Personal Top 100 Foreign Language Film Lists

Gary Tooze · 05-09-2001, 07:22 AM

Well, firstly I realize this will pertain to such a small group in here, but I have tried to put together my "Personal Top 100 Foreign Language Films". The trouble is there are so many films left out there that I have not seen... works by Bergman, Ozu, Mizoguchi, Ophuls, Ray.. and I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. What I am hoping for is recommendations... perhaps others lists ?... just Top 10 lists !?! ( or The Top 10 that I have missed ? )

A big thanks to Jarod for the idea and having the guts to post his Top 100 American films... I now realize how tough it is to choose, but I, once again, put the disclaimer, that these are my choices... would love to hear yours though...

Thanks,

1 * The Passion of Joan of Arc * Dreyer * 1928
2 * The Bicycle Thief * De Sica * 1948
3 * Le Notti di Cabiria * Fellini * 1957
4 * Autumn Sonata * Bergman * 1978
5 * The Mirror * Tarkovsky * 1975
6 * The 400 Blows * Truffault * 1959
7 * Ikiru * Kurosawa * 1952
8 * Red * Kieslowski * 1994
9 * Summer * Rohmer * 1986
10 * In The Mood For Love * Kar-Wai * 2000
11 * Les parapluies de Cherbourg * Demy * 1964
12 * High and Low * Kurosawa * 1963
13 * Grande Illusion * Renoir * 1937
14 * Andrei Rublev * Tarkovsky * 1969
15 * Not One Less * Yimou * 1999
16 * Chloe in the Afternoon * Rohmer * 1972
17 * The Woman Next Door * Truffault * 1981
18 * Decalogue #6 ( 58 minutes ) * Kieslowski * 1988
19 * Insomnia * Skjoldbjærg * 1997
20 * My Night at Mauds * Rohmer * 1969
21 * Battleship Potemkin * Eisenstein * 1925
22 * Aviator's Wife * Rohmer * 1980
23 * Jean De Florette * Berri * 1986
24 * M * Lang * 1931
25 * Vagabond * Varda * 1985
26 * Sacrifice * Tarkovsky * 1986
27 * Mother and Son * Sokurov * 1997
28 * Small Change * Truffault * 1976
29 * Seven Samurai * Kurosawa * 1954
30 * Cleo from 5 to 7 * Varda * 1962
31 * White * Kieslowski * 1994
32 * Il Bidone * Fellini * 1955
33 * Ran * Kurosawa * 1985
34 * Decalogue #9 * Kieslowski * 1987
35 * Tampopo * Itami * 1986
36 * 47 Ronin * Mizoguchi * 1941
37 * Children of Heaven * Majidi * 1997
38 * Farewell My Concubine * Chen * 1993
39 * Chushingura * Inagaki * 1962
40 * Chun King Express * Kar-wai * 1994
41 * Flowers of Shangahai * Hsiao-hsien Hou * 1998
42 * Orpheus * Cocteau * 1949
43 * After Life * Koreeda * 1998
44 * A Single Girl * Jacquot * 1995
45 * The Seventh Seal * Bergman * 1957
46 * Live Flesh * Almodóvar * 1997
47 * Kikujiro * Kitano * 1999
48 * Beauty and The Beast * Cocteau * 1946
49 * The Last Metro * Truffault * 1980
50 * All About My Mother * Almodóvar * 1999
51 * Discreet Charm of The Bourgeoisie * Buñuel * 1972
52 * Babette’s Feast * Axel * 1987
53 * Strike * Eisenstein * 1925
54 * Testament of Orpheus * Cocteau * 1960
55 * The Eel * Imamura * 1997
56 * King of Masks * Wu * 1996
57 * Cinema Pardiso * Tornatore * 1988
58 * Raise the Red Lantern * Zhang * 1991
59 * Diva * Beineix * 1981
60 * Matter of Dignity * Cacoyannis * 1957
61 * Cabinet of Dr. Calagari * Wiene * 1920
62 * Manon of the Spring * Berri * 1986
63 * Woman in the Dunes * Teshigahara * 1964
64 * Fireworks * Kitano * 1998
65 * Vivre sa vie * Godard * 1962
66 * Color of Pomegranites * Paradzhanov * 1968
67 * Full Moon in Paris * Rohmer * 1984
68 * La Strada * Fellini * 1954
69 * Les Vacances de M. Hulot * Tati * 1953
70 * Day For Night * Truffault * 1973
71 * Das Boot * Petersen * 1981
72 * Jules et Jim * Truffault * 1961
73 * Aquiree, The Wrath of God * Herzog * 1972
74 * Color of Paradise * Majidi * 1999
75 * A Good Marriage * Rohmer * 1982
76 * Confidentially Yours * Truffault * 1983
77 * Whity * Fassbinder * 1971
78 * Grave of the Fireflies * Nosaka * 1988
79 * Deszu Uzala * Kurosawa * 1974
80 * Dodes Kaden * Kurosawa * 1970
81 * Amarcord * Fellini * 1974
82 * Central Station * Salles * 1998
83 * Wages of Fear * Clouzot * 1953
84 * Suzanne's Career * Rohmer * 1963
85 * The Bride Wore Black * Truffault * 1967
86 * Yojimbo * Kurosawa * 1961
87 * Black Orpheus * Camus * 1950
88 * Good Morning * Ozu * 1959
89 * Bed and Board * Truffault * 1970
90 * Ashes of Time * Wong * 1994
91 * Metropolis * Lang * 1927
92 * Beau Pere * Blier * 1981
93 * Fist of Legend * Chan * 1994
94 * In the Realm of the Senses * Oshima * 1976
95 * Happy Together * Wong * 1997
96 * Alphaville * Godard * 1965
97 * Stray Dog * Kurosawa * 1949
98 * The Sorrow and the Pity * Ophuls * 1969
99 * Legend of the Drunken Master 2 * Chia-Liang * 1994
100 * Run Lola Run * 1998

