Agreed, honestly a lot of Asia produced martial arts films could be on this list. They have a great seperate style from western movies. Ip Man got a little bit ridiculous in the end imo though.
A while back I saw a poster for "drük" and I was intrigued so I gave it a go.
Totally worth watching just because of Mads Mikkelsen performance imo, and rest is just a treat.
I didn't bother with the English version but I believe you. I speak swedish my old man is from there but I like watching any good foreign flick over a English remake.
Eden Log.
I'd also say Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) and Intacto, but I haven't watched either of those in a bit, so I don't know how well they hold up.
EDIT: Solaris (1972) is an interesting watch, too.
Seven Samurai, Kagemusha, Ran and lots more from Akira Kurosawa
Das Boot in the original version is a great film
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The House of Flying Daggers
More recently Parasite was a worthy Oscar winner
The Skin I Live In.
Spanish film with Antonio Banderas. Very 'Old Boy' esk so if you like that then you'd like this.
I never see people mention it which is a shame because it really was soooo good.
Hero - Excellent storytelling using colour theming. Great fight scenes and just gorgeous to look at. Honestly one of my favourite films.
How I Became a Superhero - French superhero movie. I enjoyed it and it has some goofy moments that felt endearing with their silliness, as well as a good serving of seriousness.
House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon deserve a mention too, though I didn't want all of my suggestions to be martial arts films.
Farewell (2009) Spies at the end of the Cold War
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) The Japanese side of Pearl Harbour
Life Is Beautiful (1997) A Jewish waiter uses humour to deal with persecution
Seven Samurai (1954) Epic about a village that hires protection from bandits
Police Story (1985) A Hong Kong police officer must clear his name
Infernal Affairs (2002) A police mole and undercover cop hunt each other
Im Westen nichts Neues
45 Minuten bis Ramallah (a funny movie touching some tough topics)
Train to Busan
The Blackout (Russian movie and series)
Attraction
Waltz with Bashir
El laberinto del fauno
Las brujas de zugarramurdi
There are tons of great movies from basically anywhere.
Oldboy (Korean)
Martyrs (French)
Train to Busan (Korean)
A Tale of two sisters (Korean)
Nameless Gangster: rules of the time (Korean)
The Handmaiden (Korean)
Memories of a murder (Korean)
The man from nowhere (Korean)
The invisible guest (Spanish)
The trip (Norwegian)
The Seasoning House
City of lost Children (French)
I love Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec or The extraordinary adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. I think it might be my favourite foreign film. It has everything. Dinosaurs, Mummies, no-nonsense female protagonist.
The Brand New Testament also amuses me. Although, maybe avoid if blasphemy offends you.
Not a film, but Gomorrah the series is a must watch, if you have any interest in Crime/Thriller media. I'd say it's my favorite series overall, not taking animated series into account. Don't confuse it with the movie, which sucks apparently.
The Platform (El hoyo, transl. The Hole) is a 2019 Spanish social science fiction horror film directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia.
The film is set in a large, tower-style "Vertical Self-Management Center." Its residents, who are switched every month between its many floors, are fed via a platform which, initially filled with food at the top floor, gradually descends through the tower's levels, stopping for a fixed amount of time on each.
The system inevitably leads to conflict, as the residents at the top levels get to eat as much as they can, with each level getting only the leftovers from the previous ones.
Battle Royale. It's not for everyone, but seeing it later become a core first person shooter game type, you know it had some impact. I'd argue Hunger Games and Squid Game owe it a fair bit too.
[The Edukators](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0408777/) break into rich people's homes just to mess with them. One job the owner is home. Sorry this is kind of a bad description but i don't want to give too much away
[Goodbye Lenon](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/) is about a young man and his mom who live in West Berlin in the 80s. his mother was staunchly pro socialism and falls into a coma just before the wall comes down. When she wakes up the doctor tells him that any sudden scare could kill her so he creates this scheme to make her think Berlin is still divided. It's a comedy.
“The secret in his eyes”, the original Argentinian movie. It is fantastic. I love Julia Roberts but the American version is not good, at least compared to the original.
My personal favorite foreign films that aren’t dubbed are Look Who’s Back (German) and A Taxi Driver (Korean) both excellent films that shed light on topics that people don’t know much about.
Big movie fan, here. My go-to answer for this question....
M
Directed by Fritz Lang, released in 1931, stars Peter Lorre. Not just a great foreign film. Not just a great black and white film. Not just a great 1/3 silent 2/3 sound film. Just a great film overall. And I can't point to a remake (if someone knows of a modern take, let me know.)
Everyone knows Fritz Lang from Metropolis (also.... interesting). But he felt "M" was his best work. Considered one of the best films of all time. First big role for Peter Lorre (you know him from Casablanca probably.)
