Favourite non-English language films

[Loony BoB]

The Intouchables (aka Untouchable) is my new favourite non-English language film. Beforehand it was probably City of God.

Other really good ones off the top of my head: Amelie, Downfall, Oldboy, Elite Squad.

[Lonely Paper Star]

Just a few I like off the top of my head..

[REC] (Spain)
@Suicide Room (Poland)
Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Japan)
The Eye (Hong Kong)
White: Curse of the Melody (Korea)

[Mirage]

I always thought American Beauty was a pretty nice movie.

-edit-
This post was made before BoB changed it from "foreign" to "non-english.

[Loony BoB]

I always thought American Beauty was a pretty nice movie.
xD *edits thread title* Silly ignorant me. :D

[Pike]

The Seven Samurai.

[Chris]

"The King's Speech"

[Quindiana Jones]

I've got The Girl Who Leapty Through Time bookmarked, but have yet to get round to watching it. I still know nothing about it; just bookmarked it on a whim of interest. :)

I remember watching a French film from the... 80s, I think, about the plague. I remember a crow touching a man's arm and him setting fire to it. I wish I could watch that film again. :(

[charliepanayi]

Discounting anime stuff:

Chungking Express
After Life
City of God
The Lives of Others
Still Walking
The Seven Samurai

[Quindiana Jones]

Can't believe I didn't think to mention City of God. :shame:

[Pike]

After Life

LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie!

[Laddy]

Pan's Labyrinth, Oldboy, Rashmonon, Tekkonkinkreet, Life Is Beautiful, and Monsieur Lazhar.

[Jinx]

Pan's Labyrinth
A Very Long Engagement
House of Flying Daggers
Hero


And while I wouldn't say it's one of my favourites, I did really like La Vie En Rose.

[Burtsplurt]

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Das Boot
The Lives of Others
Lore
Let the Right One In
A Prophet
Hidden

Probably lots more!

[chionos]

Pan's Labyrinth
War of the Arrows
The Butterfly
The Science of Sleep
Raise the Red Lantern
My Way
Ip Man
Citizen Dog
Mr. Bean's Holiday :p

[Shiny]

400 Blows
Pan's Labyrinth
The Lives of Others
Amelie
Infernal Affairs
Oldboy
The Bicycle Thief

There was also a really good French film about a bank robber's path of redemption. The ending was the best chase scene I have ever seen on film. Too bad the name escapes me. French cinema is the best but I thought City of God was just ok.

[Shorty]

Amelie
Oldboy
Pan's Labyrinth
High Tension
Let The Right One In
Y Tu Mama Tambien
L'Histoire d'O

[Unbreakable Will]

Pan's Labyrinth, there are a few more but I can't think of their names at the moment. :mad:

Damn memory.

[Loony BoB]

The Lives of Others is a good shout from a bunch of you, blanked that and also The Wave at work, both really enjoyable.

Das Boot and Life is Beautiful are in the group of movies I hope to watch in the coming weeks. =]

*goes to look up the ones he hasn't heard of*

[Pike]

400 Blows
Pan's Labyrinth
The Lives of Others
Amelie
Infernal Affairs
Oldboy
The Bicycle Thief

I loved Bicycle Thief, I never did get into 400 Blows though. Or 8 1/2, for that matter. (Fuck that movie)

[Loony BoB]

Or 8 1/2, for that matter. (smurf that movie)
Crap, that's in the top 250. One to look forward to, huh? >_> Hopefully I can enjoy it.

[The Man]

Pan's Labyrinth
Seven Samurai
Amélie

But Pan's Labyrinth pretty much above all else. In fact that film has a strong claim for being my favourite film ever.

Also this thread reminded me how many foreign-language films I still need to see. I almost invariably end up enjoying them but they take a lot more effort to watch because you can't rescind your attention even for a moment.

[Mirage]

You should never do that anyway.

[Jinx]

Life is Beautiful is kind of insulting to the Holocaust, in my opinion.

