Three favorite foreign (non-English) movies

[LostinVA]

The Final Days -- Sophie Scholl (German)
Downfall (German)
Babette's Feast (Danish)


The Das Boot thread made me think of this. I really like Das Boot, too.

[elshiva]

1. Amelie

Metropolis
Wings of Desire

[LostinVA]

3. Amelie is a good one -- great movie!

"He wanted to see the world!"

[Arugula Latte]

49. Amelie is my favorite, too.

Not just favorite foreign movie -- favorite favorite. :)

[GOPisEvil]

2. Let me think....

1. Seven Samurai

2. Das Boot

3. Pan's Labyrinth

[LostinVA]

5. I've done kendo and Iaido -- love "Seven Samuris"!

[Ohio Joe]

4. Rashomon - Throne of Blood - Ran

yeah yeah yeah I'm a Kurosawa fan :D

[Wetzelbill]

All awesome

Dersu Uzala is probably my favorite foreign film ever. It's tough to limit Kurosawa, all his films are great. He has a deft humanist touch and a perfect all around vision. I remember watching "Madadayo" and he has a part in there where the protagonist cries because his cat hasn't come home for several days. It was so lovely and heart-wrenching. I had a few tears welling up myself. Kurosawa can take something simple like that and implant whatever message he is trying to get across into your soul. And you don't even realize it until the profound nature of that moment rushes over you. He's simply amazing.

[Starry Messenger]

6. My three.

Fanny & Alexander (Swedish)
Delicatessen (French)
Ridicule (French)

There are some runner-ups too, but these three would be among my desert island picks.

[Forkboy]

12. Delicatessen was SOO close to making my top 3.

That and City of Lost Children are both surreal trips. :)

[Starry Messenger]

32. I love that director.

I had a hard time picking which film from him I would keep. But Delicatessen is something special...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZPykJJ2l_g

[NYC_SKP]

7. Il Postino, La Vita E Bella, and....

...I'm stuck.

Was going to say Cinema Paradiso but I know I've seen better.

And La Vita E Bella counts. Just cuz they made an English version does not make it an English film, que no?

[Flaxbee]

8. Hmm. Lately I've been thinking of

The Scent of Green Papaya

Also really enjoyed

The Barbarian Invasions
8 Femmes



Lots more, but I'll list those right now. The Scent of Green Papaya would be in the top three, the others vary.

[Forkboy]

13. Thumbsup for 8 Femmes.

And Catherine Deneuve. :thumbsup:

[ghostsofgiants]

9. Shit, that is a tough call.

Pitfall (Japanese)



Masculin, Feminin (French)



Last Year at Marienbad (French)



But shit, so many more to choose from.

[Forkboy]

10. Man Bites Dog, Oldboy, Grave of the Fireflies

Belgian, Korean and Japanese in order. Stalingrad is from the same producers as Das Boot, and it's even more hellish and intense. Definitely one to watch, but it's heavy.






(quite possibly the saddest movie ever made :( )

Honorable mention...

Delicatessen, City of Lost Children, Alberto Express, Man Facing Southeast, Gojira, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Nosferatu, Das Boot.

[Xipe Totec]

17. That would have been my #3...

[Xipe Totec]

11. #1 Como Agua Para Chocolate,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DnJfuqj9t8

#2 Amelie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sECzJY07oK4

#3 I'll get back to you...

[LynneSin]

54. I forgot about Como Agua Para Chocolate but only in the native langauge w/ subtitles

Originally the released it in the states with english dubbing and the voices they picked were annoying as hell. BTW, the guy that played the lead of "Pedro" on Chocolate was also the lead in Cinema Paradiso.

Both of them amazing films

[Starbucks Anarchist]

14. "The Bicycle Thief" (Italy), "8 1/2" (Italy) and "Aguirre, The Wrath of God" (Germany).

Also, Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai" and "Ikiru," plus Fritz Lang's "M."

[ghostsofgiants]

20. Nice.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

21. I watched "Burden of Dreams" today.

If you haven't seen it, it's a documentary about the making of Herzog's "Fitzcarraldo," and it includes the short film "Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe," based on an actual bet Herzog made (and lost) with Errol Morris.

