Have you noticed how few top ten lists on this forum include more than one or two foreign films? It seems to me that every year there are fewer foreign films released in the U.S. What a shame. The practice seems to be that if a foreign film is very successful, American movie moguls will remake it with American box office favorites. A recent example is INSOMNIA. One of the biggest disappointments was a wonderful little French film released in 1987. LE GRAND CHEMIN [The Grand Highway] is a great French film about a young boy coming of age in a provincial country town, and his impact on a childless couple. For American consumption and box office appeal, Hollywood relocated the story to a small town on the American coast. Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson (while they were married to each other) were cast in the remake called PARADISE. The remake was not a bad film, but it completely lost the magic of the original. Anyway, here’s a list of foreign films:
My Favorite Foreign Films:
1. THE SEVEN SAMURAI -- Japan
2. CARMEN (Saura) -- Spain
3. J U-DOU -- China
4. LE GRAND CHEMIN -- France
5. RUN LOLA RUN -- Germany
6. AU REVOIR, LES ENFANTS -- France
7. JEAN de FLORETTE & MANON OF THE SPRING -- France
8. THREE COLORS: BLUE, WHITE, & RED -- France/Poland
9. LE GRAND ILLUSION -- France
10. THE BICYCLE THIEF -- Italy
While thinking of foreign films, it seems clear that there is a great deal of appreciation for Kurosawa here. I have been able to see most of them, including AFTER THE RAIN, which was produced posthumously by his son, and included Toshiro Mifune’s son in a central role. There is amazing versatility here. Here’s my top ten list of Kurosawa films:
My Favorite Kurosawa Films:
1. THE SEVEN SAMURAI -- 1954
2. Akira Kurosawa’s DREAMS -- 1990
3. YOJIMBO -- 1961
4. KAGEMUSHA -- 1980
5. RAN -- 1985
6. RASHOMON -- 1950
7. HIDDEN FORTRESS -- 1958
8. IKIRU -- 1952
9. THRONE OF BLOOD -- 1957
10. RED BEARD -- 1965