Best foreign film of all-time

What do you consider to be the best (or your favourite) forgein film of all-time? From before the Italian Neo-realist cinema of the forties through the French New Wave, to the current renaissance within Japanese cinema, there is a lot to choose from.

My choice has to be Hana-Bi (Takeshi Kitano, 1997, Jap), Fireworks in the U.S. As an execise in exploring the themes prevalent in Takeshi's work, Hana-bi is almost perfection. The preoccupations with sudden brutal violence punctuating serenity, questions of individual existence and social downfalls all feature heavily. Stylistically from the judgement of the editing to the rich composition within the mise-en-scene, to the melancholic score it is a tour-de-force. Kitano along with Hal Hartley and Atom Egoyan is probably one of the few auteurs (directors who display a constistency of style and theme, like authorship, they control all the films areas) working today. He is incredible; writing, directing, editing, composing paintings and the occasional score. He manages all his actors, runs a production company (Office Kitano), appears on Japanese television 7 nights a week and has the time to write poetry and critical essays.

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Personality goes a long way...

It's as impossible to choose one 'best' foreign film as it is any other kind of film, but if I HAD to pick just one...I suppose I'd go with Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957).

It's so powerful, so unique, so indellible, so dense, so abstract, so... perfect, it was the first one that immediately lept to my mind. It is a movie and an experience that is difficult to describe or encapsulate, it must be seen to even begin to understand it.

I've got about fifty immediate runner-ups I can think of, but I'll stick with the silence, the twilight, the bowl of strawberries, the bowl of milk, and Det Sjunde Inseglet.

Now, saying this will fully reveal what little exposure to foreign films I have, but the best I've seen is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Saw it three times in the theatres...great movie.

Yojimbo. Starrin the coolest guy on the planet. Yojimbo was my first Japanese movie. After that I watched as many as I could. Seven Samurai is my 2nd choice altho really, theyre practically even.

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My choice ie Raise the Red Lantern...with the Red,White and Blue movies as close seconds.

Do lists if you want, more than one is cool, but maybe concentrate on one title?

Holden, I recentley watched Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966), and found it to be a difficult, but rewarding experience. I've got the Virgin Springs in my collection, but The Seventh Seal hasn't come my way yet. I know how you feel about wanting to add more movies, feel free to do so.

Sadesdrk, it's good to see the Three Colours trilogy in your post, which would you say was your favourite? Although critically it was less well recieved than Blue and Red, I'd have to say I enjoyed White the most. All three should be essential viewing for those with an open-mind.

Pigsnielite, you have more love to give to the man Toshiro than anyone I know! In terms of his performance, Sanjuro is my favourite film, using the full spectrum of his comedic talents and his ability with the sword. Watch Zatoichi V.s Yojimbo (1970) directed by Kihachi okamoto, for more of Mifune playing the wandering Rogue.

Das Boot

but if you can... get it subtitled not dubbed. Dubbing always ruins it.

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I forgot... Life is Beautiful was also very good.

oh oh oh! too many choices, too many choices. i really and truly cannot pick a "best". that slot is empty and second and third and stuff are all on a plane together, like this:

unclaimed
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11...

you know what i mean

-Yojimbo - fantastic!
-To Live/Raise the Red Lantern/The Wooden Man's Bride, these are all on the same level for me to each other. Good, very moving, but not "best" for me. Perhaps because they're too blatantly tragic about things.
-White I liked but it was ... quirky and odd and I couldn't stand the woman. The film sort of passed as an amusing trifle to me. Oddly, I can't really remember Red. Blue I remember, and I remember feeling rather detached by that film.

"The Celebration" was one that really moved me, a Swedish or Danish or ... some film like this. A family gathering is turned upside down ... you really should see this if you haven't.

And, one I really loved - Pedro Almodovar's Live Flesh. All About my Mother is pretty marvelous, too.

There's a really beautiful film ... "Cleo de 5 a 7", by Agnes Varda. A woman waits 2 hrs in real time (really, 1.5) for some important news. The film is simple, but deep, and the woman, lovely.

