I haven’t seen many since college, which was a LOOONG time ago. But at that time, I fell in love with “Pepperment Soda” apparently named “Diabolo Menthe” in the original.
I also really liked Werner Herzog at the time “Heart of Glass” was my favorite and later on “Le Femme Nakita” which is so much better than anything that followed it claiming a relation.
That’s pretty much it for me.
Is this the Japanese film about students on an island which must kill each other and the last man/woman standing wins?
I was absolutely floored by the stark, tight beauty of Bom yeoreum gaeul gyeoul geurigo bom (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring). As in any good Buddhist piece, the natural habitat of the movie is as much of a character as the actors, and it is filmed with a genuine love and understanding.
Wow, I finally found somebody that has seen **Lain ** (and actually enjoys it too).
I just love Lain, there is something so eerily spooky about it.
I don’t claim to understand more than half of it, but boy, that was one cool animation series.
I would like to nominate the movie “Underground” from former Yugoslavia.
And I would like to add my vote to :
the Vanishing
Amelie
El Nuovo Cinema Paradiso
Yes, that’s the film. Although your synopsis is rather like saying War of the Worlds is the film in which Martians come and take over the planet - that’s the* idea*, but it doesn’t all fall into place. 
If you don’t mind a bit of blood, you should check it out - it’s sort of Lord of the Flies taken to an extreme; there’s a recognizability there, not in terms of situations, obviously, but in terms of characters.
Seconded. I love every surreal minute of that movie.
More recent i love
The Return (Vozvrashcheniye) by Andrei Zvyagintsev
In the Mood for Love In the Mood for Love (Fa yeung nin wa) by Kar Wai Wong
After Life (Wandâfuru raifu ) by Hirokazu Koreeda
A word on Tampopo: It’s a great movie, however, I don’t recommend you watch it if you’re on a diet. Or if you don’t live near a Japanese restaurant that serves real ramen. Tampopo will make you hungry.
And, under no circumstances, watch the English-language remakes, probably the two worse remakes of foreign films every made.
Ummm…isn’t it the inverse of the Lord Of The Flies? Wasn’t the killing imposed on the kids? That’s how I recall it…
So many posts, & nobody mentions Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress?
I heard the writer envisioned it as a metaphor for the Japanese education system - some kids get weapons, some kids get frying pans, but they’re all competing to make it through to the end at each other’s expense. Seeing the movie with that in mind puts it in an entirely new light.
My favorite is [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117359/]Ponette.
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The performance of the 4 year old Victoire Thivisol is unbelievably realistic and moving. A must-see, but bring the tissues.
I regard it as a condemnation both of the Japanese Fascist System of the 30s-40s, & as a critique of the cutthroat competitiveness Japan’s children are forced into from day one of their educations.
My favorite foreign film is Léolo an absolutely crazy ‘dark comedy’, with a Tom Waits soundtrack to boot.
And of course, Yojimbo and The Seven Samurai nearly go without saying.
Being non-american, nearly all of my movie experiences are subtitled, to the point that I feel lost without them, even if I understand the speech perfectly. Hah, when I was younger I wished people could have subtitles for clarification. Sure would have some misunderstandings out of the world.
The best movie countries of the late 90’s was Denmark and France. Currently, China and Korea is really where Quality with capital Q is coming from: Old Boy, Tale of Two Sisters, Happy Together, Samaria and many more. Surrender for the asian sense of aestetics.
I am a aficionado of Asian films. I’ve seen about 200 Korean films, at least that many Hong Kong and Chinese films, and quite a few Japanese as well. If I were to list all those that I could recommend, I’d take up a whole page. So here are a few that stand out. It’s rather arbitrary becasue there are so many that I have really really liked.
Korean
A Tale of Two Sisters
The Classic
No Blood, No Tears
Japanese
Battle Royale
The Mystery of Rampo
Angel Dust
HK/Chinese
Comrades, Almost a Love Story
The Bride with White Hair
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
If I’ve sparked any curiosity, click the link in my sig and use the filter lists to see my collection by country and category, and my ratings of each film.
Sort of. The options avaliable to the kids were to kill everyone else, to kill themselves, to wait (effectively suicide also) or to escape. Not all, or even most, of the kids chose the “kill everyone else” route, even though they were “encouraged” to do so. The Lord of the Flies kids were encouraged to kill by their own inner demons (as well as the charisma of their leader), not any outside source, but in BR only two of the kids actually choose to try and kill everyone else due to the outside threat of death - Mitsuko and, to a lesser extent, Kawada. Everyone else either killed out of (real or imagined) self-defense, the thought of chance to defeat a rival, or (in one case) psychopathy - inner factors, just as in LotF.
Correction: Switch out Mitsuko in my last post for the guy with the axe. Now there’s a brain fart for you! :smack:
Il Postino. Makes me want to sell all of my possessions and go live in some tiny seaside Italian village.
Allow me to second the nominations of:
Amélie
Il Postino
Yojimbo
Johnny Stecchino
Hard Boiled