[Shiny]

Oh damn, I completely got City of God mixed up with the film, The City of Lost Children. City of Lost Children was meh, but no City of God was really good. It was a little gratuitous and exploitative at times, but still good at showing the corruption and horrid social class system in Brazil. Speaking of Brazil, there are actually some other really good films to come out of there.

I really enjoyed Central Station and Elite Squad is also apparently really good, but I haven't seen that one yet.

[NeoCracker]

Most foreign movies I've watched have been the Kung-fu movies, though I've been meaning to get around to watching Oldboy.

[I Took the Red Pill]

Ikiru
Game of Death (simply for the fight between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul Jabar)
Hable con ella

Everyone creamed their pants over Y tu mama tambien but I thought it sucked

[Aulayna]

Chungking Express
City of God
Battle Royale

[Pheesh]

The Orphanage
Love Me If You Dare
Pan's Labyrinth
Let the Right One In
Jiro Dreams of Sushi

[Pike]

Tampopo is another great one.
Also Rashomon.

EDIT: And Sholay.

[chionos]

Jiro Dreams of Sushi is up there with my favorite documentaries of all time, and I likes me some documentaries. And I'm not even a big fan of sushi!

[krissy]

girl who leapt through time

run lola run

the princess and the warrior
The Princess and the Warrior trailer - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hRHuoieRNzo)

[Shiny]

Oh I forgot about Run Lola Run. That was soooo goood. Battle Royale I love because I love Lord of the Flies but it was hardly a good movie in retrospect. They were in middle school and they had people who look 20-30 playing the damn roles. Come on now. Also choppy ass story and random ass basketball shots. I think I watched the directors cut my second viewing so maybe that's why it was worse the second go around.

[Rocket Edge]

The Raid
City of God
Bicycle Thieves
The Seven Samurai

I kinda struggle to remember any others I've enjoyed.

[XxSephirothxX]

basically most everything Kurosawa but Seven Samurai is such a top-to-bottom masterpiece.

Similarly, I love almost everything Miyazaki, but Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is the best adventure movie ever made behind Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Bonus award to Battle Royale. I saw that in a movie theater last year packed with a thousand movie geeks and that was goddamn incredible.

I'm slowly seeing more Korean movies, but my knowledge of European films (outside the UK) is pretty limited.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Pan's Labyrinth (Spanish), Incendies (French/Quebecois), My Sassy Girl (Korean), Love Exposure (Japanese), and most things by studio Ghibli (Japanese).

[DK]

pretty much similar to shit that's already been mentioned for me, Shichinin no Samurai, Old Boy, Battle Royale, Infernal Affairs etc.

Dare mo Shiranai is one of the better films I've seen, probably in my top 5 personally. Kikujiro no Natsu is also fun to watch, and has one of my all time favourite OST's because Joe Hisaishi is a badass (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIrU-iD7gmE). Also Kitano Takeshi.

Also, Jackie Chan. God damn I love me some Jackie Chan. In a full on Chan-spamfest at the moment. Police Story 1, Project A and Drunken Master hands down three of the best martial arts films ever made for mine. Although my personal favourite is Dragons Forever because fuck yes Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. Even Yuen Wah got a spot.

I love some Thai films as well, and intend to try and watch more. Ong Bak is brilliant, imho the best martial arts action film ever made (though 2 and 3 are utter abortions, possibly the worst sequels ever), Tom Yum Goong is also excellent, and I love the thai film Chocolate too.

Also, Taxi. Taxi 2. Fuck. Yes. I think the guy who plays the main character in those films is possibly the greatest Frenchman to ever live. Also probably the only acceptable French films full stop. Truffaut and French New Wave can fuck right off.

[Loony BoB]

Also probably the only acceptable French films full stop. Truffaut and French New Wave can smurf right off.
Not 100% sure, but I think you'd like Untouchable. But then, I think everyone should like Untouchable. :D

I think I have Ong-bak on my PC somewhere... maybe I'll give it a watch sometime. This thread is a proper goldmine of ideas of things to watch.

