Top 5 foreign language films

[Cali Panthers Fan]

It's really not fair to thrust every genre of every other country's films into one thread, but here we are. This is the one I might have the toughest time with.

1. Seven Samurai
2. Cinema Paradiso
3. Oldboy
4. The Bicycle Thief
5. Akira Kurosawa's Dreams

HM: Das Boot, Life Is Beautiful, The Lives of Others. Listen, I could list so many great foreign films, especially just Kurosawa, but for brevity's sake these are my absolute favorites of all time.

[Tinordi]

Too hard to pick only five.

[troutman]

Trainspotting - what the hell language are they speaking?

[habernac]

City of God and The Motorcycle Diaries were pretty good.

[getbak]

1. Der Untergang (Downfall)
2. La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful)
3. El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)
4. Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run)
5. Cyrano de Bergerac

[Chill Cosby]

Originally Posted by getbak

1. Der Untergang (Downfall)
   
2. La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful)
   
3. El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth)
   
4. Lola Rennt (Run Lola Run)
   
5. Cyrano de Bergerac
   

There's always one guy who has to call them by their "proper" name.

"Well my absolutely favourite is Shichinin no Samurai."
"Oh I've never seen that, what's it about?"
"It's about a group of Seven Samurai..."
"Isn't that called Seven Samurai?"
"Well I GUESS you could you the standard English translation that English speakers have been using since the day it came out, but it kind of makes you seem like a simpleton, doesn't it?"

[burn_this_city]

1. Whatever was on Showcase Review at midnight when I was 15

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Ok, not the response I was hoping for so far from this intelligent group of posters. One guy posts a list of films and then gets ripped for using the original titles. This is why we can't have nice things!

[Chill Cosby]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

Ok, not the response I was hoping for so far from this intelligent group of posters. One guy posts a list of films and then gets ripped for using the original titles. This is why we can't have nice things!

It was only intended as a light ribbing, not quite a ripping, and I was only doing it because he listed the names the fewest people would recognise the titles by first which I always find funny. All in good fun!

Mine would be:

Le Samourai
Bicycle Thieves
Revanche
Downfall
Let The Right One In

Tried to mix it up and avoid Kurosawa altogether. I think everyone can agree that films like Seven Samurai, Rashomon, Throne of Blood, and basically anything Toshiro Mifune touched is automatically at the top of every list. That said, I really liked your name drop of Dreams. That "film" is awesome, was one of my most pleasant surprises.

[Ozy_Flame]

Here's my favorite, based on the films I've seen:

1. Oldboy
2. Tokyo Sonata
3. Downfall
4. City of God
5. The Bicycle Thief

[Bagor]

+1 For City of God.

Black Cat White Cat.

[Nammer403]

City of God
Infernal Affairs
Old Boy
Crouching TIger Hidden Dragon
Spirited Away

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Chill Cosby

There's always one guy who has to call them by their "proper" name.

"Well my absolutely favourite is Shichinin no Samurai."
"Oh I've never seen that, what's it about?"
"It's about a group of Seven Samurai..."
"Isn't that called Seven Samurai?"
"Well I GUESS you could you the standard English translation that English speakers have been using since the day it came out, but it kind of makes you seem like a simpleton, doesn't it?"

Well, originally my post was a mix of original names and the English names because I watched the German ones when I was learning German, so I've always called them by their German names, but I watched the others with their English titles, so that's what I had them listed as.

That looked stupid, so I put the original names for all of them.

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

I just have to say that Old Boy was seriously messed up. I was so confused for 3/4 of that movie, and then suddenly, dat ending. I only ever recommend it to people who like really screwed up mind****ed stories lol.

Originally Posted by Nammer403

Infernal Affairs
Spirited Away

And oh, are we opening up the Pandora's box of Studio Ghibli in this thread or anime movies in general?

Or Hong Kong Action films?

[BlackEleven]

The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
Welcome
The Hunt
Incendies

HM: The Celebration, Amores Perros, The Skin I Live In, The Counterfeiters, City of God, In a Better World.

[Harry Lime]

Avoiding Kurosawa....

Branded to Kill
Tae Guk Gi
Kung Fu Hustle
Aguirre, The Wrath of God
Leolo

These are off the top of my head, and intended to be a guide to a couple of movies that may have been overlooked but definitely deserve an audience. Also, out on netflix now is Intouchables, so no need to search anywhere for that one. Really are hundreds of titles that don't see the light of day because they're not in English.

I don't know if a moderator will see this, but is it worth putting all of these 'top 5's in there own catagory? If it is contagious towards music and books, it could dominate a lot of thread space.

[Puppet Guy]

in no particular order:

The City of Lost Children
Shaolin Soccer
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Das Boot
Gojira (the original Japanese version of Godzilla)

[octothorp]

Lives of Others (credit to BlackEleven for thinking of it, I wouldn't have remembered it if I hadn't seen it on his list)
Raise the Red Lantern
Insomnia
Atanarjuat
City of God

[Harry Lime]

Nice pick in City of Lost Children, Puppet Guy. I almost put down Delicatessen myself. I also like how there is a general feeling that Hong Kong action and Japanese Horror are being put aside for Oscar calibre films. 'My favorite' is being trumped by 'You really need to watch this', and that's awesome.

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Hero
Amélie
Pan's Labyrinth
Let The Right One In
Das Boot