The MoFo Top 100 Foreign Language Film Countdown

Well, at least #2 and #1 were reasonable, even if I didn't have Seven Samurai on my list (great film, sure, but maybe my #4 Kurosawa). #2 was my #2 as well, so that's cool. Complete list follows:

1. 8½ (1963) (#9)
2. Persona (1966) (#2)
3. Ikiru (1952) (#24)
4. Wings of Desire (1987) (#32)
5. Rashomon (1950) (#13)
6. Grand Illusion (1937)
7. Orpheus (1950)
8. Bicycle Thieves (1948) (#6)
9. Le Samouraï (1967) (#30)
10. Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
11. Metropolis (1927) (#31)
12. Solaris (1972) (#12)
13. Playtime (1967) (#45)
14. Fanny and Alexander (1982) (#39)
15. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) (#36)
16. The Exterminating Angel (1962) (#95)
17. Late Spring (1949) (#26)
18. Paprika (2006) (#100)
19. Spirited Away (2001) (#5)
20. Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
21. Pather Panchali (1955) (#47)
22. La Dolce Vita (1960) (#27)
23. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) (#15)
24. Harakiri (1962) (#37)
25. Police Story (1985)

Thanks to everyone for a really fun process! Now onto comedy...j/k, decade

Nicely done. Can't argue with those top few.


My list is below. I tried to vote strategically, meaning that a lot of my choices didn't make it.


1. Le Samouraï (1967)

2. Weekend (1967)

3. The Killer (1989)

4. Police Story (1985)

5. Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1984)

6. Crippled Avengers (1978)

7. Sholay (1975)

8. Tokyo Drifter (1966)

9. Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion (1972)

10. Hour of the Wolf (1968)

11. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

12. Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)

13. The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)

14. Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 1 (2012)

15. Gangs of Wasseypur - Part 2 (2012)

16. L'Eclisse (1962)

17. La dolce vita (1960)

18. The Big City (1963)

19. The Raid 2 (2014)

20. Only Yesterday (1991)

21. Spirited Away (2001)

22. Purple Noon (1960)

23. The Conformist (1970)

24. The Leopard (1963)

25. The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Seen: 15
Heard of: 49
My list: 10
My posts here: 13

My List:
1. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
2. City of God (2003)
3. Parasite (2020)
4. Let the Right One In (2008)
5. Bicycle Thieves (1948)
6. Amelie (2001)
7. Shoplifters (2018)
8. Oldboy (2003)
9. Seven Samarai (1957)
10. The Seventh Seal (1954)

First off thank you Thursday Next for hosting this, as well as others that pitched in. This is my second participation in a MoFo best of thread and was enjoyed very much. I stated in the preliminary thread that foreign film has always been my weak spot, hence only presenting a top ten list. It wouldn’t be fair to do a top 25 when I’ve probably seen less than 75 films. With that being said, must be a fast learner since I nailed all ten.

Also thanks for all that participated in the MoFo Roulette thread, where I was exposed to three brilliant films that made my list.

Oh if I went to 25, the last one would be “Johnny Stecchino” (1991). A nice little comedy that had that ‘60s Jack Lemmon feel.

*Ballot *

1.Andrei Rublev - 1966
2.Solaris - 1972
3.Akira - 1988
4.Harakiri - 1962
5.Grave of the Fireflies - 1988
6.Last Year at Marienbad - 1961
7.Aguirre, the Wrath of God - 1972
8.Ran - 1985
9.Ikiru - 1952
10.The Holy Mountain - 1973
11.The Spirit of the Beehive - 1973
12.Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom - 1975
13.Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles - 1975
14.Eyes Without a Face - 1960
15.Taste of Cherry - 1997
16.Cries and Whispers - 1972
17.The Testament of Dr. Mabuse - 1933
18.Ugetsu - 1953
19.Ballad of a Soldier - 1959
20.Funny Games - 1997
21.Kings of the Road - 1976
22.The Confession - 1970
23.Children of Paradise - 1945
24.Viridiana - 1961
25.Lancelot of the Lake - 1974 (#1-pt)

100/100 Watched, here’s my list:

1. Persona (1966)
2. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
3. Nobody Knows (2004)
4. Vivre Sa Vie (1962)
5. Hiroshima mon amour (1959)
6. Children of Paradise (1945)
7. Chungking Express (1994)
8. Solaris (1972)
9. Ran (1985)
10. Stroszek (1977)
11. 8½ (1963)
12. Shoah (1985)
13. Playtime (1967)
14. Tokyo Twilight (1957)
15. The Big City (1963)
16. The Tin Drum (1979)
17. The Turin Horse (2011)
18. Taste of Cherry (1997)
19. Three Colors: Blue (1993)
20. Summer Hours (2008)
21. Harakiri (1962)
22. Funny Games (1997)
23. Memories of Murder (2003)
24. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)
25. The Mirror (1997)

Ooh, dark comedy! That might be hard to do.

