Los Angeles Film Critics' Award Winners in the Best Foreign Film Category
Jan 30 '05 (Updated Dec 19 '05)
The Bottom Line Happy First Epinions Anniversary to ME! And to all my friends at Epinions, thanks for a WONDERFUL year!
This being my first anniversary at Epinions, I offer this list of foreign films honored by the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association (LAFCA), from their inception in 1975 to the present time. In the future, I plan to post similar lists for the New York Film Critics' Circle Awards, the London Critics' Circle Awards (ALFS), and The National Society of Film Critics' Awards. The sole purpose of these lists is to help you find your way to worthwhile viewing experiences from other countries to supplement your regular diet of Hollywood films. You might also enjoy checking out the following lists:
All Fifty-Six Best Foreign Film Oscar Winners
All Seventy-Seven Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Winners
All Seventy Venice Film Festival Best Film Winners
All One-hundred and Six BAFTA Award-Winning Films
New York Film Critics' Circle Awards for Foreign Films (1935-2004)
National Society of Film Critics' Awards for Non-English Language Films
London Critics' Circle Awards for Best Foreign Film
British Films Selected by the London Critics' Circle as Best Film or Best British Film
Celebrating the Oscars: All Seventy-Seven Best Picture Oscar Winners (with links to full reviews)
Celebrating the Oscar Divas: All Seventy-Seven Best Actress Oscar Winners (with links to full reviews).
The Los Angeles Film Critics have a special place symbolically, among the award agencies, because they are the group situated closest to the "company town," Hollywood. Selection of a film by the Los Angeles Film Critics often bolsters a film's chances for Academy Award nominations and selections. In 1992, for example, Clint Eastwood actually thanked the Los Angeles film critics for helping to generate the momentum for the remarkable success of his film Unforgiven at the Oscars. The LAFCA makes its selections on the second Saturday in December, assuring opportunity to influence Oscar decisions.
The Los Angeles film critics walk a tightrope in their role as a kind of arbiter of artistic standards in cinema. On the one hand, the Association can't help but to be aware of the excess commercialization that influences Hollywood products and the sometimes apparent disdain for Hollywood standards internationally. On the other hand, the Los Angeles critics tend to be less conservative and snobbish in their tastes than their counterparts in New York or London. The Los Angeles film critics are not above sometimes picking a popular blockbuster that had great mass appeal, such as Star Wars (in 1977) or Rocky (in 1976). One notable instance of the LAFCA foregoing highbrow pretensions was the selection of E.T. in preference to Ghandi in 1982. That's not to say that their selections are always right choices, but only that they are sometimes courageous and egalitarian choices. They even gave a Best Film award to the rather bizarre Brazil, before it had even been released in America, thus hastening its availability.
The LAFCA has included the Best Foreign Film category among its selections in each year since its inception. They also picked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as Best Film overall in 2000. Otherwise, the nod for Best Film has always gone to an English language film. I have myself reviewed twenty-one of these thirty-one winners. One of the remaining ten is not in the Epinions database and a second film has no reviews presently at Epinions. For the remaining films, I've provided links to reviews by other excellent Epinions reviewers.
The Thirty Los Angeles Film Critics' Award Winners in the Best Foreign Film category:
1975 And Now My Love Country: French Director Claude Lelouch (This film is in the Epinions database at And Now My Love but there are presently no reviews for it.) Rating: Not Available
Lelouch's ususual love story culminates in the lovers first meeting. To get to that sentimental moment, when a wealthy Jewish girl falls in love with a petty thief turned filmmaker, we first follow seventy-five years of her family history, from her grandfather who experimented with Lumiere's Kinematograph and died in World War I, through her father who barely survived a World War II concentration camp and whose wife died in childbirth.
1976 Face to Face Country: Sweden Director Ingmar Bergman (This film is not currently in the Epinions database) Rating: * * * *
Liv Ullmann delivers a powerful performance as Dr. Jenny Isaksson, a psychiatrist, who suffers a mental breakdown while alone at her grandparent's estate in the Swedish countryside. Haunted by memories of the past, Jenny experiences delusions and hallucinations pertaining to an old woman. Bergman originally shot this film for Swedish television. The version available in America is pared down.
