Ah well, my favorite non-English film "Stroszek" doesn't make the cut, but at least a couple Herzogs did. But "Kasper Hauser" over "Stroszek" - delusional!!! (this is about lists - we are supposed to be judgmental).

There's nothing in the world wrong with "Discreet Charm" but I can think of about 5 other Bunuels I'd choose ahead of it - one of which "Exterminating Angel" made the cut, so who's complaining?

"Amelie?" Ugh. Talk about movie experiences I try to forget.

"Cries and Whispers." Well, all I'll say is that someone once told me "You have to be way up Kubrick's ass to love 'Eyes Wide Shut' the way you do." Same goes for the unwatchable "Cries and Whispers."

"The Son" over "Rosetta"? I'm interested in hearing that argument. You won't convince me, but I'll read it!

I'm thrilled to see a Takeshi Kitano make the list, but "Hana-bi", "Kikujiro" and "Brothers" all rate well ahead of Sonatine for me. But I like "Sonatine" too.

I'm with you, Jim, on "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant." One of Fassbinder's best, though I won't argue with "Ali, Fear Eats the Soul," "The Merchant of Four Seasons," "Love is Colder than Death," or "The Third Generation."

Le Boucher was just one vote short of making it. I was surprised about Polanski's omission as well. Knife in the Water and Repulsion each only got a single vote. I have to wonder if it's attributable to his English-language films being so much better known than his early ones.

Come and See is brutal and absolutely wonderful.

Jim, another great post. I'm always interested in recommendations for foreign movies (while I consider myself more open minded and experienced than many, there is still a long way for me to go) and "Kings of the Road" and "Le Boucher" are going to the top of my Netflix queue. My own less experienced (and thus, shorter) list would go something like this:

"Seven Samurai" (Kurosawa)
"Fanny & Alexander" (Bergman)
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (Lee)
"Y tu Mama Tambien" (Cauron)
"Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (Herzog)
"La Dolce Vita" (Fellini)
"400 Blows" (Truffaut)
"Bicyle Thieves" (De Sica)
"Open City" (Rossellini)
"Tokyo Story" (Ozu)

My list could contain much more Kurosawa ("Throne of Blood", "Rashomon", and "Ran" at least), and another Bergman ("Persona"), and of course "Pan's Labyrinth" would be on there if it was eligible.

I just put my list up on my site
here and was surprised by some that made it and others that didn't. A couple were pure favorites and I had no expectation that anyone would rank them but others, like M I thought had a bigger following.

But you're right, there are plenty I need to revisit. One problem loving film as long as I have is that so many of the films in the pantheon I saw twenty or more years ago and they are becoming fuzzy memories at this point. The 121 films that made the cut are an excellent place to start for revisits or just a first time around.

Jim--Come and See is incredible. I watched it last year, and it helped change my perspective on post-Eisensteinian Soviet cinema (I said, oh wow there are great Russian filmmakers from the post-war period not named Tarkovsky or Kalatozishvili, and thereafter went about rectifying a deficiency in my film viewing).

Especially glad to see the Bros. Dardenne on your list (though I think I prefer L'Enfant slightly) as well as L'Argent.

For fun, on the fly, my favorite 25 non-English language films are, in no sort of order:

1. Rules of the Game (Renoir),
2. Underground (Kusturica),
3. Au Hasard Balthazar (Bresson),
4. Stroszek (Herzog),
5. Ivan the Terrible (Eisenstein),
6. Small Change (Truffaut),
7. Pierrot Le Fou (Godard),
8. Les Enfants du Paradis (Carne),
9. Happy Together (Wong Kar Wai),
10. Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky),
11. Fanny and Alexander (Bergman),
12. Double Suicide (Shinoda),
13. Diary of a Chambermaid (Bunuel),
14. Come and See (Klimov),
15. The Conformist (Bertolucci),
16. Close Up (Kiarostami),
17. Earth (Dovzhenko),
18. Wings of Desire (Wenders),
19. Live Flesh (Almodovar),
20. Nosferatu (Murnau),
21. Siberiade (Konchalovsky),
22. L'Enfant (the Dardennes),
23. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (De Sica),
24. Dodes'ka-den (Kurosawa),
25. Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pasolini)

Well the good Mr. Copeland has just informed me that M is on the list. Oops. My eyes went right past that single lettered title. So I guess I'm no longer shocked that it isn't on the list. Because it is.

Mental note: Drink more coffee before reading lists and posting comments.

Just a few off the top of my head that would be among my all-time favourites:

"Ikiru" (Kurosawa)
"M" (Lang)
"Shame" (Bergman)
"Tokyo Story" (Ozu)
"The Rules of the Game" (Renoir)
"Wild Strawberries" (Bergman)
"Les Diaboliques" (Clouzot)
"Rashomon" (Kurosawa)
"Amores Perros" (Innaritu)
"Ran" (Kurosawa)
"Viridiana" (Bunuel)

Oh, and even though they would be nowhere near the top of my list of the best non-English-language films, I do think that both "Cinema Paradiso" and, to a lesser degree "Amelie" are great films in their own way. Yes, they're light and frothy, but in the case of "Paradiso", I think it's a great loveletter to both movies and to the role of outsider parental figures in shaping our lives. And "Amelie", Ally McBeal-like as it is in content, is spontaneous enough in form (to my eyes, at least) to forgive it its conventional narrative.

“8 ½” (Fellini)
“A Man Escaped” (Bresson)
“Aguirre: The Wrath of God” (Herzog)
“Au Hasard Balthazar” (Bresson)
“The Battle of Algiers” (Pontecorvo)
“Come and See” (Klimov)
“Contempt” (Godard)
“The Cranes Are Flying” (Kalatozishvili)
“Diary of a Country Priest” (Bresson)
“The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” (Bunuel)
“Juliet of the Spirits” (Fellini)
“La Dolce Vita” (Fellini)
“La Notte” (Antonioni)
“Le Samourai” (Melville)
“M” (Lang)
“Mirror” (Tarkovsky)
“Persona” (Bergman)
“Pickpocket” (Bresson)
“The Sacrifice” (Tarkovsky)
“Sans Soleil” (Marker)
“Scenes From A Marriage” (Bergman)
“The Seventh Seal” (Bergman)
“Stalker” (Tarkovsky)
“Stroszek” (Herzog)
“Winter Light” (Bergman)

My list is more than a little biased to certain directors, but, I genuinely feel these are the best, so I don't apologize for my glut of Bresson, Bergman, Tarkovsky, etc.

I was surprised by the omission of a few choices as well. For example, "Le Samourai" made the cut, but not "Le Cercle Rouge."

I was extremely disappointed to see that Patrice Leconte ("Ridicule," "Man on the Train," "The Hairdresser's Husband") wasn't represented at all - especially since I was just amazed by "The Girl on the Bridge" when I saw it for the first time last night.

Also surprising to see miss the cut:

"Hidden Fortress" (Kurosawa) - one of the two or three most influential films of his entire career (though I was glad to see two of my favorites, "High and Low" and "Throne of Blood").

- "That Obscure Object of Desire" (Bunuel)

- "Juliet of the Spirits" (Fellini)

- "Solyaris" (Tarkovsky)

- "Le Boucher" (Chabrol)

...probably a few others that I'm forgetting as well.

