The OFFICIAL BOT Top 100 Foreign Films of all Time Ever List Begins...

[Daxtreme]

4 hours ago, chasmmi said:

Also, the trailer also keeps alive my theory that it is another Miyazaki film where potentially very little really happens. 

 

...... Yep!

 

but it's still so awesome. Cat MVP.

 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Daxtreme

[Jake Gittes]

Huh? Kiki doesn't lack for things happening at all.

[Fancyarcher]

26 minutes ago, Jake Gittes said:

Huh? Kiki doesn't lack for things happening at all.

I was just about to point that out. Just because Kiki's Delivery Service doesn't have super complicated plot or a big villain in it doesn't make it uninteresting. If anything it's amazing how refreshingly simple the whole thing is, and its themes are wonderful, and incredibly resonant, just like any of Miyazaki's best films. 

Edited July 27, 2020 by Fancyarcher

[Tower]

The only Miyazaki film where I don't think much happens is Totoro (and I don't mean this as a negative, I like Totoro).

Edited July 27, 2020 by Tower

[Tower]

As for Andhadhun...

I have seen six Indian films so far:

 

1. Like Stars On Earth (Taare Zameen Par)- Spectacular, managing to be both touching and creative. It didn't just make my foreign list, but also my list for all films.

 

2. Dangal- It has some silly parts to it, but it manages to keep things interesting and entertaining throughout.

 

3. Sholay- the girl is annoying to start and taking half an hour in the middle of the film completely ignoring the main plot was weird, but it was overall fun enough with a great climax.

 

4. 3 Idiots- Starts off wonderfully, but gets more and more convoluted as it progresses, trying to force more story lines together. Could have been much better if it were shorter.

 

The two films after this are the ones that didn't make my list

 

5. Anand- Not terrible, but it was never that interesting in the "he's dying but won't wallow in self pity" part, and gets worse with the long sob story at the end.

 

6. Andhadhun- Trying to fool you into thinking it's smart but when ever I tried to give some thought to it its struck me as much dumber than it was trying to be, and I didn't appreciate the Deus Ex Machina rabbit at the end.

[grim22]

20 minutes ago, Tower said:

 

6. Andhadhun- Trying to fool you into thinking it's smart but when ever I tried to give some thought to it its struck me as much dumber than it was trying to be, and I didn't appreciate the Deus Ex Machina rabbit at the end.

Spoiler

That's the entire point of the ending. We aren't sure if there actually was a rabbit, or even if the final scene actually happened. Everything explained by the hero in the bar at the end is left up to us as to whether it is real or not.

 

[Tower]

40 minutes ago, grim22 said:

  Hide contents

That's the entire point of the ending. We aren't sure if there actually was a rabbit, or even if the final scene actually happened. Everything explained by the hero in the bar at the end is left up to us as to whether it is real or not.

 

Spoiler

sure, but then we are left with one story that I thought was bad, or another option that we're not given much about so I could only make up some wild story to fit in. Maybe Akash is Keyse Soze, but if I'm just guessing, then what's the point?

 

[grim22]

6 minutes ago, Tower said:

  Hide contents

sure, but then we are left with one story that I thought was bad, or another option that we're not given much about so I could only make up some wild story to fit in. Maybe Akash is Keyse Soze, but if I'm just guessing, then what's the point?

 

The other option is actually straight forward and follows easily from where they leave us off. No need for any wild story there, just take everything prior to the final point to it's logical conclusion.

[Eric Duncan]

[Jake Gittes]

57 minutes ago, Eric Sparrow said:

13 year old Timmy got all horned up watching those animated legs.

[charlie Jatinder]

8 hours ago, Tower said:

Deux Ex machina rabbit

But the point is whether the rabbit was actually there or narrator just lied. 

[charlie Jatinder]

7 hours ago, Eric Sparrow said:

I was going to mention you on Jakes post and then thought lemme do it on OG post, which was well you. 

 

Here we go. @Eric Sparrow lol.

[chasmmi]

70th: Z - France (1968)

1 Top 5, 1 Top 10

96 pts  

 

Assumed Plot: Yet again, I find myself working a plot around a single letter... 

 

So, I am going to go with this being a French zombie film. That is my shout for Z. It is the story of a family living in rural France trying to get by in the time of zombie apocalypse. Think half A Quiet Place, half Maggie. It's a dramatic, melancholy approach to zombies. 

 

 

Oh my god!! Did I just nail two for two... this is... wait... that wasn't French

 

 

Ok, it actually seems I was much less correct. 

 

I mean I know I am the anti-cinephile half the time, but I do have to say that the horror film looks more interesting to me. But then the horror film will very often look more interesting to me over a lot of other options. 

 

Either way, we have another film pop up from France and they now pull three clear of the chasing pack once again. I will also admit that France probably has the most variety in its entries so far compared to the chasing pack.

