The MoFo Top 100 Foreign Language Film Countdown

Seen: 4
Heard of: 29
My list: 3
My posts here: 9

My List:
1. *
2. *
3. *
4. Let the Right One In (2008)
5. *
6. *
7. Shoplifters (2018)
8. Oldboy (2003)
9. *
10. *

Woman in the Dunes is excellent, #8 on my ballot. Oldboy was a bit of a letdown for me and I thought it was just alright.

I watched Woman in the Dunes for the 6th Hall of Fame back in 2015. I didn't have a clue what to expect, but I was very impressed with the story and the imagery. I meant to rewatch it for this countdown but never got around to it. However, I did remember it well enough and fondly enough to give it at vote at #15.

Oldboy is another that I refuse to watch.

My Ballot:
2. The Skin I Live In (#92)
7. Wild Strawberries (#33)
8. Paprika (#100)
9. The Celebration (#51)
15. Woman in the Dunes (#22)
22. La Haine (#53)
23. Raise the Red Lantern (#91)
25. He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not (One-Pointers)

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For some reason I left Woman in the Dunes off my list. No clue.

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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."

No votes. Woman in the Dunes was very close, just one of the most starkly desperate and fascinating films ever made. Oldboy, like many a film that too easily gets lumped into the "film bro" canon, is one that I remember being floored by upon first watch but I haven't watched it in ages and I worry it won't hold up if I ever get around to revisiting it. At this point, I should be keeping list of all the ones I say I need to rewatch and then, well, rewatch them.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Woman in the Dunes seems to be about a very-organized man from the city who comes to a remote area and has his life turned upside down with no rhyme or reason. But you can't help but think that its really about something else. How far you want to take it (or leave it) is up to each viewer. With that super-freaky, otherworldly musical score, it almost turns the sand into something as alien as LV-426.

Oldboy is a twisty revenge mystery-thriller with style to spare. Very violent yet also poetic, it's got some scenes which are iconic and seem to have existed in our collective subconscious since long before 2003.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Woman In The Dunes is a great watch and was certainly in contention for a spot on my ballot but sadly didn't quite manage to claim one. Delighted to see Oldboy make an appearance, another that was in contention but ultimately missed out.

Seen: 59/80 (Own: 35/80)


Faildictions ((バージョン 1.01):
20. 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile [4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days] (2007)
19. Bronenosets Potemkin [Battleship Potemkin] (1925)

Two more long past due for rewatch.

Woman In The Dunes I was lukewarm on but I remember it being gorgeous and enveloping. I think I will enjoy it more next watch.

Oldboy was on my first 100 I did on mofo. It has slowly slipped from my mind though. I will get back to Park eventually. I find him a very interesting director.

Both films certainly made an impression; especially Woman in the Dunes, which I saw recently for a PR HOF and was absolutely mesmerized by it. If I had seen it *before* sending my list, it would've probably made it.

Oldboy was another great, shocking film but it didn't make it into my list either.



My Summary:

Seen: 32/80
My list: 7/25

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Anyway, 80 entries, so our final breakdown before the end...

First, repeating directors

• Hayao Miyazaki (5)
• Federico Fellini (3)
• Akira Kurosawa (3)
• Ingmar Bergman (3)
• Krzysztof Kieslowski (2)
• Thomas Vinterberg (2)
• Henri-Georges Clouzot (2)
• Takeshi Kitano (2)
• Andrei Tarkovsky (2)
• Yasujiro Ozu (2)
• Jean-Pierre Melville (2)
• Wong Kar-wai (2)
• Masaki Kobayashi (2)

Second, country breakdown

France = 21
Japan = 20
Italy = 8
Germany = 7
Russia = 5
Sweden = 4
South Korea = 2
Hong Kong = 2
Spain = 2
Denmark = 2
China = 1
Mexico = 1
Netherlands = 1
Poland = 1
Canada = 1
India = 1
Iran = 1


And finally, decade breakdown

1920s = 1
1930s = 1
1940s = 3
1950s = 14
1960s = 22
1970s = 3
1980s = 11
1990s = 11
2000s = 9
2010s = 5
2020s = 0

And time to update this for me...


