by Sebastian Nebel
Name your Top 5 films without repeating a language or country of origin.
That was the challenge I posed on Twitter last month. It's tricky enough to limit your favorites to a specific number, and I was interested in seeing what kind of responses this added degree of difficulty would garner.
Turns out Twitter loves making lists! I got a ton of replies – way too many to collect all of them here, unfortunately. But I've rounded up a handful of them after the jump including lists by The Film Experience contributors, film critics and film makers...
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo)
2001: A Space Odyssey
Police Story (警察故事)
Delicatessen
Santa Sangre (Holy Blood)
hmmm interesting challenge:
Pandora's Box (Die Büchse der Pandora)
Law of Desire (La ley del deseo)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg)
Persona
In the Mood for Love (花樣年華)
The Piano
Persona
Andrei Rublev (Андрей Рублёв)
The Ballad of Narayama (楢山節考)
Nell
Closer
All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre)
8 Women (8 femmes)
Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し)
I Am Love (Io sono l'amore)
Aquarius
L'Atalante
La Strada
Rashomon (羅生門)
Stalker (Сталкер)
Volver
In a Lonely Place
The Cranes Are Flying (Летят журавли)
Forbidden Games (Jeux interdits)
Where Is the Friend's Home? (خانه دوست کجاست)
In the Mood for Love (花樣年華)
Ikiru (生きる)
Taxi Driver
8½
Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc)
Gone with the Wind
Persona
The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena)
The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups)
Hyenas (Hyènes)
This is a good challenge!
Close-Up (کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک)
I Was Born, But... (大人の見る絵本 生れてはみたけれど)
The Wizard of Oz
The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena)
Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise)
The Conformist (Il conformista)
Barry Lyndon
Contempt (Le Mépris)
Distant (Uzak) or Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da) (I can't fucking decide)
Alexander Nevsky (Алекса́ндр Не́вский)
Catch-22
In the Mood for Love (花樣年華)
L'Avventura
Lola Montès
In the Realm of the Senses (愛のコリーダ)
Only Angels Have Wings
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie)
Dekalog: Six (Dekalog, sześć)
Audition (オーディション)
A Moment of Innocence (نون و گلدون)
How Green Was My Valley
Duelle (Une quarantaine)
Man with a Movie Camera (Человек с кино-аппаратом)
Close-Up (کلوزآپ ، نمای نزدیک)
The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums (残菊物語)
Melancholia
We Are the Best! (Vi är bäst!)
In the Mood for Love (花樣年華)
Cronos
Nights of Cabiria (Italian: Le notti di Cabiria)
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da)
Bullhead (Dutch: Rundskop)
Jules et Jim
A Separation (جدایی نادر از سیمین)
The Handmaiden (아가씨)
Paris Is Burning
In the Mood for Love (花樣年華)
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (¡Átame!)
Umberto D.
Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro)
Heavenly Creatures
Raise the Red Lantern (大紅燈籠高高掛)
Norte, the End of History (Norte, Hangganan ng Kasaysayan)
Au revoir les enfants
Funny Games
Take This Waltz
Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓)
Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di biciclette)
The Tenant (Le Locataire)
The Vanishing (Spoorloos)
Mulholland Drive
Army of Shadows (L'armée des ombres)
The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen)
All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre)
Yojimbo (用心棒)
2001: A Space Odyssey
Stalker (Сталкер)
In the Mood for Love (花樣年華)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari)
Jules et Jim
The Fall
Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍)
Pathfinder (Ofelaš)
My Sweet Pepper Land
The Seventh Seal (Det sjunde inseglet)
Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し)
Jurassic Park
In the Mood for Love (花樣年華)
Volver
Backwards & in heels:
Toni Erdmann
Beau Travail
The Holy Girl (La niña santa)
Daisies (Sedmikrásky)
The Bigamist
Nine Days in One Year (Девять дней одного года)
The Big City (মহানগর)
Winter Light (Nattvardsgästerna)
Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin)
Rachel Getting Married