The MoFo Top 100 Foreign Language Film Countdown

Army of Shadows is an almost autobiographical film about the French Resistance during WWII. It's the accumulation of details that matter in a Melville film, and this is one that Melville and novelist Joseph Kessel (who wrote the source for Belle de Jour) know from their own wartime experiences. It has a really strong cast, and I like it about as much as I like all Melville films, which means I recommend it but didn't consider it for my list. In case you didn't know, it wasn't released in the U.S. until 2006.

Sonatine is one of Takeshi's weirdest [that's saying something] where it's unclear what's going on, and then when it becomes kinda clear, it seems to go off in some tangents even weirder, right up to that iconic ending.

None from my list have shown.

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My IMDb page

My Summary:

Seen: 1/12
My list: 0/25

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Army Of Shadows is a perfect movie that would have made my list if I didn’t set stupid boundaries for myself. Might be top ten, just one Melville I love even more. I have only watched it twice but I’m always in the mood to watch it again because I have a pea brain for plot. Amazing film.

I didn’t like Sonatine when I saw it quite a while ago now. My taste has definitely changed for stylized Asian action films now. I need to watch it again at some point l.

And I'm #2 for the Devil's Trifecta

Sonatine is one of Kitano's that I REALLY want to see and as yet, haven't. But WILL.
I am a fanboy of Kitano's and my last film of his, Hanna-bi could very well be the #1 mark for me and I have this inert sensation that Sonatine could challenge that spot when I finally see it.




Movies Seen: 6 of 12 (50.0%)
4. Rome, Open City (1945) #93
6. Army of Shadows (1969) #90
19. Paprika (2006) #100
25. In This Corner of the World (2016) One Pointer

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Army of Shadows is a top-notch film and, same story, no room. A better Melville did make it, however. I've never seen or heard of Sonantine but I expect that will change now. Me so far:

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16. The Exterminating Angel (1962)
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18. Paprika (2006)
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Need to watch both of these

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Shaping up to be a very interesting list.


Rome Open City is one of the most significant films ever made, inaugurating neorealism, and ushering in the entire genres of new wave and independent filmmaking in its wake. Still didn't make my list.


I might have picked different films from Almodovar (Women on the Verge, Live Flesh, Talk To Her) or Yimou (Ju Dou) but neither one was quite in contention for my list. Same with Melville (I assume La Samourai will show up eventually) or Beat Takeshi.


Speaking of Skin, I do hope that it bodes well for the appearance of better films like Eyes Without a Face or possibly Amenabar's Open Your Eyes, a film that may have soured due to being remade as the less than excellent Vanilla Sky.

I’m a bit sad I didn’t get a list in. I appreciate the PM reminder I got, but I’ve been so extremely busy I just didn’t have time to look at it and compile a proper list and eventually I forgot it all around deadline…

Usually I always participate in these, so that’s a bummer. Anyways, I will see if I can pop in some day this week and give my thoughts on the entries thus far.

However, I do like some of his movies and here are my IMDB ratings (so no halves)



-Le Cercle Rouge - 8/10
-Léon Morin, Priest - 7/10
-Bob Le Flambeur - 7/10
-Le Samourai - 7/10

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The Red Circle was too slow for me to finish...

Looks like two more films I'll have to add to my need to watch list.

Sonatine is another movie that I watched for a HoF a while back, but I didn't have time to it rewatch for this countdown. If I remember correctly, I liked it, but not enough for it to have made my list anyway.

I haven't seen Army of Shadows.

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OPEN FLOOR.

Jean-Pierre Melville's L'armée des Ombres (1969) was in my Top Ten, all the way at number six. And yes, it is crazy that three of us MoFos all slated it in the exact same position! I think it is Melville's masterpiece, which is saying a lot because he made so much great cinema. This at times almost documentary-like portrayal of some of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation is quietly powerful. It seems to be a reaction to not only James Bond movies but even something like The Guns of Navarone and other military mission movies. While the idea of a slick secret agent is a fun fantasy and certainly there were soldiers and other specialists risking their lives in covert and deadly operations, the French Resistance - and by extension any such actors in other nations and any conflict - were mostly "normal", unassuming citizens compelled into service by circumstance. The characters played by Lino Ventura, Simone Signoret, Paul Meurisse, and Jean-Pierre Cassel have no hand-to-hand combat training, are not munitions experts, they are not well-armed, and are often working on very sketchy information. But they persist because to surrender without doing whatever they can is a fate worse than death.

That the film was misunderstood and suppressed for so many decades is nuts. Like most I did not see Army of Shadows until the 2006 restoration and re-release on the big screen. I was blown away. I rewatched it during the pandemic and it still blows me away. I suspect there will be at least one or two other Melville flicks higher on the countdown, but I am very glad this one made the cut.


HOLDEN’S BALLOT
6. Army of Shadows (#90)

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I'm hoping to see the two new ones (I might want to watch one of them).