National Board of Review

1997 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerBeaumarchais the ScoundrelThe life story of the titular Beaumarchais (Fabrice Luchini), playwright and adventurer, who gets himself into numerous different scrapes and romantic encounters in 18th Century France.AmazonMa vie en roseLudovic is an innocent seven-year-old child who provokes horror in her community when she dresses in girls clothes and insists she's a girl.AmazonPonetteA four-year-old girl tries to come to terms with the sudden death of her mother.AmazonShall We Dance?A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he begins to secretly take ballroom dance lessons.AmazonShall We Dance?A successful but unhappy Japanese accountant finds the missing passion in his life when he...

1996 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerAzúcar amargaGustavo is a young Havana Communist who believes in the revolution; he hopes for a scholarship to study aeronautical engineering in Prague. But his faith in the new Cuba is tested: his ...AmazonKolyaFranta Louka is a concert cellist in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, a confirmed bachelor and a lady's man. Having lost his place in the state orchestra, he must make ends meet by playing ...AmazonLa cérémonieA newly hired maid for a rich countryside family befriends a post-office clerk who encourages her to rebel against her employers.AmazonRidiculeTo get royal backing on a needed drainage project, a poor French lord must learn to play the delicate games of wit at court at Versailles.AmazonRidiculeTo get royal backi...

1995 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerFarinelliFarinelli is the artistic name of Carlo Broschi, a young singer in Handel's time. He was castrated in his childhood in order to preserve his voice. During his life he becomes a very famous ...AmazonIl postinoSimple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet; he uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.AmazonLamericaTwo Italian racketeers come to Albania just after the fall of the communists to set up a fictive firm and pocket the grants. They need a stooge. They choose an old one in a jail : Spiro. ...AmazonLes misérablesA variation on Victor Hugo's classic novel by means of the story of a man whose life is affected by and somewhat duplicated by the Hugo story of the beleaguered Jean ...

1994 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerEat Drink Man WomanA senior chef lives with his three grown daughters; the middle one finds her future plans affected by unexpected events and the life changes of the other household members.AmazonEat Drink Man WomanA senior chef lives with his three grown daughters; the middle one finds her future plans affected by unexpected events and the life changes of the other household members.AmazonQueen MargotYoung Queen Margot finds herself trapped in an arranged marriage amidst a religious war between Catholics and Protestants. She hopes to escape with a new lover, but finds herself imprisoned by her powerful and ruthless family.AmazonStrawberry and ChocolateThis Oscar nominated film is the story of two men who are opposites, one...

1993 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerEl mariachiA traveling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal and must hide from a gang bent on killing him.AmazonFarewell My ConcubineThe story of two men, who met as apprentices in the Peking Opera, and stayed friends for over 50 years.AmazonFarewell My ConcubineThe story of two men, who met as apprentices in the Peking Opera, and stayed friends for over 50 years.AmazonThe AccompanistIn Nazi-occupied Paris, a young accompanist named Sophie Vasseur gets a job with famed singer Irene Brice. As Irene's husband Charles, a businessman collaborating with the Nazis, wrestles ...AmazonThe Story of Qiu JuA pregnant peasant woman seeks redress from the Chinese bureaucracy after the village chief kicks her husband in the groin...

1992 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerIndochineEliane adopts Camille, whose Vietnamese parents were friends. In 1930, a French navy officer is interested in Eliane (owns 60km2 plantation) and later in Camille. There's an uprising in Vietnam against French colonial power.AmazonIndochineEliane adopts Camille, whose Vietnamese parents were friends. In 1930, a French navy officer is interested in Eliane (owns 60km2 plantation) and later in Camille. There's an uprising in Vietnam against French colonial power.AmazonLike Water for ChocolateWhen tradition prevents her from marrying the man she loves, a young woman discovers she has a unique talent for cooking.AmazonMediterraneoIn WW2, an Italian Army unit of misfits occupies an isolated non-strategic Greek island for t...

1991 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerEuropa EuropaA boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.AmazonEuropa EuropaA boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.AmazonLa Femme NikitaConvicted felon Nikita, instead of going to jail, is given a new identity and trained, stylishly, as a top secret spy/assassin.AmazonMy Father's GloryA young boy's life in turn-of-the-century France. Marcel, witnesses the success of his teacher father, as well as the success of his arrogant Uncle Jules. Marcel and family spend their ...AmazonThe VanishingRex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, ...

1990 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerCyrano de BergeracEmbarrassed by his large nose, a romantic poet/soldier romances his cousin by proxy.AmazonCyrano de BergeracEmbarrassed by his large nose, a romantic poet/soldier romances his cousin by proxy.AmazonJesus of MontrealA group of actors put on an unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself.AmazonMonsieur HireA recluse is accused of murdering a young woman simply because his neighbors think he is strange.AmazonThe Nasty GirlWhen a young woman investigates her town's Nazi past, the community turns against her.AmazonTie Me Up! Tie Me Down!An unbalanced but alluring former mental patient takes a porn...

1989 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerCamille ClaudelBiography of Camille Claudel. Sister of writer Paul Claudel, her enthusiasm impresses already-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin. He hires her as an assistant, but soon Camille begins to sculpt ...AmazonChocolatA young French woman returns to the vast silence of West Africa to contemplate her childhood days in a colonial outpost in Cameroon. Her strongest memories are of the family's houseboy, ...AmazonLa lectriceA multi-faceted film based on Raymond Jean's novel "La Lectrice". Constance (Miou-Miou) reads the novel aloud in bed to her lover. Inspired by the story of Marie, a woman who advertises her...AmazonStory of WomenMarie Latour, a woman of limited schooling, raises two children in a ratty flat during World Wa...

1988 National Board of Review - Best Foreign Language Films WinnerA Taxing WomanIf tax evasion is an art, wheeler-dealer Hideki Gondo is Rembrandt. And so, a determined taxing woman gets the tough assignment of trying to catch him.AmazonPelle the ConquerorThe end of the 19th century. A boat filled with Swedish emigrants comes to the Danish island of Bornholm. Among them are Lasse and his son Pelle who move to Denmark to find work. They find ...AmazonSalaam Bombay!The boy Krishna is abandoned by his mother at the Apollo Circus and she tells him that he can only return home when he can afford 500 rupees to pay for the bicycle of his brother that he ...AmazonThe Grand HighwayLouis, a nine-year-old boy from Paris, spends his summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother Claire has lo...