The most beautiful films I've ever seen...

…are largely foreign in origin. Problem is, at this point in history there are so many great films that have been produced that if you were to ask me to name even 10 of my favorite, I would be scared to because I know in doing so I would be overlooking 10 others that were even more amazing. There are more movies being made better and better all the time, and there is just no way to keep track anymore.

Sure, there have been alot of great movies made in america. That being said, there is what feels like an infinite wealth of beauty that lies in foreign film. For instance, if you have never witnessed the majesty of an Akira Kurosawa peice or fallen helpless to the disturbing wonder in a Takaashi Miike picture, you just don’t know movies.

I myself have just scratched the surface here, so I am looking to you all for help. What are some of your favorite foreign films? Who are your favorite writers/directors? Here are some of mine that I’ve seen so far, (anime included):

The Seven Samurai
Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall, and… Spring (amazing flick)
3-Iron
Yojimbo
Tekkonikreet
Red Beard
Akira
Oldboy
Memories
Rashoman
2046
Ran
Big Bang, A Juvenile Love (weird, but great)
Anything by Shinchiro Watanabe (samurai champloo and cowboy beebop series)

You see? That’s it. That’s my whole list, and many of them are from the same handful of writers/directors. Any suggestions will be great.

Just for the record, I will also list some of the greatest Enlish Language movies Ive ever seen, please add to the list all the stuff I forgot:
(in no particular order)

The Professional (Leon)
Zorba The Greek
12 Monkeys
Cool Hand Luke
It’s a Beautiful Life
Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
Citizen Kane
American Beauty
Apocolypse Now
Seven
A Clockwork Orange
The Godfather series
Resevoir Dogs
No country for old men
Kung Fu Hustle (really)
2001: A Space Odyssey
Double Indemnity
The Prestige
Kill Bill volumes 1 &2
The Big Lebowski
Snatch
Ed Wood
Big Fish
Lock, Stock, and 2 Smoking Barrels
Shaun of the Dead

Takeshi Miike is nothing special.

Neither is Errant.

If you like samurai period pieces you’ll probably like Twilight Samurai and The Hidden Blade, both directed by Yoji Yamada. He has a third film that makes up a Samurai Trilogy, called Love and Honor, but it hasn’t been put out here yet.

Wes Anderson movies are all great, IMO. Also films by David Fincher, Darron Aronofsky and Alfonso Cuaron are excellent.

Do you have Netflix or the Blockbuster version of Netflix?

Well yea, I’ve got the in-store version with Blockbuster. I pay 30 bucks a month or something, and I can’t rent any two movies out at a time for as long as I want.

David Fincher is a cool guy. I had dinner with him once after he made fight club.
A couple guys I grew up with were extras in that movie as space monkeys/members of project mayhem.

I like samurai period peices, but not just for the sake of being samurai period peices. I just like good movies. Will definetely check out the stuff you reccomended. I’ve heard ‘the hidden blade’ is awesome.

I’ll take Tsui Hark over Miike any day.

You must have a good blockbuster in your neighborhood. i switched to netflix because the ones near me didn’t have deep libraries when it came to Foreign films, Documentaries and good Dramas.

They make completely different types of movies.

You know, there is a forum on Sociocide called “MOVIES, music, and Mayhem.”

Might want to check it out.