Hidden Treasures

Virtually all great films not in English and from the silent era qualify, even masterpieces well known to international cinephiles- so I've decided after all to include L'Atalante, L'Avventura, Sunrise. The range of most filmgoers' viewing is very limited. A great pity, I think. The (very dubious) received wisdom for Americans is to hold Kurosawa, Bergman and Fellini as some holy trinity of "world cinema"; I won't need to include them. At least Tarkovsky's getting better known: one film can represent him here. The current fashion among international critics and cinephiles is for Bresson and Ozu. I'll just include one by the latter, and one each for Godard, Kobayashi (a few of his films are now getting quite widely admired) and Miyazaki, whose animations have been successful worldwide.

I hope the taste for minimalism and Bressonian influence subside: they may be a perceived antidote to Hollywood excess, and in some quarters there's needless suspicion of emotion, beauty and melodrama, but some great humanists and storytellers are currently being neglected and undervalued. The great Jean Renoir's reputation is slipping, while other humanist masters Satyajit Ray and Mizoguchi are little known in USA, though at least Scorsese has Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari in his top 12 and there has just been a full season of Mizoguchi in New York.

Many countries are badly neglected, especially in Africa and Latin America. There are gems to be found all over the world. Most films, and most great films, are not in English. Happy hunting!

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