Lists Rick on 10 Apr 2008 11:24 pm
Fun With Another List
So. Here’s another list. This time, it’s a list of the top 100 foreign-language films of all time, as chosen and voted upon by bloggers and critics and film professors and plain old movie lovers like you and me. It’s called the The Satyajit Ray Memorial Anything-But-Definitive List of Non-English Language Films, for director Satyahit Ray, none of whose influential works made the list. Thus, I suppose, the “anything but definitive” designation. (I tried to participate in the 2nd round of voting, but got my time-frame screwed up and was too late).
The list was constructed in two steps: first, the list’s compiler Edward Copeland queried a bunch of bloggers, critics and other experts, asking for their top 25 foreign-language films. Then, all films that got 3 votes, were made in 2002 or earlier, and were feature-length non-documentaries were compiled into a list of nominees, then anyone was invited to vote for 25 of the nominees. This was the list that resulted; the one’s I’ve seen (61) are in bold.
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Interesting list. As someone said in a comment to the post that unveiled it, Criterion should be proud of how much it’s shaped the canon (canon, by the way, is simply Greek for list). The majority of this list (about 65%) have had a Criterion release.
It’s perhaps more accurate to note how much Janus Films has shaped it, because that distributor (the DVD arm of which is Criterion) rung in the art house revolution of the 60s and introduced Americans to the likes of Kurosawa, Bergman, Fellini and Truffaut. In fact, these four directors alone make up 23% of the list.
Personally, I’ve seen all of the films on the list from those directors. On the other hand, I’ve seen none of the Antonioni, Varda, Teshigahara, and only two of the Godard. Of my favorite directors, there’s only one Tarkovsky and one Tarr, and I haven’t seen the Tarr (the seven-and-a-half hour Satantango is not on DVD yet).
Is it reasonable to say that many of the recent films on the list are from Asia? There’s Wong Kar-Wai (In the Mood for Love and Chunking Express), Zhang Yimou (Raise the Red Lantern and To Live) and Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), but where’s Hou Hsiao-Hsien or Tsai Ming-Liang? It seems safe to say that patterns of distribution play a huge role in who makes the cut and who doesn’t.
And how did Run Lola Run make the list?
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on 11 Apr 2008 at 6:14 am # Evan Derrick
Fun stuff (I’ve always wanted to know what ‘canon’ meant, exactly…there be learnin’ here at da creek too!).
Whew, the less said about how many I’ve seen, the better. Although, I do have a copy of Satantango but have yet to carve out the 7 or so hours needed to watch it. That movie is a commitment.
on 11 Apr 2008 at 7:26 am # Rick
Evan, where did you get Satantango? As I said in the post, I thought it wasn’t on DVD yet.
The only reason I have seen as many on this list as I have is that through the kind offices of Netflix, about two years ago, I undertook to rectify the sad fact of my youth that I’d missed seeing these films. I grew up in the middle of the golden age of the art house, and was just too stupid to see them.
By the way, the link that’s now in the post (through the magic of editing) will take you to a page with pictures and blurbs for each flick, as well as other goodies like the 22 also-rans, etc.
on 11 Apr 2008 at 8:06 am # Pat
Interesting list - and way more credible than the Landmark Theatres poll results that I posted a little while ago. (No “Life is Beautiful”!)
I have a long way to go to catch up on seeing all of these, but a significant number of the titles I haven’t seen are waiting in my Netflix queue already.
on 11 Apr 2008 at 9:04 am # Rick
Go get ‘em, Pat … maybe we oughta do something like choose a list and exchange between-blog commentary on the flicks we see.
on 11 Apr 2008 at 10:23 am # Pat
That’s a great idea - I’d be up for that.
on 14 Apr 2008 at 9:16 am # Marilyn
Not the best list, but not the worst. Some films, like Madame De… don’t deserve the reputation they have. Lola Montes would be a better choice for this type of film. Where are the great German Expressionist silents or Eisenstein? And yes, where is Satyajit Ray?
on 14 Apr 2008 at 9:16 am # Marilyn
This is why I hate lists and don’t make them.
on 14 Apr 2008 at 7:13 pm # Rick
Yes, but they make great fodder for discussion …
I’ve never seen either “Madame de …” or “Lola Montes.” However, if I remember aright, the vote at Eddie on Film was for “favorites,” not necessarily for “best,” although folks interpreted it with great latitude as usual.
on 16 Apr 2008 at 12:29 pm # Nayana Anthony
I’ve only seen five.
on 16 Apr 2008 at 2:11 pm # Phillip
Rick - you need to see Dreyer’s Ordet. Soon.
on 16 Apr 2008 at 8:40 pm # Rick
Nayana — that’s the cool thing about Netflix: you can see these things. That’s where I first saw most of the films on that list I’ve seen.
You’re right, Phillip. I do. It’s been on my list for some time.