Favorite Foreign Films? (theaters, dvd, music, short)

[willdufauve]

Jeanne Moreau & Jean Paul Belmondo paired up together.

Sophia Loren & Marcello Mastroianni paired up together.

"Blow Up" - Antonioni.

Some of the old black & white, British light comedies with Terry Moore, like the girls' school mysteries are amusing.

"The Harder They Come" with Jimmy Cliff, as a classic of Jamaican action film shoot-em-up with great music.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Favorite non-American films (I have many more, but don't want to make too much of a scroller):

Local Hero (Scotland--this is actually my all-time fave movie, period. Quirky comedy reigns when a Texas oilman is sent to Scotland to purchase a seaside village for its oil. Excellent soundtrack, gorgeous coastal scenery. This movie came out in 1982 and almost invented the quirky comedy, long before the Coens or Wes Anderson got their start)

Ridicule(French: a country nobleman goes to Court to obtain funds to drain his wetlands and help his villagers--but to get what you want at court, wit is all; you must be able to "perform")

Soldier of Orange (Netherlands) true story of Dutch freedom fighter in WWII: funny, tragic, suspenseful--IMHO one of the best films about WWII ever made. Director Paul Verhoeven also made Black Book, another excellent WWII film, just last year.

City of God(Brazil--the plotline from IMDB reads:Two boys growing up in a violent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer. What struck me about this movie [based on true story] was the natural acting and the beauty of the land, despite the poverty.)

Run Lola Run (Germany)
Breathless (literally) suspense

Japanese Anime:
Howl's Moving Castle
Fascinating story, well-told, I always love transformed princes--but the castle was cool too, I wish I had one of my own

Princess Mononoke
Eco-battle! Magnificent wolves and other amazing critters!

Spirited Away
This is one of the coolest little girl-gets-caught-up-in-crazy-adventures ever.

[Mooseketeer]

Cyrano de Bergerac
A very long Engagement
Joyeux Noel
Cinema Paradiso
La Vitta e Bella
Nuevas Reinas
Spirited Away
Wings of Desire
Das Boot
Amelie Poulin
Seven Samurais
The Bicycle Thief
Manon des Sources/ Jean de Florette
The Seventh Seal
Les Enfants du Paradis
Il Postino
City of God
No Man's Land
The story of the Weeping Camel
Wild Strawberries
La Grande Illusion
Battleship Potemkin
La Belle et la Bete
Le Boucher
He loves me, He loves me not
And many , many more which escape me at the moment ....

[NooYowkur81]

City of God (Brazil)

Excellent movie.

[CTR36]

Thanks everyone for your posts! Gives me more choices and ideas when looking for a good movie to watch. I was watching Fairwell My Concubine last night. I can't wait to finish watching it...but it was very late last night.
Keep 'em coming!

[Capt. Dan]

Et Tu Mama Tambien-{and your mother too]

[findinghope]

Originally Posted by Lt. Dan

Et Tu Mama Tambien-{and your mother too]

interesting movie--i wanted to vomit and laugh at the same time

[BlueWillowPlate]

Mention of Y Tu Mama reminded me of another film I liked:
The Science of Sleep
I loved the imaginative dream sequences, and the use of different languages.

[quiet walker]

Cinema Paradiso should have been on my earlier list - thanks everyone - It is great.

And that reminded me of another film I picked up just because I liked the picture on the box The Legend of 1900 (1998) But oh my! What a delight! A magical fantasy. Tim Roth is amazingly good. Go get this movie right now

[hutch5]

As well as many of the movies you mentioned above I think some of the Pedro Almodovar films are quite interesting, I particularly liked:

Habla con Ella (Talk to her?)
Tacones (High Heels)
Mujeres al borde de una crisis de nervios (Women on the verge of a breakdown)

Another very nice Italian movie, though not at the level of Cinema Paradiso or Il Postino, is "Medirerraneo".

Are British movies considered foreign? because there are quite a few good ones too.