[ghostsofgiants]

22. Oh man, I haven't seen it but I have read about that.

I should definitely track that one down.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

25. OT, but I just found out they're playing "Z" soon at a local theater.

I've never seen it, but I've only heard good things.

[bookworm65t]

15. Re-Cycle, Cinema Paradiso, The Wages of Fear

so many good ones to choose from :)

[LynneSin]

55. Cinema Paradiso - but only the original version

They did a recut that totally ruins the movie

[Swede]

16. El espinazo del diablo,Die Brücke,and El laberinto del fauno.

Off the top of my head.

[Xipe Totec]

19. Laberinto del Fauno

I would have picked that one, had I not insisted on picking different languages for each of the three...

[Lavender Brown]

18. Hard to choose.

So I'm going with the most obvious/memorable ones for me.

Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Cinema Paradiso
Amelie

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. Good heavens, I'm a film buff from way back

How can I pick just three?

But in recent years, I've liked "Roman de Gare," "Nowhere in Africa," and "Burnt by the Sun."

[Beaverhausen]

24. The Lives of Others, Cinema Paradiso and Camille Claudel

[GCP]

26. The Lives of Others was excellent n/t

[Aristus]

27. Das Boot, of course.

Aguirre, The Wrath Of God.
Downfall.


Hmm. All German. Makes sense, I guess; it's the only foreign language I speak...

[Hudgie DeRobertis]

28. Three of some of my favorites

Beauty and the Beast
Playtime
Seven Samurai

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

29. In no particular order

La Strada (Fellini - Italian)
Yojimbo (Kurosawa - Japanese)
The Story of Kaspar Hauser, or Every Man For Himself and God Against All (Herzog- German)

Ahh, my art house haunting days of the 1970s......

[Wetzelbill]

30. Dersu Uzala , West Beirut and Amores Perros

Those are just off the top of my head. I love lots more.

[BurtWorm]

45. Have you seen Circle of Deceit?

with Bruno Ganz as a a reporter in Beirut at the height of the violence there. It was actually filmed in Beirut at that terrible moment. Adds a frisson to the viewing of it, knowing what they went through to make that movie. Volker Schlondorff was the director. I could imagine that on someone's list of three favorites.

[Wetzelbill]

47. no I haven't

But thanks for the tip, that sounds like something I'd like for sure.

[Richardo]

31. Amelie, The Triplets of Belleville, and Allegro Non Troppo

[peacefreak]

33. Antonia's Line

Mifune
Goodbye Lenin

[Lionel Mandrake]

34. das Versprechen (1995)

This movie is fairly obscure. Here is a plot summary (without spoilers, IMO) from IMDB:

East-Berlin, 1961, shortly after the erection of the Wall. Konrad, Sophie and three of their friends plan a daring escape to Western Germany. The attempt is successful, except for Konrad, who remains behind. From then on, and for the next 28 years, Konrad and Sophie will attempt to meet again, in spite of the Iron Curtain. Konrad, who has become a reputed Astrophysicist, tries to take advantage of scientific congresses outside Eastern Germany to arrange encounters with Sophie. But in a country where the political police, the Stasi, monitors the moves of all suspicious people (such as Konrad's sister Barbara and her husband Harald), preserving one's privacy, ideals and self-respect becomes an exhausting fight, even as the Eastern block begins its long process of disintegration.

[BurtWorm]

35. Smiles of a Summer Night (Sweden), Le Mepris (French), Murmur of the Heart (French)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiles_of_a_Summer_Night

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt_(film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murmur_of_the_Heart

[BurtWorm]

40. Recent: City of God (Brazil), Pan's Labyrinth (Spain/Mexico), Diving Bell and Butterfly (France/US)

And some older ones that shouldn't be missed:

The Battle of Algiers (Italy/Algeria)

The Conformist (Italy)

Army of Shadows (France)


And some really old ones that shouldn't be missed:

L'Atalante (France)

Pandora's Box (Germany)

M (Germany)

[bikebloke]

36. Amelie

Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring
Rififi

[Tommy_Carcetti]

37. At the risk of perpetuating the idiotic Freeper "All liberals are commies" stereotype....

....I really liked "The Motorcycle Diaries."

