It is Dakota’s birthday week, and we continue the trend of picking a category and choosing our favourites from it. In 2020 there was 114: 30 Films in 30 Years, in 2021 it was 157: Best Films Through the Decades and in 2022 it was 199: Best Films by Genre. This year we are naming our 10 favourite films by language. We cover four specific languages, one country, two regions and three wildcards! We name both our picks and runners-up.
See our picks below (Dakota’s first, then Rachel’s)!
French: Incendies and Polytechnique
Spanish: Pan’s Labyrinth
Italian: Bicycle Thieves and La Dolce Vita
Cantonese or Mandarin: In the Mood for Love and Septet: The Story of Hong Kong
Middle East Region: Capernaum and Subtraction
Nordic Region: The Worst Person in the World and Speak No Evil
African Wildcard: Timbuktu and Saloum
Asian Wildcard: Pather Panchali and Old Boy
European Wildcard: Nosferatu the Vampyre and M
Check out our Letterboxd list to see our full list including our runner up’s.
Listen to episodes mentioned on the podcast 69: Make/Remake Terminal Station and Indiscretion of an American Wife, 214: A Trilogy of Nosferatu’s.
Watch Kogonada’s video essay What Is Neorealism? to see his breakdown of the differences between Terminal Station and Indiscretion of and American Wife.
Why Iran creates some of the world’s best films.
Read Rachel’s interview with Adele Lim the director of Joy Ride on The Asian Cut. Follow Rachel on Twitter and Instagram, bookmark The Asian Cut and check out her website for more great reviews.
Check out more great Contra Zoom content on That Shelf!
Listen to Contra Zoom on Anchor, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast, RadioPublic, Breaker, Podcast Addict and more!