Shame (Bergman)
A Man Escaped (Bresson)
The Milky Way (Bunuel)
The Phantom of Liberty (Bunuel)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Demy)
Amarcord (Fellini)
Masculin Feminin (Godard)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Herzog)
On the Occaision of Remembering the Turning Gate (Hong)
City of Sadness (Hou)
Millennium Mambo (Hou)
M (Lang)
Sansho the Bailiff (Mizoguchi)
The Tale of the Last Crysanthemum(Mizoguchi)
Ugetsu Monogatari (Mizoguchi)
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Naruse)
La Ronde (Ophuls)
Floating Weeds (Ozu)
Tokyo Story (Ozu)
The Rules of the Game (Renoir)
Tokyo Drifter (Suzuki)
Playtime (Tati)
In the Mood for Love (Wong)
A Brighter Summer Day (Yang)
To Live (Zhang)

Hana-bi did get one vote. Also, I agree with Mr. Long about Cries and Whispers. I love Bergman and have actually sat through it twice years apart and it still just bores me. Also, Stroszek was another one that got a single vote.

I believe only three of my nominees didn't make the final list (Hou Hsiao-hsien's Millennium Mambo, Godard's A Woman Is A Woman and Abbas Kiarostami's Taste Of Cherry (which is the only one that really surprises me). I guess I'm just a consensus kinda guy.

My ballot was:

Seven Samurai (Kurosawa)
Chungking Express (Wong)
The Rules Of The Game (Renoir)
Millennium Mambo (Hou)
Pierrot le fou (Godard)
Playtime (Tati)
Au hasard Balthazar (Bresson)
8 1/2 (Fellini)
Ugetsu (Mizoguchi)
The Seventh Seal (Bergman)
Ran (Kurosawa)
A Woman Is A Woman (Godard)
The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (Demy)
Three Colors: Blue (Kieslowski)
Hiroshima mon amour (Resnais)
Late Spring (Ozu)
Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky)
Celine And Julie Go Boating (Rivette)
Last Year At Marienbad (Resnais)
The Double Life Of Veronique (Kieslowski)
Satantango (Tarr)
Nights Of Cabiria (Fellini)
Day Of Wrath (Dreyer)
Sansho The Bailiff (Mizoguchi)
Taste Of Cherry (Kiarostami)

The only one from the final list that stands out as really bad, for me, is Cinema Paradiso. I didn't like it at all.

My complete nomination list is here:

http://superfastreader.com/reading-the-screen-1-my-nominations.htm

Here are the movies I nominatd that didn't show up:

10. La Terra Trema directed by Luchino Visconti–I am hot & cold on Visconti. This is one of my favorites, as is Ossessione below.
16. Ossessione directed by Luchino Visconti–the hottest of all the adaptations of James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice
17. Faithless directed by Liv Ullmann from a script by Ingmar Bergman–This movie is one of the best cinematic dissections of marriage and infidelity I’ve ever seen (though I have not seen Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage)
19. Grave of the Fireflies directed by Isao Takahata–a stunningly gorgeous and sad animated film about Hiroshima
20. Paisa directed by Roberto Rossellini–far superior to the more famous Rome: Open City
21. Lola directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder–With Maria Braun and Veronika Voss, the 2nd best of Fassbinder’s BRD trilogy. I’ve got a poster from the movie hanging behind my desk.
23. Repulsion directed by Roman Polanski–I’m shocked nobody else picked this one.
25. La Ceremonie directed by Claude Chabrol from the book A Judgment in Stone by Ruth Rendell.

I also had a few that *almost* made my list but not quite:

1. Happy Together directed by Wong Kar-Wai–I like this better than the others by Wong that made the list.
4. The Red Balloon directed by Albert Lamorisse–one of my favorite children’s movies.
5. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis directed by Vittorio De Sica--Another glaring omission
8. La Femme Nikita directed by Luc Besson–A fun, purely cinematic experience

1. Les Triplets of Belleville directed by Sylvain Chomet–A wacky animated film like nothing you’ve ever seen.
2. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days directed by Marc Rothemund–I wept buckets at the conclusion of this forceful dramatic presentation of the transcripts from Nazi Resistance leader Sophie Scholl’s “trial.”
3. 8 Women by Francois Ozon–A musical starring a host of magnificent French actresses, like Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Fanny Ardant, and more.

I'll write more on my blog, but in the interest of full disclosure, here's my list (in no particular order):

1. Dekalog (Kieslowski)
2. scenes from a marriage (bergman)
3. the Three Colors Trilogy (kieslowski)
4. the 400 blows (truffaut)
5. closely watched trains (menzel)
6. un homme et une femme (lelouch)
7. 8 1/2 (fellini)
8. les enfants du paradis (Carné)
9. umberto d. (de sica)
10. seven samurai (kurosawa)
11. the grand illusion (renoir)
12. la strada (fellini)
13. breathless (godard)
14. russian ark (Sokurov)
15. city of god (Meirelles)
16. andrei rublev (tarkovsky)
17. rules of the game (renoir)
18. the seventh seal (bergman)
19. persona (bergman)
20. a band apart (godard)
21. pyaasa (dutt)
22. Ugetsu Monogatari (Mizoguchi)
23. tokyo story (ozu)
24. yi, yi (yang)
25. talk to her (almodovar)

YO! More words at home but here's my list for safe keeping. I trust you will keep it safe.

Mirror
Rules of the Game
Playtime
Out 1
Celine & Julie Go Boating
L'eclisse
Persona
Fanny & Alexander
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
Stalker
Diary of a Country Priest
Au Hasard Balthazar
Contempt
Pierrot le fou
Masculin-Feminin
La Dolce Vita
8 1/2
2046
Talk to Her
Double Life of Veronique
Seven Samurai
Beau Travail
Law of Desire
Chung Kuo Cina
J'ai Pas Sommeil

City of God (Meirelles)
Vagabond (Varda)
The Dreamlife of Angels (Zonca)
Camille Claudel (Nuytten)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (Resnais)
Scenes from a Marriage (Bergman)
Das Boot (Petersen)
Trois Couleurs (Kieslowski)
The Double Life of Veronique (Kieslowski)
Seven Samurai (Kurasawa)
Rome, Open City (Rossellini)
Belle Du Jour (Bunuel)
Cries and Whispers (Bergman)
Ponette (Doillon)
Chocolat (Denis)

Post-2002:
The Lives of Others (von Donnersmarck)
Moolaade (Sembene)

Here's my complete list of twenty-five, in chronological order. 11 of them made it onto the final ballot. With 25 slots and so many films I wanted to pack into them, I kept it to one per director. Also, I must confess I was slightly strategic in my winnowing process, more likely to cut films I had a strong suspicion would make the list anyway, or that I thought had a snowball's chance in Hell of being on the final list, than ones I thought might be "iffy".

