The Best Foriegn Films - Your Input Please
 

I'm looking to diversify my tastes in film and I was hoping some of you DVDTalkers with world-wide cinema scopes could help me out. List your top 3 fav movies from each country listed, include classic and modern films if you so please. Much Obliged!

Germany
1.
2.
3.

France
1.
2.
3.

Italy
1.
2.
3.

Spain/Mexico
1.
2.
3.

Japan
1.
2.
3.

Russia
1.
2.
3.

Other (Denmark, Norway, Ireland-- I really don't know of too many other countries that have big film markets.)
1.
2.
3.

This is a toughie.... for starters I have a list of select Foregin Films available on DVD at my site (see sig)



Germany
1. Boot, Das (1981)
2. Run Lola Run (1998)
3. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) or Fitzcarraldo (1982)

France
1. Amélie (2001)
2. Professional (1994)
3. Single Girl (1995)

Italy
1. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
2. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
3. Postino, il (1994)

Spain/Mexico
1. Amores Perros (2000)
2. Devil's Backbone, The (2001)
3. All About My Mother (1999)

Japan
1. Kikujiro (1999)
2. Ran (1985)
3. Woman in the Dunes (1964)

Russia
1. Andrei Rublev (1969)
2. Of Freaks and Men (1998)
3. Legend of Suram Fortress (1984)

Other (Denmark, Norway, Ireland-- I really don't know of too many other countries that have big film markets.)
1. Breaking the Waves (1996)
2. Mifune (1999)
3. Zero Kelvin (1995)

Australia (freebie)
1. Lantana (2001)
2. Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, The (1994)
3. Piano (1993)

mixed bag

Beyond the Clouds (1995)
Closely Watched Trains (1966)
Crying Game, The (1992)
Decalogue (1987)
Divided We Fall (2000)
Dreamlife of Angels (1998)
Emperor and the Assassin (1999)
Five Senses, The (1999)
Ju Dou (1990)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Scarlet Empress, The (1934)
Servant, The (1963)
Vertical Ray of the Sun (2000)

Re: The Best Foriegn Films - Your Input Please
 

Well, I cant give you a full list - I know some films, but cant remember names to save my life - here's what I do remember:

Germany
1. Metropolis

Spain/Mexico
1. Day of the Beast (may only be avilable on R2 disc)

Japan
1. Spirited Away
2. The Ring
3. Battle Royale

I've limited myself to one film per director...

Germany
1. Kings Of the Road (Wim Wenders)
2. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
3. M (Fritz Lang)

France
1. Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)
2. Jules and Jim (Francois Truffaut)
3. Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc "Cinema" Godard)

Italy
1. Bicycle Thieves (Vittorio De Sica)
2. L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni)
3. 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini)

Spain/Mexico
1. Viridiana (Luis Bunuel)
2. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodovar)

I'm not well versed with Spanish-language cinema, sorry.

Japan
1. Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi)
2. Tokyo Story (Yasuhiro Ozu)
3. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa)

Russia
1. Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein)
2. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky)
3. Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov)

Probably should have lists for Hong Kong, Iran, Taiwan, India, etc...

Russia
1. Stalker 1972
2. Come and See 1980?
3. Anything Eisenstein

I don't claim these the best, but just a sampling of some strong works I've seen. Also, DVD availability is spotty for some of these.

Germany
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)
Zentropa (1992)
Aguirre: Wrath of God (1972)

France
Shoot the Piano Player (1960)
Read My Lips (2001)
Band of Outsiders (1964)

Italy
Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
Nights of Cabiria (1957)
L'Avventura (1960)

Spain/Mexico
Los Olvidados (1950)
Sex and Lucia (2000)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989)

Japan
Visitor Q (2001)
High and Low (1963)
Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (2001)

Russia
Earth (1930)
Solaris (1972)
Russian Ark (2002)

Other
Iran: The Wind Will Carry Us (1999)
Taiwan: The Hole (1997)
Argentina: La Cienaga (2001)

Spain / Mexico (all movies are on DVD):

1. Open Your Eyes
2. All About My Mother (Pedro Almodovar, won Best Foreign Pic)
3. Amores Perros

If you want Los Olivdados, you can get it on DVD: You can get it on R0 NTSC format from R2 (French, though the movie is in Spanish with optional English (or French) subtitles, for ~ $45 shipped: http://www.dvdfr.com/dvd/fiche.php3?id=4279. I've not actually seen this movie.

