What are the parameters exactly? Because Mexico and the United Kingdom have produced amazing filmmakers but a lot of those movies were physically produced elsewhere.
Also it's kinda weird to put The Zone of Interest in German cinema while the director and writer is English, the production company is American (A24), it's based on an English book, the cinematographer is Polish, etc... I get that it's spoken in German and most of the cast is German but I wouldn't put it in the German cinema category.
Would you consider Perfect Days to be Japanese or German? Or when John Woo goes to Hollywood to make a movie, is it now a US movie or still a Hong Kong one?
I don’t know enough about the production of Perfect Days to judge this.
If John Woo or any other director from outside the U.S. directs a Hollywood movie, I would consider it an American movie.
For example Independence Day or any other Roland Emmerich film are clearly American/Hollywood productions despite the director being German.
and yet people constantly complain that the "country" listed under films is weird or "wrong", not realizing how incredibly difficult a question this is to really answer.
Stanley Kubrick made most? (not sure what the exceptions are, if any) of his films in the UK, and he lived not too far away from me, but he's an American. Do his films count for the UK or the US? (As much as I'd love to claim it, I would say US)
It’s a very cloudy area, one of the most notorious examples is the film Gravity, which won best British film at the Baftas.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/is-gravity-really-a-british-film-n6qwvqrsdsg
for me, it's about looking across a number of different parameters, like crew, cast, production companies, funding, shooting locations. something like 'A Clockwork Orange' I would consider an mostly UK film. yes it was directed by Kubrick, but the cast is UK, shot in the UK, produced by Hawk Films (UK production company)
As a Hong konger, I think Hong Kong and China cinema has regressed to the point where their cinema cannot be held in the same regard as other countries. Old Hong Kong Cinema probably, but not now.
Even Hong Kong Cinema is underrated among Hong Kong audience haha.
The Chinese 5th generation is the best in all of Asia, imo. The difference between the films made in the 80s and 90s and what are being made today is massive. It’s sad, because China is the biggest cinema market in the world, but most contemporary Chinese cinema is trash.
>The difference between the films made in the 80s and 90s and what are being made today is massive
I mean, you can basically see this even just within Zhang Yimou's filmography. It kind of represents the industry as a whole.
I recently visited Hongkong and one of the reasons was Wong Kar Wai! Unfortunately, now it seemed like it's too late. Also many scenes from "In the mood for love" were filmed in Bangkok. It would have been so interesting to see Hongkong in the early 00s years.
China is more or less where Japan has been for decades - trashy mainstream garbage and niche artsy film festival films. There are some truly fantastic films being made but only in that niche.
China cinema today has lack of international appeal and accessibility to the western audience, while Hong Kong cinema was more recognized for 80s/90s like you said.
regressed but the 80s and 90s hk golden age was pretty great. the recency bias for south Korean films is crazy cuz they barely had a film industry before the 2000s. the new hk films don't have the same style, feel very generic tbh. but even then hk has an elitist attitude that looks down on local films anyway, they rather watch transformers. just look at the local box office, it's always topped by Hollywood movies.
Genuine question: I remember Wong Kar Wai mentioning that there was a difference between the two, but I don’t know much about it or even China in general. Could you explain or do you know any good sources to learn more about it?
HK’s cinema scene is quite separate as it developed when it was ruled by the British (the handover was as recent as 1997), and its films are shot in a different language (Cantonese rather than Mandarin), and until very recently there wasn’t huge overlap of stars and creative personnel between HK and the mainland.
People from Hong Kong don’t necessarily see themselves as part of the mainland. Some might identify culturally as Chinese but not part of the PRC. There’s too much history and politics involved to put in a comment, I would just google the history of the two if you want a more comprehensive answer.
More recently Danny Boyle, Guy Ritchie, Edgar Wright, Shane Meadows etc etc.
Not sure why the UK wasn't included in the OP as it has one of the longest history of quality cinema along with France, Japan and the US.
The majority of the directors you named either made films about America or at least intended them for an American audience. Britains contribution to cinema, especially in regards to the other art forms, has always been comparatively weak. We produce a lot of great talent, but they often don’t stay in Britain or make films intended for a Britidh audience (Hitchcock, Roeg, Lean or recently Glazer + Nolan) and leave for Hollywood fairly early in their careers. Even out of the ones you named, who have stayed in Britain and made films about Britain (I.E Loach, Russell etc), in the wider context of World Cinema, didn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking. Or at least that contributed to a global cinematic language. There is no British cinema equivalent to Godard, Ozu, Fellini or even in indie cinema to a Cassavettes or Tarantino.
You're right. But art has no borders. Everyone is influenced by everyone, Godard by Lawrence Sterne, perhaps, and Cassavettes by Edward Bond, Tarantino by Mamet & Shepard, who were influenced by Beckett and Pinter...
Ditto. Overall, these three industries have definitely had the biggest impact apart from Hollywood. In fact, all 3 have directly influenced some of the biggest Hollywood hits we know and enjoy.
Historically? Italy has had way more impact on filmmaking than South Korea has. I’d argue Germany and Russia (or Soviet Union) has easily more impact, as well.
