100 Biggest Foreign Language Hits of 2017

Our year in review party begins. A different list each day. Here's Nathaniel R...

In the Fade didnt risk release in 2017 after all, hoping for Oscar favor to buoy its release in 2018Time for an annual look back at subtitled fare in cinemas. As with last year's list India, China, Mexico, and South Korea dominate with a smattering of other countries faring much less well in the American marketplace. Much of that is due, we think, to dedicated distributors focusing specifically on one market like FIP, China Lion and WellGo. Some of the movies we though might be big deals this year like Chile's Oscar nominee A Fantastic Woman opted for Oscar qualifying release only and Germany's Oscar finalist In the Fade starring Diane Kruger (pictured left) opted to sneak out at the last second to qualify for all Oscars though it did not receive nominations, buried in that post Christmas glut of tiny releases.

For the purposes of this list we skipped documentaries and animated films to keep the list more focused (and avoid arguments about dubbed versions or whatnot) but please to know that had we kept them in the wonderful Turkish street cat documentary Kedi would be in the top ten right here. This list is otherwise, as carefully as we could manage, accurate though we're happy to take corrections should we have missed something.

TOP 100 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS FOR 2017
Listed By US Box Office Gross only  - FINAL TOTALS | Title links to reviews

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Golden Horse Winners 2017

by Nathaniel R

The 54th Annual Golden Horse Awards were held today in Taipei. That's the Taiwanese Oscars if you will. Though a female-led comedy called The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful took the top prizes, the film with the most wins was The Great Buddha+ which took home five. A romantic comedy called See You Tomorrow (the all-star cast includes TFE favorites Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Angelababy) took home most of the 'eye candy' prizes. The family tragedy Old Beast, about a father in court and at war with his kids, also did well.

Curiously Taiwan's Oscar submission Small Talk was eligible last year at this ceremony but wasn't a major player. You can see the whole 2017 ceremony online here but it's not subtitled so good luck! Toward the end of the ceremony Jessica Chastain even shows up to help Ang Lee present Best Actress (which went to Kara Wai) so we've included gifs of that and the list of winners after the jump...

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NYFF: Kiyoshi Kurosawa's "Before We Vanish"

by Jason Adams

I want you to close your eyes. I want you to close your eyes, and picture Love. Not Valentine's Day Heart Cards or little sugary candies that say Eat Me, and not the faces of the people you've held hands with on cold afternoon walks, although the latter will probably help you on your way of getting there. I want you to picture the entire concept of Love. The warmth and the palpable agony of it - the electricity of fingertips and further parts intertwining and entangling, and the aftershock of separation - the whole dang lot.

Now I want you to imagine the violence of all of that being torn out of your body...

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Three can't-miss movies directed by women on the festival circuit

our continuing adventures at TIFF with a little NYFF thrown in.

This year I made a conscious effort to see films directed by women at the Toronto International Film Festival. Nearly half of the films I screened had women behind the camera! Even though a few of them were unsatisfying, a handful were gems so praise be to TIFF that there were so many to choose from. Other festivals haven't been as inclusive. We've already discussed the tragic romance of Mary Shelley, the visually stunning The Breadwinner, the what-were-they-thinking Kings, the confounding but admirably crafted Zama, the dramatic misfire of Euphoria, and Hungary's strange and totally involving Oscar submission On Body and Soul.

I saved the three best for last. If you get a chance to see Western (playing at NYFF September 30th and October 1st), the Austrian costume drama Mademoiselle Paradis, or a hard to describe miracle from Indonesia called The Seen and the Unseen please take it. Unfortunately none currently have US release dates (though Western does apparently have some sort of stateside distribution planned for 2018). We'll take them alphabetically after the jump...

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Cannes Days 7-8: "The Beguiled" and "Rodin"

Another day in May, more cheers and jeers for the competition films. Only five competition films are yet to screen: Fatih Akin's In the Fade (starring Diane Kruger), Good Time from the Safdie brothers, Sergei Loznita's A Gentle Creature, François Ozon's L'Amant Double  (with two of his favorites Marine Vacth and Jérémie Renier), and Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here (starring Joaquin Phoenix). 

Previously: Day 1, Days 2-4, and Days 5-6
And Don't Miss: Nicole in Cannes Pt 1 and Pt 2

So it looks like the frontrunners for the Palme d'Or, barring any of those five landing in a major way, are France's 120 Battements Par Minute, Sweden's The Square, or Russia's Loveless. But with Cannes and the mysteries of the group dynamics of juries, you never really know until the awards are announced. Pundits always forget that. People who assume that the Palme is a given for ___ are wrong nearly every year. That's half the fun.

Day 8 brings us one of the longshot possibilities for the Palme from the great Sofia Coppola...

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