25 Favourite Non-English Language Films
The title of the post is stolen from here.
The list is intentionally uneven, and some films may not look like the best for that director, more like a second best or an effort to have a different list for the sake of it. There is definitely some truth in all these allegations.
1. Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman)
2. Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu)
3. Jules and Jim (Francois Truffaut)
4. Beau Travail (Claire Denis)
5. Little Otik (Jan Svankmajer)
6. The Tenant (Roman Polanski)
7. That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Bunuel)
8. Ran (Akira Kurosawa)
9. Ordet (Carl Th. Dreyer)
10. Fellini's Casanova (Fedrico Fellini)
11. Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (R W Fassbinder)
12. Woyzeck (Werner Herzog)
13. Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat)
14. Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati)
15. Amores Perros (Alejandro González Inarritu)
16. Meghe Dhaka Tara (Ritwik Ghatak)
17. Bad Education (Pedro Almodovar)
18. Yi yi (Edward Yang)
19. Weekend (Jean Luc Godard)
20. Fallen Angels (Wong Kar Wai)
21.Where's the Friends Home (Abbas Kiarostami)
21. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami)
22. Dairy of the Country Priest (Robert Bresson)
23. Medea (Lars von Trier)
24. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)
25. A Short Film About Killing (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The list is intentionally uneven, and some films may not look like the best for that director, more like a second best or an effort to have a different list for the sake of it. There is definitely some truth in all these allegations.
1. Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman)
2. Late Spring (Yasujiro Ozu)
3. Jules and Jim (Francois Truffaut)
4. Beau Travail (Claire Denis)
5. Little Otik (Jan Svankmajer)
6. The Tenant (Roman Polanski)
7. That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Bunuel)
8. Ran (Akira Kurosawa)
9. Ordet (Carl Th. Dreyer)
10. Fellini's Casanova (Fedrico Fellini)
11. Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven (R W Fassbinder)
12. Woyzeck (Werner Herzog)
13. Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat)
14. Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati)
15. Amores Perros (Alejandro González Inarritu)
16. Meghe Dhaka Tara (Ritwik Ghatak)
17. Bad Education (Pedro Almodovar)
18. Yi yi (Edward Yang)
19. Weekend (Jean Luc Godard)
20. Fallen Angels (Wong Kar Wai)
21.
21. Ten (Abbas Kiarostami)
22. Dairy of the Country Priest (Robert Bresson)
23. Medea (Lars von Trier)
24. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)
25. A Short Film About Killing (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
4 comments:
wow, provocative list... i was thinking of making one myself but i think it ended up being a conventional list.
I will have problems with Bad Education which I didn't like much. Also Fellini's Casanova from what I have read about it, will probably leave me unimpressed. I have of course not made up my mind and will check soon if my prejudices have some merit.
Also I consider Diary of a country priest to be the weakest of all Bresson's films i have seen yet
films i haven't seen
Hour of the Wolf (I will have to order it online I guess)
Little Otik
Beau Travail
Megha Dhaka Tara
Medea
also is The Tenant a french film?? I thought it was in English. I am confused.
Regarding Bad Education, actually I also did nt like it too much when I just saw it, but I think now that in its myraid stories and identities, its theme is very provocative, the way you see yourself, and others see you, and the way you want them to see you - the relationship between dream and reality, fantasy and fact, past and present, love and lust. And I am extremely in love with the last scene where the Gael García Bernal's character dressed like a woman starts weeping, although we know he is just playing a character, but we are not sure, is it real or made up. Absolutely marvellous.
Fellini's Casanova is here because its very very innovative, like Fellini's personal kamasutra, and it has the same theme which other fellini films have where love and lust clash, and eventually Casanova is left to make love with a doll. And you should see the opening sequence where under the public frenzy, the statue of Venus sinks in the sea. Its very good.
I dont know, but I find Diary, more powerful than other Bresson films, and its also not as aggresive as others. and its ending, where a letter is read with cross on screen, is quite brave too.
There are few ommisions though, like Tarkovsky.
I too have that doubt, but I consider it French. IMDB says France/USA.
Your list strikes good balance between personalized best and the legendary best. I was also inspired to make one after reading yours and Alok's lists. Weak or strong mine has Diary of a country priest plus a list of shamelessly melodramatic chinese films :)
Anurag, I am most skeptical about Casanova. If you wanted to be different (for the sake of it), there is Amarcord and Juliets of the Spirits or even Roma were much better choices, Casanova (though I havent seen it) looks like an odd choice.
Also, why is 'Where is the friend's home' striked out. It was great, dont you think so.
And I am very glad that you included Beau Travail, I love that film so much.
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