[Calliope]

La Grande Illusion
Man On Wire
On Mon Oncle
Three Colours Trilogy

[Skyblade]

My Best Friend

Although it's one of those movies I can't watch all the way through (part of it is just too emotionally painful to watch), it's a phenomenally well done film.

[Yar]

Okuribito (Departures is the English title)
Tokyo Sonata
Goodbye Lenin!


Just a few of my favorites.

[DanielCLFFF13]

Final Fantasy VII : Advent Childern Movie and Tekken Blood Vengeance
43132

[Rebellious Eagle]

I've been watching quite a few foreign movies lately. L'argent de Poche (French) and Band Baaja Baaraat (Hindi) are some favorites as of right now.

[Daylight]

The film festival in my city showed quite a few this year. I really liked "Wadjda" by Haifaa Al-Mansour. :love:

[Mirage]

Life is Beautiful is kind of insulting to the Holocaust, in my opinion.

I didn't really like that movie myself. It felt a bit, well, icky.

[krissy]

well if we're putting ong bak in here

Chocolate Trailer ("?????????") - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Axf_EXzF_qM)

[Calliope]

God Krissy, thank you! I spent ages trying to google Chocolate and only got Chocolat.

[Kossage]

I've seen lots of great films, old and new-ish. Here's a sampling of some that I can remember. I won't include anime because there's so much good stuff out there that it'd make this list quite lengthy.

- Battleship Potemkin - A cinematic masterpiece definitely worth the watch for any film buff or anyone interested in films in general. The first (or at the very least first effective) use of montage. The Odessa stairs sequence is still thrilling in this day and age.

- The Bicycle Thief - I love the interaction between the father and the son, and the story's such a heartbreaking journey where we learn so much about these characters, which is why the events turn out having such a bif effect on us when we see the lengths the father's going through for his son's sake.

- City of God - An interesting, one could almost say hip depiction of Brazil's slums told in a very entertaining yet somewhat gritty way. The characters are memorable, the cinematography is exquisite, and the story has some nice sequences with interesting dialogue.

- Infernal Affairs - The film The Departed is based on, more or less. In some ways it's still superior to Scorcese's version; I just love the character interaction, the twists and turns and the way it's shot. Lots of cool stuff going on.

- Pan's Labyrinth - This is one of those great dark fantasy films. Such distinctive look, the breathtakingly beautiful and complex music score by Javier Navarrete, fine performances and many memorable sequences which all serve what matters the most: the bittersweet story.

- Persepolis - An interesting, surprisingly comical yet intelligent look at the Iranian revolution and its effect on the main character while still having darker elements. It's a pretty balanced coming of age film with a clear story arc, and the animation will linger in your mind after you've watched it.

- Tuntematon Sotilas (The Unknown Soldier) (1955 version) - This is one of THE Finnish films which most foreigners likely won't ever watch, but its historic signifance to us Finns is unmistakable. It and the novel that spawned it were much needed after WW2, its sayings, scenes and characters live on in everyday Finnish life, and even if we leave all of that out, it's still a very interesting look at people from different areas in Finland growing into a cohesive military unit and winning victories and ultimately suffering losses in the war against Soviets. You won't understand a Finn until you've seen this film; it and the novel have shaped the nation, and it's still an enjoyable film to watch with lots of memorable performances from A list Finnish actors of the time. :)

[Spatvark]

Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec
Utterly delightful Luc Besson film, really surprised at how much I enjoyed it, and hope for a sequel since it's based on a series of old French comics.

The Raid
Best martial arts film since Ong-bak, and honestly, I thought it was overall actually a better film, though it's hard to beat some of Ong-bak's sheer insane stunts. Really looking forwards to the sequel that's being shot right now.

Hard Boiled
Probably the definitive John Woo film, this is what every gunfight-laden action movie ever made wishes it was, though his earlier film The Killer gives it a damn good run.

The Young Master
Not the most popular of Jackie Chan's HK movies, but this is the one that always sticks with me, from the impressive Lion Dance opening, to the climactic 15 minute long fight. Other nearly-rans are Drunken Master 2, Police Story, Project A, and Armour of God.

