Lists of top films will often appear in newspapers and online at this time of the year. Rarely do these lists include foreign films. I'm sure that most foreign films can be as bad as most American films but the cream of the crop are well worth watching even with subtitles. These films open a window into other cultures while at the same time proving that we are all basically the same. Here are nine films that my wife and I enjoyed this year.
Not One Less. Zhang Yimou, China’s most famous film director, created this charming 1999 film based on a real life story. In the crushing poverty of rural China, a young woman is ordered to a remote village to be its substitute teacher. Barely older than her students, the shy girl is charged with keeping the class intact for a month or she won’t be paid. When one troublemaker runs away to a city to find work, the teacher sets out to fund him and bring him back to school. 106 minutes.
Too Bad She’s Bad. This 1955 Italian comedy stars a young Sophia Loren, an unknown Marcello Mastroianni, and famed movie star and director Vittorio De Sica. Loren plays a beautiful petty thief working with DeSica, her con-man father, while Mastroianni plays a naïve cabbie caught in their clutches. Artfully directed by Alessandro Blasetti, “Too Bad She’s Bad” is a delightful romp, the first pairing of Loren and Mastroianni, not to mention the historic first appearance together of these three legends of Italian cinema. 95 minutes.
A Foreign Field. Two British war vets meet an American vet when all three return to Normandy on the 50th anniversary of D-Day. Old rivalries resurface, particularly when two of the men discover they are searching for the same lost love. This disparate band of survivors eventually finds common ground in the memory of what they lost on that fateful day in 1944. This 1993 British film features an acclaimed international cast including Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Jeanne Moreau, Loren Bacall, John Randolph, and Geraldine Chaplin. 95 minutes.
The Way. Martin Sheen stars in a powerful and inspirational 2010 film about family, friends, and the challenges we face while navigating through life. Sheen plays an American doctor who travels to France after receiving the news of the death of his estranged son. Rather than return home, he decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage, “the Way of St. James”, to honor his son’s desire to finish the journey. 123 minutes.
Mid-August Lunch: ( Pranzo di Ferragosto). Gianni Di Gregorio stars in and directs this charming 2008 film from Italy of great food, feisty old ladies, and unlikely friendships. The setting is deserted Rome on the national holiday, Ferragosto, during the dog days of summer, when most Romans have fled the city’s heat for the mountains or the shore.
The Lives of Others. Before the collapse of the Berlin wall, East Germany’s population was closely monitored by the State Secret Police or Stasi. Only a few citizens above suspicion, like renowned pro-Socialist playwright Georg Dreyman were permitted to lead private lives. But when a corrupt government official falls for Georg’s actress-girlfriend, a Stasi policeman is ordered to bug the writer’s apartment to gain incriminating evidence. What the officer discovers is about to change their lives—as well as his. This 2006 political thriller won the Best Foreign Film Oscar. 137 minutes.
Dersu Uzala. This film about an early twentieth century Russian surveying expedition of the Siberian wilderness was made by the acclaimed Japanese director, Akira Kurosawa. Dersu Uzala is a primitive Mongolian frontiersman who is taken on as a guide by the Russian crew. While the soldiers at first perceive Dersu as a naïve and comical relic of an uncivilized age, he quickly proves himself otherwise with displays of ingenuity and bravery. The film is the result of an arduous two year film making expedition into the far reaches of Siberia. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film in 1975.
Se Dio Vuole (God Willing). This 2015 Italian comedy is about a dysfunctional modern Italian family. The father is an arrogant cardiac surgeon who has literally driven his wife to drink. The family is shocked and dismayed when their son announces that he wants to quit medical school to become a priest. The father, a virulent atheist, sets out to prove that the young man’s charismatic mentor is a fake. 87 minutes.
Always: Sunset on Third Sreeet. This heart- warming Japanese comedy is a nostalgic look back at Tokyo in the late 50’s, poised on the brink of an economic explosion after defeat in WW II. Released in 2006, the film won Japan’s equivalent of the Oscars in 13 of the 14 categories in which it was nominated. It includes a perfect Christmas message. 133 minutes.
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