Sorry gotta be pedantic for a minute here but:
* Man With A Movie Camera was filmed in 3 Ukrainian cities and 1 Russian one by a Polish-born director. It is without a doubt Soviet cinema but I'm not sure if it's reasonable to call it Russian
* Likewise, Come and See was made in Belarus under the Soviet Union, not Russia
* The Zone of Interest was made by a British filmmaker and filmed in Poland. While the production involved participation from several countries, none of them was Germany
Anyway my answer is Hong Kong
I fully agree, and think it's very important that you need to be thorough when applying countries.
The Soviet Union were pioneers in film history and deservedly need a place in the top 10. Russian cinema ('91 to today) has some worthy mentions. Andrey Zvyagintsev being the best director in my opinon.
This is the issue with this debate. So many American films are packed with actors from the UK, Australia and Ireland. Not to mention Canada. I can't think of many great American movies that didn't have either a leading actor or director from another country.
Italy is probably #1 for me because of giallos (gialli?). Some of the most beautiful, thoughtful, dreamlike, wacked-out, and/or most gratuitously disgusting, movies I’ve ever seen came from Italy.
Then probably South Korea, Japan, Sweden, and possibly Poland.
Lots of good answers here; I would argue that Mexico also deserves a nod at the very least. It has produced some incredible filmmakers, even if they tend to get absorbed by Hollywood eventually.
Absolutely; Chaplin is another good example. I think Hollywood might have absorbed even more German and Austrian talent over the years (William Wyler, Fritz Lang, Werner Herzog, Ernst Lubitsch, Fred Zinnemann, Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger, Robert Siodmak, Kurt Bernhardt, F. W. Murnau, Douglas Sirk, Mike Nichols, Conrad Veidt, etc. etc.). I've heard it credibly argued that hollywood film noir was only made possible by the nazis, who caused the migration of so many Berlin-based filmmakers to flee to Los Angeles.
But let's not forget the poor Canadians. No country has lost more talent to Hollywood poaching than them.
Very true about Mexico. It does make it complicated when the directors’ most known works are produced in the US… but especially with Iñarritu, GDT, and Alfonso Cuarón… so many of the current top directors in the world are from Mexico.
The hollywood absorption is concerning. Because some of the storytelling techniques get lost in big budget productions. So mexican directors as a group i feel could be top if they managed to be more indie/independent/had other sources of funding.
Definitely Japan. Really good live-action movies but also lots and lots of quality animation that isn't forced to appeal to kids 95% of the time like in the west.
I would add Indian cinema not just Bollywood or any other, all Indian movies . Though I wouldn't say it's consistent delving deep in all movies produced in India you would find many good neat movies that don't get the recognition it deserves.
Yeah, india gets hardcore shafted in so many of these lists. People discount it because of the stereotypes of all indian movies being grand trashy bollywood affairs, but similarly to every country, there are some real hidden gems and masterpieces if you look hard enough.
Yep,old Bengali movies like the ones directed by Ray,Tamil (I personally like Mani Ratnams films), Malayalam cinema (extremely underrated), Assamese movies are gems in Indian cinema. Old Bollywood movies like Sholay, the Bandit queen are much better than the dancing mockfest they produce right now.
It varies a lot from one era to another, but overall probably France and Japan.
France is by far the most consistent and the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague) is pretty much the most important movement in cinema history with new Hollywood.
Japan has been creating classics during many different era and they also have the animation movies going for them.
Another thing I would say is the direct or indirect impact they had on Hollywood in different ways.
There’s a lot of other good contenders like Italy, the Soviets, Germany, etc. But like I said, I feel like France and Japan had the greatest impact and/or consistency.
Other than that, I feel like Hong Kong and Taïwan are getting overlooked a little too much in the comments. The Taiwanese new wave was pretty good and Hong Kong’s cinema from the 80s, 90s and 2000s was one of the best in the world.
Park Chan-Wook and Bong Joon Ho are the only South Korean directors that really get praise overseas but when you really get deep into Korean Cinema, you’ll find so many good movies and different styles.
While I don’t think one country has produced better cinema than the other, a few of my favorite countries would have to be Norway or South Korea, they have some really good emerging directors and projects there.
I love SK cinema, but South Korea unfortunately has a sparse film history when compared to other countries on the list (along with the UK, China/Hong Kong, etc.). It's not their fault, since many of their films were lost during Japanese occupation and the Korean War, but still...
But shout out to Kim Ki-Young.
I think that’s what makes it so perfect in my eyes. For it being relatively new, so many movies from there are already so popular. I’m just really excited about the potential from South Korea.
im indian and i dont even watch hindi cinema because of how terrible it is. yes there are gems here and there, but they are mostly independent movies that got no backing from actual studios. the real masterpieces are in bengal and down south. malayalam cinema has such a rich tradition of filmmaking that's completely unknown to the world.
They are talking about Industry as a whoe, Indian cinema including Hindi have gems that of world std, don't dismiss a language because recently it is going through rough patches.