Missing notables ( cause I haven't seen them yet! ): Berman's "Wild Strawberries", "Persona"... "Life of Oharu" (Ozu) , "Tokyo Story"(Mizoguchi), "Apu Trilogy" (Ray), "The Rules of the Game" (Renoir), "L'Atalante" (Vigo), "L'Avventura" (Antonioni) , "Earrings of Madame de..." (Ophuls) , "Stalker" (Tarkovsky) , "Pickpocket" (Bresson) etc. etc.

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Gary@2ze.com
DVD COLLECTION CONTEST , My DVD Collection ,My Home Theatre
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Gary Tooze · 05-09-2001, 07:22 AM

FROM JOHN N

Gary,

GREAT LIST, and thanks for all your work. You reminded me that I do need another freign film fix. I have been neglecting the foreign film genre for a few weeks now.

Here are a few essentials that missed your list..
Yasujiro Osu's 1959 film -- Floating Weeds
Abel Gance's 1937 film -- J'accuse
Carl Dryer's films -1943 -- Day of Wrath
and his 1955 film -- Ordet

Here are 2 others that are personal favorites that are NOT likely going to appear on any GREAT film lists:

Serge Bourguignon's 1962 film -- Sundays and Cybele
and
Emir Kusturica's 1989? film -- Time of the Gypsies.

Thanks again.

JN

Gary Tooze · 05-09-2001, 07:23 AM

Thanks JohnN... always good to have a fellow Canuck out there...

You responded in the exact fashion that I wanted...

"Sundays and Cybele" has one of the highest ratings I've ever seen on IMdb ( 9.1 ! /10 ) ...course that's only after 85 votes... but still!

"Time of the Gypsies" also sounds very cool with a telekinetic flavor...

Wow... thanks for recommending them... I wonder what my guru Pascal thinks of them... ? ( goading for a post )

Cheers,

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Gary@2ze.com
DVD COLLECTION CONTEST , My DVD Collection ,My Home Theatre
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Gary Tooze · 05-09-2001, 07:24 AM

FROM EVAN CASE
Geez, have I seen a hundred yet? Must've... I only have 27 left on the S&S and I've been watching them almost weekly at the library the past two years. Only trouble is, during the summers, I'm basically relegated to watching those foreign flicks that TCM chooses.

I should definitely be able to get 50-60 great films on the list. After that, it might be stuff like Teorema or A View to a Kill!

