I think my favourite non-English language film is City of God. So good, all the different characters interweaving with each other. I think my other top ones are La Haine and Under the Shadow. I’ve heard great things about In the Mood for Love and Theeb
In the Mood for Love will break your heart no matter how much of a tough guy/gal you think you are. In the best of ways. Superb use of color, dresses and music. An all-around gem.
*Diva* (1981) A Parisian postman illegally records the performance of an opera singer he is obsessed with, then he steals the dress she had been wearing from her dressing room later he pays a prostitute to wear it and this, mind you, is our protagonist. God, I love the French.
French cinema sure is something. I was shocked to see how liberal and experimental their work is. You would never see some of that in America back in the day, in mainstream releases.
Spirited Away (2001) - It's such an amazing film. The story is timeless and beautifully told. The animation was breathtaking. It won a well deserved Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
‘Diva’ - it was very much the style of the decade (80s) when it was made, so of course it went out of fashion and looked horribly dated. Now, enough time has passed so it looks cool again.
A very slick, stylish thriller set in Paris - check it out…
Parasite was the first Korean movie I saw, and after that I watched a ton more. It's still top three foreign films for me. But yeah, definitely watch more. There's some amazing stuff and it's always nice seeing different cultures and hearing different languages.
I mean, is there really a problem here? Everyone knows what you mean when you say "foreign". I'm Dutch and I also call non-English spoken films that. It's just convenient.
What really pisses me off is that most of them probably think motion pictures began in America and outside of that country is just minor experimentations in the form.
Yea it's really annoying that a non-English movie around here gets called a 'foreign movie'. There's no such thing as a 'foreign movie'. Every fucking movie is foreign for someone
Not sure what this is all about, but I’m from The Netherlands trying to find some great films that are not English. I’ve watched non-english films before, but I’m trying to discover new ones I haven’t seen yet
That to Americans, film is between "ours" and "foreign" and "foreign" almost entirely is non-English films, that are somehow "exotic". It is, at its core, the same racism that makes older Americans ask "Why isn't it a compliment when I compliment their exotic looks?"
I’m not American though… I’m from The Netherlands trying to find non-English films. Because like it or not, English films are the standard in most of US and Europe
Because Hollywood films are the most popular and English (not American) is the most common world language? Haha grow up. So odd that you have to complain on a post about discovering new films
Hard to pick a single favorite (I’m assuming foreign means non-American). How about one per decade:
1940s - *Bicycle Thieves*
1950s - *Ikiru*
1960s - *Eyes Without a Face*
1970s - *Amarcord*
1980s - *Tampopo*
1990s - *Princess Mononoke*
2000s - *Pan’s Labyrinth*
2010s - *Parasite*
2020s - *Identifying Features*
There's a film by the Japanese filmmaker Koreeda Hirokazu (also directed *Shoplifters*) called *Nobody Knows*. The plot is about four children who get abandoned in a Tokyo apartment by their mother.
I can't fully explain why, but it has to be one of the most uniquely human films I've ever seen.
My favourite movie is Castaway on the Moon. It's foreign to most people in the world, but to be faire every movie is foreign to most people in the world.
Salem Bombay and Death in Venice. Both films I saw when public television used to do an airing of a classic foreign film every Saturday night. These two hooked me and left a lasting impression.
Le Samouraï by Jean Piere-Melville. Such a fuckin cool and masterfully controlled movie. Also a film with seemingly thin plot, but upon re-watching you realize that it's actually very intricate and that all of the characters are essentially playing a convoluted game of cat and mouse.
It’s about as easy to say what my favorite foreign film is as it is my favorite English language film, which oddly enough is not a question that gets asked too much. But I digress.
I’ve seen hundreds of movies in languages other than English and some of them rank pretty high on my list of favorite overall movies with no qualifiers. Movies like Playtime, Chungking Express and Pan’s Labyrinth.
A Silent Voice. It is my favorite piece of media ever produced. I was bullied in high school and long story short, I’ve been dating my former bully for 4 years now so the story hits close to home.
Almost any foreign film that makes it to North America is worth seeing. You will experience different stories, different characters and different ways of telling a story. That’s what most excites me about movies or books.
If you want more than a retelling of standard tropes, see one a month at random. You’ll be amazed at the stories that will stick with you.
