I know the concept of foreign films is subjective depending on where you are, but for the sake of the thread, foreign can be anything non-Hollywood produced if thats easier. For me, my favorite is a Belgian film called Man Bites Dog. Not only is it a great film, its one of the most disturbing movies Ive ever seen. None of the hollywood gorefest movies have anything on this one. Its filmed as a faux documentary where the crew joins and follows around a notorious gangster/serial killer named Benoit. After a while the crew are no longer witnesses to what he does, but accomplices as they join in. Its shot in black and white although extremely violent and realistic, which is why it was so disturbing. After watching it, I didnt know if tit was real or not, and had to look it up to be sure. Its tough to find in the US as its rated NC-17 by the MPAA, but if you can find it online or through Netflix, its fantastic.
Couple of my favorites: Amélie Pan's Labyrinth Downfall The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo I will post more if I think of any.
There are still a lot of foreign flicks out there I need to check out. In my film class in school, there were a few french new wave films shown, but most of those I found painfully boring and pretentious. It's kind of a hit or miss thing with me but there are a few classic foreign/art house films I really enjoy. Claire Denis has a pretty impressive filmography: The Intruder and Beau Travail come to mind. Horror: - Suspiria - Audition -Let the Right One In -Them just to name a few
"Best foreign films of all time" isn't that different than my "Best Films of all Time List", although 82% of my film list is Hollywood productions. I haven't seen a number of the films listed above mine, but from the pittance that I have, 1. Beat (Korean, 1997) 2. Seven Beauties 3. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie 4. Legend of the Wolf 5. Wild Strawberries 6. The Seven Samurai 7. Lonewolf and Cub series (not going to rank all six films individually) 8. Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust (seriously...) 9. Croupier 10. Fulltime Killer 11. I, Claudius 12. Kanal 13. Les Bonnes Femmes 14. Running out of Time 15. Oldboy 16. Les Carabiniers 17. The Visitors 18. Nine Queens 19. Battle Royale 20. Love Exposure/Audition/Alexander Nevsky/Love and Anarchy...
I don't have a list, but Godard needs to be mentioned here. Breathless (obviously) and Pierrot le Fou are probably my favorites. Give them a look if you haven't before.
I second Let The Right One In, Oldboy and Battle Royale but would like to add Rec, The Host, The Beyond and Irreversible despite the squirm factor of the latter. Can you tell I like horror/exploitation flicks?
I'm a big fan of Jean de Florette and the companion film Manon des Sources (Manon of the Spring). Wiki says "The film takes place in rural Provence, where two local farmers scheme to trick a newcomer out of his newly inherited property. The film starred three of France's most prominent actors – Gérard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil, who won a BAFTA award for his performance, and Yves Montand in one of the last roles before his death." Also Cinema Paradiso
Off the top of my head: 1) Rashomon 2) 8 1/2 3) Battleship Potempkin 4) Fanny and Alexander 5) The Tin Drum 6) Lone Wolf & Cub 2: Baby Cart at the River Styx 7) Seven Beauties 8) Talk to Her 9) Ivan the Terrible Part I and II 10) Yojimbo 11) City of God 12) Les Diaboliques 13) Solaris (1972) 14) The Motorcycle Diaries 15) Scenes from a Marriage Kurosawa and Bergman are two of my very faves. Bergman was particularly a haunting director.
Agree with a few that have already been mentioned: • The Seven Samarai • Bebop. • The Dragon trilogy (original Swedish with subs) Would also add: • La Femme Nakita (original French/Besson version with subs) • Brotherhood of the Wolf
One of the strangest mixes of film ever (but gorgeous looking) it was a : Horror film Martial Arts film Occult drama Erotic thriller Costume period piece Monster film (mostly) Historically accurate! ...all in one, and I loved it. Though the actor playing the main character was horribly miscast.
Many I'd put down have already been mentioned, but I'd have to add Ran - certainly my favourite from Kurosawa.
KIMaster mentioned Oldboy, and I would have to second the notion. I have heard it is part of a trilogy but have not seen the other two yet. Here is one of my favorite scenes from the movie.
It's been a while, but my wife and went through a foreign film phase. We enjoyed all of the Kurasawa's films we watch (too many to list), Jean de Florette & Manon des Sources, Cinema Paradiso, My Life as a Dog, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Raise the Red Lantern...there were a lot more, but like I said, it was years ago. I saw The Seventh Seal in a Theology in Film class in high school and it made my head hurt. Probably should revisit it.
Here is my issue with that movie. It is in my opinion directed to a very specific target audience. It's a great movie because it is painstakingly accurate and hardly romanticized at all (plus you get to see a bear maul a little girl to death so there's that) but this is also in my opinion where it suffered. The thing was so fucking long and the plot progression was so slow that I couldn't watch it all in one sitting. Also I like to read about European history and wanted to see how close to the real Ivan they'd come to. This is still a great movie but it takes a bit off patience to watch. I just had to complain about it for a while.
I can provide a bit of insight into good Bollywood movies. While the industry is, by and large, a shithole, they have managed to produce a number of classics. A few of the best: 1) Mother India 2) Gunga Jumna 3) Sholay 4) Lagaan 5) Taare Zameen Par 6) Mughal-e-Azam 7) Umrao Jaan
Completely forgot about this movie. Probably my first foreign film as a kid and I loved it. Good Call cause Monica Bellucci is hot as fuck too!!! Spoiler
I'm a proud Russian and all, but the first movie was mediocre, and the second was loosely entertaining at best. They're also both insults to the novels they're adapted from. In fact, I have never heard anyone praise either as "greatest" anything before your post. The production values also make you think you're watching some a cheap-ass indie film. Speaking of good Russian movies, besides Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky" and some of Tarkovsky's work, I really love the "Peculiarities of the National..." series, which is now up to 4 films, with "Hunt" and "Fishing" being the best. The plot is very simple; a bunch of Russians are drinking vodka...and they keep drinking throughout the whole film. Hilarity ensues.
I’m surprised Das Boot isn’t on here. One film that I haven’t seen mentioned on this board though is Waltz with Bashir which is a really good animated film. I’ve never really been a fan of animation but it’s amazing in this film and captures the feel and atmosphere in each scene. It’s based on true events and is told through the eyes of Ari Folman, an ex Israeli soldier, who fought in the 1982 Lebanon war. The opening scene is in a bar and one of his ex soldier mates is telling him about a dream he keeps having that was related to the war. After they part Ari starts having flash backs to some event but can’t remember exactly what happened. It turns out it was the Sabra and Shatila massacre and the story unfolds as he goes around interviewing his other ex soldier mates trying to piece it together. It’s really well paced with a really moving climax at the end.
Someone has to let me in on the deal with you americans and the Millenium trilogy. Try as I might all I see is a fairly typical crime novel, a paperback you take on the plane or to the beach to kill a few hours. The first part had a good enough story but the other two were just beating a dead horse while failing to make it interesting. The fact that it took off like a rocket in the States in combination with the media attention around Larsson's will is probably the only reason there were any movies made over here, and the movies keep with the theme of being unexceptional. Focus: Audition Let the right one in Hero Nikita (french version obviously) Populärmusik från vittula (english title, Popular music) Fucking Åmål (english title, Show me love)