http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featur...2076596,00.html


In March, we asked you to let us know what the best ever non-English films were. We've totted up the thousands of votes you cast to present your definitive top 40. But what did our film writers think of your choices? Here's your chart, and their verdicts

Friday May 11, 2007
The Guardian


1. Cinema Paradiso
Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy/France, 1988
Our verdict: O Guardian readers, I love you and perhaps sometimes (as a Guardian reader for 50 years) I come close to understanding you. But Cinema Paradiso as the best foreign language film of all time? Better than M, The Rules of the Game, Ugetsu Monogatari or ... Maybe I'm a snob, and I know we're playing a game, not voting for president. But can't you see that this is the kind of movie lousy presidents remember when they want to be kind to cinema and show their humanity? The film is clever and touching, and in its way it's an ad for cinema. But ... there is work to be done.
David Thomson

2. Amélie
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France/Germany, 2001
Our verdict: Forget La Règle du Jeu; forget L'Atalante; forget Abel Gance's Napoleon; if there's a single film that defines France in the eyes of the Guardian readership, it's this hyperactive magical-realist tale from the Gallic answer to Tim Burton, Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Its self-consciously cutie-pie tone has meant that, even before its release, it was thoroughly scorned by the People Who Count (ie, the Cannes film festival). The fact that it's cleaned up in country after country (£4.32m at the UK box office at the last time of asking) shows that, approve of it or not, Amelie has got something. As footballers are fond of saying, you can only beat what's put in front of you, and Amélie has done that for years.
Andrew Pulver
3. Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa, Japan, 1954
Our verdict: This is still the best mixture of the western and an authentic samurai film, in which seven noble and skilled fighters (beautifully delineated) decide to defend a farming village against marauding bandits. Kurosawa orders the action in waves and the weather deteriorates (so you need to see the long version). Today, perhaps, the ending begs for a touch more irony (as villagers might turn on their heroes), but this set international standards for action cinema, the slow-mo grandeur of combat and the general infiltration of Japanese "stoicism" into the age of tight-lipped Clint Eastwood heroes.
DT
4. City of God
Fernando Meirelles, Brazil/France/USA, 2002
Our verdict: There are plenty of ways to read City of God's fourth place in this poll - first, that young people are voting and seeking a true vision of the world from the movies; second, that that hope has extended to Latin America and the slums of Rio, where Fernando Mereilles' picture is set; and third, that young moviegoers use the movies as a way of focusing their anger or despair about the unfairness of the world. All the above could have been said about Luis Buñuel's Los Olvidados, made in 1950, and a better film. But Los Olvidados never woke the world up as City of God did.
DT
5. The Battle of Algiers
Gillo Pontecorvo, Algeria/ Italy, 1966
Our verdict: You could argue that no modern movie has had more political influence. For the tension in this dramatised documentary has been employed in the training and the inspiration of real-life terrorists opposed to occupying forces. Pontecorvo used people who had known the real war in Algeria - from all sides - and you can tell yourself you are seeing the "true" face of outrage. But, in fact, the picture is artfully made in a black-and-white that apparently appeals to Guardian readers a lot. Above all, this reminds us that "real" coverage of terrible events is itself a political weapon.
DT
6. Breathless
Jean-Luc Godard, France, 1960
Our verdict: This is one of the turning points in film history, modernism made for peanuts, with a strange American starlet (Jean Seberg) talking away to a French Humphrey Bogart (Jean-Paul Belmondo) as Godard experimented with ways of interfering with his own story. It was the start of the first period of Godard's work, and if you are thrilled by it, I urge you to pursue richer and more emotional films (such as Vivre Sa Vie, Contempt and Pierrot le Fou). But Godard in the 60s is still radical, funny and captivated by his medium in ways that make later modernists seem lazy.
DT
7. Jean de Florette/ Manon des Sources
Claude Berri, France/Switzerland/Italy, 1986
Our verdict: If any single event triggered the British exodus to Provence, the Dordogne and southern France, it was the release of the first part of this picturesque double-bill in 1986 - a good few years before Peter Mayle got going. Issuing from Gérard Depardieu's glory years and adapted from Marcel Pagnol's novel L'Eau des Collines, it exudes a certain kind of rural Frenchness that has as become as exportable, in its way, as Richard Curtis's England. Its enduring hold on the Anglo-Saxon imagination is not something, I suspect, the French will be wild about.
