LAFCA Best Foreign Language
by Sentralperk | created - 14 Apr 2020 | updated - 15 Apr 2020 | PublicAll of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film Winners from 1975 to 2019.
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1. Pain and Glory (2019)
R | 113 min | Drama
A film director reflects on the choices he's made in life as the past and present come crashing down around him.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Nora Navas
Votes: 63,152
2. Burning (2018)
Not Rated | 148 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Jong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood, who asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa. When back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met there, who confesses his secret hobby.
Director: Lee Chang-dong | Stars: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Soo-Kyung
Votes: 76,404 | Gross: $0.72M
3. Shoplifters (2018)
R | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence.
Director: Kore-eda Hirokazu | Stars: Lily Franky, Sakura Andô, Kirin Kiki, Mayu Matsuoka
Votes: 86,506 | Gross: $3.31M
4. 120 BPM (2017)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
Members of the advocacy group ACT UP Paris demand action by the government and pharmaceutical companies to combat the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s.
Director: Robin Campillo | Stars: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel, Antoine Reinartz
Votes: 16,747 | Gross: $0.13M
5. Loveless (2017)
R | 127 min | Drama
A couple going through a divorce must team up to find their son who has disappeared during one of their bitter arguments.
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev | Stars: Maryana Spivak, Aleksey Rozin, Matvey Novikov, Marina Vasileva
Votes: 35,571 | Gross: $0.57M
6. The Handmaiden (2016)
Not Rated | 145 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A woman is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, but secretly she is involved in a plot to defraud her.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Cho Jin-woong, Moon So-ri
Votes: 172,924 | Gross: $2.01M
7. Son of Saul (2015)
R | 107 min | Drama, War
A Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.
Director: László Nemes | Stars: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont
Votes: 51,971 | Gross: $1.78M
8. Ida (2013)
PG-13 | 82 min | Drama
A novice nun about to take her vows uncovers a family secret dating back to the German occupation.
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski | Stars: Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska, Dawid Ogrodnik, Jerzy Trela
Votes: 60,719 | Gross: $3.83M
9. Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
NC-17 | 180 min | Drama, Romance
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche | Stars: Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Aurélien Recoing
Votes: 163,124 | Gross: $2.20M
10. Holy Motors (2012)
Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, Fantasy
A man boards a limousine to be driven to his day's work: nine mysterious "appointments."
Director: Leos Carax | Stars: Denis Lavant, Edith Scob, Eva Mendes, Kylie Minogue
Votes: 48,931
11. City of Life and Death (2009)
R | 133 min | Drama, History, War
In 1937, Japan occupied Nanjing, the Chinese capital. There was a battle and subsequent atrocities against the inhabitants, especially those who took refuge in the International Security Zone.
Director: Chuan Lu | Stars: Ye Liu, Wei Fan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Yuanyuan Gao
Votes: 11,722 | Gross: $0.12M
12. Carlos (2010)
Not Rated | 111 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The story of Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, who founded a worldwide terrorist organization and raided the 1975 OPEC meeting.
Stars: Edgar Ramírez, Alexander Scheer, Fadi Abi Samra, Karam Ghossein
Votes: 14,415 | Gross: $0.15M
13. Summer Hours (2008)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Family
Two brothers and a sister witness the disappearance of their childhood memories when they must relinquish the family belongings to ensure their deceased mother's succession.
Director: Olivier Assayas | Stars: Juliette Binoche, Charles Berling, Jérémie Renier, Edith Scob
Votes: 8,176 | Gross: $1.64M
14. Still Life (2006)
Unrated | 111 min | Drama
A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes.
Director: Zhangke Jia | Stars: Tao Zhao, Zhou Lan, Sanming Han, Lizhen Ma
Votes: 7,308 | Gross: $0.07M
15. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
A woman assists her friend in arranging an illegal abortion in 1980s Romania.
Director: Cristian Mungiu | Stars: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alexandru Potocean
Votes: 63,307 | Gross: $1.19M
16. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 410,673 | Gross: $11.29M
17. Caché (2005)
R | 117 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A married couple is terrorized by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche, Maurice Bénichou, Annie Girardot
Votes: 85,269 | Gross: $3.63M
18. House of Flying Daggers (2004)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Ziyi Zhang, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Dandan Song
Votes: 116,283 | Gross: $11.05M
19. Man on the Train (2002)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A man steps off a train into a French village awaiting the day when he will rob the town bank. He meets a retired poetry teacher striking up a strange friendship and explore the road not taken, each wanting to live the other's life.