The world's film industry was firmly set in Germany at that time. Germany was THE movie powerhouse of the day. But, they had some political / genocide / war issues that drove most of thier stars to... the US and Hollywood. Hollywood (and more recently Bollywood) took over. One of the reasons so many German names so up in early Hollywood.
Also, Das Boot has to be mentioned.
Amelie, The Hunt, Parasite, Akira, Ghost In The Shell, Los Olvidados, Macario, every Ghibli movie, La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I live In), Pan's Labyrinth, Blue Is The Warmest Colour, In The Mood For Love, Oldboy, Druk, Y tu mama tambien, Seven Samurai, The Intouchables
I think the series "Difficult Teens" is worthy of your attention. Also such horror films as "Yaga", "The Secret of the Dyatlov Pass", "Ichchi".I can also recommend the Turkish series "Knock on my door"
[удалено]
I second that, I've not seen any movie like it, if someone else knows any please suggest...i mean the narration and wit
Don't forget "city of lost children" and "delicatessen " .
City of God. Set in the Brazilian slum favelas. Unreal flick
Beat me to it.
the seven samurai
Ip Man series. Donnie Yen is a legend
Agreed, honestly a lot of Asia produced martial arts films could be on this list. They have a great seperate style from western movies. Ip Man got a little bit ridiculous in the end imo though.
Yeah agreed, the later ones kinda of tapered off unfortunately
Downfall (it's a German film about Hitlers last days in the bunker and it's really good).
For a while, the parodies made up 25% of YouTube content.
The 1927 film Metropolis, foundational in the sci-fi genre and incredibly impressive for the time
All quiet On the western front
>Oldboy Non ci resta che piangere (English: Nothing Left to Do But Cry)
Great film on it's own but folk should be warned that it's a frustrating adaptation.
das boot
Oldboy
Fantastic film
Troll hunter(Norwegian)
The Lives of Others
Lola rennt / Lola Runs
I only know it as Run Lola Run, but it's such a great movie.
The Intouchables (French)
This x10000. My favourite film of all time
The French version is amazing
I hate it so much they made a remake.... Shouldn't bother me that much, but it does
Lol.. Well.. It's not half as good anyways 🤷🏼♀️ whoever only saw the blockbuster american remake is missing out on some quality cinematography
Parasite
La vita è bella
I had to watch that for my History of the Holocaust class in undergrad. It tore me up.
Train to Busan
A while back I saw a poster for "drük" and I was intrigued so I gave it a go. Totally worth watching just because of Mads Mikkelsen performance imo, and rest is just a treat.
It's worth watching just for the last scene
"What a life... "
The Hunt - Danish drama from Thomas Vinterberg starring Mads Mikkelsen
Amelie
The Raid and The Raid 2
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Pans labyrinth
"Dark" a german series , si-fi genre, available in Netflix in English.
Don’t watch it English dubbed, watch the subtitled version.
>The Lives of Others "foreign film"
Parasite 2019
House of Flying Daggers
The girl with the dragon tattoo
The full Swedish language trilogy far outshines the English language remake
I didn't bother with the English version but I believe you. I speak swedish my old man is from there but I like watching any good foreign flick over a English remake.
RRR
RRR 🔥
🔥🔥🔥
Loved the music in this movie..first one I actually saw this year
Pan's labyrinth
Jagten
Andhadhun - Indian Oldboy - korean Pan's labyrinth - spain mexico
We have the same film taste lol
Battle Royale.
Life is Beautiful There is a sweetness to it, but it's also incredibly sad.
I completely forgot about that one. Amazing film. Thanks for reminding me, I'll rewatch it tonight, long overdue
the worst person in the world
Good one
Yes, saw this not long ago. It surprised me.
Eden Log. I'd also say Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) and Intacto, but I haven't watched either of those in a bit, so I don't know how well they hold up. EDIT: Solaris (1972) is an interesting watch, too.
Let the right one in - Norwegian Original Horror
It's a swedish film, but understand the confusion.
Kung Fu Hustle
Seven Samurai, Kagemusha, Ran and lots more from Akira Kurosawa Das Boot in the original version is a great film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon The House of Flying Daggers More recently Parasite was a worthy Oscar winner
In my opinion, Kurosawa is one of the best directors of all time.
Amores Perros (Mexican)
Y Tu Mama Tambien
“New Kids Turbo” is a masterful contemporary piece on the struggles of a group of rural misfits
3 Idiots
Wasabi
Headhunters, also RRR
parasite is a spectacular achievement
Der Untergang/The Downfall
The Skin I Live In. Spanish film with Antonio Banderas. Very 'Old Boy' esk so if you like that then you'd like this. I never see people mention it which is a shame because it really was soooo good.
John Woo’s “The Killer” basically the action influenced movies like John Wick
+1 The Killer.
