Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I make separate lists of US best movies and foreign ones for each year

I make separate lists depending on whether the film is primarily English language or not. Why split the list in two to begin with? Because I usually have about 20 films every year I want to honor by placing in a Top 10 list. And because roughly half of them are subtitled. And because it's functional for me to have a list ready for some lazy relatives and friends who simply won't read subs.

It's been quite difficult for years to separate films by country, because so many are co-produced by two or more countries. There's a debate in France right now as to whether A Very Long Engagement should be considered a French film (for the purpose of nominations and such). The Motorcycle Diaries is listed at IMDb as Country: USA/Germany/UK/Argentina/Chile/Peru. The Machinist is listed as exclusively Spanish (meaning from Spain of course). Hero depended largely on American money for its budget. I could go on.

Separating by genre is just as convoluted, if not more so.