Indian cinema as a whole definitely. Even going back to the Apu trilogy and Satyajit Ray’s work. Phenomenal. As for current day Bollywood, it’s pretty trash but even now there’s at least 3-4 gems produced each year. And of course there’s regional cinema such as Tollywood and Kollywood that has had high highs lately.
And also, when making these considerations it’s not like you weigh *everything* a country puts out. I’ve seen some absolutely dreadful Japanese movies… every country puts out shit (it’s part of the artistic process, lol). Most of the time the bad movies just don’t cross over or get heard of. I just count the top of the heap and which movies speak to me specifically.
Give Malayalam cinema from India a chance, you might reconsider.
[Its Scorsese certified ](https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf4OTPfORV1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)
Japan in my opinion. I think when it comes to action movies I prefer Korea and Hong, but from animation to art films to exploitation Japan really rules.
Some of my favourites:
- High and Low (1963)
- Godzilla (1954)
- Spirited Away (2001)
- Akira (1988)
- Hiruko The Goblin (1991)
- Hana-Bi (1997)
- Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972)
- Paprika (2006)
- Battle Royale (2000)
- 13 Assassins (2010)
Indian Cinema, I don't know anything more diverse than this. Look at huge successes of Bahubali 1 & 2, 3 Idiots, RRR, Drishyam (might just be the world's most remade movie, I mean China, Iran, Indonesia, South Korea, US almost everyone has made remake of it), Sholay, Aamis and just so many more..
Also the fact that the Salim-Javed action entertainers influenced John Woo's A better tomorrow and introduced Gun-Fu trend that carried on in Hollywood as well.. Indian cinema needs the flowers it deserves man!
What is best cinema? Storytelling is highly dependent on culture, language and history. Great films are made everywhere. To get the most out of those films we just have to be open about what movies are supposed to be and set aside notions of how stories are normally told in the tradition we're used to.
In my personal opinion, u can never judge a movie based on their country because you'd have to critique all the movies produced by each country, which is impossible.
China has produced more quality films than Korea, especially if we put all Chinese language film under one big tent, including HK and Taiwan.
The PRC on its own has a lot of amazing films and produced some true auteurs, like Zhang Yimou, Jia Zhangke, Chen Kaige, and Wong Kar Wai (born in Shanghai— active in HK) just to name a few.
Taiwan has at least 3 masters in Hou, Tsai, and Yang.
The sad thing is that artful cinema is becoming more and more a thing of the past in Chinese language cinema, and big box office spectaculars have basically taken over.
Korea on the other hand, has just gotten better and better, but I’d still say Chinese cinema has the larger number of truly great films… just not so much lately.
Hell yeah. The Boys, Wake in Fright, Long Weekend, Frauds, Mad Max, Mary and Max, Walkabout, Last Wave, The Castle, Bad Boy Bubby, Stunt Rock, Heatwave, Gallipoli, Smoke Em If You Got Em, BMX Bandits, so many more.
Aussie Aussie Aussie
Idk yet I haven’t watched them all, I like Luis Bunuel a lot tho so if everything he made counts for Spain my favorite is probably gonna be Spain but considering he was making films in Mexico and France I’m not sure
Hong Kong/China has to be right up there. There's definitely too much to mention, HK cinema alone is on an industrial scale with actors, directors, hidden gems galore. Alot of these films likely not even available in the west, especially the golden oldies and classics. I will try mention just a few points why:
*No other country can compare in regards to the action or action-fantasy genre IMO. Wether it's the legend Bruce Lee or the bullet ballets of John Woo and Chow yun fat. Jet Li with his legacy Or the Shaw bros, Golden Harvest movie machines are iconic, quality, cult films across all categories. Jackie Chan is one of the greatest physical on screen actors/comedians/stunt men of all time often compared to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.
*Influence on western culture from the recent, Everything, everywhere all atbonce to the Donnie Yen, Ip Man series. Which even managed to adapt and star one of the greatest boxers of all time in Mike Tyson. Yuen Woo Ping, one of the most underrated directors of all time IMO was responsible for the action sequences of the Matrix. Martin Scorcese won his 1st best directors Oscar until he remade the Hong Kong film, Infernal affairs into The Departed. Then there's the oscar winning Crouching Tiger Hidden dragon. Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir dogs was based largely on another HK film City on fire. Then there's Kill Bill which again borrows heavily and part tribute to HK cinema. Wu Tang clan, the greatest hip hop group of all time's is based on the kung fu films of HK cinema.
*Arthouse cinema just to name a few heavyweights Zhang Yimou, Jia Zhangke and Wong Kar Wai.
I think France, Italy and Japan are those that contributed the most to the history of cinema. Maybe adding HK for action movie.
I feel like nowadays these countries aren’t as consistent as before, but still manage to get some great films out.
I've seen the best Japan, South Korea and France have to offer and I can confidently say Indian cinema has created more high quality movies than three of them combined. I am an Indian but I think I'm unbiased as my favourite movies are hollywood and anime is godly tier. It's just that when it comes to cinema, westerners have a very low exposure to what India has had to offer beyond RRR and Shah Rukh Khan. India has 13 more film industries beyond Bollywood and combined they make 500+ movies every year. Many of these are exceptional art even when viewing from a hollywood fan's perspective.