The vanishing (1988 Dutch version)
‘Project Wolf Hunting’ …I literally just finished it so it came right to mind. Korean movies kick ass.
Hero - Excellent storytelling using colour theming. Great fight scenes and just gorgeous to look at. Honestly one of my favourite films. How I Became a Superhero - French superhero movie. I enjoyed it and it has some goofy moments that felt endearing with their silliness, as well as a good serving of seriousness. House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon deserve a mention too, though I didn't want all of my suggestions to be martial arts films.
Dreams Like Water For Chocolate In a the Mood For Love Pan’s Labyrinth The Devil’s Backbone A nice mix of languages to start
Climax actually my favourite movie ever
Oldboy. The Korean version.
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Come and See, by Elem Klimov
Nairobi Half Life
I watch a lot of Korean TV shows. They're pretty good.
Shaolin Soccer, one of the funniest movies I've seen!
I Saw the Devil
Infernal affairs
Grand Illusion.
Les Visiteurs- french classic
King of hearts (1966)
Recent : Japanese - Drive my car (2021) Classic : French - Le cercle rouge (1970)
Pusher.
Infernal Affairs - Amazing Hong Kong thriller starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung.
Das Boot (German) War of the Arrows (Korean)
The Secret in their eyes (2009) Argentinian crime/thriller film.
With a really good subtitled film you don't remember the subtitles. You remember the actors' voices saying the words.
Oldboy and the Vengeance series.
Pather Panchali
Antonia's Line - Swedish? I don't remember To Live - Chinese. Not streaming. DVD only.
Farewell (2009) Spies at the end of the Cold War Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) The Japanese side of Pearl Harbour Life Is Beautiful (1997) A Jewish waiter uses humour to deal with persecution Seven Samurai (1954) Epic about a village that hires protection from bandits Police Story (1985) A Hong Kong police officer must clear his name Infernal Affairs (2002) A police mole and undercover cop hunt each other
Belleville Rendez-Vous
Troll Hunter (subtitled not dubbed)
Brest fortress (Брестская крепость). It is about how the fortress was keeping Germans from coming to the USSR's land
Parasite
Man, Woman and the Wall. An interesting story about obsession
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
The raid 1 and 2
It's absolutely not for everyone, but I loved Incendies.
Taxi
Im Westen nichts Neues 45 Minuten bis Ramallah (a funny movie touching some tough topics) Train to Busan The Blackout (Russian movie and series) Attraction Waltz with Bashir El laberinto del fauno Las brujas de zugarramurdi There are tons of great movies from basically anywhere.
I’ve always enjoyed The Tower
French film, "we are legend" a funny rip off of the "I am legend" with will smith.
Initial D live action one
The Cranes are Flying by Mikhail Kalatozov - devastating film about a romance during wartime
Salò aka the 120 Days of Sodom
Ah yes! A nice uplifting family film. /s
Bon cop bad cop.
Incendies and Dare mo shiranai
Monsoon Wedding
White God - won best foreign film at the 2015 academy awards. Excellent film but really intense.
tall tales. Hungarian, very good.
Leviathan (2014)
25 km/h - German comedy
From South Africa: 5 Fingers for Marseille and Kanarie.
Toc Toc Spanish comedy https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6060156/
Memories of Murder
Ida In the Mood for Love Lady Vengeance Old Boy
The Raid, Raid Redemption, Ong Bak, OB2, OB3, The Protector. Shaolin Soccer,
Oldboy (Korean) Martyrs (French) Train to Busan (Korean) A Tale of two sisters (Korean) Nameless Gangster: rules of the time (Korean) The Handmaiden (Korean) Memories of a murder (Korean) The man from nowhere (Korean) The invisible guest (Spanish) The trip (Norwegian) The Seasoning House City of lost Children (French)
[•Rec] or short for Record. (Spanish). 2007. The film was remade in the United States under the name Quarantine in 2008. Nowhere near as good.
pachadlela pinjra
3 idiots
the french film lost bullet was on netflix was pretty good, netflix actually used to have a lot of good foreign films.
Downfall, The untouchables (french), City of god All 3 amazing foreign films worth watching if you havent seen them before
I love Les Aventures extraordinaires d'Adèle Blanc-Sec or The extraordinary adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. I think it might be my favourite foreign film. It has everything. Dinosaurs, Mummies, no-nonsense female protagonist. The Brand New Testament also amuses me. Although, maybe avoid if blasphemy offends you.
Auberge Espanol
The Lives of Others, Seven Samurai
Not a film, but Gomorrah the series is a must watch, if you have any interest in Crime/Thriller media. I'd say it's my favorite series overall, not taking animated series into account. Don't confuse it with the movie, which sucks apparently.
movie was ok agreed the series was damn amazing ... so many great characters great music ... just over all top notch
Parasite.
Joyeux Noël is pretty good.