Director: Patrice Leconte | Stars: Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday, Jean-François Stévenin, Charlie Nelson
Votes: 7,543 | Gross: $2.54M
20. And Your Mother Too (2001)
R | 106 min | Drama
In Mexico, two teenage boys and an older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life and each other.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Ana López Mercado
Votes: 128,911 | Gross: $13.62M
21. No Man's Land (I) (2001)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third soldier becomes a living booby trap.
Director: Danis Tanovic | Stars: Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Sovagovic, Georges Siatidis
Votes: 48,839 | Gross: $1.06M
22. Yi Yi (2000)
Not Rated | 173 min | Drama, Romance
Each member of a middle-class Taipei family seeks to reconcile past and present relationships within their daily lives.
Director: Edward Yang | Stars: Nien-Jen Wu, Elaine Jin, Issei Ogata, Kelly Lee
Votes: 28,436 | Gross: $1.14M
23. All About My Mother (1999)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A comedy-drama about a bereaved mother, and overwrought actress, her jealous lover, and a pregnant nun.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Cecilia Roth, Marisa Paredes, Candela Peña, Antonia San Juan
Votes: 102,928 | Gross: $8.26M
24. The Celebration (1998)
R | 105 min | Drama
At Helge's 60th birthday party, some unpleasant family truths are revealed.
Director: Thomas Vinterberg | Stars: Ulrich Thomsen, Henning Moritzen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Paprika Steen
Votes: 93,917 | Gross: $1.65M
25. The Promise (1996)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama
Roger uses his son Igor to ruthlessly traffic and exploit undocumented immigrants. When one of the immigrants is killed, Igor is guilt-ridden and wants to care for the dead man's family against his father's orders.
Directors: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne | Stars: Jérémie Renier, Olivier Gourmet, Assita Ouedraogo, Jean-Michel Balthazar
Votes: 8,540 | Gross: $0.45M
26. La Cérémonie (1995)
Not Rated | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A newly hired maid for a rich countryside family befriends a post-office clerk who encourages her to rebel against her employers.
Director: Claude Chabrol | Stars: Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Bonnaire, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Cassel
Votes: 13,824 | Gross: $0.08M
27. Wild Reeds (1994)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama
The fates of two partners are divided.
Director: André Téchiné | Stars: Élodie Bouchez, Gaël Morel, Stéphane Rideau, Frédéric Gorny
Votes: 6,648 | Gross: $0.92M
28. Three Colors: Red (1994)
R | 99 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A model discovers a retired judge is keen on invading people's privacy.
Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski | Stars: Irène Jacob, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Frédérique Feder, Jean-Pierre Lorit
Votes: 110,054 | Gross: $4.04M
29. Farewell My Concubine (1993)
R | 171 min | Drama, Music, Romance
Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.
Director: Kaige Chen | Stars: Leslie Cheung, Fengyi Zhang, Gong Li, You Ge
Votes: 33,183 | Gross: $5.22M
30. The Crying Game (1992)
R | 112 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A British soldier kidnapped by the IRA soon befriends one of his captors, who then becomes drawn into the soldier's world.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson
Votes: 60,079 | Gross: $62.55M
31. La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
Unrated | 238 min | Drama
The former famous painter Frenhofer revisits an abandoned project using the girlfriend of a young visiting artist. Questions about truth, life, and artistic limits are explored.
Director: Jacques Rivette | Stars: Michel Piccoli, Jane Birkin, Emmanuelle Béart, Marianne Denicourt
Votes: 9,373 | Gross: $0.41M
32. Life and Nothing But (1989)
PG | 135 min | Drama, War
Intense character study of men and women driven by an overpowering obsession with the past.
Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Sabine Azéma, Pascale Vignal, Maurice Barrier
Votes: 2,122 | Gross: $0.43M
33. Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
PG-13 | 84 min | Drama, Music
The lives of an English working-class family are told out of order in a free-associative manner. The first part, "Distant Voices", focuses on the father's role in the family. The second part, "Still Lives", focuses on his children.
