Discussion Forums - Foreign Films

What's the best foreign film you've seen?

My favorite is "Pan's Labyrinth". The graphics are astonishingly beautiful. It is a dark, fascinating tale, too. Not for the squeamish, though...

I've been wanting to see that! Thanks for the reminder!

My favorites: Amelie, La Cage Aux Folles, Cinema Paradiso

Mine is a toss-up between Est/Ouest (East/West) and Indochine, both directed by Regis Wargnier.  These both star Catherine Deneuve, and are fantastic historical dramas, one set in Russia in 1946, just after WW2, and the other set in 1930's Indochina, which is now Vietnam.

Pan's Labyrinth is amazing!  I watched it again last night.  I also love del Toro's movie The Devil's Backbone.  Plus, Life is Beautiful, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Raise the Red Lantern.

Without a doubt it is

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter....and Spring

I also like ASOKA.

Both have Buddhist themes but I don't consider myself a Buddhist.  I have Asoka, I am looking for the other one.

Hard to pick just one movie, but some of my favorite directors are Pedro Almodovar, Wong Kar-Wai, Tsui Hark and Kurosawa. Then there are a bunch of directors who have blown me away with a film or two, but I need to see more of their work: Francois Ozon, Vishal Bharadwaj, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Kim Ki-duk, Chang Cheh...there are so many.

I'm also a fan of Amelie, Crouching Tiger, and Hero. Asoka was pretty good. Haven't gotten to Pan's Labyrinth yet.

So many countries, so many great movies. My favorites include Oldboy, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Pan's Labyrinth, Fear and Trembling, Samaria (Samaritan Girl), Fellini's Satyricon, City of God, Farewell My Concubine, Ichi the Killer, Samurai Fiction, Chungking Express,The Stratosphere Girl, Suicide Club.. and tons more I am currently forgetting, I'm sure.

Dark Water, Uzumaki, Phone, Rainy Dog, Three Extremes, 2DLK, Killing Words (Spanish), Spider Forest, 9 Souls, Under the Moonlight (Iranian), Amelie, and Marebito.

Edit: My favorite overall, after giving it some thought, is The Red Spectacles (Live-action directed by Mamarou Oshii).

My favorite is definitely Life is Beautiful and I also liked Apres-Vous.

Brotherhood of the Wolf was good, and Hero, and Pan's Labyrinth.  Breathtaking.  But I can't watch those over and over again...

My favorite is a Hong Kong romantic comedy called La Brassiere.  Very silly!

ETA: Does anime count?  I don't see a separate forum.  I can watch Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke over and over again!

I was just thinking about an anime forum the other day.. I don't see why there isn't one. Spirited Away is a masterpiece!

I suppose "Foreign" would work though for now, for anime.

Lina Wurtmuellers films are very good.  Can't go wrong with De Sica either.

I enjoyed Mostly Martha, because unlike most foreign films we watch it's not French (It's German.)  Children of Heaven, from Iran, was enjoyable too.

Who could forget Life is Beautiful, quite heartbreaking!

More recently I watched Avenue Montaigne (forgettable) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (UNforgettable).

The first time I saw Metropolis (1926) , I loved it but not so much the second time around - don't know why.

I love Amelie which I saw recently.

The Third Man - I can watch it over and over again and never get tired of it.

I have to say, Let The Right One In is one of the best forign flicks I've seen in awhile.

I enjoyed "Cave of the Yellow Dog"...one of several films by this same man. It  is a slow, tender movie about a child out on the plains above the Hindu Kush and Tibetan Range-and also, mostly,  about the soon to vanish nomadic culture of Mongols.

1. The Orphanage

2. Pan's Labyrinth

3. JU-ON

4. Ringu

5. Apocolypto

~Brenna Ravyn Moon Fyre~

I will probably sound like a broken record, but CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON, AMELIE, PAN'S LABYRINTH, etc.

It was nice to see someone mention OLDBOY, that whole revenge series by Park Chan-Wook (which includes LADY VENGEANCE and SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE) is pretty intense.

I also loved LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA, technically not a foreign film considering the director, but it is 98% in Japanese, so I think it qualifies.

Like water for chocolate, Europa Europa, Life is beautiful.

1. The Orphanage

2. Pan's Labyrinth

3. JU-ON

4. Ringu

5. Apocolypto

ELVIRA MADIGAN for sheer beauty (if any one has it, I'm lookng for it)

MOSCOW DOES NOT BELIEVE IN TEARS for comedy

For those that have mentioned Oldboy, which is a great film, might I suggest the other 2 films in the director's "revenge" trilogy: Sympathy For Lady Vengeance and Sympathy For Mr Vengeance.  The same director also has a really twisted vampie tale called Thirst.

I am a big Kurasawa fan as well. And there is a french film called Diva from 1981 that is very cool.

And then we have the Bob Hoskins films Mona Lisa and The Long Good Friday which are British gangster pics, both excellent.

Oh, yeah, and one more really cool vampire flick Let The Right One In. A terrific take on vampires. See it before the US remake hits and ruins it.

Favorites are:

Eat Drink Man Woman

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Raise the Red Lantern

Shall We Dance? (NOT the Richard Gere version)

Monsoon Wedding

Mediterraneo

Like Water for chocolate

I love foreign movie,putting out much better movies these days then Hollywood/

some of my favorites

The Battle of Algiers .M,La Strada ,Cinema Paradiso,The Decalogue,Diabolique,The Four Hundred (400) Blows

Old Boy,Ichi the Killer, Samurai Fiction,The best of youth,the lives of others,Talk to her,Red Beard.,The Bicycle Thief,The Host,Rashomon,The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,Harakiri,The Human condition,The Tin Drum,The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie