100 Great Foreign films

It saddens me that I've only seen 27 of those, at least I have a list to build towards. It would have been nicer to see just one film per director, I adore Kurosawa but him having five films on the their seems a little overkill. Fantastic to see Renoir get the top spot, the rules of the game is one of the films which really opened my eyes to how great cinema could be.

This list makes me realize just how many movies I still need to see. I've seen 12 of the Top 15, and all of the Top 5, but beyond that it's a wasteland for me. Only 26 out of 100 overall. I'd better get renting.

Not one Indian film? Hmmm

10 out of 100.

Godfucking dammit I suck.

Nothing the renewal of my Netflix account can't fix.

Audacious list at points- get thee to a Netflix queue!

75 out of 100.

My foreign film watching tends to skew towards Asian Cinema. I never noticed that before.

I knew I'd suck as well. 21 out of 100, and some of them I watched very perfunctorily in film classes. I have a hard time getting into the films of the French New Wave.

18/100. Better than I expected -- though some of the Chinese films (e.g., Colour of Love) were a bit of surprise.

Only 30. All the Bergman films on the list that I haven't seen I have borrowed from my school's library, so I'll be watching them soon.

Forty-five, including all of the top 10. A ton of the rest are already sitting on my Netflix queue, but I should probably throw the three of the top 20 that I haven't seen on there (Tokyo Story, The Conformist, and Contempt).

I like that the modern stuff is on there. Even if Amelie doesn't grab you (though I love it), it's hard to make a case against City of God.

I've seen 37/100...not bad I'd say.

39/100. I'm satisfied, though it's a nice list to know where to go next...

Hm, 30/100. Since my foreign film tastes are biased toward modern French output, I will say that I'm a bit miffed at the inclusion of Amelie and the exclusion of films like Cyrano de Bergerac and Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources.

I can see that, but it's kind of like when someone (Seabass, I think?) said he thought it was too soon for OK Computer to be placed in the canon of all-time greats like Dark Side of the Moon and such. My argument then was that Dark Side of the Moon was probably canonized within about five years of its release, and it's already been 10 years for OK Computer. Then again, pop music tends to be culturally digested more quickly than cinema. Influence is more immediately felt, albums are more quickly released and forgotten.

But, still, it's hard to know when something exits "contemporary" and enters "posterity." I think Amelie and City of God are pretty good gambles. I'm actually a little less convinced in the case of All About My Mother. Almodovar's got such a big back catalog that it's a little weird that one of his more recent releases got the nod, even if it's a particularly good one.

Jeez, what is this, the baseball Hall of Fame?

I can't complain about the Kurosawa choices - although I'd rank High and Low higher. Kurosawa might not rank so highly in his own country, though.

And Tokyo Story is so great - amazing depictions of characters, the unique camera style. Definite Criterion pickup.

13/100. Disappointing. There's a bunch of major films I havent had the time to check out yet, though one I have seen that I think not alot of people have seen at all (Hiroshima Mon Amour, anyone?)

That's one of the ones I've 'seen', but not really seen. I had a hard time staying awake for it during class, which is the case of almost any film I see in a classroom setting (except for Barry Lyndon).

Ok, I'll admit I had to watch as part of a course too, heh, but I was neck-deep in essays about all things Japan at the time and found it involving stuff.

This is annoyingly off-topic, but for whatever reason as I was scrolling through this top 100 list, a film I've been intrigued with for a long time popped into my mind. Off topic because its not 'foreign', but John Cassavetes Shadows seems like it belongs on such an eclectic list.

Whew...64/100, I was worried there for a second. Is THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL available on DVD?

51/100....really cool list. Awesome to see Eyes Without a Face on there.

That list makes me feel like a damn poser for even thinking I'm a fan of foreign movies. Turns out, I'm more a big fan of Asian movies.. with not nearly enough dabbling into other areas of the world. I haven't even seen Spirited Away *sob*. I shall hang my head in shame until I can claim to have seen more movies on that list than the sum of my fingers and toes.

While the list is fairly solid, it's complete lack of silent movies is a shame. The list also comes off a bit too much like the best movies that Criterion has released on DVD, which may show some of the limitations in the author's choice, or it could simply be a complement at the excellent library that Criterion has released. The only movies, non-silent, that should really be on that list would be Bob le flambeur, and I think he may have missed Brief Encounter too. Or was this supposed to be a foreign language film list? That would also explain the lack of the Monty Python movies, or even more a more recent classic like Trainspotting (a much better movie than Amélie or City of God, not that those films are lightweight.)

I haven't seen a fair amount of the movies on that list, but I'm proud that I at least know about most of them, and I've made the effort to acquire a majority of them. And finally, a foreign list that doesn't have to go completely ga-ga over Old Boy*!

* A very good movie, mind you, which too many people think is the best thing they've seen since Fight Club. You know the type I'm talking about.

I would say English - American culture being fused at the hip negates the word foreign being applied to anything viewed from the other, just look how many brits have won oscars and prior to the mid 80's how many flicks where made and financed in the UK proper and had US distribution.

Jesus Christ, Spirited Away at the 33rd spot?

I was quite enjoying this list until they decided cliché animation trumps Godards and Fellinis.

38 seen, with some notable exceptions... OK, they're The Decalogue, Red/White/Blue, Wings of Desire, Ordet, 8½ and Le Samourai, which are films I'm dying to see but have never gotten around to. Also, I have Pierrot le Fou on tape, but lent my VCR to my brother and haven't been able to watch it.

I am deeply ashamed to have only seen nine of the list, though I'm mildy irked that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has made it on in place of, say, Onibaba or Kwaidan.

Many there that I've been really meaning to see, though, expecially Ugetsu and Eyes without a Face.

At least I have Fanny and Alexander and a borrowed copy of Ran waiting to be watched.


List bookmarked for future reference, anyway.

22/100. I have more homework.

I would have rioted if Raise the Red Lantern wasn't included.

I would have loved to have seen some Kwaidan and Harakiri get a nod on the list, certainly they could have been fitted in instead of one of the half dozen Kurosawa entries. I also find it interesting that the Colours trilogy was separated into individual films and that Korean cinema seemed to be totally blanked (certainly one of the Vengeance trilogy and something by Kim Ki-duk could have had the prestige to make it).

I've seen roughly a third of the films on that list, including almost all of the top 20, which I'm rather proud of.

But isn't the term 'foreign film' a little archaic now? Or is that just film geek talk?

It makes sense to me that Trois Colours was separated. They're pretty self-contained (end of Red notwithstanding), and does anyone really watch all three in one sitting, anyway? Also, White is a few notches down from Blue and Red in my book. I think the latter two are worthy of being on the list, but I'm not so sure about White (and, without checking again, I think that's how it played out, right?).

I didn't notice the absence of White until just now.

I'd argue that the Colours Trilogy is just as much a singular piece of work as the The Decalouge, whilst there are different elements in each film, the overarching narrative and thematic similarities makes the films a part of a larger whole (in my view).

Not that I'm complaining about their inclusion, Blue (despite how populist it is) is a stunning piece of work.

Mediocrity, 41/100. Persona being the highest film I haven't seen.

Seems like a fairly reasonable list to me. White and an Indian film being absent standing out to me. Oh, and Triumph of the Will, although that's a can of worms.