There’s a couple there I’d forgotten to track down. Good post!
There are some good film listed, but overall it seems like a pretty random assembly of foreign films.
Dreadful list.
Yeah, they try to sell their list as a kind of “gateway” list of films for people who don’t watch foreign films but most of their choices are so American-friendly I wonder if they would help anyone break into the foreign scene. Then again, i suppose for most people the subtitles are the biggest hurdle to get through so starting off with a benign film like Amelie may be a good way to lead a friend towards stronger material.
Mainstream
This is why I dislike all lists other than my own. They’ve left out so many great films, and I would argue none of those films are essential viewing in comparison to other films released this decade that will be talked about for years, and years, and years.
It’s a good list, but for me, Pan’s Labyrinth was overrated. Amores Perros, Y Tu Mama Tambien, and The Lives of Others were all superior.
Just because they’re commercial and well-known films doesn’t mean that they aren’t good. Some of them are great in fact, but their’s obviously not many new discoveries on the list. Werckmeister Harmonies, Russian Ark and Taxidermia should be on it.
the list has all the foreign films that blockbuster carries..just a random list really
None of the films are that bad, the ones I’ve seen anyway, but there were many better films released. As an introduction to current foreign cinema it’s a fine list, but don’t call it essential when it’s not is all I’m saying.
I’ve never even heard of Paste magazine anyway, and I certainly don’t need their list to find what I like, but I’m sure many people find it useful. Like someone already said, it’s propably a good start for those not familiar to foreign language films.
Y Tu Mama Tambien and Pan’s Labyrinth might make the Decade’s 100 Most Essential. Maybe.
Nope, Pan’s Labyrinth blows.
Well, i agree with comments above about mainstream-popular predictable and useful starting point for world cinema newbies. Some of the most critically acclaimed ones in with many most loved by the public, not too testing but with quite general appeal.
This list is deplorable, they occlude one of the great works of the 90’s: Maborosi
It’s works of the 2000’s Dusty, but I agree that Maborosi is one of the best films of the nineties. They included Nobody Knows which wasn’t terrible.
“but their’s obviously not many new discoveries on the list.”
Ouch, did I type that?
Can we expand this thread then? The people who are dissatisfied with the list; what would your 25 be?
Y Tu Mama Tambien, Cache, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and In the Mood For Love are essential.
The others’ aren’t.
My list of essentials would include La Commune (de Paris 1871), The Witnesses, Gabrielle, Pas Sur La Bouche, Don’t Touch the Axe, Before I Forget, Les Chansons d’amour, I Don’t Want To Sleep Alone, The Man of His Life, Syndromes and a Century, Tropical Malady, Ma Vraie Vie a Rouen, A Thousand Clouds of Peace, Histoire de Marie et Julien, Ma Mere, Three Dancing Slaves, Broken Sky, Crustacés et Coquillages, Coeurs, La Vie en Rose, and The Bubble.
Conspicuous by its absence Edward Yang’s Yi Yi and that in my opinion should top the list.
I don’t understand why Diving Bell is “essential”. It was OK, but, come the fuck on.
Syndromes and Malady now we’re talking.
Filmy Andy is absolutely right.
I am extremely uneducated in recent foreign cinema. Still I agree Yi Yi really needed to be on that list.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly would be very near if not at the top of my list. Why do you dislike it, Tripzone?
David’s list is easily superior. i haven’t seen Diving Bell but La Commune alone is monumental. I watched Syndromes and a Century a few weeks ago and it would also be on my list. Cache is also worthy.
Thanks for the list David E, I have some catching up to do..
What a list, David—we need this kind of guidance on Auteurs but we seldom get it—your list exemplifies what I can to Auteurs for—thanks again David.
Diving Bell is incredible. One of the best movies I’ve seen this century. Amores Perros is up there, too. I didn’t read the list, though, because I’m too lazy to cut and paste Paste.
Along with Werckmeister Harmonies, Yi Yi, and Syndromes and a Century, I’d add Whisky, Los Muertos, Colossal Youth, Cafe Lumiere, Flight of the Red Balloon, Funky Forest, Blissfully Yours, Le Fils, The Five Obstructions, On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate, A Tale of Cinema, Woman is the Future of Man, Woman on the Beach, Vendredi Soir, Whisky, Aaltra, The Consequences of Love, Chacun son Cinema, Unser Taglich Brot, Yurika, Où gît votre sourire enfoui?, and Still Life.
i’’d go for (by year up to 08):
Crouching Tigerr Hidden Dragon, Eureka, At the Height of Summer, In the Mood for Love, Werckmeister Harmonies, Monday Morning, Take Care of my Cat, Blissfully Yours, Waiting for Happiness, The Return, Histoire de Marie et Julien, Howl’s Moving Castle, Moolaadé, Innocence, The Weeping Meadow, The Wayward Cloud, Regular Lovers, Climates, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Lust Caution, Silent Light, Yumurta, You the Living, I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone, Sleep Furiously (part Welsh language)
Yolanda kae
http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/06/the-25-must-see-foreign-films-since-2000.html
It seems that I watch more foreign than domestic. I didn’t intend for that to happen…it just did.