Germany:
1. Das Boot
2. Run Lola Run
3. ?

Other:
1. Tango (Argentina, Carlos Saura was the director, this movie is a very beautiful movie though it doesn't have much of a plot, nominated for Best Foreign Picture when it came out).

I'd add:

4. The Last Laugh (F.W. Murnau)
5. The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg)

4. A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson)
5. The 400 Blows (Truffaut) - IMHO a more interesting film than Jules and Jim.
6. M. Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati)

You can't go wrong with any of Almodovar's films. Spanish/Mexican cinema's arguably at its strongest point in its history. Alfonso Cuaron, Almodovar, Alejandro Amenabar and Guillermo Del Toro are all brilliant filmmakers... not to mention the past success of Roberto Rodriquez before Hollywood came calling (excluding Desperado)...

These are definitely the big three Japanese filmmakers. Add Throne of Blood to your list for Kurosawa and get a taste for the other half of his body of work.

4. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Sergei Parajanov)
5. Hamlet (Grigori Kozintsev) - Kozintsev has produced some of the definitive Shakespeare adaptations. I just wish more of his work were available.

Hell... I'm bored at work... time for one more. I've only seen a few Indian films and Iranian cinema's almost a complete mystery to me.

Hong Kong
1. Bullet in the Head, A Better Tomorrow II, The Killer, etc (John Woo)
2. Once Upon A Time In China I and II, Peking Opera Blues (Tsui Hark)
3. A Chinese Ghost Story (Ching Siu-Tung)
4. Bride with White Hair (Ronny Yu)
5. Happy Together, Chungking Express, Ashes of Time (Wong Kar-Wai)

...and of course Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung if you need your fix of kung fu comedy.

Re: The Best Foriegn Films - Your Input Please
 

Germany
1. Auguire: Wrath Of God
2. Nosferatu (herzogs)
3. The Nasty Girl (best foregin picture winner in '91)

France
1. Jean DeFlorette/Manon Of the Spring (may just be my favorite films of all time!)
2. City of Lost Children
3. Amelie

Italy
1. Life is Beautiful
2. Cinema Paradiso
3.



Japan
1. Hidden Fortress/ Rashoman
2.
3.

Mexico
1. Y Tu Mama Tambien(2001)
2. Like Water for Chocolate(1992)


France
1. Ma Vie En Rose (1997)


England
1. East is East (1999)

India
1. Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Taiwan
1. Eat Drink, Man Woman

Germany:
1. "Das Boot"
2. "Run Lola Run"

Italy:
1. "Garden of the Finzi-Continis"
2. "Cinema Paradiso"

France
1. "Diary of a Country Priest"
2. "Jean de Florette/Manon"
3. "Autumn Tale"

England:
1. "My Name is Joe"
2. "Caravaggio"
3. "Prospero's Books"

Russian:
1. "Brother"

Danish:
1. "Pelle the Conqueror"

Netherlands:
1. "The Pointsman"
2. "The Fourth Man"

Argentina:
1. "Nine Queens"

Iran:
1. "Children of Heaven"

Sweden:
1. "My Life As A Dog"

Australia:
1. "Muriel's Wedding"
2. "The Bank"
3. "Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert


The USA /Vietnamese film "Three Season"

What does "Widow of Saint Pierre" fall under, is this a Canadian film?

I'll second mcarver's choices for Italy. (Well, Il Postino and Cinema Paradiso anyway. Haven't seen Life is Beautiful.)

And "Seven Samurai" is a great Japanese film. I'm hoping to see a lot more foreign cinema over break.

Just a note to say that Zentropa is due out on DVD in April 2003

Thanks for all the choices, I'll be sure to check some of those out. Any DVD recommendations? Not just the movie but features and stuff?

This would be kind of like asking me my favorite american films. I have no idea where to start. So I can't really help you.

Uhh... I like all of Besson's stuff, but I know that's not everyone's taste. There's lots of good animated stuff from Japan with really strong stories...

Eastern europe has lots of neat character films I enjoy...

My list:

Hungary:
1. Werckmeister Harmonies
2. The Red Psalm
3. Torzoc (Abandoned)

China:
1. Hero
2. Gone is the One Who Held me Dearest in the World
3. May & August

Taiwan:
1. Vive L'Amour
2. Good Men, Good Women
3. A Brighter Summer Day

Denmark:
1. Day of Wrath
2. The Celebration
3. Zentropa (it's NOT German)

Sweden:
1. Songs from the Second Floor
2. Persona
3. F**king Amal

South Korea:
1. The Way Home
2. Peppermint Candy
3. Volcano High

Iran:
1. The Wind Will Carry Us
2. The Apple
3. The Day I Became a Woman

Argentina:
1. Burnt Money
2. La Cienega
3. Nine Queens

Grim, thanks for including this. I was gonna try to do something with those countries but haven't had time.

