To paraphrase that noted philosopher, Sara Lee, everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't love The Rules of the Game. That's Jean Renoir on the left, pictured with Roland Toutain and Nora Gregor in his 1939 masterpiece, voted best foreign-language film by American cineastes. In recent weeks Eddie Copeland, friend of film and e-friend of Flickgrrl, has been taking nominations for best foreign-language features of the sound era through 2002. Here are the results. Get out your Netflix lists. Love these titles. Your thoughts? Are your favorites represented?
Comments (6)
Just one slight correction: Not all the voters were Americans. We received votes from all over the world. Thanks for taking part.
Posted by Edward Copeland | September 20, 2007 2:31 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 14:31
Oops. I sit corrected. You're welcome.
Posted by Carrie | September 20, 2007 3:31 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 15:31
All those terrific Bergman and Kurosawa movies. I'm good with it. LOL.
Posted by JDM | September 20, 2007 9:38 PM
Posted on September 20, 2007 21:38
The list is very represtentative but the thing with lists is, they invariably leave off personal favorites. That's because not all people respond to films in the same way. Mine would contrast with Copeland's only slightly. His is certainly an improvement on those annoyingly abritrary things (based strictly on popularity) that the AFI puts out like clockwork.
Posted by Joe | September 21, 2007 11:46 AM
Posted on September 21, 2007 11:46
It seems as though most of the movies were made in one of two periods: 1.) the late 1920s through 1939; and 2.) the late 1950s through the late 1970s. I understand why that first period ended: World War II. Was it a combination of video rentals, Spielberg/Lucas teen-oriented blockbusters, and the aging of the Baby Boomer moviegoers that caused the second period to taper off? And are there fewer great movies being made around the world now (I very much doubt it), or is there simply no longer a big enough audience in America to support a steady influx of those movies?
As far as the list itself, I've only seen about 15 of the movies on that list. Which means I don't really know enough about non-English language movies to offer much of an opinion as to quality, and what movies do or don't belong. Most of the ones I've seen were shown to me in my film classes at CCNY, which was a quarter-century ago. So, now that I think about it, I'm one of those folks who don't adequately support foreign movies!
I wonder if anyone mentioned a movie called "Ponette." I thought that was exceptional. Other than Stanley Kauffman in the New Republic, who liked it, I've never seen any opinions about it.
Posted by wwolfe | September 25, 2007 12:24 PM
Posted on September 25, 2007 12:24
The Pusher Trilogy
City Of God
Karakter
Salaam Bombay
Pepe Le Moko
Touchez Pas Au Grisbi
Diary Of A Chambermaid
Bob Le Flambeur
Artemsia
Shower
Los Olvidados
The Wedding Banquet
Au Revoir Les Enfants
Shall We dansu
Time of The Gypsies
High And Low
La Bandera
The Last Emperor
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
Apocalypto
Le Notti Di Cabiria
Alphaville
The Bicycle Thief
Grand Illusion
Le Bete Humaine
Ninotchka
And Fassbinder, Hezog, Renoir, Fritz Lang,Julien Duvivier, and Gong Li. score forme almost every time out.
Posted by Rick | October 8, 2007 4:10 AM
Posted on October 8, 2007 04:10