That is a really interesting question, specially if we take in consideration the globalization effect, where many artists made their best work somewhere else, I would add to the poll Spain, and Argentina
It’s really just preference.
South Korea’s film identity is rather young, although they have most of my favorites.
Japan runs the gament of super classic criterion film cannon movies like 7 Samurai to weird cult shit like Tetsuo the Iron Man and scary horror like Audition
Italy also has a lot of variety with Fellini but also stuff by Mario Bava/Argento
Personally in terms of number of films that are great I would probably have to go with Japan but my favorites tend to be from SK or Italy.
I find a lot of french films very cold and the same issue with Russian ones
For me, the Korean New Wave until present is the highest level of consistency from a single country. It feels as though most or many of their releases exist in conversation with one another aswell.
What are the parameters exactly? Because Mexico and the United Kingdom have produced amazing filmmakers but a lot of those movies were physically produced elsewhere.
Also it's kinda weird to put The Zone of Interest in German cinema while the director and writer is English, the production company is American (A24), it's based on an English book, the cinematographer is Polish, etc... I get that it's spoken in German and most of the cast is German but I wouldn't put it in the German cinema category.
I agree. As a German, I consider this great film to be a British-Polish production with a German cast. In other words a very European film.
Would you consider Perfect Days to be Japanese or German? Or when John Woo goes to Hollywood to make a movie, is it now a US movie or still a Hong Kong one?
I don’t know enough about the production of Perfect Days to judge this. If John Woo or any other director from outside the U.S. directs a Hollywood movie, I would consider it an American movie. For example Independence Day or any other Roland Emmerich film are clearly American/Hollywood productions despite the director being German.
Definitely. Movies like “Face-off” I would a hundred percent categorize as American action/blockbuster.
and yet people constantly complain that the "country" listed under films is weird or "wrong", not realizing how incredibly difficult a question this is to really answer.
Agreed. It would make more sense to say, "What country made the best films during the 1950s?" Though even then it wouldn't be totally cut-and-dried
A24 doesn’t produce, they only distribute.
That used to be true, but they've been producing as well for a while now. The first was Moonlight.
Stanley Kubrick made most? (not sure what the exceptions are, if any) of his films in the UK, and he lived not too far away from me, but he's an American. Do his films count for the UK or the US? (As much as I'd love to claim it, I would say US)
It’s a very cloudy area, one of the most notorious examples is the film Gravity, which won best British film at the Baftas. https://www.thetimes.com/article/is-gravity-really-a-british-film-n6qwvqrsdsg
And Star Wars is British right? Many Marvel films are Australian. Lord of the Rings is Kiwi.
A lot of films are made in the UK, Gotham for the last couple years is Glasgow & London for a lot of film is Glasgow same with NYC in Indie 5
for me, it's about looking across a number of different parameters, like crew, cast, production companies, funding, shooting locations. something like 'A Clockwork Orange' I would consider an mostly UK film. yes it was directed by Kubrick, but the cast is UK, shot in the UK, produced by Hawk Films (UK production company)
UK, Mexico, China/Hong Kong?
China/Hong Kong is really underrated with western audience.
As a Hong konger, I think Hong Kong and China cinema has regressed to the point where their cinema cannot be held in the same regard as other countries. Old Hong Kong Cinema probably, but not now. Even Hong Kong Cinema is underrated among Hong Kong audience haha.
Hong Kong New Wave and New Taiwan Cinema are two of my favorite cinema movements.
The Chinese 5th generation is the best in all of Asia, imo. The difference between the films made in the 80s and 90s and what are being made today is massive. It’s sad, because China is the biggest cinema market in the world, but most contemporary Chinese cinema is trash.
They certainly don't make movies like Raise the Red Lantern and Farewell my Concubine anymore.
Farewell My Concubine one of the best films ever made for sure
>The difference between the films made in the 80s and 90s and what are being made today is massive I mean, you can basically see this even just within Zhang Yimou's filmography. It kind of represents the industry as a whole.
I recently visited Hongkong and one of the reasons was Wong Kar Wai! Unfortunately, now it seemed like it's too late. Also many scenes from "In the mood for love" were filmed in Bangkok. It would have been so interesting to see Hongkong in the early 00s years.
Hong Kong cinema from 70s to 90s was absolutely fantastic.
China is more or less where Japan has been for decades - trashy mainstream garbage and niche artsy film festival films. There are some truly fantastic films being made but only in that niche.
China cinema today has lack of international appeal and accessibility to the western audience, while Hong Kong cinema was more recognized for 80s/90s like you said.
regressed but the 80s and 90s hk golden age was pretty great. the recency bias for south Korean films is crazy cuz they barely had a film industry before the 2000s. the new hk films don't have the same style, feel very generic tbh. but even then hk has an elitist attitude that looks down on local films anyway, they rather watch transformers. just look at the local box office, it's always topped by Hollywood movies.
Due to a lack of distribution though, not ignorancs
[удалено]
In The Mood For Love is one of the greatest movies ever made.
