When Hollywood celebrities chime in about their favorite films ever, often times their lists neglect to include any foreign fare.
The recently trending hashtag #Fav7Films elicited thousands of tweets mentioning everything from" Rocky" to "Blade Runner" to, the most popular, "The Dark Knight," but not a single foreign film made the top 15. Some actors had a token of subtitled cinema - Amy Schumer lists "City of God" in her top seven, Josh Radnor has "Yi Yi" in his.
Overall, it seems Americans - even those who make movies for a living - do not watch foreign-language movies with any regularity. On FilmWeek today, we want to give your favorite foreign films a chance to shine.
Oscar winners such as Russia's "Burnt by the Sun," or films that won big in their own country, such as "The Confessional" from Canada, would make strong contenders. Plus, it would be helpful to highlight movies that would be tough to remake in Hollywood fashion, as has been suggested about "Force Majeure" -- a 2014 Swedish movie with such subtlety and nuance that it's hard to imagine Fox Searchlight will pull off its American remake deftly.
What are some of your favorite foreign films and why? Could they be remade into American movies?
Guests:
Christy Lemire, Film Critic for KPCC and Host of YouTube’s “What the Flick?;” she tweets from
Tim Cogshell, Film Critic for KPCC and Alt-Film Guide; Tim tweets from
Charles Solomon, Film Critic for KPCC and Animation Scoop and Animation Magazine