The Blu-ray.com Community's Top 20 Foreign Films of the 2000s

[jvince]

QUALIFICATIONS

In order to qualify, the movie must be:

1. A feature-length film produced outside of the United States of America with a predominantly non-English dialogue track;

2. Released within 2000-2009 as per IMDb. It doesn't matter if it was straight-to-DVD or if it wasn't theatrically released in your country;


SCORING

The top twenty films on your list will be scored accordingly:

1. 20 points
2. 19 points
3. 18 points
4. 17 points
5. 16 points
6. 15 points
7. 14 points
8. 13 points
9. 12 points
10. 11 points
11. 10 points
12. 9 points
13. 8 points
14. 7 points
15. 6 points
16. 5 points
17. 4 points
18. 3 points
19. 2 points
20. 1 point


RULES

1. Please refrain from making multiple lists, since it'll only make it harder to tally the points. If you want to add another film or make changes to your list's order, simply edit your original list and post a new reply indicating the changes you've made. You may edit your list until the deadline;

2. Please do not put multiple films at the same ranking;

3. And last but not the least, please be respectful to other members. This is all for fun and discussion.


DEADLINE: Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 12 AM PST.

[jvince]

1. Battle Royale
2. Pan's Labyrinth
3. My Sassy Girl
4. Let the Right One In
5. Linda Linda Linda

6. Hero
7. Departures
8. Swing Girls
9. Memories of Murder
10. [REC]

11. Mother
12. A Moment to Remember
13. Kung Fu Hustle
14. A Bittersweet Life
15. City of Life and Death

16. The Good, the Bad, the Weird
17. Three... Extremes
18. Love Exposure
19. Still Walking
20. Yi Yi

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Amélie
Audition
The Chaser
Dolls
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
The Host
Il Mare
J.S.A.: Joint Security Area
Kamikaze Girls
Oldboy
The Secret in Their Eyes
Secret Sunshine
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Tell No One

[Taipan]

1. IP Man
2. Memories of Murder
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
5. Red Cliff 1
6. Red Cliff 2
7. Spirited Away
8. Let the right one in
9. Oldboy
10. Amelie
11. Kung Fu Hustle
12. Hero
13. The Host
14. Howl's Moving Castle
15. The Orphanage
16. The Brotherhood of the Wolf

I have The Lives of Others on the way, and I still haven't seen Diving Bell.

[stanleykubrick]

1. Lives of Others
2. City of God
3. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
4. Pan's Labrynth
5. Revanche
6. Everlasting Moments
7. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
8. The Orphanage
9. Amelie
10. The Pianst
11. Tell No One
12. Gomorrah
13. A Christmas Tale
14. Downfall
15. Summer Hours
16. Monsoon Wedding
17. Let the Right one In
18. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
19. Slumdog Millionare
20. Devil's Backbone

[Al_The_Strange]

Can these films be animated, or are they live-action only? There are probably several anime films I could put on my list.

[Mandalorian]

1. Pan's Labyrinth
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
3. Let the Right One In
4. A Prophet

I really need to see Oldboy, City of God, and some of the others you guys mentioned.

[Al_The_Strange]

For now, my list is as follows:

01: "Hero" ("Ying Xiong," China)
02: "The Devil's Backbone" ("El Espinazo Del Diablo," Spain)
03: "Evangelion 2: You Can (Not) Advance" ("Evangerion Shin Gekijôban: Ha," Japan)
04: "Downfall" ("Der Untergang," Germany)
05: "Red Cliff" Part I ("Chi Bi," China)
06: "Red Cliff" Part II ("Chi Bi," China)
07: "Ip Man" ("Yip Man," China)
08: "Evangelion 1: You Are (Not) Alone" ("Evangerion Shin Gekijôban: Jo," Japan)
09: "Chocolate" (Thailand)
10: "Waltz With Bashir" ("Valz Im Bashir," Isreal)
11: "OldBoy" ("Oldeuboi," Korea)
12: "The Cowboy Bebop: The Movie" ("Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku No Tobira," Japan)
13: "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" (Japan)
14: "Mesrine Part 1: Killer Instinct" ("L'instinct de Mort," France)
15: "Mesrine Part 2: Public Enemy #1" ("L'ennemi Public n°1," France)
16: "The Girl Who Played With Fire" ("Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden," Sweden)
17: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" ("Män Som Hatar Kvinnor," Sweden)
18: "Memories of Murder" ("Salinui Chueok," Korea)
19: "Let the Right One In" ("Låt Den Rätte Komma In," Sweden)
20: "Spirited Away" ("Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi," Japan)

Honorable mentions to "[REC] 2" (one of the scariest movies I've seen! ), "The Protector" (which rocks! ), "Tokyo Gore Police" (bloodiest movie I've ever seen! ), "Martyrs," and "Inside."

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by RJ Smoove

Question: isn't The Passion of the Christ an American film?

According to imdb, it's an American production. Even though it's done in a foreign language, I don't think it counts.

If it counts otherwise, it's probably be my #1 pick.

[Mandalorian]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

According to imdb, it's an American production. Even though it's done in a foreign language, I don't think it counts.

If it counts otherwise, it's probably be my #1 pick.

Yeah, that's what I figured. Stanleykubrick listed it, so I figured I'd ask. It would probably be on my super short list as well.

