The Seven Best Foreign Films of the Twenty First Century

7: Battle Royale (2000)
Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Aki Maeda and Takeshi Kitano
In Seven (or more) Words: The 18 rated Hunger Games; this is the only film that Tarantino wishes he directed.

6: City of God (2002)
Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Matheus Nachtergaele and Leandro Firmino
In Seven (or more) Words: The Brazilian Goodfellas (with young adults), City of God conveys both horror and humour in a majestic, yet terrifying cinematic portrait of Rio de Janeiro.

5: Amour (2012)
Starring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert
In Seven (or more) Words: The tribulations of growing in age has never been shown so candidly. Haneke, as always, delivers a dark and disturbing picture, with both Riva (then 85) and Trintignant (then 82) delivering brave, career best performances.

4: The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
Starring: Ricardo Darin, Soledad Villamil and Pablo Rago
In Seven (or more) Words: Hitchcock meets Haneke in an Argentinian backdrop. An ageing, grizzly detective attempts to open a 20 year old rape/murder case that was locked away in the cabinet. The bolt on the case is tight, but not tight enough for the audience to be enthralled by ingenious twists and turns.

3: Hidden (2005)
Starring: Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche and Maurice Binochou
In Seven (or more) Words: The Austrian Auteur (Michael Haneke) presents a Parisian husband and wife being watched. And filmed. And then sent the videotape with an R rated drawing of a headless chicken (amongst other 'bloody' drawings).

2: In the Mood for Love (2000)
Starring: Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung
In Seven (or more) Words: A film lovers wet dream. Brief Encounter coated in Salvador Dali lucidity, Kubrick was definitely an inspiration.

1: The Lives of Others (2006)
Starring: Ulrich Muhe, Martina Gedeck and Sebastian Koch  
In Seven (or more) Words: Like The Conversation in substance and almost matches it in style, this politically engaging masterpiece is the late Ulrich Muhe's best work; he is quieter and more subtle than Hackman (no comparison necessary of course). The fact that Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck could go on to direct The Tourist is a dent in his career, but does not diminish the breadth in quality of his career best film.

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The Seven Best Alfred Hitchcock Films

7: Psycho (1960)

Starring: Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Martin Balsam.

In Seven (or more) Words: Les Diaboliques influences Hitchcock to fashion murder with cross-dressing.

6: The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Starring: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas and Dame May Whitty.

In Seven (or more) Words: Does for trains what Lifeboat did for.. lifeboats; Hollywood finally chanced upon our greatest directorial export.  

5: North by Northwest (1959)

Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau and Jessie Royce Landis.

In Seven (or more) Words: Hitchcock turns the volume up to eleven with his wrong man phase reaching a denouement. Of course he revisited it with Torn Curtain, Topaz and Frenzy, but they exist on the cutting room floor of his career highlights.

4: Vertigo (1958)

Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes.

In Seven (or more) Words: The greatest film ever made according to Sight and Sound, dispatching Citizen Kane's selfish forty year stint at the top. The psychological aspects of Vertigo, particularly the opening titles, do not agree with all cinephiles. I think Hitchcock did better, but not by much. 

3: The 39 Steps (1935)

Starring: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Peggy Ashcroft and John Laurie.

In Seven (or more) Words: Ever remade, never surpassed; Hitchcock's greatest British film facilitates the country trotting flair that he would later revisit in North by Northwest. A triumph of British cinema.

2: Rear Window (1954)

Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr.

In Seven (or more) Words: This is not number one through my own preferences, but is regularly positioned as many film lovers favourite Hitchcock film. The likeness of the antagonist Lars Thorwald to Hitchcock's passport to America, David O. Selznick, hasn't gone unnoticed. 

1: Suspicion (1941)

Starring: Joan Fontaine, Cary Grant, Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce and Dame May Whitty.

In Seven (or more) Words: Johnnie Aysgarth is the coolest character ever committed to celluloid. That's why. Then acetate films took over in the 50's and many slick movie characters were introduced to cinema. Of course Suspicion never shows up on a Hitchcock Best List, but it is my second favourite film of all time, due to its paradox of warm and cold constantly entwining Cary Grant's suspicious Johnnie. And Joan Fontaine. Many say she was better in Rebecca, but I feel the Oscar for her performance in this film was justly correct. That's a little over seven words right?

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