L'ATALANTE (Jean Vigo, 1934)
THE STORY OF THE LAST CHRYSANTHEMUM (Kenji Mizoguchi,
1939)
GERMANY YEAR ZERO (Roberto Rossellini, 1947)
SPRING IN A SMALL TOWN (Fei Mu, 1948)
LATE SPRING (Yasujiro Ozu, 1949)
LOS OLVIDADOS (Luis Bunuel, 1950)
THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE... (Max Ophuls, 1953)
FLOATING CLOUDS (Mikio Naruse, 1955)
CRANES ARE FLYING (Mikhael Kalazatov, 1957)
CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (Agnes Varda, 1961)
L'ECLISSE (Michaelangelo Antonioni, 1962)
WOMAN IN THE DUNES (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964)
BLACK GIRL (Ousmane Sembene, 1966)
ANDREI RUBLEV (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1969)
CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (Jacques Rivette, 1974)
THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER (Werner Herzog, 1974)
THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN (Rainer Werner Fassbiner,
1979)
EIGHT-DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER (Lau Kar-Leung, 1984)
WHERE IS THE FRIEND'S HOME? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987)
ALICE (Jan Svankmajer, 1988)
HYENAS (Djibril Diop Mambety, 1992)
LA PROMESSE (Jean-Luc and Paul Dardenne, 1996)
FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 1998)
WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES (Bela Tarr, 2000)
BLISSFULLY YOURS (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, 2002)

Here is my list. It is a bit too Rohmer heavy, I admit (and I figured PERCEVAL would be too obscure, so I left it off. I should have included it).

Band A Part (Band of Outsiders)
Boyfriends and Girlfriends
Breathless
Claire’s Knee
Contempt
Dersu Uzala
The Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle
The 400 Blows
Hidden Fortress
I Fidanzati
Ikiru
Il Posto
Masculin/Feminin
My Night at Mauds
A Summer’s Tale
Summer With Monika
Two English Girls
Umberto D
Vivre Sa Vie (My Life to Live)
Wild Strawberries
Wings of Desire
Z

1) Weekend (Godard)
2) Hard Boiled (Woo)
3) Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (Kenji Misumi)
4) Master of the Flying Guillotine (Yu Wang)
5) Drunken Master 2 (Chia-Liang Liu)
6) The American Friend (Wenders)
7) Battle Royale (Kinji Fukasaku)
8) My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki)
9) Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata)
10) The Conformist (Bertolucci)
11) Ikiru (Kurosawa)
12) Tokyo Story (Ozu)
13) Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link)
14) Rififi (Jules Dassin)
15) Wages of Fear (Henri-Georges Clouzot)
16) Sword of Doom (Kihachi Okamoto)
17) Samurai Rebellion (Masaki Kobayashi)
18) Incident at Blood Pass (Hiroshi Inagaki)
19) Lady Snowblood (Toshiya Fujita)
20) Sanjuro (Kurosawa)
21) 8 1/2 (Fellini)
22) Rainy Dog (Takashi Miike)
23) Fireworks (Takeshi Kitano)
24) The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo)
25) Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice (Kenji Misumi)

Here's my list. Like you, Jim, I restricted myself to no more than one film from any director. I also realized belatedly that one of my choices, La Jetée, was ineligible for the poll, not being of feature length. (The stars indicate titles that didn't make it onto the master list of nominees.)

8 ½ (Federico Fellini)
Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
* The American Soldier (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
L’Atalante (Jean Vigo)
The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo)
Belle de Jour (Luis Buñuel)
The Blue Angel (Josef von Sternberg)
* A Chinese Ghost Story (Siu-Tung Ching)
Cléo From 5 to 7 (Agnès Varda)
Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard)
Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)
L’Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni)
* Fires on the Plain (Kon Ichikawa)
In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai)
* La Jetée (Chris Marker)
* The Kingdom (Lars von Trier)
* Onibaba (Kaneto Shindo)
Playtime (Jacques Tati)
Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou)
The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir)
Sátántangó (Béla Tarr)
Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa)
Shoot the Piano Player (François Truffaut)
Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders)
* The Young Girls of Rochefort (Jacques Demy)

I'm most self-conscious about not including Tokyo Story--or indeed, anything by those heavy-hitting "transcendental stylists" Ozu, Dreyer and Bresson. I went with A Chinese Ghost Story instead, which isn't anything profound, but which provided me with one of my all-time favourite moviegoing experiences.

Does anyone want to offer any predictions as to which film will come out on top? Tokyo Story? 8 1/2? Will Bergman and Antonioni's recent passing give them a boost? Or will youthful voters push Amélie or Run Lola Run or Cinema Paradiso to victory?

I'd like to mention the 11 favorite foreign films that didn't make the list. I can't say I'm too surprised that "The Confession" and "C'est la Vie" didn't make the list. And we've already heard why the Apu Trilogy didn't make the cut. Still that leaves "A Man Escaped," "Time Regained," "Russian Ark" "Delicatassen" and both parts of "Ivan the Terrible." And I'm mildly surpised that "Solaris" didn't make the cut.

If you haven't seen Elem Klimov's "Come and See," you are in for a treat--one of the greatest of all Soviet films, powerful and overwhelming and rich and beautiful. Watching this was one of the most amazing film experiences of my life.

I posted my own choices that made the final cut and a few comments about the list at my own blog so I won't repeat them here, but I will say Knife in the Water came very close to making my final list and was only removed at the last minute.

I am surprised that many great Japanese directors who's work made my own list of favorites did not have one film on the final list such as Suzuki and Imamura when so many Kurosawa and Ozu films made it.

I do like the final list though even if only 13 films I pushed for made the final list of nominees.

I have black holes in my own viewing habits and I'm not very familiar with the work of some directors who made your own list Jim including (sadly) Bergman, Chabrol, Bresson and Ophuls.

We do share some favorites though such as Le Samourai, L'Eclisse, La Dolce Vita and Aguirre, the Wrath of God.

I'll take the light hearted fun and visual flair of Amélie over Almodovar's melodramatic All About My Mother or the pure sap that is Cinema Paradiso any day. I'm still kind of annoyed that No Man's Land beat Amélie at the oscars.

I also wish The Taste of Others would have beat Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon at the Oscars but there was no chance of it happening. I wonder if The Taste of Others even got a single vote for this list. I don't feel like I've seen enough of the greats to make my own list but I certainly consider The Taste of Others one of the masterpieces of its time and would have no hesitation voting for it.

The exclusions...
1. Solaris (Tarkovsky)
5. Fitzcarraldo (Herzog)
15.Touchez Pas au Grisbi (Becker)
17.Les Diaboliques (Clouzot)
18.Le Boucher (Chabrol)
24.The Stalker (Tarkovsky)
25.Le Notti Blanche (Visconti)

Or will youthful voters push Amélie or Run Lola Run or Cinema Paradiso to victory?

Stop saying things like that, you're making me nervous. I actually would have liked Cinema Paradiso better if 1)They had just stayed with the time that he was a kid 2)never, ever dragged the film to a halt with the coming of age middle section - I guess that's kind of an extension of number 1 and 3) not dragged out the final "kiss" scene for a good five minutes. Once you see what he was given you get it and it can be moving but then they just keep showing him being moved and after two or three minutes you're just ready for it to end.

And finally, I think Repulsion was the best film of 1965, and I'll prove it in my next Oscar post, but it's in english and the list is for foreign language.

I almost didn't pick Playtime thinking it had too much english (about half of the incidental dialogue, at least) but went with it in the end because it's just so damn cool to look at and experience.

AG, I don't like "Amelie," Almodovar or "Cinema Paradiso." See, I'm very even-handed.

I can't limit myself to one per director, but I will limit myself to two. Here's a Top 25 non-English list. Most of these have previously been mentioned.