What are the chances?

1. 100%
2. Late Spring (#26)
3. Au Revoir les Enfants (#68)
4. 100%
5. 25%
6. 100%
7. 5%
8. 0%
9. 95%
10. Tokyo Story (#52)
11. Harakiri (#37)
12. 95%
13. 0%
14. 100%
15. 60%
16. In the Mood for Love (#34)
17. 30%
18. In the Lives of Others (#38)
19. 40%
20. 15%
21. 100%
22. Roma (#83)
23. 30%
24. 30%
25. The Lunchbox (One-Pointer)

I've not seen any of the last 4 and, TBH, Ikiru is the only one I'd put myself out to see.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Woman in the Dunes is perhaps the best film for making me feel like I'm in another world.

Oldboy should be perfect for me but I was disappointed the one time I watched it. I've been meaning to give it another shot.

6. Pather Panchali (#47)
8. Children of Paradise (#58)
9. The Skin I Live In (#92)
10. Contempt (#71)
11. Harakiri (#37)
12. Woman in the Dunes (#22)
14. Sundays and Cybele (#73)
16. Samurai Rebellion (#79)
20. The 400 Blows (#35)
23. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (#36)
24. Three Colors: Red (#54)
25. High and Low (#41)

The first half hour of Woman in the Dunes was way too slow for me. Having said that...


OLDBOY IS MY NUMBER EFFING OOOOOOOOONE!


1. Oldboy (21)
2. The Mirror (86)
6. Metropolis (31)
12. Princess Mononoke (46)
13. Pather Panchali (47)
17. La Dolce Vita (27)
19. Wild Strawberries (33)
20. Harakiri (37)

Does anyone know of any movies similar to "A Woman In The Dunes"? I totally agree with Cricket how it takes you into a different world.. No gimmicks, no CGI, no BS - just a fine story of isolation, a medium to allow the viewer to dream/imagine....





40/76

-La Strada - 10/10
-The Battle of Algiers - 10/10
-Wild Strawberries - 10/10 - Nice self-reflecting movie. One of Bergman's best.
-The Cranes Are Flying - 10/10
-Le Trou - 9/10
-A Woman In The Dunes - 8.5/10 --- Unique movie.. It might still be on YouTube.

-The 400 Blows - 8.5/10
-Knife In The Water - 8.5/10
-A Man Escaped - 8/10
-Nights of Cabiria - 8/10
-Sundays & Cybele - 8/10
-Close-Up- 8/10 -
-Pather Panchali- 8/10
-Late Spring - 8/10
-Tokyo Story - 8/10
-Contempt - 8/10
Wings of Desire - 8/10
-La Dolce Vita - 7.5/10
-Harakari - 7.5/10
-Red Desert - 7.5/10
-Le Cercle Rouge - 7.5/10
-Rome, Open City - 7.5/10
-Shoplifters - 7/10
-Léon Morin, Priest - 7/10
-Bob Le Flambeur - 7/10
-Rififi - 7/10
-The Virgin Spring -7/10
-Run Lola Run - 7/10
-Le Samourai - 7/10
-The Conformist - 7/10
-The Celebration- 7/10
-The Lives of Others - 7/10.
-Au Revoir les Enfants - 6.5/10
-Last Year At Marienbad - 6/10
-Roma - 6/10
-Z - 6/10
-Army of Shadows - 5/10
-The Mirror - 5/10
-Fitzcarraldo - 5/10
-Le Haine - 4/10

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https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition

Unless I'm processing this wrong this probably means the end for any hope of Breathless and A Separation from making the list.

Sir, I believe the countdown wants an extra bonus update at the final ten thank you.

What do you have left making it?

I'll provide a little mini analysis in a few hours. There's also one other film that surprisingly may miss.