(Just kidding about the last one. Too bad it's not Top 100 non-American films. Lean and a few 007s are left out in the cold on both lists!)

Give me a little time (as in a few weeks) to rack my brain. I haven't seen nearly as many as some here. At the same time, I have (at 20) seen more foreign films than most people will in their lifetimes. I figure with a steady post-college paycheck, I'll be able to devote a lot more attention to them.

Evan

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Gary Tooze · 05-09-2001, 07:24 AM

FROM TIM RAFFEY
Gary,

My taste was bad, but it's improving. I could probably get a top 15, or twenty (I, like Evan, have the age excuse, though he's also got four years on me).

I'll think about it and get back.

**HTF Ads**

Gary Tooze · 05-09-2001, 07:26 AM

FROM PASCAL A
quote:
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I wonder what my guru Pascal thinks of them... ? ( goading for a post )
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Hey, I'm on it! I was all set to post my list yesterday before the site went down. I like all lists that reflect the idiosyncracies of individual taste, and don't look as though they were culled from a series of critical and academic lists. I'm a big fan of Cacoyannis' A Matter of Dignity and Stella as well, but found that I ran out of room quickly on the list.

I did actually have Time of the Gypsies on my list, as well as Day of Wrath, which I prefer to The Passion of Joan of Arc, but I left out Floating Weeds in favor of An Autumn Afternoon as a better representation of Ozu's later period.

Basically, I limited my choices as a rough percentage of the filmmaker's body of work, with a maximum of four. I also tried to intersperse those choices throughout the list, so that I would not have all the Mizoguchi, Tarkovsky, or Dreyer films on top. Lastly, I tried to diversify the choices by including filmmakers who have had uneven careers, but showed brilliance in certain films.

1. Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
2. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
3. Life of Oharu (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1952)
4. Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, 1972)
5. Mouchette (Robert Bresson, 1967)
6. Le Notti di Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957)
7. Charulata (Satyajit Ray, 1964)
8. Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1988)
9. Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)
10. The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg, 1930)
11. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
12. Au Hasard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, 1966)
13. Three Colors: Red (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
14. Sansho the Bailiff (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1954)
15. Forbidden Games (Rene Clement, 1952)
16. That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Bunuel, 1977)
17. Day of Wrath (Carl-Theodor Dreyer, 1943)
18. An Autumn Afternoon (Yasujiro Ozu, 1962)
19. Dersu Uzala (Akira Kurosawa, 1974)
20. La Strada (Federico Fellini, 1954)
21. Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)
22. Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1975)
23. My Life to Live (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962)
24. Hiroshima, Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)
25. Pauline at the Beach (Eric Rohmer, 1983)
26. Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
27. The Silence of the Sea (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1947)
28. The Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1963)
29. Germany, Year Zero (Roberto Rossellini, 1947)
30. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
31. Close-Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)
32. The Green Room (Francois Truffaut, 1978)
33. Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
34. The River (Jean Renoir, 1951)
35. The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl-Theodor Deyer, 1928)
36. Belle de Jour (Luis Bunuel, 1967)
37. Street of Shame (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1956)
38. Muriel (Alain Resnais, 1963)
39. Open City (Roberto Rossellini, 1946)
40. Sans Soleil (Chris Marker, 1982)
41. Z (Costa-Gavras, 1969)
42. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
43. City of Sadness (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 1989)
44. Mahanagar (Satyajit Ray, 1963)
45. Mother and Son (Aleksandr Sokurov, 1997)
46. Autumn Sonata (Ingmar Bergman, 1978)
47. Il Grido (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1957)
48. Man of Marble (Andrzej Wajda, 1977)
49. The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio de Sica, 1948)
50. Late Chrysanthemums (Mikio Naruse, 1954)
51. I Was Born But... (Yasujiro Ozu, 1932)
52. The Burmese Harp (Kon Ichikawa, 1956)
53. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Sergei Paradjanov, 1964)
54. Second Circle (Aleksandr Sokurov, 1990)
55. The Exterminating Angel (Luis Bunuel, 1962)
56. Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
57. The Travelling Players (Theo Angelopoulos, 1975)
58. Cria! (Carlos Saura, 1975)
59. Through the Olive Trees (Abbas Kiarostami, 1994)
60. Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960)
61. Jules and Jim (Francois Truffaut, 1961)
62. Vincent, Francois, Paul and the Others (Claude Sautet, 1974)
63. Toute une Nuit (Chantal Akerman, 1982)
64. 8 1/2 (Federico Fellini, 1963)
65. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974)
66. Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa, 1959)
67. Vengeance is Mine (Shohei Imamura, 1979)
68. Time of the Gypsies (Emir Kusturica, 1989)
69. Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1950)
70. Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1975)
71. The Mother and the Whore (Jean Eustache, 1973)
72. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Jacques Demy, 1964)
73. Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda, 1958)
74. My Night at Maud's (Eric Rohmer, 1969)
75. Shoeshine (Vittorio de Sica, 1946)
76. The Middleman (Satyajit Ray, 1976)
77. The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser (Werner Herzog, 1974)
78. Celine and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette, 1974)
79. Horse Thief (Tian Zhuangzhuang, 1986)
80. Au Revoir les Enfants (Louis Malle, 1987)
81. The Marriage of Maria Braun (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1979)
82. The Ballad of Narayama (Shohei Imamura, 1982)
83. Il Ferroviere (Pietro Germi, 1956)
84. Vagabond (Agnes Varda, 1985)
85. Le Samourai (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967)
86. The Puppetmaster (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 1993)
87. Underground (Emir Kusturica, 1995)
88. Days of Being Wild (Wong Kar-Wai, 1991)
89. La Ceremonie (Claude Chabrol, 1995)
90. The Match Factory Girl (Aki Kaurismaki, 1989)
91. Woman in the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964)
92. La Promesse (Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 1996)
93. Murmur of the Heart (Louis Malle, 1971)
94. The Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator (Dusan Makavejev, 1967)
95. Farewell My Concubine (Chen Kaige, 1993)
96. Le Boucher (Claude Chabrol, 1969)
97. Landscape in the Mist (Theo Angelopoulos, 1988)
98. Montparnasse 19 (Jacques Becker, 1958)
99. Monsieur Hire (Patrice Leconte, 1989)
100. The River (Tsai Ming Liang, 1997)

