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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