Stroszek (Herzog)
Playtime (Tati)
Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais)
Edvard Munch (Watkins)
A Man Escaped (Bresson)
Fata Morgana (Herzog)
L'avventura (Antonioni)
Die Nibelungen (Lang)
Au hasard Balthazar (Bresson)
The Exterminating Angel (Bunuel)
Sansho the Bailiff (Mizoguchi)
Weekend (Godard)
The Music Room (S. Ray)
Contempt (Godard)
The House is Black (Farrokhzad)
Celine and Julie Go Boating (Rivette)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Fassbinder)
Throne of Blood (Kurosawa)
L'ecclise (Antonioni)
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (Fassbinder)
Jeanne Dielmann (Akerman)
Muriel (Resnais)
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai)
Mysterious Object at Noon (Weerasethakul)
The Wind Will Carry Us (Kiarostami)

I just have not seen enough non-English films to justify making a list. However, I have seen The Great Silence and I highly recommend it. Without giving anything away, the ending is mindblowing and would not ever, ever be used in a modern Hollywood film.

I can't tell you how happy I am that you've included Cantet's "Time Out." One of the most underrated and overlooked films of the new millenium. Absolutely gorgeous and heartbreaking.

---Brandon, no one can ever have enough Tarkovsky or Bergman.

AM I the only person that finds ALMADOVAR's films to be highly overrated? I can understand "Talk to Her", really quite beautiful, but I've never, not once understood the draw of "All About My Mother" with it's forced dramatic situations and character's that seem to exist only to be there for dramatic smothering, and some of his others like "Bad Education" just leave me dry in the mouth.

I pulled one of my friends over once and started pitching him a movie and I went step by step through the story. At the end he thought I was an idiot until I told him it already was a film..."All About My Mother". Man, I hate that movie.

Something interesting to note: With the first day of balloting over, I've already received 25 ballots and all but 10 films on the list have received at least one vote.

Much as I tried to avoid it, I have a few instances of director repeats. I was afraid I wasn't going to fill up a list of 25, but once I got going it was hard to limit myself to that. I tried add some variety from the other lists too, probably not too much different in the end however.

Late Spring (Ozu)
Cries and Whispers (Bergman)
au hasard Balthazar (Bresson)
Grand Illusion (Renoir)
M. Hulot's Holiday (Tati)
Umberto D (De Sica)
M (Lang)
Le Cercle Rouge (Melville)
In The Mood for Love (Wong)
My Life to Live (Godard)
L'Eclisse (Antonioni)
Fanny and Alexander-TV Cut (Bergman)
Ikiru (Kurosawa)
8 1/2 (Fellini)
Tokyo Twilight(Ozu)
Persona (Bergman)
My Night at Maud's (Rohmer)
La Dolce Vita (Fellini)
Breathless (Godard)
Rules of the Game (Renoir)
Three Times (Hou)
The 400 Blows (Truffaut)
Stroszek (Herzog)
Le Samourai (Melville)

Oh, I have lots to say, but I'm gonna refrain from responding just yet. For now, Matt Zoller Seitz, publisher of The House Next Door, has sent me a link to his list, which he calls "The 20 Foreign Language Films I've Seen Most Often." Be sure to read what he has to say about the list-making process at that link above. Here's MZS's list itself. We had exactly ONE title in common (Antonioni's "L'Eclisse"), which should indicate the variety of ballots received for this project:

http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2007/08/choosing-best-non-english-foreign.html

1. Wings of Desire
2. Yojimbo
3. I Vitelloni
3. Hard-Boiled
4. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
5. High and Low
6. For a Few Dollars More
7. La Strada
8 The Exterminating Angel
9. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
10. L'Eclisse
11. Akira
12. Mon Oncle
13. Breathless
14. City of Lost Children
15. The Passion of the Christ
16. The Best Intentions
17. My Life as a Dog
18. Belle de Jour
19. Seven Samurai
20. Princess Mononoke

Jim: Just to make it official, here's my list going in:

* Amarcord (1974; Federico Fellini; Italy)
* Au Hasard, Balthasar (1966; Robert Bresson; France, Sweden)
* Beauty and the Beast (1946; Jean Cocteau; France)
* Belle de Jour (1966; Luis Bunuel; France, Italy)
Death in Venice (1971; Luchino Visconti; Italy)
* The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972; Luis Bunuel; France)
Fellini Roma (1972; Federico Fellini; Italy)
Going Places (1974; Bertrand Blier; France)
* Ikiru (1952; Akira Kurosawa; Japan)
* In the Mood for Love (1999; Wong Kar-wai; Hong Kong, France)
In the Realm of the Senses (1976; Nagisa Oshima; Japan, France)
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989; Hayao Miyazaki; Japan)
La Cage aux Folles II (1980; Edouard Molinaro; France)
* M (1931; Fritz Lang; Germany)
Matador (1986; Pedro Almodovar; Spain)
* Nights of Cabiria (1957; Federico Fellini; Italy)
* Open City (1946; Roberto Rossellini; Italy)
* Pierrot le Fou (1965; Jean-Luc Godard; France, Italy)
Project A Part 2 (1987; Jackie Chan; Hong Kong)
* The Rules of the Game (1939; Jean Renoir; France)
* Seven Samurai (1954; Akira Kurosawa; Japan)
* Sonatine (1994; Takeshi Kitano; Japan)
* Tampopo (1986; Juzo Itami; Japan)
* Tokyo Story (1953; Yasujiro Ozu; Japan)
Woman in the Dunes (1964; Hiroshi Teshigahara; Japan)

(* denotes the titles I submitted that actually made it onto the list)

I just finished a long post in which I discuss my reasons for including a couple of titles that are sure to make most, if not all Scanners readers (as well as the ones who frequent my own site), go "Hmm..." At the risk of a thousand shrugs, I will not reiterate those defenses here!

This has been a real eye-opening exercise for me, especially in terms of really taking a hard look at everything I yet need to see. Whew.

In order. (1). Songs from the Second Floor. (2). My American Uncle. (3). Wild Strawberries. (4). 8 1/2. (5). Det Sjunde Inseglet. (6). Seven Samurai. (7). Ikiru. (8). Hero {'02}. (9). Bob le Flambeur. (10). L'Homme du Train. (11). Jean de Florette. (12). La Dolce Vita. (13). Le Cercle Rouge. (14). Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. (15). Abre Los Ojos. (16). Ladri di Biciclette. (17). The Samurai. (18). Z. (19). Alexander Nevsky. (20). No Man's Land. (21). Jules et Jim. (22). Day for Night. (23). Infernal Affairs. (24). Lola Montes. (25). Du Rififi chez les Hommes. ||||| (26). The Rules of the Game. (27). Through a Glass Darkly. (28). Fanny and Alexander. (29). Winter Light. (30). Le Grande Illusion. (31). Battleship Potemkin. (32). L'Avventura. (33). La Notte. (34). La Strada. (35). Solaris. (36). Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. (37). Le Mari de la Coiffeuse. (38). Jeux Interdits. (39). Triumph des Willens. (40). Wings of Desire. (41). The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain. (42). A Very Long Engagement. (43). Aguirre, The Wrath of God. (44). Persona. (45). Fitzcarraldo. (46). Yojimbo. (47). Touchez Pas au Grisbi. (48). Andrei Rublev. (49). That Obscure Object of Desire. (50). Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie. (51). Venus Beauty Institute. (52). Manon des Sources. (53). Le Battement d'Ailes du Papillon. (54). The Silence. (55). Dekalog, Siedem. (56). La Battaglia di Algeri. (57). Vampyr - Der Traum des Allan Grey.