Director: Terence Davies | Stars: Pete Postlethwaite, Freda Dowie, Angela Walsh, Dean Williams
Votes: 5,169 | Gross: $0.69M
34. Story of Women (1988)
108 min | Drama, History, Romance
A housewife in Nazi-occupied France struggles to make ends meet when her husband returns home after being wounded in the war.
Director: Claude Chabrol | Stars: Isabelle Huppert, François Cluzet, Marie Trintignant, Nils Tavernier
Votes: 5,747 | Gross: $0.44M
35. Wings of Desire (1987)
PG-13 | 128 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
An angel tires of his purely ethereal life of merely overseeing the human activity of Berlin's residents, and longs for the tangible joys of physical existence when he falls in love with a mortal.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois
Votes: 77,080 | Gross: $3.33M
36. Goodbye, Children (1987)
PG | 104 min | Drama, War
A French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. Occupying the next bed in the dormitory to the top student in his class, the two young boys begin to form a bond.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejtö, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carré de Malberg
Votes: 36,131 | Gross: $4.54M
37. Vagabond (1985)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama
A young woman's body is found frozen in a ditch. Through flashbacks and interviews, we see the events that led to her inevitable death.
Director: Agnès Varda | Stars: Sandrine Bonnaire, Macha Méril, Stéphane Freiss, Setti Ramdane
Votes: 13,674
38. The Official Story (1985)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, History
During the final months of Argentinian Military Dictatorship in 1983, a high school teacher sets out to find out who the mother of her adopted daughter is.
Director: Luis Puenzo | Stars: Norma Aleandro, Héctor Alterio, Chunchuna Villafañe, Hugo Arana
Votes: 10,868 | Gross: $0.03M
39. Ran (1985)
R | 160 min | Action, Drama, War
In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryû
Votes: 136,286 | Gross: $4.14M
40. The 4th Man (1983)
Unrated | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A man who has been having visions of an impending danger begins an affair with a woman who may lead him to his doom.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Jeroen Krabbé, Renée Soutendijk, Thom Hoffman, Dolf de Vries
Votes: 8,550
41. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
R | 188 min | Drama
Two young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Bertil Guve, Pernilla Allwin, Kristina Adolphson, Börje Ahlstedt
Votes: 67,517 | Gross: $4.97M
42. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps
Votes: 193,862 | Gross: $12.47M
43. Pixote (1980)
TV-MA | 128 min | Crime, Drama
The life of a boy on the streets of Sao Paulo, involved with crimes, prostitution, and drugs.
Director: Hector Babenco | Stars: Fernando Ramos da Silva, Jorge Julião, Gilberto Moura, Edilson Lino
Votes: 9,241
44. The Tin Drum (1979)
R | 142 min | Drama, War
In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Katharina Thalbach
Votes: 25,759
45. Soldier of Orange (1977)
R | 165 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
During World War II, Dutch students join the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Rutger Hauer, Jeroen Krabbé, Susan Penhaligon, Edward Fox
Votes: 13,880
46. Madame Rosa (1977)
PG | 105 min | Drama
Madame Rosa, an ex-prostitute of Jewish origin, lives in a dilapidated old building in Belleville. Tired and worn out by life, she looks after young children, placed in her care by the social welfare people.
Director: Moshé Mizrahi | Stars: Simone Signoret, Michal Bat-Adam, Samy Ben-Youb, Gabriel Jabbour
Votes: 1,732
47. That Obscure Object of Desire (1977)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Recounted in flashback are the romantic perils of Mathieu, a middle-aged French sophisticate as he falls for his nineteen-year-old former chambermaid Conchita.
Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Fernando Rey, Carole Bouquet, Ángela Molina, Julien Bertheau
Votes: 24,823 | Gross: $0.06M
48. Face to Face (1976)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy
Two psychiatrists have their marriage tested when one suffers a mental breakdown.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Liv Ullmann, Erland Josephson, Aino Taube, Gunnar Björnstrand
Votes: 6,142
49. And Now My Love (1974)
PG | 150 min | Drama, Romance
The movie follows the lives of a woman and a man starting from several generations earlier. The story spans a whole century and several continents.
Director: Claude Lelouch | Stars: Marthe Keller, André Dussollier, Charles Denner, Carla Gravina
Votes: 791
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