Members of an ad hoc group of 51 online movie enthusiasts (critics, bloggers, et al.), organized by Edward Copeland (of the blog Edward Copeland on Film) recently submitted unordered lists of our 25 most significant (or enduring or even favorite) “foreign-language” talkies. In all, 434 titles were submitted, and the initial list of 121 nominees for the final ballot is now available for public viewing at eddieonfilm.blogspot.com.
Copeland explains the rules:
I set a few guidelines for eligibility: 1) No film more recent than 2002 was eligible; 2) They had to be feature length; 3) They had to have been made either mostly or entirely in a language other than English; 4) Documentaries and silent films were ineligible, though I made do lists for those in the future if this goes well. In all, 434 films received votes, not counting those that had to be disqualified for not meeting the criteria.
My personal list (some of which made the cut, some of which didn’t) can be seen at Scanners.
You are also invited to post your own lists, observations or criticisms (What? They left out that Bill Shatner movie in Esperanto?) in the Comments section here:
http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2007/08/the_best_nonenglishlanguage_fi.html#more