Here's my list (in no particular order):

*Grand Illusion
*Only Yesterday (Japanese title: Omohide poro poro)
*Day of Wrath
*Farewell, My Concubine
*Nights of Cabiria
*Daisies
*M
*Gospel According to St. Matthew
*The Conformist
*Black Peter
*Tokyo Drifter
*Exterminating Angel
*Cinema Paradiso
*Eyes Without a Face
*Loves of a Blonde
*Breathless
*Quai des Brumes (Port of Shadows)
*Shoot the Piano Player
*La Belle et la bete
*Umbrellas of Cherbourg
*Viridiana
*Ordet

My blog has the list, some films I should have included, and thoughts about the list-making process.

Just a list of personal faves, so there's no Godard, Fellini, Antonioni or Bresson, no Ozu, Mizoguchi, Tarkovsky or Rohmer, for as much as I liked some of these directors' works and do value their merits as filmmakers per se, I probably wouldn't want to go back and watch most of them again.

Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1944)
Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)
Les Quatre cent coups (François Truffaut, 1959)
Rosen für den Staatsanwalt (Wolfgang Staudte, 1959)
Le Trou (Jacques Becker, 1960)
Knife in the Water (Roman Polanski, 1961)
La Femme infidèle (Claude Chabrol, 1968)
Le Cercle rouge (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1970)
Händler der vier Jahreszeiten (R. W. Faßbinder, 1972)
Tadellöser & Wolff (Eberhard Fechner, 1975)
Soldaat van Oraanje (Paul Verhoeven, 1977)
I . . . comme Icare (Henri Verneuil, 1979)
Coup de torchon (Bertrand Tavernier, 1981)
Garde à vue (Claude Miller, 1981)
Tchao Pantin (Claude Berri, 1983)
Mishima (Paul Schrader, 1985)
Au Revoir les enfants (Louis Malle, 1987)
Hard-Boiled (John Woo, 1991)
Amores perros (Alejandro Gonzáles Iñaritú, 2000)
Nueve Reinas (Fabián Bielinsky, 2000)
Die Polizistin (Andreas Dresen, 2000)
Yi Yi (Edward Yang, 2000)
Lucía y el sexo (Julio Medem, 2001)
La Ville est tranquille (Robert Guédiguian, 2001)
Lilja 4-ever (Lukas Moodysson, 2002)

For those who want to read my comments, plus the link click here.

My list is:
1. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa - 1952)
2. Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa - 1958)
3. Mon Oncle (Jacques Tati - 1958)
4. Black Sunday (Mario Bava - 1960)
5. L'Eclisse (Michelangelo Antonioni - 1962)
6. Jules and Jim (Francois Truffaut - 1962)
7. Contempt (Jean-Luc Godard - 1963)
8. Eight and a half (Federico Fellini - 1963)
9. An Actor's Revenge (Kon Ichikawa - 1963)
10. The Soft Skin (Francois Truffaut - 1964)
11. Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc Godard - 1964)
12. Persona (Ingmar Bergman - 1966)
13. My Night at Maud's (Eric Rohmer - 1969)
14. Suspiria (Dario Argento - 1977)
15. The Chinese Feast (Tsui Hark - 1995)
16. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-Wai - 2000)

Phillip Kelly,

I'm glad you share my enthusiasm for Bergman and Tarkovsky. We also have something else in common, a fervent disdain for Pedro Almodovar films. I've seen "Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown," "Talk to Her," "All About My Mother," "Bad Education" and "Volver." The only one I made it through was "Bad Education" and I thought it was more than a little silly. I thought the rest of those films were god-awful.

I guess I'll join in with my list:

Fanny & Alexander (Bergman)
The Sacrifice (Tarkovsky)
Sans Soleil (Marker)
Stolen Kisses (Truffaut)
Amarcord (Fellini)
Russian Ark (Sokurov)
I Fidanzati (Olmi)
Army of Shadows (Melville)
La Haine (Kassovitz)
The Milky Way (Buñuel)
Week End (Godard)
The Battle of Algiers (Pontecorvo)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God (Herzog)
Time Out (Cantet)
Camera Buff (Kieslowski)
Eyes Without a Face (Franju)
Ordet (Dreyer)
Hard Boiled (Woo)
Vengeance is Mine (Imamura)
Mr. Hulot's Holiday (Tati)
The Bad Sleep Well (Kurosawa)
The Leopard (Visconti)
A Man Escaped (Bresson)
Insomnia (Skjoldbjærg)

Tried to keep it one per director.

Jim, great to see Wenders’ Im Lauf der Zeit getting some well deserved love. And with Sátántangó now on R1 DVD, it would be great if you saw it, and maybe even did a blog entry on it! It’s a truly transformative, one of a kind experience.

Here’s my favorite non-English films, with directorial repeats (in order);

Sátántangó (1994, Tarr)
Mouchette (1967, Bresson)
Il Posto (1963, Olmi)
Suna no onna (1964, Teshigahara)
Kárhozat (1988, Tarr)
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972, Herzog)
Werckmeister harmóniák (2000, Tarr)
Im Lauf der Zeit (1976, Wenders)
Ostre sledované vlaky (1966, Menzel)
Smultronstället (1957, Bergman)
Russkiy kovcheg (2002, Sokurov)
I Fidanzati (1963, Olmi)
Pickpocket (1959, Bresson)
Fanny och Alexander (1982, Bergman)
La Double vie de Véronique (1991, Kieslowski)
Solyaris (1972, Tarkovsky)
Le Feu follet (1963, Malle)
Häxan (1922, Christensen)
Die Brücke (1959, Wicki)
C'est arrivé près de chez vous (1992, Belvaux)

So many films to see.

This is the ballot I submitted:

M - 1931 - Lang, Fritz - Germany
Rules of the Game - 1939 - Renoir, Jean - France
Early Summer - 1951 - Ozu Yasujiro - Japan
My Life to Live - 1963 - Godard, Jean-Luc - France
Seven Samurai - 1955 - Kurosawa, Akira - Japan
Pornographers - 1966 - Imamura, Shohei - Japan
City of Sadness - 1989 - Hou Hsiao Hsien - China
Taiwan
Late Spring - 1949 - Ozu Yasujiro - Japan
Aguirre Wrath of God - 1973 - Herzog, Werner - Germany
Gospel According to Matthew - 1964 - Pasolini, Pier
Paolo - Italy
High and Low - 1963 - Kurosawa, Akira - Japan
Playtime - 1967 - Tati, Jacques - France
Tokyo Story - 1953 - Ozu Yasujiro - Japan
Ugetsu Monogatari - 1953 - Mizoguchi Kenji - Japan
Breathless - 1959 - Godard, Jean-Luc - France
Mystery of Kaspar Hauser - 1975 - Herzog, Warner -
Germany
Sun's Burial - 1960 - Oshima Nagasi - Japan
Pierrot Le Fou - 1965 - Godard, Jean-Luc - France
Pather Panchali - 1955 - Ray, Satyajit - India
Insect Woman - 1963 - Imamura Shohei - Japan
Alphaville - 1965 - Godard, Jean-Luc - France
Late Chrysanthemums - 1954 - Naruse Mikio - Japan
Celine and Julie Go Boating - 1973 - Rivette, Jacques
- France
Ivan the Terrible I - 1941 - Eisenstein, Sergei - USSR
Osaka Elegy - 1936 - Mizoguchi Kenji - Japan

