Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Top 50 Foreign Films

The top 50 foreign language movies that I have seen, which were released after 1985, are these:
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  1. Cidade de Deus - City of God (2002). Portuguese
  2. Das Leben der Anderen - The lives of others (2006). German
  3. El Secreto de sus ojos - The secret of their eyes (2009). Spanish
  4. La vita è bella - Life is beautiful (1997). Italian
  5. Amores Perros - Love's a bitch (2000). Spanish
  6. Krótki film o milosci - A short film about love (1988). Portuguese
  7. Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain - Amelie (2001). French
  8. Okurubito - Departures (2008). Japanese
  9. Un Prophete - A prophet (2009). Arabic
  10. La haine - The Hate (1995). French.
  11. Oldboy - Old Boy (2003). Korean
  12. Festen - The Celebration (1998). Danish
  13. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi - Spirited away (2001). Japanese
  14. Låt den rätte komma in - Let the right one in (2008). Swedish.
  15. Le scaphandre et le papillon - Driving bell and the butterfly (2007). French
  16. Mar Adentro - The Sea Inside (2004). Spanish
  17. Nicija zemlja - No Man's land (2001). Bosnian
  18. Bacheha-Ye aseman. Children of heaven (1997). Persian
  19. Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003). Korean
  20. Chung Hing sam lam - Chungking Express (1994). Cantonese
  21. Lola rennt - Run Lola Run (1998). German
  22. Wo hu cang long - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Mandarin
  23. Madeo - Mother (2009). Korean
  24. Diarios de motocicleta - The Motorcycle Diaries (2004). Spanish
  25. Batoru rowaiaru - Battle Royale (2000). Japanese
  26. Lilja 4-ever - Lilya 4-ever (2002). Swedish
  27. 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile - 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days (2007). Romanian
  28. Tôkyô sonata - Tokyo Sonata (2008). Japanese
  29. Entre les murs - The Class (2008). French
  30. Volver - To Return (2006). Spanish
  31. Kolja - Kolya (1996). Czech
  32. Linda Linda Linda (2005). Japanese
  33. Shi mian mai fu - The house of the flying daggers (2004). Mandarin
  34. Die Fälscher - The Counterfeiters (2007). German
  35. El paraíso ahora - Paradise Now (2005). Arabic
  36. Revanche (2008). German/Russian
  37. Mies vailla menneisyyttä - The man without a past (2002). Finnish
  38. Tenten - Adrift in Tokyo (2007). Japanese
  39. La Misa Luna - Under the Same Moon (2007). Spanish
  40. 13 Tzameti (2005). French
  41. Malena (2000). Italian/Sicilian
  42. Irréversible (2002). French/Spanish
  43. Ao no hono-o - The blue light (2003). Japanese
  44. Maison do himiko - La maison de Himiko (2005). Japanese
  45. Yeopgijeogin geunyeo - My sassy girl (2001). Korean
  46. Mogari no mori - The Mourning Forest (2007). Japanese
  47. Chi to hone - Blood and bones (2004). Japanese
  48. Scrap Heaven (2005). Japanese
  49. Bakwji - Thirst (2009). Korean
  50. Gwoemul - The host (2001). Korean
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PS: The list is populated only with the movies whose names I could remember. And of those only those worth getting listed.
PPS: At least one component of the genre of most movies here is 'Drama'.
PPPS: Since rating every movie individually seemed a huge exercise, the list is arranged such that the real good movies are on top.