What are some really great foreign movies?

[Deep Dish]

I love to watch independent films. I’ve been watching some really great European movies which have been blowing me away with such great direction, acting, and writing, that I recommend them very highly.

The Baader-Meinhof Complex (2008)
Nominated by the Oscars for Best Foreign Film. German movie about the Red Faction Army terrorist group in West Germany during the 60’s and 70’s. It looks and feels like Stephen Spielberg’s Munich but was directed by Uli Edel. There’s one scene in the movie Munich with a cameo appearance of the actor who plays Andreas Baader.

Room in Rome (2010)
Italian movie about a lesbian who picks up a straight girl. I didn’t really pay attention to the story, but the art direction was so beautiful. There’s so much nudity that it’d easily be rated NC-17 if it was released in America.

Perfect Sense (2011)
British sci-fi movie about an epidemic of people who lose their five senses. Awesome. Just awesome.

So, what are some really great foreign flicks?

 

[backbreaker]

I really like the last king of Scotland. It's based on the true story of Idi Amin.

 

[Scars]

The originals from the Girl With Dragon Tattoo are pretty good.

If you have Netflix they have a whole category dedicated to foreign movies. They can be pretty interesting, but subtitle captions annoy me.

-Scars

 

[SXS]

Asian movies I liked:

Stupeur et tremblements: Comedy of a very peculiar kind of humor.

Eletric Shadows: Drama, everyone cries at the end.

 

[Huffman]

ZORBA - The greek.

Though technically it might not be foreign after all

 

[azanon]

Favorites of mine:

In a Better World, Letters from Iwo Jima, Departures, Amelie, Crouching Tiger - Hidden Dragon.

 

[HeadLightsOn]

I am a foreign film fan big time (subtitles don't annoy me at all).

To me one of the all time classics - and an academy award winner - is

Cinema Paridiso

Beautifully portrayed in a small Italian village, it mixes the past of a small boy who is friends with an old man who is a projectionist in the small movie theatre.

The young boy grows up, goes to war, falls in live etc.

Brilliantly acted and shot, this movie is a real classic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Paradiso

 

[betheman]

The Lives of others: tense, gripping

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3_iLOp6IhM

this one is certainly worht a watch too,
Cafe De Flore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mZYl9srG0M

 

[sageproduct]

I'm not a seasoned film connoisseur yet, so flame me if this is an obvious classic everyone knows. But I saw Seven Samurai (1954) months ago and found it to be spectacular. Worth every bit of the four hours it takes to watch it.

 

[Huffman]

I'm not a seasoned film connoisseur yet, so flame me if this is an obvious classic everyone knows. But I saw Seven Samurai (1954) months ago and found it to be spectacular. Worth every bit of the four hours it takes to watch it.

I agree, this film is mind-boggling! I must get more films by Kurosawa.

 

[donking]

headhunters - norweigian comedy thriller

intouchables - french feel good movie

 

[HeadLightsOn]

The Lives of others: tense, gripping

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3_iLOp6IhM

Damn! That is my other all time fav. I was in East Berlin and got stopped by the Stasi years ago. They were nasty MFos thats for real. This film portrays what it was like living in that era, so very well. Great choice.

This is a must see. The lead actor had cancer while he filmed this, died after the filming ended, but managed to get to Hollywood to pick up an Oscar - amazing performance by him (Ulrich Mühe).

You can see a bit about him here if you're interested:

http://www.spiegel.de/international...s-of-others-star-dies-of-cancer-a-496414.html

 

[3countriesPlan]

old HK movies are good.. the Young and Dangerous series is corny sometimes but still a good watch.. and 人民公敵3 is good if you can find the English name for it (gangster movie comedy) hilarious

 

[Vantagepoint34]

Life is beautiful. Only if you are into that sort of thing.

 

[AAAgent]

Infernal Affairs (trilogy). It's what Scorsese based the departed off of. It's almost an exact replica of the Infernal Affairs is based in Asia and involves multiple countries.

Infernal affairs is basically a movie about 2 cops in HK that go undercover in the Triads/police force and have problems maintaining their sanity as they forget whether they're actually cops or gangsters. The main Antagonist joined the triads since he was a child and was trained to become a mole in the HK police force, tuition to school, clothes, everything paid for. He ends up losing his mind believing he can change all the bad things he's done and become an upright citizen. The main protagonist joins the triads right after he enlist's in academy and has been a gangster for over 10 years. He's made to do horrible things and loses himself at times as well.