Big thanks Thursday Next and all participants, it's been a cool ride, beautiful list!

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A big thank you to Thursday! The host with the most!
See you guys at the next countdown, whatever it may be.

From the top ten, 8 1/2, Stalker and Persona were on my list.


All in all, I've not seen five films from the list (The Return, La Trou, Sundays & Cybele, Shoplifters and The Hunt)


From the rest of my list...


I chose Bergman's Hour of the Wolf alongside The Silence and Persona, giving him a triple selection that I only also granted to Kurosawa. I think that all of these represent Bergman at the height of his experimentation. Persona is most successful and gets the praise, but the other two are jaw-dropping in their own right. Although these films get lumped into different groups, but they were shot mostly one after another between 1963-1968 (only the comic misstep All These Women was also made during that time), and since the theoretical grouping of 'trilogy' is kinda loose, I would say that these three films could also make a trilogy of sorts, with lots of recurring imagery between them. The child in Silence may be the same child from Persona and the child from Wolf.













Pickpocket was my choice for Bresson, and Weekend was my Godard. Clearly there are several options here, but I am a little disappointed that Godard didn't have a stronger showing. My Life to Live, Alphaville, Pierrot le Fou and Two or Three Things I know About Her are all worthy candidates of placing on this list.


I don't think I saw any Czech New Wave films place either and many are also worthy - The Cremator, The Fireman's Ball, Daisies, Closely Watched Trains, Intimate Lighting, The Joke, Lemonade Joe, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, etc. At least Witchhammer got a point! My selection was a film I only got over the holidays last year, Karel Zeman's Fabulous Baron Munchausen, a film I've fallen giddy for.


Belladonna of Sadness is another more recent love interest (first watched and acquired in 2017) and it's a singular animated experience, minimalist and stark, expressionistic and bold, a Japanese animation that is not anime. This beat out all of the Miyazaki I was considering.


Haxan is similar in occult themes as Sadness, a quasi-documentary about witchcraft as being an abscess of religious (sexual) superstition. With its documentary aspects, it may be a little too on-the-nose compared to the more psychologically suggestive German Expressionism (ok, it's Danish, but Denmark is just the Florida of Germany), but still it's one of the frankest demonstrations of the blind gulf between magic and imagination prior to Rashomon. As an extra, it's also irresistable to watch the version with that old witch, William Burroughs, narrating to free jazz.


I'm glad that Satyajit Ray made the list, but I chose Music Room instead. I could have calculated to give Panchali a higher boost, but I went with the one I slighter prefer instead.


My other silent choice was The Last Laugh from Murnau, a film that's proably more influential than anyone can realize. I could have made a 25 list strictly of Euro-silents, and despite the five on my list I did try to keep them to a minimum.


Fallen Angels is the most recent film on my list, and my preferred Wong Kar-Wei. I'm also happy to see Chungking here, as it was filmed along with Angels before he decided to break them into two films. They have similar charms, but they work better for me in Angels. Wong can make visual poetry out of the simplest in-camera effects and happy accidents, like life blown into a plastic bag in some lesser movie. He finds romance in the mundane and missed, and can blur his lens like a soprano saxophone. He makes the kind of movies that Harmony Korine could if Harmony had any soul and grace.


There are a handful that I genuinely regret for not even thinking of them when I filled out my list: Gance's Napoleon, Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, Pasolini's Gospel According to St. Matthew, Kieslewski's Double Life of Veronique. If I were wiser, I would have found a way to squeeze, eh, a couple of them on there.

I liked "Persona" much more after the first viewing. Once you've seen it, you can pay attention to the other stuff.


You are the first person (besides me) that I've seen correctly call The Seventh Seal, which is why I kept your "number 14".. I laughed at the


"According to this scrol, you are ......... 13 years old?"


<hahahhahahaa>


"Hey 13!" ..... "Come here, 13!"