AP
8. Bicycle Thieves
Vittorio De Sica, Italy, 1948
Our verdict: It's fascinating that this classic of the Italian neo-realist movement holds its power more than 50 years after it was made. A man needs a job desperately - putting up movie posters of Rita Hayworth. For the job he needs a bike. But in an impoverished city, the bike is stolen. With his son, he goes on a great search in a city of bicycles. De Sica judges the pathos very well, though as a rule he advanced on scenes where children taught adults about life. Hollywood wanted a remake (with Cary Grant), and in that crazed urge you can feel the end of Hollywood coming.
DT
9. Pan's Labyrinth
Guillermo del Toro, Mexico/Spain/USA, 2006
Our verdict: Del Toro placed himself at the vanguard of Latin-American film talent with his exotic Oscar-winning fairytale set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. On its release last year, the critic Mark Kermode hailed it as "the Citizen Kane of fantasy cinema". If that sounds a bit rich, you should sample the film itself - a dark gateau layered with true-life monsters (that fascist colonel) and fantastical freaks (the terrifying pale man), and iced with imagery lifted from Goya and Arthur Rackham. All told, it's quite a treat.
Xan Brooks
10. In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong/France, 2000
Our verdict: "Everyone" knows now: Asia makes the most interesting films, and most of them come from South Korea and Hong Kong. Wong Kar Wai's great romance is set in the latter in the 60s. It is a strange, secret love story between two people who try to rent the same apartment, starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung. What sets this above so many other Asian films is the stylistic intricacy, the ambiguous relationship of story and politics, and the subtle implication that it's a film about everything. Hollywood, in that sense, now exists in the Far East - and we are far away.
DT
11. Tokyo Story
Yasujiro Ozu, Japan, 1953
Our verdict: What a great pleasure to see Guardian readers voting for this masterpiece by Ozu (though I'd like to remind them that the greatest of Japanese directors is still Kenji Mizoguchi). Ozu developed a simple, withdrawn camera style perfect for the observation of different members of a family. As always, this is about concession, compromise and the way the passage of time first reveals and then helps us pass over the unfairnesses in life. After this, there are only about another 20 Ozu films worth seeing!
DT
12. Les Enfants du Paradis
Marcel Carné, France, 1945
Our verdict: This is a tribute to the romantic energy of 19th-century French theatre - and to the same champagne excitement as Paris recovered from German occupation in 1944-45. Carné set it up as the Germans were still in town, but the film opened in a free city and it is as much of a patriotic endorsement as Olivier's Henry V. But, written by Jacques Prévert and designed by Alexandre Trauner, it is a masterpiece of studio film-making. Still hugely enjoyable and a treasure house of great performances from Arletty to Barrault.
DT
13. The Seventh Seal
Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1957
Our verdict: One of those films not subject to the vagaries of fashion or marketing, Bergman's breakthrough hit remains arguably the most unforgiving, cold, user-hostile entry on the list. That resonant opening scene, with medieval knight Max von Sydow taking on Death at chess, has become a much-parodied classic - Bill and Ted beating Death at Battleships springs to mind - but take the trouble to look again, and you find a stark crystallisation of Bergman's key themes: faith, despair and the silence of God. From a time before merchandising and date-movies weren't prime considerations, this is one to be cherished.
AP
14. Jules and Jim
François Truffaut, France, 1962
Our verdict: In so many ways, this is the ideal "new wave" film - it's set in period (the first world war) and yet it's a new version of sexual politics in which one impulsive, dangerous and utterly seductive woman can keep two men (at least) in her life. So it was rich material in an age of new promiscuity. It has fabulous black-and-white widescreen (by Raoul Coutard) and a classic score by Georges Delerue. But, above all, it has Jeanne Moreau, one of the true and unstoppable "beasts" of cinema, devouring or changing everything she sees.
DT
15. La Haine
Mathieu Kassovitz, France, 1995
Our verdict: In the wake of the French election, the troubles of the banlieues have come in for one of their periodic bout of attention, but it was this agonised shout from the wrong side of the chemin de fer that first alerted the wider world to a nasty underside of the shiny Gallic dream. Taking his cue from Boyz n the Hood, then-unknown actor Kassovitz cast another barely-known actor, his friend Vincent Cassel, as a gun-toting hoodlum driven bananas by racism and petty crime; it's clearly still got something to say.