1977 That Obscure Object of Desire Country: France/Spain Director Luis Buñuel (See waynio's review at That Obscure Object of Desire.) waynio's Rating: * * *
Buñuel's last film again stars Fernando Rey as a middle-aged man obsessed with a beautiful younger woman. The film is especially noteworthy for using two different actresses (Carole Bouquet and Angela Molina) to play Cochita, the titular object of desire, in order to fully underscore the fluctuations in her moods.
1978 Madame Rosa Country: France Director Moshe Mizrahi My Rating: * * * *
A touching relationship develops between an aging Jewish Auschwitz surviver, Madame Rosa, and a spirited Muslim orphan for whom she cares. Simone Signoret won a Cesar for her magnificent performance in the title role.
1979 Soldier of Orange Country: Netherlands Director Paul Verhoeven My Rating: * * * * *
This film examines the resistance effort and the impact of Nazi occupation on a group of young Dutch students. Erik (Rutger Hauer) is drawn into the resistance effort, escaping to England to help supply the movement in Holland.
1980 The Tin Drum Country: West Germany Director Volker Schlondorff My Rating: * * *
Oskar (David Bennett) is born into a German family in the twenties, growing up as the Nazis are coming into power. Fed up with the hypocrisy that he observes around him, Oskar decides, at age three, that he will grow no larger. Accompanied by his tin drum and piercing scream that can shatter glass, Oskar observes the cataclysmic events of his early life in Poland from a unique perspective.
1981 Pixote Country: Brazil Director Hector Babenco My Rating: * * * * *
This is a disturbingly realistic portrayal of the life of street children in Brazil, living in poverty and warehoused in degenerate reformatories. Babenco made this film using genuine street children of Sao Paulo to highlight the tragedy of their circumstances.
1982 Road Warrior Country: Australia Director George Miller My Rating: * * * * *
George Miller's sequel to Mad Max depicts a savage, post-apocalyptic world where gasoline is the preeminent commodity. With its highly kinetic style, this film packs plenty of excitement.
1983 Fanny and Alexander Country: Sweden Director Ingmar Bergman My Rating: * * * *
Fanny and Alexander is possibly Bergman's most personal film and one of his last. The idyllic world of the young sister and brother, Fanny and Alexander, is torn asunder when their father suddenly dies. When their mother remarries an obsessively zealous clergyman, Fanny and Alexander must leave behind the loving extended family they had grown accustomed to and live a life of barbaric austerity.
1984 The Fourth Man Country: Netherlands Director Paul Verhoeven (See MrsNormanMaine's review at The Fourth Man.) MrsNormanMaine's Rating: * * * *
When a Dutch writer, Gerard, visits a small town to give a lecture, he is invited stay over by the town's beautician. Gerard and Christine make love, but Gerard, who is bisexual, is more interested in Christine usual lover, Herman. Gerard urges Christine to invite Herman to stay, hoping to seduce him, but gradually his plans are overtaken by suspicions that Christine is a murderess who has already killed her three husbands and has him in mind as her next victim.
1985 The Official Story Country: Argentina Director Luis Puenzo My Rating: * * * * *
This powerful story presents a mother's worst nightmare. A privileged wife of a successful businessman begins to suspect that their adopted daughter may have been stolen from one of the many political prisoners detained, tortured, and executed by the corrupt dictatorship in control of Argentina. Worse, her well-connected husband may have known about the origin of their child.
1986 Vagabond Country: France Director Agnès Varda My Rating: * * * * *
Varda, one of the first feminist directors, gives us the penetrating story of a young woman with neither direction nor ambition and the way that she impacts those who come into contact with her before her untimely death.
1987 Au Revoir les Enfants Country: France Director Louis Malle My Rating: * * * *
Growing up is never easy, but when it's the middle of World War II in Nazi-occupied France, the boys in a provincial Catholic boarding school come of age very quickly and confront issues of intolerance and injustice much sooner than ought to be the case. Julien's friend Jean has a secret that Julien can barely comprehend but which could spell disaster if revealed.