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Nice job Thursday

My list:
1. The Match Factory Girl (1990)
2. Come and See (1985)
3. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
4. House (1977)
5. Amélie (2001)
6. Stalker (1979)
7. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
8. La Jetée (1962)
9. City of God (2002)
10. The Rules of the Game (1939)
11. Battle Royale (2000)
12. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
13. Run Lola Run (1998)
14. Night and Fog (1956)
15. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
16. Parasite (2019)
17. The Vanishing (1988)
18. Let the Right One In (2008)
19. OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006)
20. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
21. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
22. Y tu mamá también (2001)
23. Nosferatu (1922)
24. Ran (1985)
25. Forklift Driver Klaus: The First Day on the Job (2001)

My list:

1. Sansho the Bailiff (1954)
2. Spirited Away (2001)
3. Letter Never Sent (1960)
4. Tokyo Story (1953)
5. Parasite (2019)
6. The Cranes are Flying (1957)
7. About Elly (2009)
8. The Virgin Spring (1960)
9. Late Spring (1949)
10. L'avventura (1960)
11. Autumn Sonata (1978)
12. Porco Rosso (1992)
13. Fantastic Planet (1973)
14. Le Samouraï (1967)
15. The Vanishing (1988)
16. La dolce vita (1960)
17. Diabolique (1955)
18. Shoplifters (2018)
19. Breathless (1960)
20. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
21. Throne of Blood (1957)
22. The Big City (1963)
23. House (1977)
24. Contempt (1963)
25. The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012)

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The Seventh Seal and Parasite are both terrific films but were not contenders for my ballot.

I love Bergman but Persona is not one of my favorites of his yet.

The Seven Samurai is everything I want in a film and more.

I made an enormous error on my ballot but fortunately it didn't affect the outcome.

1. The Seven Samurai (#1)
2. The Secret in Their Eyes

3. Downfall (#16)
4. City of God (#14)
5. Christiane F

6. Pather Panchali (#47)
7. The Broken Circle Breakdown

8. Children of Paradise (#58)
9. The Skin I Live In (#92)
10. Contempt (#71)
11. Harakiri (#37)
12. Woman in the Dunes (#22)
13. Come and See (#8)
14. Sundays and Cybele (#73)
15. Amores Perros

16. Samurai Rebellion (#79)
17. The Invisible Guest


Ugh The Invisible Guest was on my long list of contenders but this spot was supposed to be I Saw the Devil. I don't know how I did it but I did it.


18. All About My Mother

19. Y Tu Mama Tambien

20. The 400 Blows (#35)
21. Vengeance is Mine

22. Magical Girl

23. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (#36)
24. Three Colors: Red (#54)
25. High and Low (#41)

Seen 99/100

Of course thank you very much to Thursday, Yoda, and everyone who contributed!

Hm?

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Almost Taiwan!

So many great film on your lists, people! I need to spend a bit more time going through it.

Thank you, Thursday Next. You run a good countdown.

And thanks to those that provided their lists, some stats, long and short reviews, internet commentary, and all that along the way.

1. Stalker (1979)
2. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
3. Rashomon (1950)
4. Persona (1966)
5. Close-Up (1990)
6. Chungking Express (1994)
7. Playtime (1967)
8. La dolce vita (1960)
9. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
10. A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
11. Shoah (1985)
12. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
13. Sonatine (1993)
14. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
15. The Mirror (1975)
16. Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996)
17. Red Desert (1964)
18. Russian Ark (2002)
19. Parasite (2019)
20. An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
21. Caché (2005)
22. Pather Panchali (1955)
23. Pickpocket (1959)
24. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
25. Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks (2004)

1. Akira (1988)
2. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
3. Castle in the Sky (1986)
4. Spirited Away (2001)
5. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
6. Princess Mononoke (1997)
7. Your Name (2016)
8. Summer Wars (2009)
9. Mirai (2018)
10. Weathering with You (2019)
11. A Silent Voice (2016)
12. When Marnie Was There (2014)
13. Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone (2007)
14. Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance (2009)
15. Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011)
16. Escaflowne: The Movie (2000)
17. Whisper of the Heart (1995)
18. Psycho-Pass: The Movie (2015)
19. Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
20. Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (2001)
21. The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)
22. Napping Princess (2017)
23. Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale (2017)
24. The End of Evangelion (1997)
25. Only Yesterday (1991)

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Will tackle the final 2 and the honorable mentions today. Friday, I'll list the films that I had on my list.

Haven't seen Persona. Will add it to my list.

Seven Samurai was my #18. A bit of a slow starter, but it picks up when Toshiro Mifune shows up as a crazy samurai with a family scroll as his evidence. Film is able to blend impressive action scenes with quieter scenes that allow the samurai to build their characters. Nice cinematography as well.