AP
16. Il Postino
Michael Radford, France/Italy/Belgium, 1994
Our verdict: Is Postino is better than Antonioni's La Notte? Than Rossellini's Open City? Than Bertolucci's The Conformist? Than 20, 30, 40 other Italian films? Why is it that Italy is connected with this sweet air of aberration? Is it that we want to live in Italy? Is it that such films as Il Postino awaken the tourist in us? Have we turned story, drama and characters into the sites of travelogue? I am serious - I think that Il Postino is not really a movie, but a kind of animated magazine section on the idyll of a certain kind of Italian life. The great interest of this is that it shows fantasy - the engine of the movies - still thriving.
DT
17. Oldboy
Chan-wook Park, South Korea, 2003
Our verdict: This is a terrific Korean action film that unfolds the story content of about five lumbering US films in a bare two hours. Director Chan-wook Park never lets us settle. It begins as a bad dream, moves to a 15-year prison sentence and then explodes in flashbacks that trace the real crime. In addition, it has a fantastic taste for eating and eateries, and an overall confidence that the films noirs made by RKO 60 years ago may be the most lively model for movies that explore the thriving prosperity and moral chaos of south-east Asia - and which leave us in little doubt that this is our future.
DT
18. Delicatessen
Marc Caro & Jean-Pierre Jeunet, France, 1991
Our verdict: Delicatessen has lost none of its freshness in the years since it was first sprung on an unsuspecting public. It's a mad, Heath Robinson-esque assemblage: part comedy, part love story, part cyberpunk comic-strip, with its decaying tenement home to all manner of roguish inhabitants (sad-faced clowns, cannibalistic butchers, lentil-eating guerrillas et al). Forget trying to make sense of the plot. It's just a peg on which to drape the wacky misadventures and fiendishly choreographed set-pieces. Co-director Jean-Pierre Jeunet went on to further success with Alien: Resurrection and the winsome Amélie, but he's never equalled this bizarre and brilliant one-off.
XB
19. La Dolce Vita
Federico Fellini, Italy/France, 1960
Our verdict: Few films have their cake and eat it with quite the confidence - and abandon - of Fellini's classic. A freewheeling tour of the Rome party circuit, this lambasted the tawdry lifestyle of its modish characters while simultaneously luxuriating in it. Along the way, it coined the term "paparazzo" and rustled up a crop of indelible, iconic images. Nowadays we remember the famous shot of Anita Ekberg in the fountain far more than we recall that allegorical image of Christ being forcibly lifted out of the city. If that's not what Fellini would have wanted, one fears he has only himself to blame.
XB
20. The 400 Blows
François Truffaut, France, 1959
Our verdict: This was Truffaut's first feature film, and it introduced Jean-Pierre Léaud as a version of Truffaut himself, leading a rough, tough life, and barely avoiding juvenile delinquency on the way to the great sea called cinema. I love its unsentimental view of childhood, its adoration of a Paris seen in black and white (thank you for voting so often for b/w) and the naturalness of Léaud. Truffaut would lose his touch later in life, I fear, and he started to make foolish pictures. But for a few years in the 60s, the sight and sound of his work (there's another great score by Jean Constantin) is enough to remind us all that cinema can be heavenly.
DT
... and the next 20
21. Aguirre, Wrath of God
Werner Herzog, West Germany, 1972
22. Wings of Desire
Wim Wenders, West Germany/France, 1987
23. Fanny and Alexander
Ingmar Bergman, Sweden/France/ West Germany, 1982
24. Andrei Rublev
Andrei Tarkovsky, Soviet Union, 1969
25. Battleship Potemkin
Sergei Eisenstein, Soviet Union, 1925
26. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Ang Lee, Taiwan/Hong Kong/USA/China, 2000
27. Pather Panchali
Satyajit Ray, India, 1955
28. Ran
Akira Kurosawa, Japan/France, 1985
29. Three Colours: Blue
Krzysztof Kieslowski, France/Poland/Switzerland/UK, 1993
30. Central Station
Walter Salles, Brazil/France, 1998
31. Come and See
Elem Klimov, Soviet Union, 1985
32. Spirited Away
Hayao Miyazaki, Japan, 2001
33. Three Colours: Red
Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland/France/Switzerland, 1994
34. Wild Strawberries
Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1957
35. All About My Mother
Pedro Almodóvar, Spain/France, 1999
36. Hidden
Michael Haneke, France/Austria/ Germany/Italy, 2005
37. Cyrano De Bergerac
Jean-Paul Rappeneau, France, 1990
38. Downfall
Oliver Hirschbiegel, Germany/Italy/ Austria, 2004
39. La Règle du Jeu
Jean Renoir, France, 1939
40. Life Is Beautiful
Roberto Benigni, Italy, 1997