Regardless of what you think about whatever Che did in his life after that trip, the film's depiction of that trip itself was quite beautiful and moving.

[Lost in CT]

38. My Top Five (Your passions and taste may vary)

Batoru rowaiaru (Battle Royale)

Chôjin densetsu Urotsukidôji

Jisatsu saakuru (Suicide Club)

Tout le monde il en a deux (Fly Me the French Way)

Yi boh laai beng duk

[tanngrisnir3]

39. Tampopo, a Japanese movie about truck-driving and noodle-making

[schmuls]

41. Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Bicycle Thief, Amelie

[bif]

42. Amaracord, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Cinema Paradiso

[MrCoffee]

43. Jean de Florette (France), The Killer (Hong Kong) and Wings of Desire

or maybe A Very Long Engagement, Abre los Ojos and Life Is Beautiful

or possibly Kagemusha, Paradise Now and Hero

[bettyellen]

44. La Vie en Rose, L'Atatlante.... Children of Paradise

[KittyWampus]

46. Fanny and Alexander, Cold Fever, El Norte .... and Rashomon and The Field and Il Postino

and Cinema Paradiso

okay that's more than three

[Wetzelbill]

48. El Norte has an ending that's the equivalent of

getting hit in the head with a baseball bat. You just aren't the same afterward. A profound film.

[Greyskye]

50. Run Lola Run, City of Lost Children, Das Boot

Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run)
La Cité des enfants perdus (City of Lost Children)
Das Boot

And a shout-out for La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful), even though I don't think I could ever bring myself to watch it again.

[Orsino]

51. I can only think of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Pan's Labyrinth. n/t

[HamdenRice]

52. Nine Queens. Tokyo Story. Ikiru

Nine Queens -- Argentine, in Spanish. Best caper movie ever, but also a profound commentary on the corruption of Argentine society, very appropriate for the current financial meltdown.

Tokyo Story -- Japanese. Elderly parents travel to Tokyo to visit busy children who don't have time for them. Told in an incredibly quiet, strange way that is almost hypnotic.

Ikiru (To Live) -- Japanese. Akira Kurosawa's lesser known masterpiece made between Seven Samurai and Roshomon, it tells the simple story of a useless Tokyo bureaucrat, told he has just months to live, and who decides the one redeeming act of his life will be to get a park built in a slum area. Very strange look inside Tokyo corruption and government, but also hypnotically beautiful and moving. Warning: About 2/3 into the film, sometime around when Mr. Watanabe, the decrepit humble bureaucrat played by usual samurai action hero actor Takashi Shimura, falls down in pain on the construction site and the grateful mothers mob him with concern and affection, or when Watanabe engages in mute bowing protest before corrupt politicians and their yakuza enforcers, the waterworks may start, and they won't turn off until the crushingly gorgeous final frames.

[LynneSin]

53. Italian Trifecta of tearjerker flicks - I love em: Il Postino, Life is Beautiful & Cinema Paradiso

Mainly Italian flicks like "Il Postino", "Life is Beautiful" and "Cinema Paradiso"

But I also like "Amelie", "Europa Europa" and I love Chinese flicks too like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Farewell my Concubine". Oh and I love "Y Tu Mama Tambien"

EDIT NOTE: Only the original cut of Cinema Paradiso. They did a newer version of CP which they showed what happened to girl. I thought it ruined the movie and many fans of CP do not like NCP (Nuevo Cinema Paradiso). It's a bad version of it.

[3dogday]

56. Here's one I don't think anyone mentioned: The Tin Drum (Germany)

From the great novel by Gunter Grass (and yes I know about his past)

[Felix Mala]

57. Ocho y Medio, Kurosawa's Dreams, Wings of Desire

Love Tokyo done all in red.

[AngryAmish]

58. City of God or Disorderlies

[Montauk6]

59. Top of my head, all Japanese...

Ran
High and Low
Sword of Doom

[geardaddy]

60. That's a toughy.

I'd say:

Hedd Wyn (Welsh)
Downfall (German)
Painted Faces (Chinese - Cantonese/Mandarin)