And another I really love - Ma Saison Preferee, with Catherine Deneuve (Goddess!) and Daniel Auteuil (demi-god!)

Beau Pere is one too, a haunting one ...

Yeah, I've watched a lot of French films, but one i saw in film class a couple years ago has always haunted me most particulary and I think would go to the top of the list for me in french film, for it's artistry and the incomparable skill of it's lead male: Les Enfants du Paradis, which was also voted the "Best French Film in History" by the French Film Academy in 1990. (from the imdb). this film had great artistry, atmosphere, emotion, depth ... maybe this would be the best European film, for me?

ack, too many to choose you guys, I'm gonna stop there ...

I didnt know there was another Yojimbo movie in 1970, did Kurosawa give his permission to make this, Fletch? Yojimbo must heve been a pretty old samurai by then. I will look for it.

Ps. Oh I also like Cyrano de Bergerac & Manon of the spring!

I think I enjoyed Blue the most.Like you said ,White is probably the more well known(the video store I rented it from didn't even know there were 3)Blue was just...I don't know...blue.

To be honest, me old mucker I don't know what the deal was between Kurosawa and Okamoto. I may well delve into some web-sites and find out soon. Mifune aged pretty well, but he must have been a ripe old age!

Aspen, my brother bought Das Boot (subtitled!) for me the other week. I'll try and check it out soon and post my thoughts before the thread perishes.

Thmilin, intresting comment on Three Colours Blue. I guess that sense of detachment is due to the female protagonistc sense of detachment from society. I think that as she slowly realises she cannot go through life without attachements to people we really feel her plight. By the end of the film I found myself completely enthralled.

actually, i'm not up on foreign cinema at all, especially japanese movies which seem to be really popular around here. i am pretty keen on the hong kong action scene, though. john woo is a genius of action filmmaking, bar none. no one in the states even comes close. and in the modern era, no action stars have even come close to the on-screen power of the amazing chow yun-fat or jet li. and michelle yeoh is so good at what she does. underrated compared to the likes of jackie chan. i want to read that book about john woo sometime. has anyone read it?

Its so hard to confine myself to one foreign film--but if I have to, it would have to be Kurosawa's RAN (which is also my favorite war film). (I 'm going to include the MAKING OF RAN)--a sort of mini-epic by itself. This film is so full of unforgettable characters: Ichimonji as Lear, Lady Sue, the villainess, Lady Kaede, even the buffoon. And the images: the silent battle scenes, Lear's mad walk from the burning palace--buffeted by wind and enshrouded in fog. THIS FILM IS A PERFECT 10.

My runner-ups (not necessarily in order of liking):

JU DOU: Gong Li's here! And a monstrous little boy. Like a Hannibal-in-training.
LE RETOUR DE MARTIN GUERRE (The Return of Martin Guerre) with Depardieu
THRONE OF BLOOD (Love the score. You'll hear the eerie NOH, Japanese flute
THE 7 SAMURAI
TOUT LES MATINS DU MONDE (All The Mornings of the World) with Gerard Depardieu and his son, Guillame Depardieu, portraying him as a younger man. Its about genius and success and what you give up for both.
CHINESE GHOST STORY: Hong Kong love story. Don't miss the supernatural tongue. (Actually that's all people talk about when I tell them to rent it.) But its much better than that.
[Edited by Wart on 09-12-2001]

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Central Station, Jou Do, Red firecracker, Green firecracker, Ran, Yojimbo, Seven Samuri, The Ogre, Dreamlife of Angels, Ponette, not the best but made me cry.
There's others but I can't think right now.