fuck amelie

Fuck you.

there's no such movie on the list

I always suspected you were soul-less. Now I've got my proof.

Next you'll tell us you don't like 'Blitzkrieg Bop' or fresh air...

Jules et Jim is way overrated.

No Murnau or Lang or Eisenstein to represent the silents. Too bad.

these are my life favourites actually

i just don't see what's so good about "amelie". it's a nice little romantic movie you'd watch with some gilr you fancy. but rating it as #2 best film over such mammoth films like"la dolce vita" or "andrei rublev" is just plain crazy!

i'd probably have "masculin feminine" instead of "breathless" for godard in the top 10, but it's all good.

"seventh seal" is hardly my favourite bergman film.

i don't like "jean de florette". cant' stand depardieu

i'd also take "umberto d" instead of "bicycle thieves"

that's just for the top 10

"battleship potemkin" is #25

no antonioni

but overall, i'd say the list is pretty good for a general public viewers.

Amelie and Life is Beautiful are nice little films but they should not be within a hundred kilometers of this list.

is "cache (hidden)" good?

the list is alright, but the inclusion of some very recent films (oldboy, pan's labyrinth, amelie, in the mood for love) is a bit premature.

pretty great

Where's The General?

didn't notice life is beautiful was on the list. you're absolutely right, the film is cute, but come on...

So Scottish isn't foreign?

actually I would describe it as a list of the most 'popular' foreign films at best.
to describe them as the greatest is like putting Paris Hilton in the list as one of the most attractive women of all time. Yes she's popular and plenty of people have seen her but by no means does it make it true... that list is pretty f'n lame and using the term 'pedestrian' again would be more accurate.

edit-eh my cynicism is taking over. half the list is of films far too current to describe as a
'greatest of all time'. The other half are text book examples if not pairings of some of the historically significant films of various famed directors but they don't necessarily make a better picture of world cinema at large.

Pretty good list, although I would have like to seen some more nods to the Hong Kong action films...at least John Woo's "The Killer," maybe something By "Beat" Takeshi (I would have nominated "Hana Bi").



The one with John Voight (the other popular "The General"...a buster Keaton silent flick, was American)? Ok movie, but not top 40 foreign films of all time.

