**Heiße Haut im Sommerwind **(1983)
…aka Hot Bodies (1983) (USA)
For food movies, add Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. You might include The Wedding Banquet, too.
I personally found Blue, White, and Red to be pretentious claptrap.
Others to see include:
M
Z (And other Costa-Gavras like The Confession)
SaxFace – I agree with you about John Irving.
My favorite foreign film of recent vintage:
**Funny, strange, and very non-hollywood
Shallow Grave (1994)**
But watch out: NOT the '87 American movie of the same name
Genre: Drama / Thriller (more)
Tagline: What’s a little murder among friends?
Plot Summary: To avoid spoiling the movie this plot summary is very brief. It starts … (more)
User Comments: Riveting (more)
MPAA: Rated R for scenes of strong (comical) grisly violence, and for some language and nudity.
Runtime: UK:93 / Germany:91
Country: UK
Language: English
There was a semi-recent French film called, I think, Revenge of the Musketeers, and it’s a very well-done, funny, subtitled movie about when the Four Musketeers get old, and their families and lives after their heyday, and how you never quite lose the touch for swordplay.
I noticed that Ike mentioned Jean Renoir earlier.
One of my all time favorites was Rules of the Game, 1939.
Here’s a rather lengthy description:
Well, if we’re opening up food films as a genre, I’d add “Like Water for Chocolate”, though I’ve never liked the Magical Realism school of literature (the book “100 years of Solitude” made me irritable for weeks. He got the Nobel Prize for that? Huh?)
Water for Chocolate, however, was the one exception. Wonderful! (and recasting “100 years” in that perspective was the only way I could finish the book)
Many of my favourites have been mentioned above, so I’ll throw in a few others here (also amongst my favourites)
I’ll try to mention movies easily available in the US market.
Recent Japanese animation:
Hayao Miyazaki’s “Princess Mononoke” (better than Akira IMO)
François Truffaut:
The 400 Blows (Les 400 Coups), The Last Metro (Le Dernier Metro), Jules et Jim
Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et La Bete)
Jean-Luc Godard’s “Alphaville”: science fiction; and “First Name, Carmen” (Prénom, Carmen): a story of love and seduction.
Hector Babenco’s “Pixote” (street children in Brazil)
Satyajit Ray’s “Pather Panchali” (the story of the everyday life of an Indian family; slow and poetic)
A good french action/adventure comedy that I loved as a kid:
Jean-Paul Belmondo’s “L’homme de Rio” (not all foreign films need to be serious!)
Oh, by the way, KP, the title is “Le retour du Grand Blond”, the sequel to “Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire”. If you like those movies, you might want to try out “La Chèvre” or “Les Compères”, in the same style, two comedies directed by Francis Veber starring the duo of Pierre Richard and Gérard Depardieu.
Oh, let me also add Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (United Kingdom, 1998). Hilarious film about four amateur criminals trying to make it.
Catherine Deneuve’s version of Mayerling
(The story is so popular, there are about 8 versions, but this is the one that rivals Doctor Zhivago, which it resembles.)
With James Mason, Omar Sharif, and a lot of familiar greats from French and British films.
It’s French, but in English, not dubbed.
Run, Lola Run 's been mentionned a few times, but I’ll mention it again, just coz it’s that good.
Also from Germany is “Killer Condoms” --the title says it all.
Any Leone movie, though mainly starring Americans, is a good bet.
There’s also good animes out there, such as Blue River.
“Apartment Zero” is a must, must, must-see.
And, also mentionned a few times, “Le Retour du Grand Blond”, the sequel to “Le grand Blond à la Chaussure Noire”
Just want to add my recommendation for this one too. Stunningly funny and so very british.
Yojimbo - you mentioned Brass. There was an old British series of this name, but I was wondering if you might have meant Brassed Off - concerning a small town brass band and of a similar genre to The Full Monty.
Along with the already noted *Muriel’s Wedding *, another Aussie movie that’s well worth renting is Priscilla - Queen of the Desert; three drag queens, a big bus and a road trip. Worth renting for the costumes alone. 
BrainWeasel – Excellent choice, I heartily concur. *Revenge of the Musketeers * is also known as ** D’Artagnan’s Daughter ** and stars the ravishing (IMHO) Sophie Marceau as Eloise d’Artagnan. 
Doh!
How could I forget at least one NZ film: ** Once were Warriors.**
okay it’s quite simple …
Claude Leloughs: “Les Miserables”
It is the story of the guy reading the book during WW2 France, France’s second period of oppession.
Brilliant Film…
I’d also recommend “Bitter Moon” and even though it has Hugh Grant as a featured actor, he’s not in it that much and it is a great film too. I’d agree with others that have been posted :
Betty Blue
Three Colours series
My Life as a Dog
Raise the Red Lantern
there was a Norweigan movie about 10 years ago called “Nicola” or some such, if you get a chance to see that it is great.
Thank you one and all for some terrific recommendations. Based on your input, I believe my next rentals will be:
La Femme Nikita
8-1/2
Babette’s Feast
Raise the Red Lantern
I saw “The Vanishing” (French version) just a couple of days ago, and couldn’t sleep all night! Reminded me of a Hitchcock film – taut, suspenseful, and all the horror is suggested, not graphically shown.
Eve – I didn’t know that about Marlene Dieterich and Der Blau Engel. I wonder what she was trying to prove? It’s not like she was in danger of losing stature because of some little early movies. She was quite a character.