# Paste Magazine's 25 Most Essential Foreign Films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705 "2009-06-14T02:57:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/21 "2009-06-14T20:03:52Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Are you generally a vampire fan? I give it points for originality but I thought it chugged along at a glacial pace. The scene near the end in the pool was good, though. I’m a fan of old horror movies. **“Let the Right One In”** transcends the vampire genre in my opinion. And it seems to be the kind of film that, if it hits you, it hits you very hard. I’ve heard the ‘glacial pace’ criticism before, but I never wanted it to end. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/22 "2009-06-14T20:30:19Z")
> [@Ataraxy](#): > > I had never heard of was Gomorrah. I saw that on my last flight back from Germany. It’s an interesting film, but the storyline is a little hard to follow. It’s about the effect of small time mafia influences on life in Naples. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/23 "2009-06-14T20:54:58Z")
I assume they meant foreign \*language \*films, or else they sure missed a lot of British cinema. ’ ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/24 "2009-06-14T22:01:45Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > I’m a fan of old horror movies. **“Let the Right One In”** transcends the vampire genre in my opinion. And it seems to be the kind of film that, if it hits you, it hits you very hard. I’ve heard the ‘glacial pace’ criticism before, but I never wanted it to end. I’m with you. I loved the pace of the film and wanted the film to keep going on and on. I saw it 3 times in the theater and would have gone again except that I didn’t discover it until shortly before it left the theater. Thanks for the information about the DVD. I’ve only seen 15 of the 25, but 8 of those are in the Top 10\*. I don’t agree with some of the placements ( **Let The Right One In** should be higher IMO, switching places with **Cache** ) and I also think **Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter . . . and Spring** should be there somewhere, but overall it’s a good list. They should have just gone ahead and made it 30. One thing’s for sure, there have been a lot of great foreign-language films in the past decade. But then, there always are, in any decade. I’ve only seen Pan’s Labyrinth, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, City Of God, Talk To Her, Spirited Away, The Lives of Others, Cache, Amelie, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Paradise Now, Let the Right One In, Volver, Persepolis and Maria Full of Grace. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/25 "2009-06-15T17:46:55Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > the re-release with the theatrical subs is starting to show up in some stores. Good to know. Thanks for this! I’ll keep my eye out. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/26 "2009-06-15T18:31:22Z")
I’ve only seen _Maria Full of Grace_, _Amelie_, and \*Pan’s Labyrinth \*, and I agree with their standing in relation to each other. Of the rest, I had about a half dozen already on my Netflix queue, and just added about a dozen more. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/27 "2009-06-16T03:21:11Z")
I just saw\*\* “Departures”\*\*. Wow! A lovely and touching movie and certainly one of the best non-English language films of the decade. ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/28 "2009-06-16T04:29:42Z")
It’s a good list but I agree that Werkmeister Harmonies and Volver belong there. I think Takeshi Kitano’s Zatoichi and the Dardenne brothers’ L’Enfant should be included too. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/29 "2009-06-16T16:43:01Z")
> [@Rainbowthief](#): > > I think Takeshi Kitano’s Zatoichi and the Dardenne brothers’ L’Enfant should be included too. :smack: I totally forgot about _L’Enfant_–another worthy entry (haven’t seen that Kitano). ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/30 "2009-06-29T14:44:16Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I’d like to see … Let the Right One In Saw it this weekend. Meh. While it was genuinely scary and suspenseful in parts, there were long stretches of complete dull. Plus, full frontal nudity on a 12-year-old girl just kind of oogs me out, even if it’s in a mainstream movie. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/31 "2009-06-29T14:54:17Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > I’m a fan of old horror movies. **“Let the Right One In”** transcends the vampire genre in my opinion. And it seems to be the kind of film that, if it hits you, it hits you very hard. I’ve heard the ‘glacial pace’ criticism before, but I never wanted it to end. Exactly. In fact, I would say that LTROI is closer to a typical Swedish drama that has somehow been transplanted into the horror genre. The pacing, outlook, themes … well, everything are very typical of Swedish cinema. I don’t suppose anyone knows if the English subtitles on the Swedish DVD are the better or crap subtitles? I can speak Swedish, but am a native English speaker and had the subtitles on as a guide. I kind of used both. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/32 "2009-06-29T15:19:12Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Saw it this weekend. Meh. > > While it was genuinely scary and suspenseful in parts, there were long stretches of complete dull. Plus, full frontal nudity on a 12-year-old girl just kind of oogs me out, even if it’s in a mainstream movie. The nudity was not full frontal. It was not a 12-year-old girl. What you see, for about one second, is a dummy created to represent a 200 year-old, castrated vampire boy. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/33 "2009-06-29T15:24:35Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Exactly. In fact, I would say that LTROI is closer to a typical Swedish drama that has somehow been transplanted into the horror genre. The pacing, outlook, themes … well, everything are very typical of Swedish cinema. > > I don’t suppose anyone knows if the English subtitles on the Swedish DVD are the better or crap subtitles? I can speak Swedish, but am a native English speaker and had the subtitles on as a guide. I kind of used both. The subtitles on the Swedish DVD are the better, theatrical subtitles. But the redone DVDs with the good theatrical subtitles are starting to show up in stores in the US. Just make sure to check the small box on the back of the packaging for the words, “Theatrical subtitles”. No reports on whether the re-done BluRay is out yet. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/34 "2009-06-29T15:57:41Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > The subtitles on the Swedish DVD are the better, theatrical subtitles. Cheers. Thought it was a long shot asking, but the SDMB has done me proud. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/35 "2009-06-29T16:35:11Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > The nudity was not full frontal. > > It was not a 12-year-old girl. What you see, for about one second, is a dummy created to represent a 200 year-old, castrated vampire boy. Yeah I caught that when I read more about it, but on first blush (heh), it certainly looked like it was an adolescent girl’s full-frontal. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705/36 "2009-06-29T17:43:48Z")
> [@randwill](#): > > It’s the best movie of last year and may well be the best movie on that list. Personally, I think _The Lives of Others_ runs circles around _Let the Right One In_. JMHO. It’s a pretty good list, I think. There are some nominations that I wouldn’t objectively think of as one of the 25 “most essential”, but that I think still deserve a spot on the list based on what achieved. For example, most people I’ve spoken to prefer _Lady Vengeance_ to _Old Boy_, but Old Boy is the poster film, it’s the provocative piece that got people talking. And while I didn’t think \*Amelie \*really lived up to the hype (also not a big of Jeunet’s directing style), in 2001 it was \*everywhere \*in Europe. It was such an indie smash hit that it definitely has a place on the list. Likewise, \*Persepolis \*is without doubt inferior to the graphic novel (though the production is great), however I see a place for it as a representative of the Middle-East, which I think will continue its impact in the Western world in the next decade. Perhaps _Waltz with Bashi_r would have been a better choice, but oh well. Of course, 25 nominations cannot possibly justify all of non-English film for a whole decade (making two nominations for Almodovar a bit hard to defend, IMHO). There will have to be omissions any which way you do it. For me personally, I would have loved to see a nomination for [_Songs from the Seocnd Floor_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120263/). No, it was not stylistic and accessible like \*Amelie \*was. No, it didn’t have fancy fighting like _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_ did. But it’s very beautiful, very intelligent and very representative of the Swedish cinematic tradition. Andersson is simply put the best Swedish movie maker since Bergman. He just hasn’t gotten a lot of recognition, which is a terrible shame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paste-magazines-25-most-essential-foreign-films/499705.md?page=1)