EDIT: He also listed Letters to Iwo Jima, which is also American, but would definitely be on my list as well. Man, my rookie status as a cinephile is apparent in this thread.

[csdot]

do movies like District 9 and Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead count or no?
edit: i noticed in the OP it says language other than english, why does that matter? other countries speak english??

[Mandalorian]

Originally Posted by csdot

do movies like District 9 and Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead count or no?

Made by foreigners, produced and distributed by Americans, right? Good question. I love those three.

[Konfusion1230]

Looking forward to the results of this. I don't see many foreign films mainly because i'm not sure what to watch.

[MarkJ801]

Yeah this will be a great way to discover some new movies.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

1. Pan's Labyrinth
2. Sin Nombre
3. The Orphanage
4. Let the Right One In

I'm sure I can come up with more later...

[SLeeK]

1) Old Boy
2) Pans Labyrinth
3) Let the Right One In
4)Jar City
5) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
6) Crouching Tiger Hideen Dragon
7) The Orphanage
8) Y Tu Mama Tambien
9) The Good, the Bad, the Weird
10) Secret in their Eyes
11) IP Man
12) The Host
13) Waltz with Bashir
14) Yi Yi


Have a few on blu ray/netflix I haven't watched yet, and then there are a few more I have just never had the opportunity to see. Hopefully I can fill this list out by the end date.

[csdot]

i wanna post my list but some of them are in english even though they are 100% foreign/not american. are these films not going to be counted? i mean Australia and the UK are no less foreign then any other country...

[wilky61]

If The Diving Bell and the Butterfly isn't top 3, then I call shenigans on this entire forum.

1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2. Manderlay (despite being English-language, this film is Danish)
3. The Lives of Others
4. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
5. Amores Perros
6. Chega de Saudade
7. Slumdog Millionaire (I wouldn't have thought to count this as foreign until I saw jvince's inclusion of Once)
8. Carandiru
9. Downfall
10. Let the Right One In
11. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
11. The Kite Runner (nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007)
12. Rec
13. The Protector
14. City of God
15. Oldboy
16. Pan's Labyrinth
17. The Orphanage
18. Amelie
19. Y Tu Mama Tambien
20. Ip Man

Something like that.

[octagon]

1 -- The Lives of Others
2 -- Downfall
3 -- Let the Right One In
4 -- The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
5 -- Revanche
6 -- Carlos
7 -- White Material
8 -- Timecrimes
9 -- The Secret in Their Eyes
10 - Pan's Labyrinth
11 - The White Ribbon
12 - The Orphanage
13 - 36 quai des orfèvres
14 - Amelie
15 - Mesrine: Killer Instinct
16 -
17 -
18 -
19 -
20 -

[Tom Hiddleston]

Originally Posted by wilky61

If The Diving Bell and the Butterfly isn't top 3, then I call shenigans on this entire forum.

I'll edit this post later with a decent list.

I really need to see that one. After seeing A Christmas Tale I'm going to see all of Mathieu Amalric's films. I am having trouble with the list because most of my favorites are pre-2000's. I've seen some great films on people's lists, though.

[jvince]

Originally Posted by Taipan

5. Red Cliff 1&2

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

06: "Red Cliff" International ("Chi Bi," China)

Guys, please separate Red Cliff. We're gonna go by the original release/IMDb.

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Honorable mentions to "[REC] 2" (one of the scariest movies I've seen! ), "The Protector" (which rocks! ), and "Tokyo Gore Police" (bloodiest movie I've ever seen! ).

I haven't seen part 2 yet, but the first one scared the shite out of me, and I've seen a ton of horror films.

Originally Posted by stanleykubrick

6. Babel
11. The Passion of the Christ
19. Letters from Iwo Jima

Originally Posted by SLeeK

2) Babel

Those are (sadly) American productions. Please replace them with other films.

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Can these films be animated, or are they live-action only? There are probably several anime films I could put on my list.

Yes. Live-action, animated, or straight-to-DVD, it doesn't matter.

Originally Posted by csdot

do movies like District 9 and Hot Fuzz/Shaun of the Dead count or no?
edit: i noticed in the OP it says language other than english, why does that matter? other countries speak english??

No, sadly they don't, because they're mainly English-language films. We're going with the Academy's rules on this voting.

Originally Posted by SLeeK

Have a few on blu ray/netflix I haven't watched yet, and then there are a few more I have just never had the opportunity to see. Hopefully I can fill this list out by the end date.

The voting is gonna last a little longer than usual (about eight weeks), so lots of time to see other films. You could even check out some of the ones listed here. Who knows, you might something you'll love here.

Originally Posted by csdot

i wanna post my list but some of them are in english even though they are 100% foreign/not american. are these films not going to be counted? i mean Australia and the UK are no less foreign then any other country...

If they're mostly in English, they won't count. The majority of the runtime must be in a foreign language and it must not be an American production in order to qualify.

[the new scum]

[QUOTE=jvince;4939969]Guys, please separate Red Cliff. We're gonna go by the original release/IMDb.

However IMDB has it listed, I'm pretty certain Woo's intent was for it to be a single movie. It certainly plays better that way and to break it up almost seems wrong. I think anyone that's seen it would agree.