100 Best Foreign Films
Edward Copeland explains the process in an introduction to a top-100 list of non-English language films. He kindly includes a list of the 22 runners up. (Links thank to ALOTT5MA)
Roger Ebert says the best way to become film literate is to go see great films. Thanks to Minneapolis’s Oak Street Cinema and my friends Big Brain and Blogenheimer, I’ve seen 21 of the top 100, and 6 of the 22 runners up. My love of film has grown along with my experience of it. Many more of these are languishing on our Tivo hard drive, or on our DVD shelf. I hope this list spurs us to finally watch them.
October 5th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Thank you all for finally putting together this magnum opus of a list. I feel so inspired to watch a great foreign film. There is a lesser known German film I would have loved to have seen on the list, Marianne and Juliane. I also wonder what the qualifications were for making the list (for example, could the film not be silent? That would explain the absences of Metropolis and (the mostly silent) Repulsion.) Also, what about Knife in the Water or No Man’s Land or La Ronde or The Shop on Main Street? And I second everyone else on Pather Panchali.
October 7th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Zach, I am just an appreciator of the list not a creator. There were some related links on how the list was compiled. I, too, loved Knife in the Water. Your suggestions show that this list, like all lists, makes a good starting point, not a final word.