A friend recently posted his 10 best on facebook (yes, I can’t avoid it since I need to find out when certain things are on in London that way). I challenged back, then he changed the rules to ‘only English language films’. Seems a pity to let my list go to waste, so…. in no particular order….

1. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long), 2000, dir. Ang lee [IMDB]
2. Burnt by the Sun (Utomlyonnye Solntsem), 1994, dir. Nikita Mikhalkov [IMDB]
3. The Downfall (Der Untergang), 2005, dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel [IMDB]
4. Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue), 1988, dir. Luc Besson [IMDB]
5. Ridicule, 1996, dir. Patrice Leconte [IMDB]
6. Dead Heart, 1996, dir. Nick Parsons [IMDB]
7. Le Diner de Cons, 1998, dir. Francis Veber [IMDB]
8. Excalibur, 1981, dir. John Boorman [IMDB]
9. The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen), 2006, dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck [IMDB]
10. Cidade de Deus (City of God), 2002, dir. Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund (co-director) [IMDB]
11. Hidden (Caché), 2005, dir. Michael Haneke [IMDB]
12. Unforgiven, 1992, dir. Clint Eastwood [IMDB]
13. Man facing South-east (El hombre mirando al sudeste), 1986, dir. Eliseo Subiela [IMDB]
14. Dekalog, 1989, dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski [IMDB]

I know, more than 10, but I can’t remove any… His list had ‘Withnail and I’ [IMDB] at the top, which I must admit was a close contender. And I did watch again it the other night – it is a linguistic near-masterpiece of the English language.

Too hard-core? Ok, how about Pulp Fiction, The 5th Element, Spinal Tap, Miller’s Crossing, The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover, Bitter Moon, Une Pura Formalità, ….

Bring on the list critics!