandma that decides to go look for his mom, who ostensibly has been working in another town and sending him money. His neighbor, a local bar owner, makes her lazy, good-for-nothing husband (played by Takeshi) go with the kid to look after him.

It's sweet, and sad, and funny all at the same time. I highly recommend it--it comes on IFC every so often.

[shanti]

92. black orpheus - brazil

once were warriors - new zealand
anything by eric rohmer - france
dancehall queen, smile orange, rockers - jamaica

[bikebloke]

93. Here's a couple

Lola Rennte - Deutschland
The Dream Life of Angels - France
Jean de Florette & Manon de Source - France
Rififi - France
Bob le Flambour - France
Sex and Lucia - Spain
The Return of Martin Guerre - France
La Dolce Vite - Italy
Winter Sleepers - Deutschland
The Cuckoo - Russia/Finland
City of God - Brasil
Amelie - France
A Very Long Engagement - France
Walk on Water - Israel/ Deutschland
Zelary - Czech Republic
Man on the Train - France
The Experiment - Deutschland
Monsieur N. - France

English language films:
Utu - New Zealand
Once Were Warriors - New Zealand
Gallipoli - Australia
Strictly ballroom - Australia

[smirkymonkey]

96. There are so many:

Irish: Waking Ned Devine, Michael Collins, In The Name of The Father
English: Elizabeth, The Third Man, Room With A View, Life of Brian
French: Ma Vie en Rose, Amelie, The Piano Teacher, Queen Margot, Contempt, Red/White/Blue - Kieslowski Trilogy (He was Polish, but the movies were produced in France)
Italian: Bicycle Thief, Cinema Paradiso, The Monster, La Strada, Johnny Stecchino - it said favorite, not best films :)
Czech: Kolya, Divided We Fall, Zelary
German: The Blue Angel, Europa Europa, The Princess and the Warrior
Polish: The Decalogue, No End, The Double Life of Veronique, Blind Chance, A Short Film About Killing
Swedish: Intermezzo, Wild Strawberries, Fanny & Alexander, Together, My Life as a Dog
Norwegian: Elling
Danish: The Celebration, Babette's Feast
Australian: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Heavenly Creatures, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Gallipoli
Spanish: Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down, Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother

[...of J.Temperance]

101. 'Elizabeth', 'Heavenly Creatures' and 'Picnic At Hanging Rock'

I can't believe I forgot these...what with everything else but the kitchen sink on my list. These three are FABULOUS films.

[PittPoliSci]

97. Monty Python's Life of Brian (Britain)

[hobo_baggins]

98. Did anyone say Breathless yet?

didn't wanna give any repeats.

[StaggerLee]

106. The best way to search a thread

is to use the edit menu on your browser and choose "find on this page". Type in the word you're looking for. I use it all the time to see if people have already named things on threads like these.

Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[I Have A Dream]

110. In reference to StaggerLee's tip, you'll also want to make sure that you..

have 'View all' selected at the top of the thread if you aren't seeing the contents of all of the responses. Otherwise, you'll just be searching on the subject lines, which, of course, isn't all of the text.

And, yes, Welcome to DU!

(On edit: I inadvertently responded to StaggerLee's response rather than directly to hobo_baggins'. Sorry!)

[StaggerLee]

117. good point

Missed that step.

Thanks.

:hi:

[StaggerLee]

102. You all listed a lot of good ones so I'll have to add Danzon to the thread

Fine film.

[arwalden]

108. Das Boot

[kskiska]

111. La Ceremonie; With a Friend Like Harry; Bread and Chocolate;

Bread and Tulips (It.)
Rosetta (Bel.)
The Son(Bel.)
Robert et Robert (Fr)
Since Otar Left (Georgia)
Bejing Bicycle (Ch.)
Umberto D (It.)
Two Women (It.)
Baxter (Fr.)
Jeanne de Florette (Fr.)
Vagabond (Fr.)
The Piano Teacher (Fr.)
Malena (It.)
Il Postino (It.)
The Return (Ru.)
The Sea Inside (Sp.)
Time Out (Fr.)
Distant (Turk.)
Affair of Love (Fr.)
Central Station (Brazil)
Children of Nature (Iceland)

[stlsaxman]

112. "Story Of Adele H." Trufaut (sp?)

Isabelle Adjani's amazing.

oh and "Kasper Hauser" is a great one as well.

[bridgit]

113. raise the red lantern...

[tigereye]

119. beautiful

but depressing.... :(

[bridgit]

121. i know huh...maddening...

:(

[momophile]

116. anyone see Window to Paris? nt

[La Coliniere]

118. Here are some of mine.

All of the films on this list are 5 out of 5 star masterworks, IMHO.

Rules of the Game - Renoir, France
The Crime of M. Lange - Renoir, France
Pather Panchali - Ray, India
The Tin Drum - Schlondorff, Germany
Ali, Fear Eats the Soul - Fassbinder, Germany
Pixote - Babenco, Brazil
81/2 - Fellini, Italy
La Dolce Vita - Fellini, Italy
Viridiana - Bunuel, Spain
Aguirre, The Wrath of God - Herzog, Germany
Tokyo Story - Ozu, Japan
Au Hasard Balthazar - Bresson, France

These 12 films are only a small representation of the MANY great works of world cinema I've seen over the years. It's unfortunate that so many people are afraid of subtitles. My first great awakening as a human being who is a member of a larger, humanistic world community was as a young teen watching foreign films on public television in the early 1970s. I have always been greatful to the art of cinema, and to its incredible artists for the influence they had in my political and spiritual education.

[tigereye]

120. mmmm tough

Chocolat
Amelie
M
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Tampopo and Taxing Woman - Japan
La Dolce Vita, 8 and 1/2, Amarcord
Jules and Jim
Cinema Paradiso
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Fanny and Alexander
Love and Anarchy
Ran
Babette's Feast
Crouching tiger, Hidden Dragon

[hopein08]

122. "Russian Ark" & "Au Revoir Les Enfants"

[bridgit]

123. Russian Ark is a brilliant display of filmmaking...

[Conan_The_Barbarian]

124. Army of Darkness

Yea so what it's not foriegn... it doesn't need to be, it's just the best movie ever in any genre. Best romance, comedy, action film, chick flick, foriegn film, that movie is good for everything.

[kevsand]

125. La Jetee

the inspiration for "Twelve Monkeys"

[DBoon]

126. Gojira (Godzilla) - Japan

the original man in the latex suit

[RedCloud]

129. Z (we are living it now!)

[Blackfish]

131. Conan the Barbarian. nt

[Strong Atheist]

133. Emmanuel nt.

[MarsThe Cat]

134. Baxter, Personal Services, Amelie, Eat the Rich

to name some.

[RubyDuby in GA]

135. Antonia's Line, Netherlands

http://www.imdb.com/Find?select=All&for=antonia%27s+line

Plot Outline: A Belgian matron establishes and, for several generations, oversees a close-knit, matriarchal community where feminism and liberalism thrive


I loved this movie. I was so happy when it won the Academy Award!