I wavered most over whether to pick just one film per director - on one hand, it stretches the list (without really diluting it) - on the other hand, I was a bit worried about splitting votes. Apparently I shouldn't have been, since most of the relevant films made the list (but not my top Godard or Ozu films, oddly, or either of the Imamuras, dammit; of course I could make up a list of those three and be perfectly satisfied): fortunately, a fair number of the films I would have added made the list, though if I find out 2 other people voted for A Touch of Zen, I'll have some difficult moments... these films would have made the list if I dropped the doubled auteurs:

Mouchette - 1967 - Bresson, Robert - France
Camera Buff - 1979 - Kieslowski, Krystof - Poland
Yi Yi - 2000 - Yang, Edward - 960
Germany Year Zero - 1948 - Rossellini, Roberto - Italy
400 Blows - 1959 - Truffaut, Francois - France
Blue Angel - 1930 - Sternberg, Joseph von - Germany
Satantango - 1994 - Tarr, Bela - Hungary
Touch of Zen - 1969 - King Hu - China Hong Kong
Cleo from 5 to 7 - 1961 - Varda, Agnes - France

"And finally, I think Repulsion was the best film of 1965, and I'll prove it in my next Oscar post, but it's in english and the list is for foreign language."

Au contraire, mon cher. En francais.

Re: Repulsion:

Or at least it's a mix... however it's been awhile so maybe I'm just misremembering Catherine Deneuve as suffering in French, if not speaking in French--

Hi Jim. Here are my nominations. There's a bit more about list making at my site: http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/08/21/the-non-english-language-film-survey/

8 1/2 Federico Fellini, 1963
Aguirre, The Wrath of God Werner Herzog, 1972
Akira Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988
Au Hasard Balthazar Robert Bresson, 1966
Band of Outsiders Jean-Luc Godard, 1964
Black Orpheus Marcel Camus, 1959
City of God Fernando Meirelles, 2002
Day for Night Francois Truffaut, 1973
M Fritz Lang, 1931
Nights of Cabiria Federico Fellini, 1957
Run Lola Run Tom Tykwer, 1998
Seven Samurai Akira Kurosawa, 1954
Solaris Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972
Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki, 2001
Stolen Kisses Francois Truffaut, 1968
The Lovers on the Bridge Leos Carax, 1991
The Man Without a Past Aki Kaurismaki, 2002
The Rules of the Game Jean Renoir, 1939
The Seventh Seal Ingmar Bergman, 1957
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy, 1964
The Wages of Fear Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953
Wings of Desire Wim Wenders, 1987
Y Tu Mama Tambien Alfonso Cuaron, 2001
Yojimbo Akira Kurosawa, 1961
Zur Sache, Schätzchen May Spils, 1968

My link didn't work. Try this:

http://vinylisheavy.blogspot.com/2007/08/no-claire-denis.html

Brandon,

I've only just added "Volver" to my netflix list, however, I'm not looking forward to seeing it.

Dennis,

You should never have to make excuses for Jackie Chan!

Hi-- I posted my ballot with a few notes here: http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/08/21/the-non-english-language-film-survey/

Here's the list:

8 1/2 Federico Fellini, 1963
Aguirre, The Wrath of God Werner Herzog, 1972
Akira Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988
Au Hasard Balthazar Robert Bresson, 1966
Band of Outsiders Jean-Luc Godard, 1964
Black Orpheus Marcel Camus, 1959
City of God Fernando Meirelles, 2002
Day for Night Francois Truffaut, 1973
M Fritz Lang, 1931
Nights of Cabiria Federico Fellini, 1957
Run Lola Run Tom Tykwer, 1998
Seven Samurai Akira Kurosawa, 1954
Solaris Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972
Spirited Away Hayao Miyazaki, 2001
Stolen Kisses Francois Truffaut, 1968
The Lovers on the Bridge Leos Carax, 1991
The Man Without a Past Aki Kaurismaki, 2002
The Rules of the Game Jean Renoir, 1939
The Seventh Seal Ingmar Bergman, 1957
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy, 1964
The Wages of Fear Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953
Wings of Desire Wim Wenders, 1987
Y Tu Mama Tambien Alfonso Cuaron, 2001
Yojimbo Akira Kurosawa, 1961
Zur Sache, Schätzchen May Spils, 1968

Someone Help! I have an old video copy of Repulsion. It is in english. I went to IMDB and found this (look for yourself):

Runtime:106 min
Country:UK
Language:English
Color:Black and White
Aspect Ratio:1.66 : 1 more
Sound Mix:Mono

And this under trivia:
Roman Polanski's first English language film.

Now here's where I need help. I know we are not all crazy and I know I am not having video and IMDB delusions so - Are there two versions of this film, like with The Blue Angel? That film was made in English and German. Also Mon Oncle was made in French, then Tati and crew replaced French signs with English ones and shot the scenes again.

Is that what is going on here with Repulsion? Have I seen the second version all these years and never seen the original(?) French version?

Does anyone know? Are we talking two different films? Maybe that's my mix up. My is directed by Polanski and stars Catherine Deneuve. Someone help now.

I agree completely about Le Boucher, and would add La Ceremonie from Chabrol as well. And I'm amazed that Spirit of the Beehive didn't make the cut. Also, what the hell is Farewell My Concubine doing on such a list? It's not even a good movie, let alone a great one.

Re: Annie

Maybe that's it. I don't have a VCR anymore so I can't even put my damn tape in to check but maybe it's a mix and I'm remembering the english and everyone else is remembering the french. But the IMDB english language listing must mean there's at least a good amount of english in it.

Or maybe I'm just crazy. Let's not rule that out. I remember all kind of things that never happened. Like that time I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut about Repulsion's language when in the company of a thousand cinephiles who know movies like the back of their collective hands. See, that never happened. I could never be that smart. I had to open my mouth like a ding dong. Anyway, hopefully someone has just seen it recently and can straighten me out.

Jonathan: Not to worry: "Repulsion" is indeed in English (it's set in London, I believe), and that's why it wasn't on the list. It's available on Region 1 DVD, too. If it was in "non-English" I probably would have put it on my list! (Kind of "Hour of the Wolf" combined with "Jeanne Dielman" -- though both those were made after "Repulsion.")

I finally updated my own blog and listed my 12 foreign film favorites that didn't make the final list.

I don't like how the word "best" is getting attached to this list. "Best" is so subjective. I prefer to use the term "favorites" instead.

Last but not least, help me defend Le Samourai's brilliance Jim! I really hope it gets some votes in the final round. I'm starting to get worried about that film's support since I keep coming across negative opinions of it or people who have not seen it.

Re: Cinebeats:

I hope my opinion on "Le Samourai" didn't come across as negative. I adore the film, and I happen to be a huge Melville fan in general. I was delighted that it made the list - I simply said I felt it was curious that it made the list, while "Le Cercle Rouge" did not.

Anyway, glad to see you enjoy "Le Samourai" as much as I do.

It's a great, worthy list, with maybe 3 or 4 films out of place in total.

However, there is one country *glaringly* omitted: Canada.