Delicatessen
For a film about cannibalism in post-apocalyptic France, Delicatessen is utterly hilarious, but also has some truly excellent cinematography, as one might expect from Darius Khondji along with Jean-Pierre Jeunet's directorial vision

Nothing else is immediately springing to mind, but I'm sure I'll think of at least three more when I try to go to sleep tonight!

[Necronopticous]

NN0HVJ5tkIM

[Citizen Bleys]

Does Bon Cop Bad Cop count? It's in both English and French.

I also enjoyed Oles Yanchuk's Neskorenyy (in Ukrainian)

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Does Bon Cop Bad Cop count? It's in both English and French.



So hilarious~

[charliepanayi]

NN0HVJ5tkIM

House/Hausu is utterly demented, I love it.

[Shiny]

The Raid was aight. Definitely wrong to say it's the best since Ong-Bak. Hells no. I need to see this Delicatessen movie.

[Spatvark]

If you're after demented, The Happiness of the Katakuri's is pretty well up there, and I'd probably toss in The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, which is less insane than scarily accurate.

Ong-Bak had awesome fight scenes, no doubting it, but the rest of the film was balls, especially that ending. The Raid's fight scenes weren't as good (though still very, very good), but the rest of the film was a whole lot better than Ong-Bak, hence me saying it's better =P

[Shiny]

Oh Takeshi Miike...that reminds me of another one of my favorites, Ichi the Killer.

[Shorty]

Oh man, I heard that was a great film!

[krissy]

Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec
Utterly delightful Luc Besson film, really surprised at how much I enjoyed it, and hope for a sequel since it's based on a series of old French comics.


holy crap there's a movie!?

[Bolivar]

43276

[Mirage]

Holy balls, I've actually seen that one.

[Pike]

Do movies that were made in a non-English-language country but then dubbed into English count?

Because I've seen some great cartoons, like Katy the Caterpillar and Peter No-Tail.

[krissy]

43276

its on youtube

??????? 1 ????? / Solaris film 1 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG9Anstjlro)

i think i'll watch it been meaning to

[Gzussaves]

oh man.. so many to name.. where to start
Wasabi, Run Lola Run, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy, Pan's Labyrinth, the District B13 movies, i know there are others but my mind is drawing a blank

[noxious.sunshine]

Pan's Labyrinth, definitely. Battle Royale, La Misma Luna (It's literally "The Same Moon", but they put it as "Under The Same Moon" ;p), Sin Nombre (Without A Name), The Road Home, El Infierno (Hell), Rudo y Cursi, Maria Full of Grace

[Inferno]

Many have been mentioned so I'll just add these :
Das Experiment (The experiment (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250258/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)
Der Untergang (Downfall) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363163/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)
L'immortel (22 bullets) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1167638/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)
Starbuck (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1756750/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2)

[escobert]

Battle Royal and Tora! Tora! Tora! Tora has probably one of the best quotes ever in a movie "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." - Isoroku Yamamoto

[Parker]

8 1/2 owns.

Bicycle Thieves, Amelie, The Illusionist (the animated one) and of course Hausu. Repulsion is great if you like creepy horror. I'm not hugely into horror but I liked it.

I've been going through a lot of criterion releases including a lot of foreign-language films and I haven't been disappointed yet.

[Unbreakable Will]

Ip Man/2 were both really great films, I really enjoyed the hell out of 'em. Gotta love martial arts movies!
:kaofight:

[noxious.sunshine]

I was browsing through Netflix... Apparently there's a Korean version of Ghost (yeah. The old Demi Moore/Kevin Costner or whoever the hell it is movie)

As soon as I watch it, can I add it to my list of fav. foreign films? XD

Try not to doublepost :) ~Pike

It was an accident. ;p I didn't mean tooo!

[Pike]

8 1/2 owns.

If you're high maybe

[Parker]

maybe you just suck idk :/

[Pike]

maybe you just suck idk :/

You're probably right :(