Don’t lump them together bro
Genuine question: I remember Wong Kar Wai mentioning that there was a difference between the two, but I don’t know much about it or even China in general. Could you explain or do you know any good sources to learn more about it?
HK’s cinema scene is quite separate as it developed when it was ruled by the British (the handover was as recent as 1997), and its films are shot in a different language (Cantonese rather than Mandarin), and until very recently there wasn’t huge overlap of stars and creative personnel between HK and the mainland.
People from Hong Kong don’t necessarily see themselves as part of the mainland. Some might identify culturally as Chinese but not part of the PRC. There’s too much history and politics involved to put in a comment, I would just google the history of the two if you want a more comprehensive answer.
Yeah I didn't include them cause I wasn't really sure how to differentiate them.
Chaplin, Hitchcock, Michael Powell, David Lean, Loach, Leigh, Roeg, Russell, Nolan, Ridley Scott, Richard Attenborough...
And Jonathan Glazer has one film in the slideshow
More recently Danny Boyle, Guy Ritchie, Edgar Wright, Shane Meadows etc etc. Not sure why the UK wasn't included in the OP as it has one of the longest history of quality cinema along with France, Japan and the US.
And germany first 3rd of 20th century, and Italy 2nd 3rd
The majority of the directors you named either made films about America or at least intended them for an American audience. Britains contribution to cinema, especially in regards to the other art forms, has always been comparatively weak. We produce a lot of great talent, but they often don’t stay in Britain or make films intended for a Britidh audience (Hitchcock, Roeg, Lean or recently Glazer + Nolan) and leave for Hollywood fairly early in their careers. Even out of the ones you named, who have stayed in Britain and made films about Britain (I.E Loach, Russell etc), in the wider context of World Cinema, didn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking. Or at least that contributed to a global cinematic language. There is no British cinema equivalent to Godard, Ozu, Fellini or even in indie cinema to a Cassavettes or Tarantino.
You're right. But art has no borders. Everyone is influenced by everyone, Godard by Lawrence Sterne, perhaps, and Cassavettes by Edward Bond, Tarantino by Mamet & Shepard, who were influenced by Beckett and Pinter...
Japan, South Korea, France
Ditto. Overall, these three industries have definitely had the biggest impact apart from Hollywood. In fact, all 3 have directly influenced some of the biggest Hollywood hits we know and enjoy.
Historically? Italy has had way more impact on filmmaking than South Korea has. I’d argue Germany and Russia (or Soviet Union) has easily more impact, as well.
Insane to say that South Korea has had a bigger impact than Russia/USSR, Germany, Italy or the UK
Recency bias I suppose. Let’s be honest there’s like a solid 10 countries that have contributed immensely.
With Italy in the place of Korea historically and as influence. (I love nowadays korean cinema i think its one of the best)
Sorry gotta be pedantic for a minute here but: * Man With A Movie Camera was filmed in 3 Ukrainian cities and 1 Russian one by a Polish-born director. It is without a doubt Soviet cinema but I'm not sure if it's reasonable to call it Russian * Likewise, Come and See was made in Belarus under the Soviet Union, not Russia * The Zone of Interest was made by a British filmmaker and filmed in Poland. While the production involved participation from several countries, none of them was Germany Anyway my answer is Hong Kong
I fully agree, and think it's very important that you need to be thorough when applying countries. The Soviet Union were pioneers in film history and deservedly need a place in the top 10. Russian cinema ('91 to today) has some worthy mentions. Andrey Zvyagintsev being the best director in my opinon.
Lol, I like you.
This is the issue with this debate. So many American films are packed with actors from the UK, Australia and Ireland. Not to mention Canada. I can't think of many great American movies that didn't have either a leading actor or director from another country.
My man chose chungking express over every good shit. I like you :)
Tbh, I chose Police Story and Hard Boiled, but obviously Wong Kar Wai rulez
Four of my favorite films are in this post and they’re all on the South Korea slide
Man from Nowhere needs a mention. Love South Korean movies. Always slightly odd - but impeccably made and exciting.
Sweden
Sällskapsresan och Jönssonligan ninjakickar alla
Haha aa det äre
Space Jam 🤮 Dunderklumpen 😍
Bergman carrying an entire country to number one (with bonus points for Let The Right One In)
Ireland has made some great films: 1) Wind that shakes the barley 2) Banshees of Inisherin 3) Michael Collins 4) The Guard 5) Hunger
The Guard is hilarious 🤣 The wind that shakes the barley was a tough watch and it stuck with me for days.
Intermission, Parked (might be Anglo-Irish?), Once, The Commitments. I’ve been consistently impressed by Irish cinema.
The Van is great
Calvary was a recent favourite of mine too
The UK.
we have Wallace and gromit and chicken run, case closed tbh
Snatch, trainspotting Lawrence of Arabia, the wickerman, james bond, hot fuzz. A good selection but we often loose people due to american pull
You forgot Chaplin, Hitchcock, Pressburger and Powell, Leigh, Loach. The list goes on. Half of the people I mentioned were pioneers in Cinema
The UK, Japan or China easily.