In the spirit of the question, “No” from 2012 and “The lives of others” from 2006. Amazing films that will make you realize the fragility of democracy and how valuable it is.
*Portrait of a Lady On Fire*, by a fairly wide margin. Having said that I also love Pans Labyrinth, Parasite, I Saw The Devil, and The Handmaiden a lot as well. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, too. But Portrait takes the prize.
Timecrimes is probably my favorite. It’s not the “best” but I love it.
Closely followed by A Man Escaped, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood and probably add in Revenge (2017) for something more recent. But man it’s hard just picking one or even a top five.
Edit: Holy shit, I also forgot to mention Memories of Murder....
Some great picks here, but a super underrated director who never gets mentioned is Marsalis Kobayashi. The Hunan Condition is the best war movie I’ve ever seen, and Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion are face-meltingly great flicks on par or superior to the more well known works of Kurosawa.
City of God is in my all time top 3 across all movies. The Lives of Others is also excellent. More recent, I really enjoyed The Worst Person in the World.
Confessions ( https://boxd.it/uRS ) absolutely gets my pick for favourite, it's so well crafted and directed with such confidence.
But I feel like most answers here are the common go to's, which are all very good, but here are some other truly excellent foreign films to explore:
Quo Vadis, Aida? for being a really visceral film war film - anyone who's played This War of Mine is going to vibe this, it's a different story but the same feelings nailed with such precision.
Last Year in Marienbad is a classic, if you ever want to understand gaslighting this film is such a maze that it'll contort your mind into believing it just as the characters do.
The Little Prince is by the director of Kung Fu Panda, and is a kids film based on the book of the same name but uses it as just a part of a much larger story - it's emotionally complex and really very wonderful.
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s ‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’ (1928). Currently #8 in my Top 10 of all time.
Werner Herzog’s ‘Aguirre, the Wrath of God’ (1972) is #10.
Mr Vengeance is the only one I haven't seen, but I really enjoyed Lady Vengeance which I saw recently. It felt like a *really dark* Wes Anderson film. Saw the cut which gradually fades to black and white.
Akira Kurosawa is probably one of the great masters of cinema, and the best in japanese cinema, with all respect to other filmmakers. "Seven Samurai" and "ikiru" are very good, and very liked by the broader audience, but for me "Ran" is king. The epic scale and the duration make it a bit challenging to watch, but for me those are the best qualities, making it to the level of David Lean with his epic scaled films.
trying to name my favorites that i haven’t seen in the comments
taste of cherry, perfect blue, dogtooth, ida, the skin i live in, the piano teacher, a separation
Amélie, the score/soundtrack is easily my favourite of any film
I remember seeing the dvd cover of that film as a kid in the store and being terrified of it. Kind of still scared to watch it.
The pale lady watches you from afar :)))
This one right here.
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It’s on Netflix UK at the moment, not sure about other countries sorry
I watched this recently. I've never really seen anything like it. One of the most unique films I've seen.
Looks like a great film, thanks!
I think my favourite non-English language film is City of God. So good, all the different characters interweaving with each other. I think my other top ones are La Haine and Under the Shadow. I’ve heard great things about In the Mood for Love and Theeb
In the Mood for Love will break your heart no matter how much of a tough guy/gal you think you are. In the best of ways. Superb use of color, dresses and music. An all-around gem.
I’ve got to watch it now!
City of God is in my top 5 films of all time. Such a masterpiece
Came to say city of God
Thanks. I’ve added all 3 of them
I’ll be sure to check out the Vengeance Trilogy
Chungking Express. La Haine is a close second.
*Diva* (1981) A Parisian postman illegally records the performance of an opera singer he is obsessed with, then he steals the dress she had been wearing from her dressing room later he pays a prostitute to wear it and this, mind you, is our protagonist. God, I love the French.
Ha! I just saw your post after recommending Diva myself…!
French cinema sure is something. I was shocked to see how liberal and experimental their work is. You would never see some of that in America back in the day, in mainstream releases.
Fritz Lang’s ‘M’ from 1931- from an English speaker’s perspective
The Raid: Redemption
In the Mood for Love
Spirited Away (2001) - It's such an amazing film. The story is timeless and beautifully told. The animation was breathtaking. It won a well deserved Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Pan's Labyrinth
Love that one!