1988 Wings of Desire Country: West Germany Director Wim Wenders My Rating: * * * * *
This unusually poetic and philosophical film is challenging in the density of its ideas, but can be highly rewarding for patient viewers. Damiel (Bruno Ganz) is an angel, invisible to earthlings, who longs to experience sensory perceptions and emotions, even if it means surrendering his immortality. The very human Marion, a trapeze artist, on the other hand, longs for a sense of real attachment in her life.
1989 Story of Women Country: French Director Claude Chabrol My Rating: * * * *
Based on the true story of one of the last women to be executed in France, the magnificent Isabelle Huppert plays Marie, a woman in Vichy France struggling to fend for herself and her children. Marie's circumstances improve when she begins performing abortions and renting out rooms in her home for the use of prostitutes servicing their clients. Her world comes crashing down around her, however, when the police are informed of her activities. Much of the story is seen from the vantage point of her young son.
1990 Life and Nothing But Country: French Director Bertrand Tavernier My Rating: * * * *
Major Dellaphane (Philippe Noiret) has the unenviable task of overseeing the accounting process for the MIAs in the aftermath of World War I, which the politicians would like to see dispensed with as quickly and as quietly as possible. Among those searching for missing lovers are the aristocratic Irène de Courtil and a simple schoolteacher named Alice. The process is made more complicated when Dellaphane finds himself inadvertently falling for the beautiful and strong-willed Irène.
1991 La Belle Noiseuse Country: French Director Jacques Rivette (See Hamilton62's review at La Belle Noiseuse.) Hamilton62's Rating: * * * *
When a young woman agrees to pose in the nude for a painting for a famous but creatively-blocked artist, several relationships are impacted. When I saw this film some eighteen months ago, it struck me as the slowest moving film I had ever seen, though it is not without its rewards.
1992 The Crying Game Country: U.K. Director Neil Jordan (See MrsNormanMaine's review at The Crying Game.) MrsNormanMaine's Rating: * * * * *
An IRA operative, Fergus, accepts the task of killing a British hostage, despite having developed some sympathy for him, but the hostage escapes and is killed instead by a British armored car. Later, while living in the underground in London, Fergus is haunted by the memory of the victim and decides to look up the young man's lover, Dil. A relationship blossoms between Fergus and Dil, despite the secrets each harbors, but the reemergence of two of Fergus's old IRA associates adds further complications.
1993 Farewell My Concubine Country: China Director Chen Kaige My Rating: * * * *
Chen Kaige's adaptation of a novel by Lilian Lee encompasses fifty years of recent Chinese history and presents an odd kind of love triangle. As boys growing up together in the Peking Opera Academy, the older Duan Xiaolou takes Cheng Dieyi under his wing and the two become close friends. Cheng Dieyi is later groomed for females roles (Chinese women were not allowed to perform in opera) and discovers his homosexuality. His love for Duan Xiaolou is severely strained by Duan's more conventional romantic inclinations that are directed toward the courtesan, Juxian (Gong Li).
1994 Red (See Three Colors.) Country: France/Poland Director Krzysztof Kiélowski My Rating: * * * * *
In a suburb of Geneva, a young model (Irene Jacob) accidentally hits a dog and takes the injured animal home to its owner, who is a cynical and despondent retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who spends his times eavesdropping on the phone calls of his neighbors, using phone-tapping equipment. Though forty or so years separate the ages of the two, they develop a touching relationship that enriches them both.
1995 Wild Reeds Country: France Director André Téchiné My Rating: * * * *
The young people in this poignant French coming-of-age story set in 1962 are strongly impacted by the Algerian War, which results in both political differences and personal losses. For one of the boys, his coming-of-age experiences are also complicated by his discovery of his homosexuality.
1996 La Cérémonie Country: France Director Claude Chabrol My Rating: * * * * *
Sophie (Sandrine Bonnaire) is a rather humorless young woman who takes a job as a domestic for the Lelievre family, a pleasant and loving family of four. Sophie is dyslexic and illiterate, but is so ashamed of it that she doesn't want anyone to know. Her inability to read is a frequent impediment to her performance of her duties, such as when she is unable to call in a grocery order for delivery. Sophie makes the acquaintance of Jeanne (Isabelle Huppert), a postal clerk in this small village. Jeanne dislikes the Lelievres and soon turns Sophie against them as well.