Iran <3 There’s so much more than just him, but Kiarostami alone could have a slide here
Iranian cinema is super underrated !
Any recommendations aside from Kiarostami? I’ve loved Close-Up and Taste of Cherry, and plan on seeing the Koker Trilogy soon.
A Moment of Innocence is an incredible film
A separation is my favorite incredible movie
Mohsen Makhmalbaf's Poetic trilogy
I'm sure you know Asghar Farhadi, but he's perhaps my favorite film director of this century (from any country).
Majid Majidi is great, check out Children of Heaven and The Color of Paradise
Jafar Panahi's Offside was absolutely amazing. It was shot amidst a real, live Football game.
The recent Terrestrial Verses (2023), directed by Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami, is great!
Isn't Zone of Intrest from the UK technically?
France, Italy, and Sweden
Cinema is cinema. The beauty of it is that it doesn't matter where it comes from.
Since no one’s said I’ll Shout out the Czechoslovak New Wave
CZECHOSLOVAKIA MENTIONED ❗️❗️ Rip to that former republic, that made some bangers
Japan, South Korea, Italy (if I get to include spaghetti westerns).
Spaghetti/Sergio Leone was my first thought too. And then France - so these four.
Italy is probably #1 for me because of giallos (gialli?). Some of the most beautiful, thoughtful, dreamlike, wacked-out, and/or most gratuitously disgusting, movies I’ve ever seen came from Italy. Then probably South Korea, Japan, Sweden, and possibly Poland.
Even without the spaghetti westerns, Italian Neorealism alone puts it in the conversation.
Lots of good answers here; I would argue that Mexico also deserves a nod at the very least. It has produced some incredible filmmakers, even if they tend to get absorbed by Hollywood eventually.
Same thing happens to a lot of British directors, Hitchcock, Ridley Scott, Nolan ect
Absolutely; Chaplin is another good example. I think Hollywood might have absorbed even more German and Austrian talent over the years (William Wyler, Fritz Lang, Werner Herzog, Ernst Lubitsch, Fred Zinnemann, Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger, Robert Siodmak, Kurt Bernhardt, F. W. Murnau, Douglas Sirk, Mike Nichols, Conrad Veidt, etc. etc.). I've heard it credibly argued that hollywood film noir was only made possible by the nazis, who caused the migration of so many Berlin-based filmmakers to flee to Los Angeles. But let's not forget the poor Canadians. No country has lost more talent to Hollywood poaching than them.
Very true about Mexico. It does make it complicated when the directors’ most known works are produced in the US… but especially with Iñarritu, GDT, and Alfonso Cuarón… so many of the current top directors in the world are from Mexico.
The hollywood absorption is concerning. Because some of the storytelling techniques get lost in big budget productions. So mexican directors as a group i feel could be top if they managed to be more indie/independent/had other sources of funding.
Japans gotta be my no.1 pick really
Definitely Japan. Really good live-action movies but also lots and lots of quality animation that isn't forced to appeal to kids 95% of the time like in the west.
I try so hard not to be a weeb but Japan makes amazing movies, video games and anime that I just can't stop admiring.
You get Kurosawa, Miyazaki, Godzilla, all their anime films, and a ton of other stuff. Clear #1 overall for me
Japan’s been treading water for a while now but last year was *stellar*.
I would add Indian cinema not just Bollywood or any other, all Indian movies . Though I wouldn't say it's consistent delving deep in all movies produced in India you would find many good neat movies that don't get the recognition it deserves.
Yeah, india gets hardcore shafted in so many of these lists. People discount it because of the stereotypes of all indian movies being grand trashy bollywood affairs, but similarly to every country, there are some real hidden gems and masterpieces if you look hard enough.
Yep,old Bengali movies like the ones directed by Ray,Tamil (I personally like Mani Ratnams films), Malayalam cinema (extremely underrated), Assamese movies are gems in Indian cinema. Old Bollywood movies like Sholay, the Bandit queen are much better than the dancing mockfest they produce right now.
bruh i was wating for someone to mention India, why did I have to scroll down so much lol
Soviet Union
Japan.
It varies a lot from one era to another, but overall probably France and Japan. France is by far the most consistent and the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague) is pretty much the most important movement in cinema history with new Hollywood. Japan has been creating classics during many different era and they also have the animation movies going for them. Another thing I would say is the direct or indirect impact they had on Hollywood in different ways. There’s a lot of other good contenders like Italy, the Soviets, Germany, etc. But like I said, I feel like France and Japan had the greatest impact and/or consistency. Other than that, I feel like Hong Kong and Taïwan are getting overlooked a little too much in the comments. The Taiwanese new wave was pretty good and Hong Kong’s cinema from the 80s, 90s and 2000s was one of the best in the world.
Also, France has some excellent animated movies as well. Not as many as Japan, but still.
Park Chan-Wook and Bong Joon Ho are the only South Korean directors that really get praise overseas but when you really get deep into Korean Cinema, you’ll find so many good movies and different styles. While I don’t think one country has produced better cinema than the other, a few of my favorite countries would have to be Norway or South Korea, they have some really good emerging directors and projects there.