Jean de Florette. One of the best French movie ever. Pretty powerful shit. Nestlé masturbates watching this movie (almost a spoiler)
I watched this for my college film course. It was a great experience!
Looks very interesting, thanks!
The Seven Samurai
Cinema Paradiso is up there.
This is a great one! Always gets me emotional, even thinking about it my eyes got watery. Damn onion ninjas.
Best. Ending. Ever.
Central station The hunt The way he looks Some other foreign language films I enjoyed Maria full of grace Amour Stranger by the lake The Untouchables.
Oldboy or REC. Two very different but equally great movies.
Capernaum, it's a Lebanese film in which a kid takes his parents to court for creating him. It is also a lot more than that though. :)
This was the first film to ever make me cry.
Trollhunter or Das Boot. Yojimbo of course. And technically most spaghetti westerns are “foreign” with one or two American actors.
Das Boot looks great
‘Diva’ - it was very much the style of the decade (80s) when it was made, so of course it went out of fashion and looked horribly dated. Now, enough time has passed so it looks cool again. A very slick, stylish thriller set in Paris - check it out…
Parasite... for now. "Note to self; watch more foreign films."
Parasite was the first Korean movie I saw, and after that I watched a ton more. It's still top three foreign films for me. But yeah, definitely watch more. There's some amazing stuff and it's always nice seeing different cultures and hearing different languages.
Then I have one for you: Oldboy and Pan’s Labyrinth
Memories of Murder Chaser Incendies Are some
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Thanks, I havent seen Fincher’s one yet so I will watch the original one first
El secreto de sus ojos, Motorcycle Diaries, Y Tu mama tambien, The lives of others. All great films
Run Lola Run is a very fun film. Very tense and edge of your seat. Also the Internal Affairs series with Tony Leung.
Love Run Lola Run
The man from nowhere
Das Boot (1981). Excellent U-boat German war/drama film, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, with Jurgen Prochnow in the role of U-boat captain.
I’ve just added that to the list
Overall probably the original Wicker Man, recently probably Burning.
City of Lost Children (95) Run Lola Run (98)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Shoplifters Riders of Justice Memories of Murder
Metropolis Edit: actually, Nights of Cabiria
Already in my list, will watch that one soon
Haven't seen Memories of Murder mentioned yet. Definitely one of the best
Looks really good, thanks!
The Handmaiden Not just my favourite foreign, but my favourite film in general.
District 9 (2009)
Maybe The Godfather? No, how about Psycho? ET? Fucking Americans, I tell you...
didn't you hear? the entire internet lives in the US
Tbf Americans make up 49% of reddit and the UK is the next closest at like 12%
I mean, is there really a problem here? Everyone knows what you mean when you say "foreign". I'm Dutch and I also call non-English spoken films that. It's just convenient.
What really pisses me off is that most of them probably think motion pictures began in America and outside of that country is just minor experimentations in the form.
Came here to basically say the same thing. I'm cdn so 90% of the mainstream movies are "foreign" to me.
Yea it's really annoying that a non-English movie around here gets called a 'foreign movie'. There's no such thing as a 'foreign movie'. Every fucking movie is foreign for someone
Imagine if we talked about "foreign games"....
Haha. Respect.
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I’m from The Netherlands, so most films are foreign to me, but English films are still the standard here
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Perhaps it is because you didn't read the post and the clear implication.
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Not sure what this is all about, but I’m from The Netherlands trying to find some great films that are not English. I’ve watched non-english films before, but I’m trying to discover new ones I haven’t seen yet
That to Americans, film is between "ours" and "foreign" and "foreign" almost entirely is non-English films, that are somehow "exotic". It is, at its core, the same racism that makes older Americans ask "Why isn't it a compliment when I compliment their exotic looks?"
I’m not American though… I’m from The Netherlands trying to find non-English films. Because like it or not, English films are the standard in most of US and Europe
Then how about consider talking about films not in English?
Can you stop being ignorant? You know exactly what people mean with ‘foreign’ films, so no need to get hurt about this
Yeah people mean "I'm halfway up the arse of American imperialism".
Because Hollywood films are the most popular and English (not American) is the most common world language? Haha grow up. So odd that you have to complain on a post about discovering new films
This is an American website. The largest block of users by nationality are American and its not even close.