Gary Tooze · 05-09-2001, 07:26 AM

Hey Pascal,

WOW.. that is a lot of research for moi... I will digest it tonight and over the next few days...

It bugs me that Rohmer, whose films I adore and have seen the majority of... and the highest rated of his films on your list ( Pauline on the Beach ), I haven't seen !!!... arggggg

I will post back in a day or so...

I'm thinking of saving both of ours on the website... its a great resource...

Cheers,

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Gary@2ze.com
DVD COLLECTION CONTEST , My DVD Collection ,My Home Theatre
DVDBeaver's 15 Member choices of the TOP 111 DVDs available today!

Gary Tooze · 05-09-2001, 07:27 AM

FROM SETH PAXTON
Like Evan, I couldn't throw 100 together total at this point, let alone a top 100. One goal at a time for me, but I'll mull over what foreign language films I have seen and list them in order of preference.

Right now off the top of my head I would probably start with Yi Yi at #1 and Seventh Seal at #2...and yet I had CTHD as the #1 film of 2000 with Yi Yi at #3. Guess the nature of Yi Yi makes me think of it more as a foreign language flick even though it has plenty of English in it. I'm not sure if that's ironic or I'm just a doofus

Does all that Pikey in Snatch count?

Serously, I guess Leone stuff is out on a list like this? Just where does the line get drawn on dubbed things? I mean if it HAS to be dubbed does that make it a foreign language flick or does it have to be seen in it's native language, or is it recommended to be seen in its OL but not an absolute??

Gary Tooze · 05-09-2001, 07:28 AM

Seth,

I think Leone's "Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo" is okay to add and the other Leone's that the IMdb rates :

Language: Italian

Most often "dubbed" means inferior but I guess there is a gray area for many films... these would fit the bill...

Cheers,

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Gary@2ze.com
DVD COLLECTION CONTEST , My DVD Collection ,My Home Theatre
DVDBeaver's 15 Member choices of the TOP 111 DVDs available today!