Questions/comments:

You prefer Vive L'Amour over What Time Is It There? and Good Men, Good Women over Flowers of Shangai?

Is A Brighter Summer Day available on DVD?

You really like The Wind Will Carry Us more than Taste of Cherry or Close-Up? Personally I think 10 blows them all away...

Some new, some repeated.

Germany

1. Das Boot (Nice dvd, great audio track)
2. M (Criterion Collection #30)
3. Metropolis (one of the worst DVD's I've ever seen, new dvd due out in 2003)

France

1. Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Criterion Collection #102, very nice 2-disc edition)
2. Amelie (great dvd)
3. Grand Illusion (Criterion Collection #1)

Soviet Union

1. Battleship Potemkin
2. Solaris (2-disc edition just released, Criterion Collection #164)
3. Salt for Svanetia (quite obscure, I saw it on TCM)

Sweden

1. The Seventh Seal (Criterion Collection #11, a nice early DVD)
2. Fanny and Alexander (no DVD, :( )
3. The Emigrants (no DVD either)

Great list mcarver! So many of my favorites are there. Especially "The Devil's Backbone". What a fantastic film!

Thanks... I tried to pull titles that reflect their country and are more likely to be of interest to a "new" foreign film viewer (though I did throw in a few outre titles). While some of the other suggestions are great samplings of their "country", I would hesitate to recommend them as an "introduction".

For many Hollywood viewers, most foreign films are an acquired taste. It can take some adjustment, but once acquired, it's hard to stay away...

I was trying to figure out why this is, and all I could think of was that most foreign films are not flashy, they are story driven, while most Hollywood blockbusters have very large special effects budgets.

Lesterlong: As for foreign film DVDs with a lot of extras, good luck. I consider a foreign film that is in it's original aspect ratio and which has removable subtitles to be very good quality. Anamorphic is an added bonus. If you want a foreign film with quality extras, check out the $39.95 MSRP foreign language Criterions (the $29.95 MSRP Criterions generally don't have extras, or very few, it seems).

As for Spanish language films, the only ones that I can think of that have commentary tracks are Tango (English commentary), Amores Perros (in Spanish, but with subtitles), and Y Tu Mama Tambien (also in Spanish but without subtitles, and the spoken Spanish in the commentary track is low class, lots of slang).

Acutally depends on the country and or period. Alot of the European films tend to be actually character driven vs. plot driven. In otherwords it's the characters that tend to drive the film. Bread & Tulips is a good example of what I would consider a character driven film. Or another great one, The Single Girl (definately character driven).

frankly, i'm surprised nobody's mentioned Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs trilogy yet.

i haven't seen it, but it seems that every foreign film fan likes, if not LOVES, the Trois Coleurs trilogy. they are titled:

<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0108394">Trois Couleurs: Bleu</a>
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0111507">Trois Couleurs: Blanc</a>
<a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0111495">Trois Couleurs: Rouge</a>

they aren't out on DVD yet R1, but they are coming towards the beginning of next year (March, i believe)..
-di doctor-

Vive L'Amour is definitely better than What Time is it There? IMO, Tsai has been making roughly the same movie every time, but that is not necessary a bad thing. For example, "The River" was a dark, disturbing film, while "What Time..." is lighter, funnier, yet still serious. But they are pretty much all about urban alienation and loneliness. IMO, Vive L'Amour, his first to really make the definitive statement, is the best and most eloquent of his films.

I found Flowers of Shanghai to be really beautiful but utterly tiresome. On the other hand, I really, really liked Good Men, Good Women, especialy with the direct contrasts between lives during WW2 and now.

A Brighter Summer Day isn't out on DVD, AFAIK. It's on VCD though.

I actually like Close-Up more than The Wind Will Carry Us (both are better than Taste of Cherry). But The Wind... is more current in terms of where Kiarostami is now. "10" isn't out here in Hong Kong yet - I'll definitely watch it when it's out.

The only foriegn dvd's I have are:
The Vanishing (criterion)
Japanese Ring
The Devil's Backbone