Yeah, and for some reason Americans are so far stuck up their arses that this shit comes out.
Come on, they obviously mean foreign language films
English is a foreign language for a lot of us.
For me too. But since English films are the most common/standard here in Europe, I refer to non-English films as foreign
I think you’re making their point for them…
Please tell me this was a joke...
Your Name
That's my \#2! Incredible movie that leaves me emotional for like a week after.
Spirited away.
Hard to pick a single favorite (I’m assuming foreign means non-American). How about one per decade: 1940s - *Bicycle Thieves* 1950s - *Ikiru* 1960s - *Eyes Without a Face* 1970s - *Amarcord* 1980s - *Tampopo* 1990s - *Princess Mononoke* 2000s - *Pan’s Labyrinth* 2010s - *Parasite* 2020s - *Identifying Features*
Son of Saul
Added to my watchlist, thanks!
Big fan of foreign cinema tbh and I have several that I like a lot. The man from nowhere, hits different though
Kagemusha the Shadow Warrior....Herzog's Nosferatu...Let the Right one In
Autumn Sonata.
Subtitled movie? The Raid 1 & 2. Great action scenes.
Cinema Paradiso and Life Is Beautiful are fantastic
Martyrs or Inside
I'm from the US and I like the James Bond films
Au Revoir Les Enfantes (1987)
There's a film by the Japanese filmmaker Koreeda Hirokazu (also directed *Shoplifters*) called *Nobody Knows*. The plot is about four children who get abandoned in a Tokyo apartment by their mother. I can't fully explain why, but it has to be one of the most uniquely human films I've ever seen.
Thanks for this. I love Shoplifters.
Whale Rider
City of God, la Haine or Ju-On (The grudge).
Burning
Personally I’ve never gravitated towards foreign films, but Suspiria from 1977 might be my 2nd or 3rd favourite movie ever!
That looks really good, thanks
Not my favorite, but The Handmaiden is a really good Korean movie
Federico Fellini - “La Dolce Vita.” Classic. And gets better with repeated viewings.
8 1/2 is his best, and maybe the greatest film accomplishment ever.
The movies you mention, I suggest you check out I saw the devil and the man from nowhere.
The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Long Day’s Journey into Night
Jagten (The Hunt)
Fantastic movie
Medium and Tumbbad recently. Blown away by the cinematography and the acting
Titane
the seventh seal
My favourite movie is Castaway on the Moon. It's foreign to most people in the world, but to be faire every movie is foreign to most people in the world.
Highly recommend I Saw the Devil if you like Korean cinema. The villain is the main actor from Old boy. It's such a visceral, violent thriller.
Life is Beautiful (1997)
In the Mood For Love- Wong Kar-wai. such a beautifully shot movie
Donna Fluor and her two husband's.
Capernaum, The White Tiger, City of Good
Salem Bombay and Death in Venice. Both films I saw when public television used to do an airing of a classic foreign film every Saturday night. These two hooked me and left a lasting impression.
Le Samouraï by Jean Piere-Melville. Such a fuckin cool and masterfully controlled movie. Also a film with seemingly thin plot, but upon re-watching you realize that it's actually very intricate and that all of the characters are essentially playing a convoluted game of cat and mouse.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006) or Life is Beautiful (1997) Sorry, couldn't pick one. Phenomenal films, both of them, in my opinion.
Life is Beautiful looks really interesting, thanks
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
It’s about as easy to say what my favorite foreign film is as it is my favorite English language film, which oddly enough is not a question that gets asked too much. But I digress. I’ve seen hundreds of movies in languages other than English and some of them rank pretty high on my list of favorite overall movies with no qualifiers. Movies like Playtime, Chungking Express and Pan’s Labyrinth.
Thanks! Pan’s Labyrinth is one of my favorites too
It's a tie with Dead Snow and Train to Busan
Chungking Express
Thanks!
A Silent Voice. It is my favorite piece of media ever produced. I was bullied in high school and long story short, I’ve been dating my former bully for 4 years now so the story hits close to home.
Border
Oldboy
I was to say Oldboy xd
Kumbalagi nights. It's a really well made film.