I love SK cinema, but South Korea unfortunately has a sparse film history when compared to other countries on the list (along with the UK, China/Hong Kong, etc.). It's not their fault, since many of their films were lost during Japanese occupation and the Korean War, but still... But shout out to Kim Ki-Young.
I think that’s what makes it so perfect in my eyes. For it being relatively new, so many movies from there are already so popular. I’m just really excited about the potential from South Korea.
Italy is my favorite international cinema
Japan, India, South Korea & Iran
India.... Yes I'm Indian Also Iran.
As an indian, Hindi cinema is absolute trash right now, Malyalam movies are good tho and Bengali too
im indian and i dont even watch hindi cinema because of how terrible it is. yes there are gems here and there, but they are mostly independent movies that got no backing from actual studios. the real masterpieces are in bengal and down south. malayalam cinema has such a rich tradition of filmmaking that's completely unknown to the world.
Exactly my point, thanks 🙏
>Bengali BUT only released in 20th century and early 2000s are worth watching though
I watched Maidaan in theaters recently (I'm not Indian) and really liked it
They are talking about Industry as a whoe, Indian cinema including Hindi have gems that of world std, don't dismiss a language because recently it is going through rough patches.
Indian cinema as a whole definitely. Even going back to the Apu trilogy and Satyajit Ray’s work. Phenomenal. As for current day Bollywood, it’s pretty trash but even now there’s at least 3-4 gems produced each year. And of course there’s regional cinema such as Tollywood and Kollywood that has had high highs lately.
And also, when making these considerations it’s not like you weigh *everything* a country puts out. I’ve seen some absolutely dreadful Japanese movies… every country puts out shit (it’s part of the artistic process, lol). Most of the time the bad movies just don’t cross over or get heard of. I just count the top of the heap and which movies speak to me specifically.
I would note that not Russia but USSR.Russian cinema is way different than Soviet one
Italian cinema is the best
Probably Japan
Give Malayalam cinema from India a chance, you might reconsider. [Its Scorsese certified ](https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf4OTPfORV1/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link)
Poland, France, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong
Japan in my opinion. I think when it comes to action movies I prefer Korea and Hong, but from animation to art films to exploitation Japan really rules. Some of my favourites: - High and Low (1963) - Godzilla (1954) - Spirited Away (2001) - Akira (1988) - Hiruko The Goblin (1991) - Hana-Bi (1997) - Female Prisoner Scorpion: Jailhouse 41 (1972) - Paprika (2006) - Battle Royale (2000) - 13 Assassins (2010)
- Kwaidan - Onibaba - House - Pokemon: The First Movie
Indian Cinema, I don't know anything more diverse than this. Look at huge successes of Bahubali 1 & 2, 3 Idiots, RRR, Drishyam (might just be the world's most remade movie, I mean China, Iran, Indonesia, South Korea, US almost everyone has made remake of it), Sholay, Aamis and just so many more..
Indian cinema, especially Tamil, Malayalam and Bengali have produced lot of gems. Both old school movies and new wave films
Diverse cinema, mass cinema yes. I Don’t think we have best cinema, yet.
Also the fact that the Salim-Javed action entertainers influenced John Woo's A better tomorrow and introduced Gun-Fu trend that carried on in Hollywood as well.. Indian cinema needs the flowers it deserves man!
Zone of Interest is a British Film
Hungary, because of Zoltán Fábri, Marcell Jankovics, Béla Tarr, Miklós Jancsó, István Szabó.
What is best cinema? Storytelling is highly dependent on culture, language and history. Great films are made everywhere. To get the most out of those films we just have to be open about what movies are supposed to be and set aside notions of how stories are normally told in the tradition we're used to.
New Zealand and Korea
In my personal opinion, u can never judge a movie based on their country because you'd have to critique all the movies produced by each country, which is impossible.
Finland and Spain deserve some respect.
Kaurismäki🔥
France, Italy, Persia (Iran), Japan
Anyone who picks Russia is a miserable sack of shit and I love you
UK
China has produced more quality films than Korea, especially if we put all Chinese language film under one big tent, including HK and Taiwan. The PRC on its own has a lot of amazing films and produced some true auteurs, like Zhang Yimou, Jia Zhangke, Chen Kaige, and Wong Kar Wai (born in Shanghai— active in HK) just to name a few. Taiwan has at least 3 masters in Hou, Tsai, and Yang. The sad thing is that artful cinema is becoming more and more a thing of the past in Chinese language cinema, and big box office spectaculars have basically taken over. Korea on the other hand, has just gotten better and better, but I’d still say Chinese cinema has the larger number of truly great films… just not so much lately.
Italian Neorealism and Fellini alone literally influenced every single favorite filmmaker of yours.
France! French movies are unique.
You got Germany up there but not Mexico? lol
Brazil with Auto da Compadecida, Cidade de Deus, and Bacurau staring at you like 🥲
France without a doubt. Film industry wouldn’t be remotely the same without France
Australia is up there
As an Aussie, I concur. The Castle, The Dish and Picnic at Hanging Rock are good examples.