 

From Amazon user,  Amazon Customer

 

A very powerful film with superb performances from all the actors and exemplary direction from Costa-Gravas.
A political drama which is a savage indictment of corruption in high places.
Based on events in Greece in 1963, involving the murder of a liberal opponent of the regime (Yves Montand), the investigating magistrate (Jean- Louis Trintignant) begins to uncover a plot that leads back to the highest levels of government. The film is really a condemnation of all repressive dictatorships.
The tagline to the film is makes its point very effectively - "Any resemblance to persons living or dead is Deliberate!" .

 

Films by Nation

 

8 - France

5 - Bollywood

4 - Japan

3 - Italy

3 - South Korea

2 - Sweden

1 - Hong Kong

1 - Mexico

1 - China

1 - Denmark

1 - Soviet Union

1 - Germany

[chasmmi]

69th: The Conformist - Italy (1970)

2 Top 5,

96 pts  

 

Assumed Plot: So, I think it is time to have a punt at taking a title at face value and suggest that this is a film about a person who conforms. A person who always towed the line, believed in the system, believed in the government. Then one day, their world starts to come undone as they see more and more evidence that life is screwed, the system is broken, and the government is corrupt. But what can they do to change it?

 

 

THat trailer seems like I was a little close again, was I close?

 

So a French political film is followed up by an Italian political film. Both of which produced at a very similar time, and both of which feel like films that will now mostly be watched by students of cinema than a general audience looking for some older classic to try out. 

 

This also brings Italy back onto the heels of Japan and India ahead of it. France is still slightly out of reach at this point, but you never know what is yet to happen. 

 

From Amazon user,  Amazon Customer

 

I have to admit it. I love Italian classic movies! The Conformist is one of the best, but how many have seen it or even know about it?
Movies need to have a message and this has a doozy.
It tells about how Fascism was evil for governments and the people involved, but there was total corruption that came to both the politicians and the people involved in it.
This movie is one of the most beautiful ever filmed: with outdoor scenes that glow with color and beauty while the most horrendous fascist crimes are being committed.
It has wonderful actors and actresses whose beauty and believability belies the horrible crimes being committed.
Yet there is a human quality that shines through all the death and destruction that makes the movie unforgettable!
Please see this movie and you too will become a "Conformist" lover like me. The director is a genius! .

 

Films by Nation

 

8 - France

5 - Bollywood

4 - Japan

4 - Italy

3 - South Korea

2 - Sweden

1 - Hong Kong

1 - Mexico

1 - China

1 - Denmark

1 - Soviet Union

1 - Germany

[chasmmi]

68th: Portrait of a Lady on Fire - France (1970)

1 Top 5,

96 pts  (More Votes)

 

Assumed Plot: This is a modern film I believe (I vaguely recall a list citing it as a 2019 film), so if that is true and not the same delirium riddled part of my brain that read Persepolis as Japanese and Y Tu Mama Tambien as Vanilla Sky, then here goes...

 

Lady on Fire is clearly a reference to the execution of witches. So I am going to say that this is a little bit like that Cannibal film Raw, but instead of it being about a girl who has an awakening in relation to the cannibal side, it is about a girl who sees a portrait of a witch burning (lady on fire... eh, eh...), and it awakens her innate witch self. She begins to affect the world around her. Accidentally curse the people that wrong her, bedazzle those that arouse her, and ultimately grow more and more in unchecked power unleashed on a  society that has not known witchcraft in over 300 years. 

 

 

I briefly thought that Emma Watson was starring in a French film. 

 

So I don't think I can really claim any level of accuracy here. It is literally about a portrait of a lady, that will potentially at some point be on fire. This appears to be a forbidden love story plot set on an island somewhere and thus being a French film, it will, depending on the rating, either have a splattering of sex scenes peppered here and there (if it is PG), or sex scenes up the wazoo (if it is R).  

 

It also brings France ever closer to the 10 film milestone at a point where only one other country has even made it halfway to that point. It is looking like a pretty dominant French Victory on that front so far, but you obviously never know. 

 

From Amazon user,  A

 

When I first saw this in theaters I felt like I'd been struck. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I walked around dumbfounded, unbelieving that a film this good was made and that I was lucky enough to see it. Three weeks after having first seen it and still emotionally compromised, I saw it in theaters a second time. It hit me just as hard.

It is a beautifully, expertfully crafted film. Céline Sciamma, Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami, and Claire Mathon did extraordinary work. The kind that inspires one to create something even a fraction as meaningful.

I could write entire essays to explain why this movie is as good as it is, but given the platform I will resist temptation and simply say this: please watch it.

 

Films by Nation

 

9 - France

5 - Bollywood

4 - Japan

4 - Italy

3 - South Korea

2 - Sweden

1 - Hong Kong

1 - Mexico

1 - China

1 - Denmark

1 - Soviet Union

1 - Germany

[chasmmi]

I don't mean to alarm anybody but despite having so far only watched 2 of the 31 films revealed so far, I am about to revealed not just one film I have seen, but TWO IN A ROW!!!

[chasmmi]

67th: The Wind Rises - Japan (2014)

0 Top 10,

96 pts  (More Votes)

 

Assumed Plot: I believe this was the third last ever film directed by Hiyao Miyazaki (the fourth last ever film was due to release this year). It was also arguably the most personal to him as it was about a personal hero of his, a famed Japanese aeronautical engineer. 