Ditto. Same for Cinema Paradiso and Il Postino. Surprised nobody else has lopped them into the same category.

Then again, there's something to be said for a list that is so blatantly populist. I do like all those movies, and it makes a good list of best-foreign-movies-for-folks-who-don't-like-foreign-movies list.

i'd personally disagree about "cinema paradiso"

I think it's a beautiful movie, but not anywhere near the top 50 of all time. Way too heavy on charm and sugary sentimentality for me...a little heavy handed. But I could understand people defending it, just as I could see people finding Amelie one of the greatest movies.

i guess
i never reall thought of "cinema paradiso" being all that heavy handed. yes, it's very sappy. more than half of the people in my italian cinema class left crying after watchig it, and even i felt pretty low. but i think the way the story develops helps it in a way not being all that overboard sentimental. cos, i mean, the first half is an interesting story of a kind. and interesing depiction of the times and people's lives. but it's only at the very begining and the very end of the film that you get to experience that big problem of the main character. and it's so distinct to me from the general storyline. that's probably why i like it.

top 50 may be a bit too high. but it deserves to be called the greatest film of all time, for sure.

I admit, I teared up the first time I saw it.

Is this the movie that has the scene where [spoiler]the film explodes and sets the entire theater on fire?[/spoiler]

yes

Major oversight!

C'mon maybe L'Avventura, Red Desert, Blow Up... something by Michelangelo.

Oh God what an arbitrary list...a good example of western culture working extra hard to label everything non-English speaking as the "other." I would be much more respectful of individual lists of Japanese films, Indian films, etc.

And "Life Is Beautiful" is far from a "little" movie. Wasn't it the most expensive Italian film up to that time?

Despite the criticisms, i'd like to see a better list of non-English language films voted for by the public.

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More foreign films should be like this

I'm surprised that I've even seen two of these (Cache and Crouching Tiger), I really need to watch more foreign films.

I'd agree. Or like this

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best Asian films of all time
By CNN's Mairi Mackay

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Asia: Spread over one third of the world's surface, it is home to something like four billion people in 70 countries. It also produces half of the world's film.

Bollywood, India's film industry, alone produces around 1,000 films each year -- almost two times as many as Hollywood.

This vast continent doesn't just come out on top when it comes to output, it has also sired many influential directors, actors and film-genres.

Ang Lee's 2000 homage to Chinese fantasy martial arts genre, Wuxia, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," and Japan's unique take on horror, typified by films like Takashi Shimizu's "Ju-on: The Grudge" are just two examples of Asia's recent contribution to world film culture.

We have included films by Japan's Akira Kurosawa, China's Wong Kar-Wai and India's Mehboob Khan in our provisional list of the best of Asian cinema but we want to hear from Web site users. What are your favorites? Have we missed one? Perhaps you don't agree with our choices.

'In the Mood for Love' ('Fa yeung nin wa') Hong Kong/China
(Wong Kar-Wai, 2000)
Wong was heavily influenced by Hitchcock's psychological thriller "Vertigo" during the making of this poetic, exquisitely shot meditation on love and loss starring Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung. It was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000.

'Mother India' ('Bharat Mata') India
(Mehboob Khan, 1957)
One of the sub-continent's first ever blockbusters, it is also known as India's "Gone with the Wind." Acting legend Nargis plays a woman who must raise her children single-handedly after her husband is maimed in an accident, and becomes the catalyst for her fellow villagers to fight for their land. It was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 1957 Academy Awards -- India's first ever Oscar nomination.

'The Host' ('Gwoemul') South Korea
(Bong Joon-ho, 2006)
Arguably one of the greatest monster films ever made; a staggering 20 percent of the population of South Korea have watched this film. It is based on the true story of a U.S. military employee ordered to dump formaldehyde into the sewer system that leads to Seoul's Han River. Six years later a giant mutant squid starts attacking people (this part is made up).