Honorable Mentions:

Already talked about: Barefoot Gen, The Skin I Live In, Oldboy

Kirikou and the Sorceress---Interesting animated film from France about a little boy whose curiosity and bravery drives a sorceress batty.
Shaolin Soccer---Fun wackiness with Stephen Chow as he uses his Shaolin skills to score goals and win the heart of a baker.
Go For Zucker---While trying to prove his family is kosher enough to get an inheritance, Jackie stays one step ahead of loan sharks and his family to win a pool tourney that'll take care of his debts. Funny comedy.
Nosferatu---Influential horror film takes the Dracula tale in some interesting directions. Max Schreck makes a memorable impression as Count Orlok. Nice use of visuals and score.
My Love, Don't Cross That River---Touching documentary about an elderly South Korean couple celebrating 75 years of marriage and how they manage to make it work.
The Workshop---Fascinating character study between a well-respected novelist and an aggressive, provocative teen who have a complicated relationship as she teaches at a writing workshop.
Raw---Interesting horror film about a vegan girl who finds herself adapting to life in veterinary school which leads to some unexpected things happening to her and her family.
Spider Thieves---Interesting drama of three poor girls who decide to taste the life of the rich by breaking into their apartments from climbing the balconies.
Frantz---Drama about a French soldier who mysteriously decides to place flowers in the grave of a German soldier and his complex relationship with the dead soldier's widow.
Mustang---Five modern Turkish teens have to adapt to traditional customs. While some embrace the change, one girl looks for a way out in this interesting drama.
Far From Men---Modern Western about a teacher who escorts an Islamic man towards a town to face justice for murdering his cousin. A bit slow, but interesting with nice use of the Atlas Mountains.
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya---Based on a Japanese folklore, this animated film has some catchy visuals and some inventive stuff that happened in the story.
Force Majeure---No, they didn't need to remake this. A disaster leads to a split second decision that has consequences for the entire family over the course of a weekend.
We Are the Best---A group of teens form a punk band. It doesn't matter that they barely know how to play the instruments...it's the spirit that counts and they have that in spades.
A Coffee in Berlin---College dropout has a memorable day in Berlin while searching for a cup of coffee that seems forever out of reach. Tom Schilling offers a good turn in this interesting film. Yes, I know Frances Ha traveled the same ground and I didn't like that one. So maybe I liked his character better?
Cutie and the Boxer---This documentary takes a look at a Japanese married couple of artists as she tries to make her way in a world where he's had some success.
The Boxing Girls of Kabul---A group of women boxers attempt to build a program in Kabul, Afghanistan as they face tough challenges from the traditional world they live in.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2010)---A hacker works with a reporter as they attempt to solve a mystery about a disappearance. Much like the Matrix, the trilogy takes a header towards the end of the second film and the third one is barely worth knowing (outside of a scene where Lisabeth shows up with full mohawk and piercings in a courtroom like a champ).
Singham---Some wild action in what is pretty much Bollywood's answer to Serpico as a creative small town, honest cop gets placed by a gangster in a big city where he tries to put him away. First Bollywood film I've seen and enjoyed.
Biutiful---Javier Bardem gives a memorable performance as a man facing a terminal illness who tries to do the right thing even as he looks to find a new home for his kids when he passes.
Confessions---Twisted Japanese horror about a teacher's twisted plan for revenge against some students who killed her daughter. May work in a double bill with Oldboy.
Last Train Home---Interesting documentary about the challenges faced by workers as they come home for the Chinese New Year before having to take the long commute back home in the cities.
Sin Nombre---The complex relationship between a Honduran teen planning to enter the United States via train and a Mexican gang member who helps her out is the basis for this solid drama.
Broken Embraces---Blind writer thinks back to his last film he directed in this moody melodrama featuring a strong turn from Penelope Cruz.
Om Shanti Om---The Avengers of Bollywood features a study of reincarnation and a bit actor seeking revenge against the man responsible for the death of him and the kind actress who's fallen for him. Anybody who's anybody in Bollywood shows up here.
No---From Pablo Lorrain, a brash young ad executive plans an unusual campaign to convince people to vote out Pinochet. Gael Garcia Bernal gives a good performance here and the movie blends thrills with a few laughs.
Destiny---From Fritz Lang, a young woman has three chances to get her husband back from death...with some striking visuals and locales around the world, the story makes you stay tuned to see what happened next.
Forever Pure---Searing documentary about several soccer players from Chechnya who get sent to Jerusalem. But they got a big problem because they're Muslims and the fan base proves to be hostile. Proof positive that Israel isn't always the most enlightened when it comes to working with people from different religious backgrounds.
Train to Busan---Wild action and emotional resonance on board a Korean train that has a father and daughter trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. It's breathless and claustrophobic.

Tomorrow, find out what's on the list that didn't make the cut!

I have forever loved Ferrer's version and was always curious to see how Depardieu played it and now I do believe I need to rectify that.
Always a pleasure reading your writings!

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