As some of you may have noticed, I have recently been trawling through a number of sources that list the best foreign films. This has been in an effort to gather data together in an attempt to compile a ‘definitive’ (of sorts) list of the great foreign films.
Whilst lists such as ‘Sight and Sound’ and ‘They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?’ are fantastic resources in general for film watching, they still contain a lot of American pictures, and then when you look at the widely known lists they often contain American films due to either their authors or purpose (AFI is purely American films). I wanted to create a list of purely foreign films, and find out which the most popular when using a wide number of sources, not only for myself, to find which foreign films to watch, but also for others to use.
Don’t take this list too seriously, I use the word ‘definitive’ loosely, it’s difficult to find useful sources, let alone weight them in order to give an accurate ranking of films. Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to expand and improve on it, but when I sit down and look at the Top 100 that I ended up with, I would say it is a very good representation of foreign films.
Also I chose to use films from the 20th century only, so that’s between 1900 and 1999, for simplicity really, otherwise we’d probably have a few modern films in like In The Mood for Love and Pan’s Labyrinth.
First 30 (max amount of images per post)...
Takes me time to list year, director and get a poster to make this look nice, plus you can all guess away what you think will be at the top …
100 - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)
99 – Sans Soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)
98 - The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)
97 - Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda, 1958)
96 - Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)
95 - Histoire(s) du Cinéma (Jean-Luc Godard, 1988-1998)
94 - Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman, 1968)
93 - Earth (Alexander Dovzhenko, 1930)
92 - Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, 1972)
91 - Day of Wrath (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1943)
90 - Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932)
89 - Napoleon (Abel Gance, 1927)
88 - Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951)
87 - Le Samourai (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967)
86 - Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
85 - Late Spring (Yasujirō Ozu, 1949)
84 - Closely Watched Trains (Jiří Menzel, 1966)
83 - L'Age d'Or (Luis Buñuel, 1930)
82 - Zero for Conduct (Jean Vigo, 1933)
81 - La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)
80 - Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)
79 - Les enfants du paradis (Marcel Carné, 1945)
78 - Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
77 - The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1991)
76 - My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
75 - The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
74 - Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)
73 - Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973)
72 - The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1989)
71 - Sátántangó (Béla Tarr, 1994)
Whilst lists such as ‘Sight and Sound’ and ‘They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?’ are fantastic resources in general for film watching, they still contain a lot of American pictures, and then when you look at the widely known lists they often contain American films due to either their authors or purpose (AFI is purely American films). I wanted to create a list of purely foreign films, and find out which the most popular when using a wide number of sources, not only for myself, to find which foreign films to watch, but also for others to use.
Don’t take this list too seriously, I use the word ‘definitive’ loosely, it’s difficult to find useful sources, let alone weight them in order to give an accurate ranking of films. Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to expand and improve on it, but when I sit down and look at the Top 100 that I ended up with, I would say it is a very good representation of foreign films.
Also I chose to use films from the 20th century only, so that’s between 1900 and 1999, for simplicity really, otherwise we’d probably have a few modern films in like In The Mood for Love and Pan’s Labyrinth.
First 30 (max amount of images per post)...
Takes me time to list year, director and get a poster to make this look nice, plus you can all guess away what you think will be at the top …
100 - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)
99 – Sans Soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)
98 - The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)
97 - Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda, 1958)
96 - Red Desert (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964)
95 - Histoire(s) du Cinéma (Jean-Luc Godard, 1988-1998)
94 - Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman, 1968)
93 - Earth (Alexander Dovzhenko, 1930)
92 - Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, 1972)
91 - Day of Wrath (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1943)
90 - Vampyr (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1932)
89 - Napoleon (Abel Gance, 1927)
88 - Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951)
87 - Le Samourai (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967)
86 - Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
85 - Late Spring (Yasujirō Ozu, 1949)
84 - Closely Watched Trains (Jiří Menzel, 1966)
83 - L'Age d'Or (Luis Buñuel, 1930)
82 - Zero for Conduct (Jean Vigo, 1933)
81 - La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)
80 - Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)
79 - Les enfants du paradis (Marcel Carné, 1945)
78 - Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
77 - The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1991)
76 - My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
75 - The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini)
74 - Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)
73 - Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973)
72 - The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1989)
71 - Sátántangó (Béla Tarr, 1994)
Last edited by Daniel M; 06-28-13 at 06:47 PM.