1. The U.S. of A.- I am most familiar with this one, obviously, so its an easy decision. The best of Hitchcock, some Kubrick, we have Scorsese, Tarantino, all those Andersons, old Hollywood and new independents, can't beat that.

2. Japan- Kurosawa is a master, Masaki Kobayashi, tons of random samurai flicks, Seijun Suzuki, and hints of kabuki to varying degrees here and there.

3. France- The New Wave would be the main reason, but you also have some great Bunuels thrown in there, Jean Renoir, and even some new stuff that is worth a look.

4. Italy- Those neo-realists lead the pack, especially de Sica, Rossellini, and Olmi.

5. Germany- For the early Lang, all that beautiful beautiful mad mad Herzog, the Fassbinder, and the Murnau.

I could throw Iran in here for some variety, though I'm really only thinking about A Separation and Kiarostami. I could just as easily have gone with the UK for their early Hitchcock, late Kubrick, and The Archers.

American

John Ford is the obvious answer. Despite his Irish gems like How Green was My Valley and The Quiet Man, he helped define America on screen with The Young Mr. Lincoln, Grapes of Wrath, and of course The Searchers.

But my favorite? Eliza Kazan. A Face in the Crowd especially.

Germany

Mainly for german expressionism. As you've mentioned, Murnau & Lang. Thanks to Christopher Nolan, I checked out The Testament of Dr. Mabuse by Lang and it's turned into one of my favorite movies. Nolan actually borrowed a lot of The Joker's philosophy from that movie.

Germany has a long history of scientists who dabbled in spiritualism & occultism. And it's as if that gothic, supernatural mystery ran through the bloodlines. It makes for strange cinema. Tim Burton no doubt was influenced.

The rest? I don't really have any specific nations in mind. I usually go by directors.

I meant more like, if you could only watch movies from five countries for the rest of your life, what five countries would you pick?

Oh. Well. America, Germany, Italy, Russia, and I suppose the damn French. I do love Robert Bresson.

I admit I need to see more Asian films.

American and Asian...unless Spaghetti Westerns count as Italian Cinema.


Edit: spelled Spaghetti wrong.....

Spaghetti westerns absolutely count.

Bresson and Melville, France might actually be my #2. Ive been watching a lot of Japanese movies recently, though.

American and Spanish for sure (I couldn't stand never seeing an Almodovar film again). I'll have to think about the other three.

My foreign film exposure is very, very narrow. So, maybe this is a dumb game for me to play.

American, French, South Korean, Czech, Russian.
If you extended it to 10, the next batch would be Italian, Spanish, Japanese, German and Mexican.

U.S. - (I could live forever in the late 60s and 70s)
U.K. - (Hitchcock, Lean, Kubrick, Frears)
Japan - (Kurosawa, Ozu and, yes, I like of some of the horror flicks)
France- (I'm a huge Truffaut fan)
Scandinavia - (Bergman and von Trier are two of my favs... yes, I know "Scandinavia" is not a country but...)

1. alamo
2. galaxy
3. imax
4. regal
5. iPic

You should really read the book "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls"

Here is a documentary version of the book on youtube. All 8 parts are on there if you're interested.

I will check it out.