A few weeks ago, shortly after that Online Bestest 100 Movies flap, Ed Copeland invited me and a crew of other critics and bloggers (you can see the full list of participants here) to nominate titles for Top 25 Foreign Language Films list. The rules were much debated behind the scenes, but in the end it was decided that silent films were off the table (no spoken language to speak of), as were films released within the past five years.
I tend to gravitate towards the lesser-loved films by well-known directors (ie: Happy Together instead of In the Mood For Love; Even Dwarfs Started Small instead of Aguirre Wrath of God), so only 11 films from my list of 25 nominees made the final cut. They are: Pierrot Le Fou, The Rules of the Game, The Conformist, , Suspiria, Red Desert, The Blue Angel, L’Eclisse, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Au Hasard Balthazar, and The Bicycle Thief. More thoughts after the jump.
(more…)
Originally posted on:
Spoutblog