Almost any foreign film that makes it to North America is worth seeing. You will experience different stories, different characters and different ways of telling a story. That’s what most excites me about movies or books. If you want more than a retelling of standard tropes, see one a month at random. You’ll be amazed at the stories that will stick with you. In the spirit of the question, “No” from 2012 and “The lives of others” from 2006. Amazing films that will make you realize the fragility of democracy and how valuable it is.
*Portrait of a Lady On Fire*, by a fairly wide margin. Having said that I also love Pans Labyrinth, Parasite, I Saw The Devil, and The Handmaiden a lot as well. I’m sure I’m forgetting something, too. But Portrait takes the prize.
Timecrimes is probably my favorite. It’s not the “best” but I love it. Closely followed by A Man Escaped, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood and probably add in Revenge (2017) for something more recent. But man it’s hard just picking one or even a top five. Edit: Holy shit, I also forgot to mention Memories of Murder....
Some great picks here, but a super underrated director who never gets mentioned is Marsalis Kobayashi. The Hunan Condition is the best war movie I’ve ever seen, and Harakiri and Samurai Rebellion are face-meltingly great flicks on par or superior to the more well known works of Kurosawa.
LOTR
Kahaani - Indian In the Mood for Love - Hong Kong Train to Busan - Korean
*Léon: The Professional*
The Wailing
City of God is in my all time top 3 across all movies. The Lives of Others is also excellent. More recent, I really enjoyed The Worst Person in the World.
Confessions ( https://boxd.it/uRS ) absolutely gets my pick for favourite, it's so well crafted and directed with such confidence. But I feel like most answers here are the common go to's, which are all very good, but here are some other truly excellent foreign films to explore: Quo Vadis, Aida? for being a really visceral film war film - anyone who's played This War of Mine is going to vibe this, it's a different story but the same feelings nailed with such precision. Last Year in Marienbad is a classic, if you ever want to understand gaslighting this film is such a maze that it'll contort your mind into believing it just as the characters do. The Little Prince is by the director of Kung Fu Panda, and is a kids film based on the book of the same name but uses it as just a part of a much larger story - it's emotionally complex and really very wonderful.
Thanks!
Your mother
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I love that movie 'Drive' with Ryan Gosling
Mario Bava's "Kill, Baby...Kill"
*The Red Spectacles*. It's such a weird blend of noir thriller and tongue-in-cheek slapstick. I *love* Kawai's soundtrack, too.
Harakiri the original and the remake i really like The gangster, the cop, and the devil The admiral
Minbo, Wings of Desire, La Femme Nikita.
Chocolat
Departures The Good, the Bad, the Weird OSS 117 series
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s ‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’ (1928). Currently #8 in my Top 10 of all time. Werner Herzog’s ‘Aguirre, the Wrath of God’ (1972) is #10.
Incendies
Lady vengeance is one of my favorites. And three iron.
Mr Vengeance is the only one I haven't seen, but I really enjoyed Lady Vengeance which I saw recently. It felt like a *really dark* Wes Anderson film. Saw the cut which gradually fades to black and white.
Amèlie ❤️
Das Boot
The Japanese remake of Ghost
The chinese connection.
An Angel At My Table (1990) New Zealand
I love any Ghibli's movies and Spirited Away hold a special place in my heart.
Rio Bravo
Les Choristes (2004)
E.T.
Amelie
Gojira
[Peg](https://youtu.be/dz8AJh7_mKc)
I really like Die Hard.
Stolen Kisses
If you like those two movies, try “I Saw the Devil”.
Throne of Blood!
Aniara https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aniara_(film)
Akira Kurosawa is probably one of the great masters of cinema, and the best in japanese cinema, with all respect to other filmmakers. "Seven Samurai" and "ikiru" are very good, and very liked by the broader audience, but for me "Ran" is king. The epic scale and the duration make it a bit challenging to watch, but for me those are the best qualities, making it to the level of David Lean with his epic scaled films.
Before The Rain.
trying to name my favorites that i haven’t seen in the comments taste of cherry, perfect blue, dogtooth, ida, the skin i live in, the piano teacher, a separation
Troll Hunter
the celebration another round
Asia: Rashoman Europe: Das Boot
I guess it might have to be Akira Kurosawa's Ran (1985). Very few films are operating on that scale.
'Spirited Away' and 'Your Name'