Agree with RLR, CTHD, Akira, and El Mariachi (is this considered a foreign film?), which are the ones I've seen on your list. I'll probably try the others as well. I'd add Brotherhood of the Wolf, Ghost in the shell, La femme Nikita,
R03, If he's German...American Movies are foreign. Like to add Lock stock and two smoking barrels as it is a great English movie I believe. Trainspotting blew.
I don't know if anyone knows Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio de Sica, but that was actually one of the best films from outside the US I have seen - very sad. http://www.enl.umassd.edu/InteractiveCourse/EThompson/bicyclethieves.html
George Costanza's favorite: "Rochelle, Rochelle": a story of a young woman's erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.
Indochine, a French film is very good. Made in '80 I think, but could be earlier. Won the Oscar I believe too. My French prof also says great things about Brotherhood of the Wolf, based on a true story. I still need to see it though. Crouching Tiger was good as well.
Saw both, but I most concur with ROckets03 that Laagan is one of the best Indian movies ever. While KK3G (Kubhi Kushi Kabhi Gham) is very well done and has an all-star cast, it's pretty much a rip-off of several movies and tries too hard to be emotional toward the end. Laagan is the most unique Bollywood movie I've ever seen, and although half of it is devoted to a Cricket match, all the drama and history that goes into it just makes the whole thing unbelievable. As for the Best Foreign Film I've ever seen, I haven't seen enough of them to warrant any relevant opinion. Azim da Dream
The Three Colours trilogy (White, Red and Blue). All three are excelent movies. I recommend all three to anyone who hasn't seen them.
i prefer snatch than lock stock and 2 smoking barrels. bricktop, tommy, mickey, tony blue tooth. hilarious. also looking for alibrandi. australian.
Here is my list of foreign films that kick my ass: Italian: The Bicycle Thief (good call Det) La Dolce Vita & 8 1/2 by Fellini (bad mf'er) Rocco and his Brothers The Conformist (my wife prefers Antonioni's Blow Up) French Orpheus (Jean Cocteau) Breathless (Jean Luc-Godard) 400 Blows (Traufuat) Les Enfants du Paradis (made during the German occupation and is arguably the "Gone with the Wind" of French movies) English: Alfie (with Michael Caine) Naked (Mike Leigh film with the greatest male acting performance of the '90's by David Thewlis - my wife has seen every Leigh movie made since 1971 and actually thinks the Oscar-winning Secrets and Lies is good but nowhere near his best) The Ladykillers (Ealing comedy with Peter Sellers and Sir Alec Guiness) Scandanavia-ish: Fanny and Alexander, Persona (Ingmar Bergman..need to see more of his work) Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier) German: Triumph of the Will/The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (sorry, the subject is obviously awful, but the art was amazing...and her documentary from the 1990's) Spanish: Un Chien Andalou (Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali...awesome surrealist short film..need to see a lot more of his stuff) Polish/French Blue, White, Red and The Double Life of Veronique (Kieslowski) New Zealand/Australia Heavenly Creatures (Peter Jackson's best film and I thought The Lord of the Rings was the shiz-nit) Muriel's Wedding (weakness for Abba) The Piano (Jane Campion, like Russell Crowe abandoned New Zealand for "bloody Australia," as my wife informs me rather often ; ) China/Japan Ran, Rashomon (Kurowsawa is the man) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Sense and Sensibility (rockin' the ass-kicking and the class-mourning) This is a good topic. Theory: I think with the popularity of the American indie film, a lot of foreign films don't get the wide release that they used to aux etats-unis.
Like Water For Chocolate - I loved this film. A Clockwork Orange - Isn't this a British film? Sirens Breaker Morant- rent this film, it is better than Gallipoli.
You are not the only one. I thought Crouching Tiger sucked harder than a black hole. I would rather watch a Chuck Norris movie.
All time top 10. I also count foreign films as those that are in a seperate language. As many domestic films themselves aren't filmed entirely on us soil. 1.Le Pacte Des Loups 2.Lola Rennt 3.Akira 4.Wo hu cang long 5.Profondo Rosso 6.Opera 7.Ring 8.Jing wu men 9.Jing wu ying xiong 10.Versus
Most of my "best of" have already been mentioned, but here are some that haven't:. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, Her Lover Cinema Paradiso Excalibur The Crying Game Amores Perros High and Low
Lagaan got the nomination for Best Foreing Film in the Academy Awards coming this Sunday. Blockbuster Video has it for rent and purchase. Those of you who love sports movies should like this movie. GO RENT IT! I hope it blows everything else out of the water on Sunday.
I'm so incredibly thrilled by the prospect of a cricket movie that I'm going to rent that sucker ASAP. Cricket is 'my' sport. I love it *deeply*. I couldn't think of anything more fun than watching three hours of it. Oh, and Elvis, The Co-opter , mentioned most of my favourite 'foreign' movies. But Blow Up *is* better than The Conformist, so nyah. If you count British films, aside from the ones already mentioned I really love Lindsay Anderson's films: O Lucky Man! (very weird picaresque story), If... (in which Malcolm McDowell gets to shoot people from the roof of his private school), This Sporting Life. In fact, a lot of the 'angry young man' early sixties realist stuff is great - Look Back in Anger, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (if you ignore the way every hero in these films hates women, that is). And yesterday I watched David Lean's Brief Encounter for the third time and cried my eyes out. Such restraint and nobility! Maybe it's a chick thing though.