Herewith five films that should be considered for the list:

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Zacaharias Kunuk)
Léolo (Jean-Claude Lauzon)
Jesus de Montréal (Denys Arcand)
Le Déclin de l'Empire American (Denys Arcand)
Mon Oncle Antoine (Claude Jutra)

As for other overlooked worthies, I would promote the following twenty (admittedly French heavy):

La Vie Rêvée des Anges (Erick Zonca)
Red Sorghum (Zhang Yimou)
Sade (Benoit Jacquot)
Wandafaru Raifu/Afterlife (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
The Colour of Paradise (Majid Majidi)

Cold Fever (Frithrik Thor Frithriksson)
Insomnia (Eirik Skjoldbærg)
Violette Nozière (Claude Chabrol)
Beau Travail (Claire Denis)
Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog)

Les Voleurs (André Téchiné)
La Haine (Matthieu Kassovitz)
Ridicule (Patrice Leconte)
Salaam Cinema (Moshen Makhmalbaf)
Oldboy (Park Chan-Wook)

Show Me Love (Lukas Moodysson)
Passion Jeanne d'Arc (Carl Dreyer)
L'Accompagnatrice (Romain Bohringer)
My Life as a Dog (Lasse Hallstrom)
La Pianiste (Michael Haneke)

Update on survey: In just the first two days of voting, we've already received 53 ballots and all but one of the 122 titles have received at least one vote. I've posted this appeal on my site, but thought I'd put it here as well: When you vote or if you have already voted, please include some comments about the films you vote on so I can use them when I post the final results in September. Thanks for all the participation.

Chris -

I wasn't targeting you at all with my comment! I've just in general come across negative comments about Le Samourai lately and I just had to write a defense of Melville on my own blog.

Since Edward has asked voters to write positive blurbs about the films they selected I figured Jim could probably write a really good defense of Le Samourai and so I was just encouraging him to do so.

I really wish Le Cercle Rouge was on the list as well.

Like yourself I'm really surprised that Tarkovsky's Solyaris didn't make the cut too. I figured that recent interest in his films thanks to the remake, etc. would get that terrific film on the list.

We're into the fourth day of voting now and we're up to 60 ballots and every film on the list has received at least one vote.

A little late to the game, but my choices were -

* The 400 Blows (1959 - Truffaut)
* A Better Tomorrow (1986 - Woo)
* Cronos (1993 - Del Toro)
* Dark Water (2002 - Nakata)
* Deep Red (1975 - Argento)
* Elevator to the Gallows (1958 - Malle)
* Eyes Without a Face (1960 - Franju)
* Female Prisoner #701 - Scorpion (1972 - Ito)
* The Girl Slaves of Morgana Le Fay (1971 - Gantillon)
* Gojira (1954 - Honda)
* The Great Silence (1968 - Corbucci)
* High and Low (1963 - Kurosawa)
* Incubus (1965 - Stevens)
* M (1931 - Lang)
* Master of the Flying Guillotine (1971 - Yu)
* One on Top of the Other (1969 - Fulci)
* Rififi (1955 - Dassin)
* Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975 - Pasolini)
* Sex and Fury (1973 - Suzuki)
* Spetters (1980 - Verhoeven)
* The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971 - Martino)
* Tetsuo (1989 - Tsukamoto)
* Through a Glass Darkly (1961 - Bergman)
* Uzumaki (2000 - Higuchinsky)
* The Whip and the Body (1963 - Bava)

Like Cinebeats, I post my list of choices that did not make the list with some explanation. It's here for the curious.

... A little disappointed that the cutoff date is too early for some of the excellent films that have come out in the last few years - so we get "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and not "Pan's Labyrinth," and no "The Lives of Others," and so on.

1) Tokyo Story directed by Yasujiro Ozu -- The perfect example of less being more. Ozu's beautiful simplicity holds it's own with any director out there. A quiet masterpiece that gets better the more you think about it.
2)The 400 Blows directed by Francois Truffaut -- Possibly the best movie about an adolescent. Addictively watchable up to the unforgettable final shot.
3)Ugetsu monogatari directed by Kenji Mizoguchi -- Gorgeous cinematography, and a powerfully moving surprise ending.
4)Ikiru directed by Akira Kurosawa -- Feels like Kurosawa's testament film. Makes me want to be a better person.
5)The Rules of the Game directed by Jean Renoir -- I didn't get this movie until about half way through. Then something clicked, and by the end I was convinced its landmark reputation is warranted.
6)Jules and Jim directed by Francois Truffaut -- Pretentious, yes - but fascinating just the same. A watershed for art films. You can feel Truffaut's joy of movie-making
7)Cries and Whispers directed by Ingmar Bergman -- Love that art direction. The supernatural ending is both disturbingly creepy and moving. Bergman directed actors as well as anyone.
8)8 1/2 directed by Federico Fellini -- Probably should be higher, but I'm weird. Nonetheless, what an amazing and revolutionary achievement.
9)Beauty and the Beast directed by Jean Cocteau -- Enchanting and wonderful from the two lead performances to the art direction. Disney's version is outstanding, but it doesn't haunt you like this one.
10)Persona directed by Ingmar Bergman -- I don't understand this movie. I don't have to. I know it's brilliant anyway.
11)Fanny and Alexander directed by Ingmar Bergman - A wonderful career summation. Would love to see the TV version sometime.
12)Das Boot directed by Wolfgang Petersen - One of the best war movies ever. Riveting and thankfully apolitical (Director's cut)
13)The Bicycle Thief directed by Vittorio de Sica - A simple film that still resonates despite many imitators. Extremely watchable.
14)The Seventh Seal directed by Ingmar Bergman - Despite all the cliches this movie spawned, the original still retains its power. Bergman would be a great director if this was the only thing he was remembered for.
15)Last Year at Marienbad directed by Alain Resnais --Typical pretentious art movie, but unforgettably photographed. Fascinating enigma which never totally reveals itself.
16)Eyes Without a Face directed by Georges Franju - What a beautiful nightmare perfectly rendered. The only weakness is the music.
17)Breathless directed by Jean-Luc Godard -- Disjointed and very effective. Jump cuts are a great idea -- overused today probably, but powerfully executed here
18)Belle de Jour directed by Luis Bunuel -- Love Bunuel and his surrealistic touch and ironic sense of humor. Wish someone would pick up the torch.
19)City of God directed by Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund -- What a movie. Like Goodfellas to the next level, and like Goodfellas it was definitely robbed at the Oscars
20)Ali: Fear Eats the Soul directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder -- Sometimes uncomfortable, always brilliant and believeable. How is a movie made this quickly this great?
21) Y Tu Mama Tambien directed by Alfonso Cuaron -- I thought this would be a Mexican American Pie, but its snowball towards greatness by the end stunned me. Cuaron has a great career ahead of him.
22) Umberto D directed by Vittorio de Sica -- The best film about the relationship between a man and his dog. Unforgettable.
23)The Wages of Fear directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot -- Slow start and end, but addictively suspenseful for the 2 hours in between. Is the anti-American stuff really needed, or does it just get in the way of the tension on screen?
24)Children of Paradise directed by Marcel Carne -- Maybe this movie is dated by modern standards. It's still a great achievement.
25)Raise the Red Lantern directed by Zhang Yimou -- A fascinating glimpse of Chinese marriage and a wife's place in it. Wonderful art direction and cinematography.
I've only seen about 50-60% of the list, so some obvious contenders (La Dolce Vita, L'Aventura, Seven Samurai, etc.) are not here, either because I haven't seen them, or I saw them years ago and don't remember them well enough to give an informed opinion. (My bad.)

1) Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa
2) Rififi - Jules Dassin
3) Rashomon - Akira Kurosawa
4) Yojimbo - Akira Kurosawa
5) Red Sorghum - Zhang Yimou
6) Raise The Red Lantern - Zhang Yimou
7) Das Boot - Wolfgang Petersen
8) The 400 Blows - Francois Truffaut
9) The Bicycle Thief - Vittorio De Sica
10) Ju Dou - Zhang Yimou
11) Shanghai Triad - Zhang Yimou
12) Lifetimes - Zhang Yimou
13) M - Fritz Lang
14) The Bad Sleep Well - Akira Kurosawa
15) Kagemusha - Akira Kurosawa
16) Amores Perros - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
17) Belle De Jour - Luis Bunuel
18) The Emperor And The Assassin - Chen Kaige
19) Aguirre Wrath Of god - Werner Herzog
20) City Of God - Fernado Meirelles
21) Le Samouri - Jean-Pierre Melville
22) High And Low - Akira Kurosawa
23) The Exterminating Angel - Luis Bunuel
24) Los Olvidados - Luis Bunuel
25) Pather Panchali - Satyajit Ray

Christopher: "Stroszek" is one of my favorites, too (just saw it again -- with Herzog in the audience -- at Ebertfest. But I always think of it as being in English, maybe because of the midwest setting of much of it. It's in English and German, though. Maybe that's why some people didn't mention it. My Herzog choice was "Aguirre."

"Discreet Charm" is one of my very favorite movies, but it was hard to choose just one Bunuel. (That was my own rule to make the list a little more manageable: one film per director.) I could have chosen "Belle de Jour," "Nazarin," "Exterminating Angel," "El," "Criminal Life of Archibaldo de La Cruz," "The Phantom of Liberty"... and so on. But I wanted to be sure at least ONE Bunuel got on the final list, and I figured "Discreet Charm" probably had the best shot. BTW, I think of it as the second half of "Exterminating Angel."

M: If we'd been allowed to choose films made since 2002 (still a good rule, to provide some perspective), I probably would have added "Pan's Labyrinth," "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and "Cache."

Cinebeats: I plan to do an Opening Shot for "Le Samourai" very soon. It's my favorite Melville because, I think, it's the purest expression of his style.

This is a great post. I just found this out while reading ebert's great movie post--Pan's Labyrinth. As always, this is personal fav of foreign films that I really adore watching. Some of them are considered major bore by lots of people. Again, I do not mean to list these movies because they are not popular and overlook but they are truly great films. I list them sincerely. So please feel free to post your criticism and recommendation….

1) Heart of Glass (Herzog)

This mesmerizing early film from Herzog is one of his best. I think if I can include more films from Herzog definite Strozek, Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo..and more. Out of all directors I love his films the most and inspire most by his way of making them...

2) Jeanne Dielman (Akerman)

This movie is terrifying because of its handling of time. Tarkovsky said that filmmakers are scupltors of time. Watch this movie and find out why!!! I consider this one of the best horror movie ever made.

3) My Name is Ivan (Tarkovsky)

A haunting, cinamatic, biographical, and visionary film from Tarkovsky who died TOO YOUNG!!!!

4) Cyclo

This French Vietnamese production by director Trang Anh Hung is a violent poem, a brutal symphony, and a lustful, sweaty master piece of a film. Just imagine Taxi Driver cross with The Bicycle Theft. DOES ANYONE KNOW OF HIS WHERE ABOUT? HE DISAPPEARED COMPLETELY….

5) Balthazar (Bresson)

I think besides Ingmar Bergman for me Robert Bresson is the most religious and transcending filmmakers ever. Watch this one and tell me who the donkey personifies.

6) Fanny and Alexamder (Bergman)

This is perhaps I think the most accessible of Bergman's movies. A great treat for nostalgic and fantastical film lover.

7) After Life (Kore-Eda)

A movie about death that is appropriate for all ages. I feel very uplifting after watching this and it is exactly what movies for me should me about—help you to deal with issue that are difficult in your life.

8) Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
Forget about Wong Kar Wai and his over the top style which bears minimal substance. Instead check out this work of Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao Sien which is like watching a snail crawling across a window pane one summer afternoon while listing to Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and think about your lost love.

9) El Topo (Jorodowsky)

This insane film is like mixing tequila with German vintage whine. A cult classic that challenge anyone to watch.

10) Moolaade (Sembene)

A joy to watch, splendid and also very moving and plus it is extremely funny sometimes. One of the best reasons why we watch movies!!!

A word on remakes:
My list includes five films remade for U.S. audiences
Purple Noon, adapted from Patricia Highsmith's novel, also remade by Minghella (as The Talented Mr. Ripley)
Antarctica, made stupider by Disney (as Eight Below)
Abre Los Ojos, made weirder by Crowe (as Vanilla Sky)
Infernal Affairs, which impressed me well before I heard it would be remade by Scorsese (as The Departed)
and Nine Queens, remade somewhat pointlessly (as Criminal).
I avoided including other, better-known movies I liked first as foreign films (La Femme Nikita, The Vanishing, Insomnia) in my 25.

These are the memorably great ones:

1. Diva - Bieneix
(I am truly shocked that no one polled so far has chosen anything by Bieneix)
2. Le Mepris (Contempt) - Godard
3. Grand Illusion - Renoir
4. Days of Being Wild - Wong Kar-Wai
5. M - Lang
6. 3 Colors: Blue - Kiezlowski
7. L'Avventura - Antonioni
8. Band a Parte (Band of Outsiders) - Godard
9. Elevator to the Gallows - Malle
10. Men With Guns - Sayles
11. Antarctica - Kurahara
12. Purple Noon - Clement
13. Vagabond (Sans Toit Ni Loi) - Varda
14. Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) - Amenabar
15. Fallen Angels - Wong Kar-Wai
16. Memento Mori (Yeogo Goedam)
17. Nine Queens
18. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner - Kunuk
19. Infernal Affairs - Lau/Mak
20. Jesus of Montréal - Arcand
21. Talk to Her - Almodovar
22. Week-End - Godard
23. Y Tu Mama Tambien - Cuaron
24. Persona - Bergman
25. Betty Blue - Bieneix

My favourites would certainly include the following:
"Age of the Medici" (Rossellini)
"Lights in the Dusk" (Kaurismaki)
"Alice in the Cities" (Wenders)
"Early Summer" (Ozu)
"Era notte a Roma" (Rossellini)
"Accattone" (Pasolini)
"Kaos" (Taviani)
"Ariel" (Kaurismaki)
"End of Summer" (Ozu)
"Scenes from a Marriage" (Bergman)
"The Messiah" (Rossellini)
"Hana-b" (Kitano)

I think it's an oversight that Zhang Yimou's "Ju Dou" is not on the list. It's one of the most powerfully moving films I've ever seen.

I'm haunted by two films recently viewed:
- Ivanovo Detstvo (Ivan's Childhood), Alexei Tarkovsky, 1962
- Au Revoir les Enfants (Goodbye Children), Louis Malle, 1988