'Syndromes and a Century' ('Sang sattawat') Thailand
(Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2006)
One of seven films commissioned by the New Crowned Hope Festival, part of Vienna's Mozart Year in 2006. Set in two hospitals, Weerasthakul reflects on the lives and memories of his medic parents using an experimental, anti-narrative style (a series of images, soft spoken dialogue and music) which was chosen by the hugely influential French film magazine "Les Cahiers du Cinéma" as one of the 10 best pictures of 2007.

'Whale Rider' New Zealand
(Niki Caro, 2002)
At just 12 years-old star, Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her extraordinary performance as "Pai" a first-born female in the patriarchal Whangara tribe who believes she is destined to be the new Chief.

'Still Life' ('Sanxia haoren') China
(Zhang Ke Jia, 2006)
Awarded a Golden Lion at Venice in 2006, Zhangke's wide-sweeping film is based on the human tragedy of the Three Gorges Dam (more than one million people have been displaced) which stretches across the Yangtze River. The story focuses on a miner who travels back to his home town looking for his wife only to find that his former home is now submerged. The film illustrates the gulf between China's new world order and the soon-to-be-forgotten culture of the past.

'Shower' ('Xizao') China
(Yang Zhang, 1999)
The richly humorous and touching story of Shenzhen businessman, Da Ming who returns home to Beijing where his father runs the local bathhouse, only to caught between two cultures -- the decaying district of his childhood and the booming South where he now lives with a wife who has never met his family. When he realizes his father's health is failing he must take stock.

'Shall we dansu?' Japan
(Masayuki Suo, 1998)
Successful but unhappy accountant, Shohei Sugiyama spots a beautiful woman in a dance studio window. Despite his wife and child, he secretly signs up for dance lessons hoping to get closer to her. Slowly he begins to fall in love with the art form itself. A 2004 Hollywood remake starred Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere.

'The Ballad of Narayama' ('Narayama bushiko') Japan
(Keisuke Kinoshita,1958)
In the a remote 19th century village, food is so scarce that when the elderly reach 70 years old they must climb frozen Mount Narayama to die so their families won't have to feed them. Kinoshita's film is profane and shocking at times -- throughout the film, images of couples having sex are interspersed with scenes of animals and insects mating. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1984.

'Infernal Affairs' ('Mou gaan dou') Hong Kong/China
(Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, Alan Mak Siu-Fai, 2002)
Hong Kong cop thriller following the parallel lives of an undercover officer who infiltrates a Triad gang and policeman who secretly reports to a ruthless gang boss. "Infernal Affairs" breaks the mould of much of contemporary Hong Kong cinema by steering clear of over-the-top-action in favor of a slow-burning build up of psychological tension. Engrossing.

'Mandala' South Korea
(Kwon-Taek Im, 1981)
In the film that is considered to be his breakthrough as a cinematic artist, Im follows the lives and interactions of two Buddhist monks in Korea, and takes a contemplative look at the nature of individualism, religious belief and enlightenment.

'To Live' ('Huozhe') China
(Zhang Yimou, 1994)
Much lauded but banned in Mainland China because of its satirical portrayal of the Communist government, this epic, sumptuous film traces the personal fortunes of Fugui and Jiazhen as they fall from wealthy landownership to peasantry over 30 turbulent years.

'When the Tenth Month Comes' ('Bao gio cho den thang muoi') Vietnam
(Dang Nhat Minh, 1984)
A vivid portrayal, from the point of view of a young Vietnamese widow, of the legacy of the Vietnam war. It was released internationally under the name "The Love Doesn't Come Back."

'Himala' Philippines
(Ishmael Bernal, 1982)
Young Elsa thinks she has seen the Virgin Mary and goes on a healing crusade -- just the miracle the nowhere town she lives in is looking for. The film's austere camera work, haunting score and accomplished performances sensitively portray the harsh social and cultural conditions that people in the third world endure.