1997 La Promesse Country: Belgium Director Jean-Pierre Dardenne (See DavidMac's review at La Promesse.) DavidMac's Rating: * * * *
This powerful film explores the conflict between loyalty to a father versus a moral course of action. Igor, a fifteen-year-old boy lives with a father who exploits illegal immigrants from Africa and Eastern Europe. When the father tries to cover-up the accidental death of one of the illegal aliens, Igor has to choose between betraying a promise he had made to a dying man or permitting the truth of his father's activities to emerge.
1998 Celebration Country: Denmark Director Thomas Vinterberg My Rating: * * * * *
When the Klingenfelt family gathers to honor the patriarch on his sixtieth birthday, the occasion is thrown into turmoil by a shocking opening toast from the eldest son, who reveals that he and his now-deceased twin sister had been raped repeatedly, when they were children, by their father.
1999 All About My Mother Country: Spain Director Pedro Almodóvar My Rating: * * * *
A loving single mom, Manuela (Cecilia Roth) is devastated when her beloved teen son dies suddenly in a tragic accident. Hoping to honor his last request to learn about his father, Manuela returns to a life she had left behind twenty years earlier – a life in Barcelona among prostitutes, transvestites, stage performers, and a variety of other troubled souls.
2000 Yi Yi Country: Taiwan/Japan/Hong Kong Director Edward Yang My Rating: * * * * *
This family drama follows the troubled lives of each of four members of a Chinese family, living in Taipei. While the father tries to sort out his feelings about an old flame, the mother seeks comfort from a spiritual retreat, the teenaged daughter discovers first love, and the eight-year-old son struggles with what it all means. The final fade to black is heart-rending.
BONUS: 2000 BEST OVERALL FILM: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Country: China DirectorAng Lee My Rating: * * * *
This is the only non-English language film selected in any year by LAFCA as the Best Film overall. This film combines martial arts with visual poetry. The intricately choreographed sequences involve gravity-defying ballet-like movements to advance a traditional mythological narrative set in ancient China.
2001 No Man’s Land Country: Bosnia-Herzegovina Director Danis Tanovic My Rating: * * * * *
The absurdity of war is revealed in an unusual way in this film, when a man is trapped on top of a landmine that will explode as soon as he is moved and the pressure released from the trigger. Meanwhile, two enemy soldiers sharing that same foxhole alternate taking one another prisoner and the U.N. observers prove useless.
2002 Y Tu Mamá También Country: Mexico Director Alfonso Cuaron My Rating: * * * *
This raunchy Mexican teen comedy has some real thematic bite as well, exploring issues of homoeroticism, the allure of an experienced woman, and unbridled passions. Tenoch and Julio are a couple of friends from different social classes, at loose ends when their respective girlfriends go away for the summer. Things pick up quickly when a gorgeous married woman in her twenties agrees to a road trip with the two boys to a remote beach.
2003 The Man on the Train Country: France Director Patrice Leconte (See Jarvococker's review at A Man on the Train.) Jarvococker's Rating: * * * *
Manesquier (Jean Rochefort) and Milan (Johnny Hallyday) develop an unlikely friendship despite little in common. The former is an elderly, retired teacher while the latter is a middle-aged thief, in town for the purpose of robbing a bank. When Milan finds the local hotel closed, he imposes on Manesquier for a place to sleep. Both are operating on a short fuse, since Manesquier is scheduled for triple bypass surgery and Milan is to rob the bank at about the same time, come Saturday morning. The two leads provide fine performances for this character piece.
2004 House of Flying Daggers Country: China Director Zhang Yimou My Rating: * * * *
This film from Zhang Yimou sports some of the most stunning cinematography and martial arts poetry that's ever been put on screen. The "House of Flying Daggers" are a rebel clan intent on overthrowing the corrupt Tang Dynasty in 859 A.D. Two captains of the imperial guard, Leo and Jin, must discover the rebel base and their best lead is a blind dancer, Mei, at a local nightclub who might be the daughter of the former rebel leader. Jin, an accomplished seducer, is assigned the task of gaining the confidence of Mei so that she will lead him to the secret hideout.
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