 

Now for me, I have seen about 8 or 9 films of Studio Ghibli and they personally range for me anywhere from all time greatness down to abominations I hope never to watch again (although one of those I have had to watch twice). The Wind Rises... fell squarely in the middle. I liked the story, I liked how honest and real the film felt, and I appreciated what was being made. However, it was also perhaps not the most engrossing story I have ever seen put to film (or paper, is animation put to paper?) 

 

 

Regardless of how I feel about each individual Ghibli film, they are never not beautiful though are they? 

 

Also, that trailer really really hypes the film well. I also find it interesting when you get an animated film that uses animation to tell a story that could easily have been done in live action. There is pretty much zero fantastical element to this film that called for animation to be a better medium to tell the tale, but still it works wonderfully and is something that Ghibli has shown itself to be fantastic at doing on more than one occasion.

 

This also, brings Japan level with India (I am gonna change Bollywood to India), and also brings Miyazaki alone level with South Korea. 

 

From Amazon user,  Hillbank68

 

This, it is said, is the last Miyazaki film. He has been such an exceptional, individual and magical film-maker that the great hope was that this film would not disappoint. It absolutely does not. It is the story of Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Japanese Zero fighter, his early genius as a designer, his utter dedication to the work and his final success in building an outstanding and iconic plane. It is not, however, at all a film which glorifies war and the use to which the plane is put.

 

Horikoshi is fascinated by design, flight, the wind, man's aspiration to be airborne, and the film taps into those in a lyrical, sometimes dream-like way (indeed, there are actual dream sequences). Structurally, it is somewhat episodic, but that does not matter ; there is always a feeling that this is about something 'bigger' and more fundamental than a literal story of the man's life and theplane itself.

 

Parallel with Horikoshi's work is his relationship with Naoko, a girl he rescues from the Tokyo earthquake, and this is a sad story ultmately, providing a really moving but characteristically strange - and the better for it - ending. I can understand why some reviewers found this element in the film sentimental, but it worked for me. Visually, from its first moment to its last, the film is beautiful beyond words, and its beauty is underpinned by a very strong musical score. There is, in the end, no disappointment here, only the stamp of a unique master at work.

 

Films by Nation

 

9 - France

5 - India

5 - Japan

4 - Italy

3 - South Korea

2 - Sweden

1 - Hong Kong

1 - Mexico

1 - China

1 - Denmark

1 - Soviet Union

1 - Germany

[charlie Jatinder]

1 hour ago, chasmmi said:

It is looking like a pretty dominant French Victory on that front so far, but you obviously never know. 

I think France will win quite handsomely, the only competition I can think of is Japan animes and few old films.

 

Korea may reach 10 films as well. India I can only think of few more films; 3 Idiots, Lagaan, Dangal, Baahu 2 and Baahu 1 are confirmed IMO. Wild card entry perhaps DDLJ & Swades. So max I can think of is 12. May be a surprise 13. 

 

France is already 9 in about 40 films. Should reach 25 perhaps. 

 

Japan I expect around 20.

Edited July 29, 2020 by charlie Jatinder

[Daxtreme]

Obviously Hong Kong should have won of course

 

But France? Hey I'm gonna take it. After all, I can watch them without subtitles

 

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Daxtreme

[chasmmi]

66th: Kal Ho Naa Ho - India (2003)

1 Top 5, 1 Top 10,

97 pts  

 

Assumed Plot: I have not seen a huge amount of Bollywood films in the grand scheme of things (maybe between 10 and 20), but Kal Ho Naa Ho is very much my favourite of what I have seen and a personal top 10 film of all time in any language. It showcases Shah Rukh Khan at his charismatic best and was one of the forerunners for Bollywood becoming a trendier style of cinema that was capable of attracting more than just a very niche non-Indian audience. 

 

The songs are great, the drama is highly emotional, and it is just a really really good film, with three of India's best actors on absolute top form. 

 

 

Oh, and it has my favourite Hindi song in it too. Even better than Dhoom Machale.

 

This film is a slight departure from the majority of Bollywood that has made the list so far. It is a lighter tone, with a less serious message or overlay, but it still brings the heavy melodrama by the end., Also, Shah Rukh is just so good in this, (And I was also mistaken in a previous post, Saif Ali is my second favourite Khan).  

 

From Amazon user,  Rebbeca Benack

 

I am an American who started watching Bollywood movies fairly recently. This is literally the saddest movie I have ever seen. I sobbed for the last hour of the film and I kept crying afterwards. That said it is a very good movie. SRK is the perfect drama queen as usual and he sells his character well. I always expect a good performance from him but he really tore my heart out with this one. If you're an emotional person, only watch this when you have time to curl up in a ball and cry for a few hours. Additionally, the ending is only bittersweet, not happy, so don't expect that to cheer you up.

 

Films by Nation

 

9 - France

6 - India

5 - Japan

4 - Italy

3 - South Korea

2 - Sweden

1 - Hong Kong

1 - Mexico

1 - China

1 - Denmark

1 - Soviet Union

1 - Germany