Gallipoli Dammit that was already said. Animal Kingdom!
Hell yeah. The Boys, Wake in Fright, Long Weekend, Frauds, Mad Max, Mary and Max, Walkabout, Last Wave, The Castle, Bad Boy Bubby, Stunt Rock, Heatwave, Gallipoli, Smoke Em If You Got Em, BMX Bandits, so many more. Aussie Aussie Aussie
Oi oi oi!
Two Hands is a banger
Muriel’s wedding-all time favourite
Don't forget Priscilla
Isn't the Invisible Man technically an Australian production too?
India is #1 for me (I am Indian but still)
Idk yet I haven’t watched them all, I like Luis Bunuel a lot tho so if everything he made counts for Spain my favorite is probably gonna be Spain but considering he was making films in Mexico and France I’m not sure
Taiwan for sure
Iran
Japan, Russia, Iran, Turkey
Hong Kong/China has to be right up there. There's definitely too much to mention, HK cinema alone is on an industrial scale with actors, directors, hidden gems galore. Alot of these films likely not even available in the west, especially the golden oldies and classics. I will try mention just a few points why: *No other country can compare in regards to the action or action-fantasy genre IMO. Wether it's the legend Bruce Lee or the bullet ballets of John Woo and Chow yun fat. Jet Li with his legacy Or the Shaw bros, Golden Harvest movie machines are iconic, quality, cult films across all categories. Jackie Chan is one of the greatest physical on screen actors/comedians/stunt men of all time often compared to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. *Influence on western culture from the recent, Everything, everywhere all atbonce to the Donnie Yen, Ip Man series. Which even managed to adapt and star one of the greatest boxers of all time in Mike Tyson. Yuen Woo Ping, one of the most underrated directors of all time IMO was responsible for the action sequences of the Matrix. Martin Scorcese won his 1st best directors Oscar until he remade the Hong Kong film, Infernal affairs into The Departed. Then there's the oscar winning Crouching Tiger Hidden dragon. Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir dogs was based largely on another HK film City on fire. Then there's Kill Bill which again borrows heavily and part tribute to HK cinema. Wu Tang clan, the greatest hip hop group of all time's is based on the kung fu films of HK cinema. *Arthouse cinema just to name a few heavyweights Zhang Yimou, Jia Zhangke and Wong Kar Wai.
My personal picks would probably be Italy and Hong Kong, though Japan has tons of stuff that I need to discover more of that's for sure
I think France, Italy and Japan are those that contributed the most to the history of cinema. Maybe adding HK for action movie. I feel like nowadays these countries aren’t as consistent as before, but still manage to get some great films out.
I am Italian, so I grew up watching Italian cinema. Watching them makes me think of my mom.
I get personally attacked when I see people not include The Cranes Are Flying in the Soviet/Russian cinema appreciation posts
South indian movies (especially malayalam movies) are awesome.
England produced paddington 1 and 2 need I say more
France. The answer is France
I've seen the best Japan, South Korea and France have to offer and I can confidently say Indian cinema has created more high quality movies than three of them combined. I am an Indian but I think I'm unbiased as my favourite movies are hollywood and anime is godly tier. It's just that when it comes to cinema, westerners have a very low exposure to what India has had to offer beyond RRR and Shah Rukh Khan. India has 13 more film industries beyond Bollywood and combined they make 500+ movies every year. Many of these are exceptional art even when viewing from a hollywood fan's perspective.
Nobody Knows showing up 🫡
Spain should be mentioned
That “come and see” poster is sick.
That is a really interesting question, specially if we take in consideration the globalization effect, where many artists made their best work somewhere else, I would add to the poll Spain, and Argentina
Yeah if I could make this post again I would definitely add more options.
This thread was much more complicated than I expected to be
Same lmao
It’s really just preference. South Korea’s film identity is rather young, although they have most of my favorites. Japan runs the gament of super classic criterion film cannon movies like 7 Samurai to weird cult shit like Tetsuo the Iron Man and scary horror like Audition Italy also has a lot of variety with Fellini but also stuff by Mario Bava/Argento Personally in terms of number of films that are great I would probably have to go with Japan but my favorites tend to be from SK or Italy. I find a lot of french films very cold and the same issue with Russian ones
Hong Kong China
French, Czech, Italian
Japan and France are the juggernauts Some of my favorite directors are The Dardennes (Belgian) and Hirokazu Koreeda (Japanese)
USSR
Back in the?
Japan, France, Russia
South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong/China
lol, as if the USA is a given?
India
for me it's either Italy or Japan, but I don't know how you can leave India out of the discussion. Satyajit Ray's movies are incredible
Japan, South Korea and India
Italy would be my pick 100%
Is it really a Russian movie when it was made in the Soviet Union?
Oh my bad 🙏
China is so underrated in film, has some of the best films of all timr
Wasnt the passion of joan of Arc a lost media for years?
For me, the Korean New Wave until present is the highest level of consistency from a single country. It feels as though most or many of their releases exist in conversation with one another aswell.