The MoFo Top 100 Foreign Language Film Countdown

A double entry for Deutschland. France and Japan can have a day off.

Liked Wings of Desire but don’t remember it well at this point. Paris, Texas is THE Wenders for me.

Metropolis is my favorite silent. Really astonishing that a silent can engage me for three hours. Looks so cool, and it’s a fun story. I didn’t vote for any silents. If I had, this would have been the one. Great movie.

I'm behind on mentioning my own opinions on the movies...

Umbrellas of Cherbourg was my #2. I really love it. I like to imagine that Jaques Demy watched A Taste of Honey and thought, 'what if basically that, but in pastel colours and everybody sings the whole time.' I have a poster of it on my wall.

In the Mood For Love was my #13. They don't sing, but it's all about colour and style and atmosphere and longing.

Wings of Desire was not in my 25, but I think it's great. Took me a few tries to get into it but I was glad when I finally did. Bruno Ganz, Columbo, Nick Cave, existentialism, all good.

I didn't get Wild Strawberries at all, but so many of you love it I feel like I should give it another go. Metropolis is good but I am slightly surprised it made it so high on this list. I wouldn't have thought silent films would do so well on a list focusing on foreign languages but they were absolutely eligible and I was evidently wrong. Will it be the highest silent on here though?

There's some really great films in grave danger of missing this list. I'll provide my top 30 predictions and synopsis before the next 2 films are shown.

No, Passion could be top 10

Metropolis is an amazing film and in so happy to see it here.

German double-punch, nice.

I saw Metropolis for the first time a couple of years ago. Visually impressive, and overall, enjoyed it a lot, but feel like I need to rewatch it. I had another Lang on my list, also.

I haven't seen Wings of Desire.



My Summary:

Seen: 26/70
My list: 6/25

__________________

Nice to see Metropolis make an appearance without getting any help from my personal ballot, though it was certainly in contention. Haven't yet seen Wings Of Desire, hope to rectify that some day.

Seen: 50/70 (Own: 32/70)


Faildictions ((バージョン 1.01):
30. Jules et Jim [Jules And Jim] (1962)
29. Pâfekuto burû [Perfect Blue] (1997)

Metropolis is my favorite movie of the20's. I almost put it at the top of my sci-fi list, too. Its sets and effects were absolutely stunning, and the story and overacting were crazy enough to pair perfectly.

Seen: 2
Heard of: 22
My list: 2
My posts here: 8

My List:
1. *
2. *
3. *
4. Let the Right One In (2008)
5. *
6. *
7. Shoplifters (2018)
8. *
9. *
10. *

Germany doing pretty strong actually. More than I thought from them.

What a countdown this is.

Wings of Desire was just squeezed out of my list but is one of the most hauntingly brilliant beautiful films ever made.

Metropolis was my #2. But on some days it's my #1 film of all time. It's extraordinary. It's something any film fan should watch. An all timer. An absolute iconic film that will go down in history, if it hasn't already, as a work so important that it not only changed the way people made films, but made generations of filmmakers pay homage to it time and time again.

Haven't seen Wings of Desire, but it's been on my watchlist for a while. Paris, Texas is my favorite of Wim Wenders' films.

The visuals of Metropolis are so detailed and meticulous that it's a miracle that all those elaborate and inventive sets were constructed back then. It's truly a mind-blowing feat and is a great film to watch for its visuals. It's also not a case of visuals over story, because I found its story to be quite powerful and engaging. I chose a different one of Lang's films for my ballot though.

__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd

Seen both. Respected both, voted for neither.

There were a few silent films that I initially considered, but ultimately I didn’t include any. I knew they were eligible but if someone were to ask me for recommendations of foreign language films, I wouldn’t include silents in my answer.

__________________

I run the risk of opening an age old debate here, so apologies. But I see 'foreign language cinema' the same as 'World cinema'. Which means films that are international AND not in the English language really. So I think one really should include something like Metropolis, one of the most influential films of all time in this broad category.

Which is a perfectly valid point of view and why I didn’t weigh in on the discussion when the eligibility of silents was being discussed in the preliminary thread. I chose to disqualify them from my own ballot, but I take no issue with other people seeing it your way and take no issue with other people voting for silents. However, to me, the experience of watching a foreign silent film is not any different than watching one from an English speaking country and watching silents has its own unique set of challenges that is quite different from simply watching a movie in another language.

'Silent' films often employed intertitles though and foreign 'silent' films naturally tended to have those in their native langauge which imo makes them a 'foreign language' film. Personally I regard translated intertitles in much the same manner as I regard subtitles.

Yes, but as an English speaker, I don’t watch foreign silents with their original intertitles. I watch them with English intertitles, making the experience the same.

Not trying to start an argument, just saying why I personally chose not to include them. I needed to find ways to pare my list down to 25 and eliminating silents was one of the ways I chose to accomplish that. For the record, Metropolis was not among the films I was considering. I respected it, but didn’t like it.

That's fine, I'm not trying to start an argument either, merely pointing out that many are still being watched in a form somewhat altered from the original, no matter if the experience might feel the same, and that their original form often incorporated a foreign language.

For the record I've absolutely no problem with anyone preferring to not include them.

Two films I absolutely ADORE. Both masterpieces. Both on my list. Here's how it looks now:

1.
2.
3.
4. Wings of Desire (1987) (#32)
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. Metropolis (1927) (#31)
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.
18. Paprika (2006) (#100)
19.
20.
21. Pather Panchali (1955)
22.
23.
24. Harakiri (1962) (#37)
25.