I tried to exercise restraint, but some of my many (maybe endless) runners-up...in chronological order:

Nosferatu (1922 - F.W. Mernau)
The Last Laugh (1924 - Mernau)
Sunrise (1927 - Mernau)
Metropolis (1927 - Fritz Lang)
Boudu, Saved from Drowning (1932 - Jean Renoir)
Grand Illusion (1937 - Renoir)
The Rules of the Game (1939 - Renoir)
Rome, Open City (1946 - Roberto Rossellini)
Stray Dog (1949 - Akira Kurosawa)
Rashomon (1950 - A. Kurosawa)
Ikiru (1952 - A. Kurosawa)
The Seven Samurai (1954 - A. Kurosawa)
Diabolique (1955 - Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Throne of Blood (1957 - A. Kurosawa)
The 400 Blows (1959 - Francois Truffaut)
Black Orpheus (1959 - Marcel Camus)
Breathless (1960 - Jean-Luc Godard)
La Dolce Vita (1960 - Federico Fellini)
Purple Noon (1960 - Rene Clement)
Yojimbo (1961 - A. Kurosawa)
Jules & Jim (1961 - Truffaut)
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962 - Agnes Varde)
Knife in the Water (1962 - Roman Polanski)
High & Low (1963 - A. Kurosawa)
Contempt (1963 - Godard)
8 1/2 (1963 - Fellini)
Red Desert (1964 - Antonioni)
The Umbrellas of Cherborg (1964 - Jacques Demy)
Woman of the Dunes (1964 - Hiroshi Teshigahra)
Alphaville (1965 - Godard)
King of Hearts (1966 - Philippe de Broca)
Persona (1966 - Ingmar Bergman)
The Firemen's Ball (1967 - Milos Forman)
Z (1969 - Costa-Gavras)
Even Dwarfs Started Small (1971 - Werner Herzog)
The Bride Wore Black (1967 - Truffaut)
Andrei Rublyuov (1969 - Tarkovsky)
The Conformist (1971 - Bertolucci)
Aguirre: Wrath of God (1972 - Herzog)
Solaris (1972 - Tarkovsky)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972 - Luis Bunuel)
Cries & Whispers (1972 - Ingmar Bergman)
Day For Night (1973 - Truffaut)
Dersu Uzala (1974 - A. Kurosawa)
Autumn Sonata (1978 - Ingmar Bergman)
The Tin Drum (1979 - Volker Schlondorff)
Coup de Torchon (1981 - Bernard Tavernier)
Das Boot (1981 - Wolfgang Petersen)
Fitzcarraldo (1982 - Herzog)
The Return of Martin Guerre (1982 - Daniel Vigne)
Confidentially Yours (1983 - Truffaut)
The Last Battle (1983 - Luc Besson)
RAN (1985 - A. Kurosawa)
Jean de Florette (1986 - Claude Berri)
Manon of the Spring (1987 - Berri)
Wings of Desire (1987 - Wim Wenders)
Akira (1988 - Katsuhiro Otomo)
Camille Claudel (1988 - Bruno Nuytten)
Baxter (1988 - Jerome Boivin)
Cinema Paridiso (1988 - Giuseppe Tornatore)
Jesus of Montreal (1989 - Denys Arcand)
la femme Nikita (1990 - Besson)
Delicatessen (1991 - Caro & Jeunet)
Three Colours Trilogy (1993-1994 - Kieslowski)
Faust (1994 - Jan Svankmajer)
Nightwatch (1994 - Ole Bornedal)
Insomnia (1997 - Skjoldbjaerg)
Taxi (1998 - Gerard Pires)
My Best Fiend (1999 - Herzog)
Run Lola Run (1999 - Tom Tykwer)
The Princess & the Warrior (2001 - Tykwer)


OK, OK, I'll stop. That must be closer to seventy-five titles than fifty. And no, this isn't EVERY foreign-language Film I've ever seen, and there are plenty I don't care for.


Even after that list, I'm sure there are some biggies I've forgotten. Anyway, that's definitely enough for now.

I'd seriously have to say Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

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"Who comes at 12:00 on a Sunday night to rent Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid?"
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Really? I found it had too many umbrellas and not enough Cherborg.
J/k I didn't see it, I wasn't even born then.