It's list making season again!
This time around, I've decided to skip the long preamble and let the list speak for itself.
Bonjour Tristesse's Top 10 Foreign Films of 2012:
-
Honorable Mentions
-
Children of Sarajevo (2012)
Djeca
Drama
Aida Begić
Bosnia and Herzegovina
-
Camion (2012)
Drama
Rafaël Ouellet
Canada
-
Twilight Portrait (2011)
портрет в сумерках
Drama
Angelina Nikonova
Russia
-
Amour (2012)
Drama
Michael Haneke
Austria, Germany, France
-
Rebelle (2012)
Drama
Kim Nguyen
Canada
-
Rust and Bone (2012)
De rouille et d'os
Drama
Jacques Audiard
France
-
10
-
Key of Life (2012)
鍵泥棒のメソッド
Comedy
Kenji Uchida
128 min.
Japan
Easily the funniest film I saw all year. But not only that, it's also a wonderfully scripted, acted, and astonishingly detailed picture that makes the familiar sounding Trading Places premise, a fresh and at times, even a surprisingly moving experience.
-
Blood of My Blood (2011)
Sangue do Meu Sangue
Drama
João Canijo
139 min.
Portugal
A sprawling tale of remarkable depth, centered on a working class matriarchal family from the slums of Lisbon. It features innovative direction and a cast of beautifully sculpted characters that transcends this from its melodramatic core, to provide one of the most powerfully absorbing films of the year. -
Berberian Sound Studio (2012)
Horror • Thriller
Peter Strickland
94 min.
UK
An inventively playful meta homage to 70's Italian horror, punctuated with outstanding sound design, a clever and bewildering screenplay, and gorgeous cinematography. All coming together to form an intense atmospheric feast for the ears and eyes. Might we be witnessing the birth of Il Nuovo Giallo? -
The Hunt (2012)
Jagten
Drama
Thomas Vinterberg
106 min.
Denmark
A chilling story, told with astonishing craft. Mads Mikkelsen delivers a marvelous performance as always, and Thomas Vinterberg returns to form with subtle and steady direction that turns this familiar tale into a genuinely terrifying and emotionally harrowing watch. -
Laurence Anyways (2012)
Drama
Xavier Dolan
168 min.
Canada
A triumph of uncompromising style and storytelling. It succeeds despite its excessive length and unusual premise, thanks to some beautifully written, and remarkably acted main characters, as well as an abundance of truly extraordinary visual flourishes. -
Tabu (2012)
Drama
Miguel Gomes
118 min.
Portugal
A mesmerizing love letter to classic European silent cinema, told with an evocative array of stunning images, carefully crafted ambient soundscapes, and a wonderfully experimental story structure. Quite simply, a film lover's film. -
Barbara (2012)
Drama
Christian Petzold
105 min.
Germany
A masterful example of low-key drama, and a fascinating window back into 1980's East Germany unlike any other. Petzold's direction is marked by cool restraint and amazing attention to detail, but the film is carried by an exquisite lead performance of simmering intensity from Nina Hoss. -
Himizu (2011)
ヒミズ
Drama
Sion Sono
129 min.
Japan
A pitch black fairy-tale set amidst the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster. The always audacious Sono takes advantage of the heartbreaking backdrop to crank up the dial even further, and the results are an utterly disturbing yet profoundly uplifting display of raw human emotion. -
Beyond the Hills (2012)
După dealuri
Drama
Cristian Mungiu
150 min.
Romania
The Romanian master returns with an unparalleled demonstration of carefully honed atmosphere, writing, and direction. Everything comes together with an elegant precision that is impressive to behold; and it's topped off with a pair of unforgettable debut performances from its lead actresses. -
Holy Motors (2012)
Fantasy • Drama • Sci-Fi
Leos Carax
115 min.
France
A wildly outrageous, unpredictable, and unexplainable Parisian limousine ride, that captures and evokes the pure creative spirit and thrilling excitement of cinema like no other film this year. Plus, Denis Lavant's utterly magical shape-shifting performance is one that will be talked about for many years to come.
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Finally, here are some other foreign titles that premiered internationally in 2012 that I haven't seen, but hope to catch up with in the coming months:
- After Lucia (Después de Lucía) by Michel Franco
- The Almost Man (Mer eller mindre mann) by Martin Lund
- Betrayal (Izmena) by Kirill Serebrennikov
- Blancanieves by Pablo Berger
- Camille Rewinds (Camille redouble) by Noémie Lvovsky
- The Delay (La Demora) by Rodrigo Plá
- Fill the Void (Lemale et ha'halal) by Rama Burshtein
- The Girl From Nowhere (La fille de nulle part) by Jean-Claude Brisseau
- House with a Turret (Dom s bashenkoy) by Eva Neymann
- In the Fog (V tumane) by Sergei Loznitsa
- The Last Step (Peleh akhar) by Ali Mosaffa
- The Last Supper (Wáng Dè Shèng Yàn) by Lu Chuan
- Outrage Beyond (Autoreiji: Beyondo) by Takeshi Kitano
- Paradise: Faith (Paradies: Glaube) by Ulrich Seidel
- Post Tenebras Lux by Carlos Reygadas
- Vanishing Waves (Aurora) by Kristina Buozyte
So, what do you think of my choices this year? How many have you seen? Which deserving films did I miss? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
40 comments:
Thanks Bonjour... was desperately on the lookout for a list like this one. Now, I think I have enough for the entire season :-)
Great list.
Although Himizu rubbed me up the wrong way, I have Barbara and Laurence Anyways in my overall top 10 for the year.
