"Foreign" as a film genre seems similar to "Black" as a music genre.

Hmm. I don't know. There are enough people who use foreign (as in language, not country) as a factor in movie selection, many more, %wise than would use black, that I think it's arbitrary for the purists and useful for the masses.

Maybe so. I just realized that the story I read yesterday about someone whose downloaded tracks from emusic had "Black" as the listed genre wasn't on this board at all. Without this context, my comparison seems even more spurious.

When I interpret "black" as a music genre, I think of "music those black people listen to" and values of "those" vary wildly from speaker to speaker. But most people agree on what makes a foreign (language) film. Most.

I dont' think I can wrap my head around a musical genre wide enough to include Darlene Love, Sylvester, and Three 6 Mafia.

Let alone TV on the Radio and Ornette Coleman.

But most people agree on what makes a foreign (language) film. Most.

Sure, but most genre titles tell you what to expect out of a film. Foreign tells you about nothing but the language spoken. Hell, even French as a genre wouldn't tell you enough to figure out if you'd prefer Bob Le Flambeur to Au hasard Balthazar.

Foreign tells you about nothing but the language spoken

Absolutely. However, I know people who think it's weird my sister likes to "read" her movies, and my sister bemoans not being able to find enough foreign movies in Jamaica.

So even before you get to the specific language spoken, there's a perceived commonality that's useful for those that don't participate and for at least one (and she's just the first example that came to mind, since she mentioned she was going to try and rent a foreign movie for her birthday today).

Black music, without an implied understanding of which black folk and all the values that implies, I think is less useful.

Hell, even French as a genre wouldn't tell you enough to figure out if you'd prefer Bob Le Flambeur to Au hasard Balthazar.

But isn't French cinema often spoken of as a genre unto itself? I'm not saying there aren't useful subdivisions, but still...I know people who will characterise HK movies as of interest to them, for example.

Don't worry, Springy, we all had to start somewhere. And there are some of us ::voice drops to a whisper:: who have seen a fair number of those films and didn't care much for them.

My three essential French language films: Diva, Delicatessen and La Belle et La Bete. Which ain't nobody here mentioned yet, even though I personally think they'll be very accessible to anybody who is a Whedon/Buffy-type fan.

Absolutely. However, I know people who think it's weird my sister likes to "read" her movies, and my sister bemoans not being able to find enough foreign movies in Jamaica.

Which is exactly why I hate foreign films as a category. I think it means that many people dismiss films they might otherwise enjoy.

Le Samourai is a case in point. A student's father, who would never choose to watch a "foreign film," came in while she was watching, loved it, and decided he wanted to see more movies by this Melville dude.

My three essential French language films: Diva, Delicatessen and La Belle et La Bete. Which ain't nobody here mentioned yet, even though I personally think they'll be very accessible to anybody who is a Whedon/Buffy-type fan.

All favorites of mine. And I agree, all very accessible, with Diva being a great example of a film that doesn't really fit into what many people think of when they think of "French" films.

A student's father, who would never choose to watch a "foreign film," came in while she was watching, loved it, and decided he wanted to see more movies by this Melville dude.

My dad, who was very averse to anything non-Hollywood previously, watched The Seven Samurai with us one night and joined Netflix to rent Japanese movies, Kurosawa flicks in particular.