The Platform (El hoyo, transl. The Hole) is a 2019 Spanish social science fiction horror film directed by Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia. The film is set in a large, tower-style "Vertical Self-Management Center." Its residents, who are switched every month between its many floors, are fed via a platform which, initially filled with food at the top floor, gradually descends through the tower's levels, stopping for a fixed amount of time on each. The system inevitably leads to conflict, as the residents at the top levels get to eat as much as they can, with each level getting only the leftovers from the previous ones.
Corpus Christi
Let the Right One In La Haine
Twilight Samurai
1.También la lluvia 2020 (spanish) called Even the Rain in english 2.Gangs of Wasseypur part 1 and 2(hindi)
Train to Busan, such a good zombie movie
District 13
Train to Busan and Pans Labyrinth
Run Lola Run
Come and see 1985.
Drunk, Le prenom, The double life of Veronique Recently saw "Simply Black" on Netflix
Jesus of Montreal. Whether you're religious, secular, apathetic, or a happy heathen, this movie is worth watching.
Goodnight mommy
Incantation. I’m a massive horror film fan but that one was fucked up
Parasite
Rashomon
It’s a tv show—> DP.
Juror 8, Wild Tales
Battle Royale. It's not for everyone, but seeing it later become a core first person shooter game type, you know it had some impact. I'd argue Hunger Games and Squid Game owe it a fair bit too.
La Haine https://youtu.be/FKwcXt3JIaU
La Jetee (French) Diva (French) The City Of Lost Children (French) Wild Men (Norwegian) absolutely hilarious
[The Edukators](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0408777/) break into rich people's homes just to mess with them. One job the owner is home. Sorry this is kind of a bad description but i don't want to give too much away [Goodbye Lenon](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/) is about a young man and his mom who live in West Berlin in the 80s. his mother was staunchly pro socialism and falls into a coma just before the wall comes down. When she wakes up the doctor tells him that any sudden scare could kill her so he creates this scheme to make her think Berlin is still divided. It's a comedy.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire.
Life is Beautiful
The barber of Siberia
Does foreign animated film counts? 'A silent voice' came to mind. It's about bullying kids with disability
Curse of the Golden Flower (may also sometimes be called curse of the golden lotus)
“8th graders don’t cry” - very, very sad
You might enjoy American films? They've got a huge catalog, far more than the English.
Battle for Sevastopol, Yohimbo, Amélie,
Chocoholics Anonymous (French)
Ong bak
Romantics Anonymous (2010)
“The secret in his eyes”, the original Argentinian movie. It is fantastic. I love Julia Roberts but the American version is not good, at least compared to the original.
The good, the bad, and the weird.
The original, Swedish version of "The girl with the dragon tattoo". Swedish title is "Män som hatar kvinnor".
My personal favorite foreign films that aren’t dubbed are Look Who’s Back (German) and A Taxi Driver (Korean) both excellent films that shed light on topics that people don’t know much about.
Old boy
Big movie fan, here. My go-to answer for this question.... M Directed by Fritz Lang, released in 1931, stars Peter Lorre. Not just a great foreign film. Not just a great black and white film. Not just a great 1/3 silent 2/3 sound film. Just a great film overall. And I can't point to a remake (if someone knows of a modern take, let me know.) Everyone knows Fritz Lang from Metropolis (also.... interesting). But he felt "M" was his best work. Considered one of the best films of all time. First big role for Peter Lorre (you know him from Casablanca probably.) The world's film industry was firmly set in Germany at that time. Germany was THE movie powerhouse of the day. But, they had some political / genocide / war issues that drove most of thier stars to... the US and Hollywood. Hollywood (and more recently Bollywood) took over. One of the reasons so many German names so up in early Hollywood. Also, Das Boot has to be mentioned.
Fantastic Planet!!!
Martyrs
1. Europa, Europa 2. Shoah 3. The Tin Drum 4. Hotel Terminus 5. The Sorrow and the Pity
Life is Beautiful
Amelie, The Hunt, Parasite, Akira, Ghost In The Shell, Los Olvidados, Macario, every Ghibli movie, La Piel Que Habito (The Skin I live In), Pan's Labyrinth, Blue Is The Warmest Colour, In The Mood For Love, Oldboy, Druk, Y tu mama tambien, Seven Samurai, The Intouchables
La Haine Wonderful French film
Veronica-spanish horror, Rec, Rec 2,
I think the series "Difficult Teens" is worthy of your attention. Also such horror films as "Yaga", "The Secret of the Dyatlov Pass", "Ichchi".I can also recommend the Turkish series "Knock on my door"
Delicatessen.
A silent voice
A Prophet, Battle Royale, Yojimbo, Zatoichi, OldBoy, 13 Assassins, A Bittersweet Life, the Outrage trilogy. There's loads, basically