Tabu and Holy Motors feature pretty highly too. Seeing a couple of the others in the coming weeks.
Keep up the great work! Looking forward to 2013...
I've only seen The Hunt and Amour out if all these. The Hunt is probably my second favourite film of the year. Desperate to see Holy Motors and Berberian Sound Studio. Will have to check out Himizu too I think. Interesting list! Lots for me to look out for!
Magnificent list,BT,thanks! I'm extremely curious about Berberian Sound Studio ,Tabu and Beyond the hills now.
Very original list! I love it and I want to see every film on it!
Lovely list! I'm looking forward to seeing Hunt and Holy Motors.
I have just spent an incredibly intense but thrilling THRILLING weekend in a cinema philosophy workshop and the buzz was around Holy Motors. I'm not a fan of "lists" ... But any list with that film as #1 is worth it.
Nice work here, BT. Can't say I have seen any of these, but at least I know what to look out for in the coming months.
Gah, I haven't even seen a single one of the honorable mentions, and I'm -just- half way through last years list. I DO thank you for putting this up though, I get to bookmark and check up on it every few months. It helps.
Thanks Murtaza, looking forward to your reactions.
Thank you Mike. Glad to see we've got a lot of overlap. Will you be making a list?
Which was your first?
Thanks David. I would love to hear your thoughts on those titles when you finally catch up with them.
Thanks Michaël. I think most lists this year will have a lot of originality, there really isn't any universally loved favorite quite like A Separation last year.
Thank you Margaret! I'm especially curious to hear what you have to say about Holy Motors.
That workshop sounds fascinating. I hope you're going to blog about it. and honestly I'm really not a fan of lists either, but they are popular reads, and some of these titles really deserve the added exposure.
Casually bookmarking this list so I can reference it later when I have the opportunity to catch up with these films. I especially want to see Holy Motors!
Thanks Eric. I just saw your 2011 list, and it seems we agreed on several titles. I think chances are good that a few of these will end up on your next list...
Half is pretty impressive. I'm happy if people read this and end up watching even just one.
I hope you get to do that soon! Thanks for the visit Stevee!
I usually don't watch a lot of foreign films, but I have seen Rust and Bone and Amour, among others. I am very happy and totally agree with the first two places- happy to see Romania on the list :)
I cannot disagree with your number one choice. It was an amazing experience and for a change, the actual matched the hype and lavish praise from reviews. A nice strong list overall there, some new stuff for me to check out too.
Excellent list, loved your top 2 choices. Two truly great films right there. Love that Rust and Bone made the Honorable Mentions cut!
I was expecting Holy Motors to be no 1! I've been reading positive things about Tabu & B Sound Studio, on you site too, so curious to give those a watch once both hit dvd soon, and maybe include them on my own upcoming 2012 list. Have you seen Ship of Theseus (2012)? it features on a few year-end top 10 lists in sight & sound mag, though 4.7 on IMDB has me confused...Fom what I can read, it's a flawed, ambitious Indian independent film. The trailer for it looks interesting.
Glad you agree with those choices. I think whenever Mungiu, Muntean, Porumboiu, or Puiu, make a new film, it has a good chance of making my favorites list.
Yeah, films almost never live up to their critical hype, and I was afraid that might happen with Holy Motors, but it held up and then some. Thanks for the comment Steven, I hope you discover something you like.
Thanks Alex. I still have my reservations about some of Audiard's storytelling methods, but I recently watched R&B again, and the performances, as well as the technical film-craft are just so amazing to watch, that I think it deserves a place here.
Yeah, there won't be any real surprises in the list if you are a regular reader. Actually I haven't even heard of Ship of Theseus... haven't had time yet to scour through the S&S lists, but it sounds intriguing. I'll add it to my list of films to watch out for. 4.7 is pretty low, but I trust IMDb's scores even less than I trust the daily horoscope.
I am terribly glad I decided to check my old blog feed. I have been very disappointed with my usual Hollywood fair. I have a lot to work through here; thanks for the concise reports!
Welcome back Rorschach. It's been awhile, but it's good to see you around here again, I trust you are doing well, and I hope you find something of interest here.
Two from Japan and one from the UK. Awesome. Himizu and Key of Life are both brilliant.
and I've still yet to see Kitano's latest and both of Miike's new films too.
Terrific list. BSS, The Hunt and Holy Motors (#1) also made my end-of-year list. I am really looking forward to catching Laurence Anyways, Barbara and Beyond The Hills, three I unfortunately missed throughout the year.
Really puts me to shame, but then I'm not even sure where I might see these movies in Perth. I did however watch 76 Hollywood movies from 2012. Dumb. I'm very happy to see Amour not in your top 10 however.
Thanks for this terrific post. I am off to add some of these titles to my list.
http://eclecticbooksandmovies.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by Andy. Hopefully you'll get to catch up with those titles soon. I'd like to hear your opinions on them.
Well, hopefully some of these will play at your local film fest. Yeah I didn't fall for Amour as much as most. It's a very good film, but at this point in time I'm not even sure if it would even crack my Haneke top 10.
My top 2 is exactly the same as yours :) I absolutely loved Holy motors and Beyond the hills!
Can't wait to see all of these movies! The Hunt has been on my mind since Cannes... and I'm so ashamed I didn't watch Barbara because I thought it looked dull. Anyway, interesting you don't have any Oscar nominations here - but then again, I'm quite disappointed by them this year (haven't seen any of the foreign ones yet though).
Excellent! What's the rest of your top 10?
Post a Comment