The MoFo Top 100 Foreign Language Film Countdown

Belarus?
Brazil?
Iran?
Hungary?
Germany?

We had them?

I'll guess Czech Republic and Austria. It's time a Czech New Wave movie and another Haneke showed up.

I’ll go with Taiwan and India

Taiwan and India - These are good guesses. Yi Yi and Pather Panchali?

Iran (The Separation)? Romania has a couple I think could make it?

I suspect Brazil will make the it's first and only appearance in top top 10 or even top 5.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Romania and Brazil are good guesses as well. I almost went with Romania but I honestly don’t hear many talk about any of the film from them recently

Seen: 1
Heard of: 11
My list: 1
My posts here: 6


I'm getting better. Heard of three of the last ten. Hope is among us.

That seen one better be Tokyo Story or there's no way you could possibly be considered a movie lover.

Re: Battle of Algiers. Surprised (then again, not surprised) some people find problems with what I wrote about the film. You can criticize a film for being propaganda while not being an inherently evil pro-imperialist. While the conflict itself is complicated, its depiction in this particular film is way too skewed to not call it pro-FLN. Notice how the film portrays the French. Their looks. Their behavior. It's a great film but it's far from subtle in signaling who the filmmaker sides with.

Re: Tokyo Story. @resopamenic nailed it. It's one of the most important films in history. Widely recognized as one of the world's best. It's not one of the best of all time. Hell, it's not even Ozu's best (although many people will say it is), but it's a film that in a way defines that 'cinephile's starting pack'. It's a natural go-to film for anybody who first gets into cinema. Since this is supposed to be a place for cinephiles, one would suspect we all have long watched it.

It's not homework. Calling something that should be your passion homework is like being this annoyed teenager in high school who has to complete a task they hate. But the point here is you shouldn't hate it. You should be naturally interested in it. And the correct response to culturally significant / potentially overhyped pieces of art is not ignoring them, but giving them a go and coming up with your own, personal response.

All that being said, Tokyo Story is not a requirement. And if it feels like that to you, I doubt you are serious about film. Films like these are just something you watch almost naturally while getting into cinema seriously. So, I was naturally surprised somebody omitted this obvious cornerstone on their cinephile's journey.

My post was supposed to be a cinephilic version of this guy at a party who asks you "You never heard of Fishmans, really, man?". I know you haven't. Jeez.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Okay, safe to say I'm a bit behind on following this list... but I guess that's my own fault for staying away from this forum and this thread for so long hah.

Anyways, as mentioned earlier I missed sending a list in, but here are my thought on the list now that it's about half-way done. I'm only gonna comment on what I've seen, so perhaps it might not even be that big of a challenge to get done writing it

(101. Porco Rosso)
I liked this one okay. Not one of my favourites from Ghibli or anything like that, but I was entertained and it had enough Miyazakism to fuel the engine of this one.

100. Paprika
Quite the fan of this one actually... might have made my own list. It loses me a bit too much in the end, but overall the idea is creative and so is the execution. There's something about the look, feel and plot of this film that makes me want to return to it.

87. Suspiria
Didn't love it as much on a rewatch, but I sure respect it a hell of a lot and it's very unique and exciting. I should probably watch it a third time to cement my opinion...

86. The Mirror
Didn't throw me off as much as I feared considering how people talked about this one - even the Tarkovsky fans. The director is still a huge challenge for me, but I enjoyed this viewing.

83. Roma
I respect it more than I like it. It's visually stunning and it's clearly very personal, but it doesn't captivate me as much as I would like. Definitely not my favourite from the director whom I really love overall.

82. Cache
I always remember this film for "that one scene..." Jesus christ almighty. A very slow-burn uncomfortable drama thriller thing and I was definitely invested.

79. Samurai Rebellion
Another one I respect and admire more than love. There's more films from the subgenre that I love a lot more than this. It's well made and I like the idea of the film but it didn't really interest me as much as I hoped. I even saw it twice with only a month or so in between because it was watched for a HoF and I wanted to make sure I gave it a proper chance. But the revisit didn't do much to change my opinion, unfortunately.

77. My Neighbour Totoro
Love this one! One of my favs from the studio and from Miyazaki. Captures the innocence and creativity of a child and his/her childhood perfectly as well as balancing it with the dark reality. One of Miyazaki's best takes on this balance imo.

74. Battle Royale
I had some okay fun but it didn't quite do it for me...

66. The Virgin Spring
A great little one from Bergman. Actually one of the films of his that made me realize what it was exactly that this man could do with cinema. Even if he has arguably made bigger and more potent works, this one helped show his personality clearer to me.

65. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Wasn't that big a fan of this. I love some of Miyazaki's work, but I'm not a fan of his per say nor of the anime genre. And this one didn't change that.

63. Night and Fog
Difficult one to talk about. I can't say that I "like it", you know. It's very well made though. It should be on this list.

62. The Hunt
Glad to see this one here. I've definitely done my fair share of campaigning for this movie and I'm glad to see it get the love and respect it deserves. A hauntingly important film with great performances.

57. Memories of Murder
Saw this very recently and I absolutely loved it. One of the best films I've seen in recent times. It would have made top 10 on my list for sure if not higher. Great film.

51. The Celebration
Another Danish film and one that I love a lot. It's one of my favorites and the first dogma film is also one of if not the best attempt. Stripping the film elements down to the purest form of acting and storytelling works amazing here. What a film.



I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the list! I'm still too far behind on foreign cinema even though I feel like I've watched quite a bit. This list makes me realize how much I'm missing still.

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I'm thinking A Separation and City of God

I'm at 35/50. Not too shabby for me.

Just about to post the films and realise I've got ahead of myself and got tomorrow's films queued up instead. Sorry. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for films from new countries, because we're visiting France and Japan again today...