'A Touch of Zen' ('Xia nu') Hong Kong/Taiwan
(King Hu, 1969)
In this kung fu movie with a strong spiritual element a young artist finds himself caught up in the struggle to help a beautiful young woman escape the Imperial agents who murdered her family. A classic of the martial arts fantasy genre, which was the first Chinese film to win an award at Cannes Film Festival. It was also a massive influence on Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon."

'Ikiru' Japan
(Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
In this profoundly moralistic fable, longtime salaryman Kanji Watanabe, learns he has terminal cancer and, ultimately, through the experiences he has, the meaning of life. Takashi Shimura who played Watanabe was nominated in the Best Foreign Actor category at the 1960 BAFTA Awards.

'Utu' New Zealand
(Geoff Murphy, 1983)
Loosely based on the events of Te Kooti's War in the 1870s, it tells the tale of Maori tribesman Te Wheke who is serving in the British army. He is prompted to seek vengeance when he returns home to find his village and family destroyed in a senseless raid by the British.

'Gabbeh' Iran
(Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1996)
An elderly nomad couple are cleaning their beautiful carpet or "gabbeh" when a young woman suddenly emerges to tell the history of her clan through the carpet. Beautifully filmed and the winner of numerous awards.[/quote]
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/...op10/index.html
I admit that I learned from this article that New Zealand is technically part of Asia. It spins my 27 year old mind that the Flight of the Conchords are Asians. I have some movie watching to complete. I've only seen 6.

Love this movie. It's not my favourite WKW, but it's the perfect inclusion for this list.


Anyone else watch this one once, enjoyed it and never wanted to watch it again? At the end, I didn't care whether or not the girl ever impressed her grandfather 'cuz he was such a prick. I was hoping she'd go off and get pregnant and leave him alone to whine about his life. Great performance by Hughes, though.


Er, sorry CNN, this is Imamura film, not Konshita. It's been sitting on my Netflixesque list for like two years now.


You would think they'd mention the fact it was remade into 'The Departed'. I thought it better in execution than 'The Departed', but not as entertaining.


Great film, but there comes a point in the film when you go "Okay, okay, enough is enough. Can't these poor people have one event in their life that's not tinged with tragedy?!" It almost becomes comical trying to figure out how each new moment in their life will turn tragic.


Ballsy of them to choose this over Kurosawa's samurai oeuvre, but I agree with this pick. 'Ikiru' is the rare film that's so good, and so moving, that it makes you reevaluate your own life.

No Takeshi Kitano?!? That's quite an oversight, in my eyes, 'Hana-bi' is one I'd take over a good number of these films. Also surprised that they left off any and all anime, either Miyazaki or Takahata deserved to place at least one film on this list. I also would've thrown a Hirokazu Koreeda on there ('After Life' is his best film, but 'Nobody Knows' is probably more accessible/seen), and Seijun Suzuki (Especially 'Branded to Kill' which periodically turns up on TCM and is head and shoulders above a lot of stuff being produced at that point in time).


Mind=blown


Same here.

always glad to see Weerasethakul getting more attention. now if it only became easier to find his films...

oops, the perils of having two threads open simultaneously first thing in the morning. sorry.

edit: i moved it.

I've seen 7 of the mentioned ones. Would highly recommend the two above. I don't get where they come up with these? No Chen Kaige or Hou Hsiao Hsien? No Satyajit Ray? No Abbas Kiarostami?
I mean that's just too little and hardly all-encompassing of the region? Comes off as hardly a list and more of a CNN looking to get ito some cinema blogging? There's what, a dozen comments about the lack of 'Seven Samurai' or 'Ran'? Does stir an interest to create a list but there's sooo many I haven't seen that I'd likely only cover a quarter of the classics as best.

i think citizen kane should be somewhere on the guardian's list

No Ozu? Jeebus.

And I don't care if it's correct, I don't buy New Zealand as an Asia country.

Ikiru is one of my favorites

Real shame that they overlooked stuff like Kitano, Ichi The Killer, Battle Royale, Hard Boiled, Oldboy, etc.

Not "sophisticated" enough? Pssh.