(If it means something) British magazine Empire picked the 100 Best films not in the english language. The list includes 27 asian films : 12 from Japan, 9 from China/HK, 4 from India and 2 from South Korea. Now, does it represent british taste?
For each film, Empire answers to 3 questions – Why it’s so great?, Hollywood Remake?, Prizes (just click on the titles);
1. Seven Samurai (1952, Akira Kurosawa)
10. Spirited Away (2001, Hayao Miyazaki)
16. Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu)
17. The Apu Trilogy (1955/56/59, Satyajit Ray)
18. Oldboy (2003, Park Chan-wook)
22. Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
28. Raise The Red Lantern (1991, Zhang Yimou)
30. Infernal Affairs (2002, Alan Mak/Andrew Lau)
31. Godzilla (1954, Ishiro Honda)
41. My Neighbour Totoro (1988, Hayao Miyazaki)
42. In The Mood For Love (2000, Wong Kar-wai)
44. Ikiru (1952, Akira Kurosawa)
51. Akira (1988, Katsuhiro Otomo)
55. Lagaan (2001, Ashutosh Gowariker)
66. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Ang Lee)
69. Ringu (1998, Hideo Nakata)
70. Hard Boiled (1992, John Woo)
74. Devdas (2002, Sanjay Leela Bhansali)
77. House of Flying Daggers (2004, Zhang Yimou)
80. Mother India (1957, Mehboob Khan)
81, The Host (2006, Bong Joon-ho)
82. Battle Royale (2000, Kinji Fukasaku)
92. Ghost in the Shell (1995, Mamoru Oshii)
95. Way of the Dragon (1972, Bruce Lee)
97. Farewell My Concubine (1993, Chen Kaige)
98. Ran (1985, Akira Kurosawa)
99. Iron Monkey (1993, Yuen Woo-ping)
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Bah! No Thai films.
I thought Empire were British. Why else would they refer to the Colours Trilogy and the Bicycle Thieves?
Anyhow, despite the lack of Thai or other SE Asian films, it’s a fun list. Fair number of African films I want to seek out.
You’re right, it’s a British film mag, my bad!
it’s generally regarded as a mainstream coverage magazine with relatively lofty ideas or a snooty attitude without entirely convincing many about the sincerity of it’s intellectual angle; in recent years it’s lost a lot of that tone, but hasn’t managed to entirely escape the reputation. does cover lots of world cinema, but in a small way, unless it dramatically crosses over – so, to try and answer the question as to how it represents british taste, it essentially shows a certain amount about the kind of films which have crossed over. it shows what will fit reasonably well into the idea of foreign films that stand up despite modest production values, thanks to original ideas that sit well when taken in a more general taste towards films from other countries, or that will stand up as being something that “we wish we’d thought of that….” as america might put it, or indeed “i wish we could do that…” which would perhaps be a rare admission. however, lots of stuff you’d see being lauded as great by people with a more specific / regular interest in any foreign country’s output, if covered by empire, wouldn’t fair well in reviews – this doesn’t mean the movies aren’t great in their own or their readerships potential terms / reaction, it just means that without regularly keeping in tune with a country’s output, the films can often just fall apart and somehow fail to entirely make sense to the mind of someone who naturally gets to experience their own culture much more regularly.