Best Foreign Films

In Recent times, I had got good interest to search for good cinema which might be of any language. While I still have loads of such movies to watch, here is the small list of movies which I have watched recently and highly recommend for others to see. No matter which language it might be, It is always better to watch these movie with the original language with English subtitles instead of an English dubbed version. Since I am not a good reviewer of any of these movies, I have therefore given a brief info about the movie (no spoilers) with the link to IMDB to know further about these movies.

Best Foreign Films:

Life is beautiful (La vita è bella) - Italy - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118799/
What a movie, no words to express. Though the movie starts with a bit of humour tone / bit of stupid acts, you soon get a grip of the movie and start liking the lead character.  I immensenly enjoyed the movie and had a lump throat towards the end. A must watch movie for any movie lovers.

Cinema paradiso (Nuovo Cinema Paradiso) - Italy - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095765/
Simply Great. I didn't really thought I would enjoy this movie but it's so well directed and acted that you can't miss this one. The kid was wonderful in acting so was the elder character. Again a movie which probably can make one cry a bit. May be cheran's "Autograph" movie was inspired by this one, though the subject is totally different. 

Pans Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno) - Spanish - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/
How can I categorize this movie? Is it a fantasy movie or is it a serious stuff? Truly blend of two. In one layer, the fantasy stuff which would be liked by kids is in full flow and another layer there is a serious drama with war background. The nice blend of two is the success of this movie and I would highly recommend it.

Best of youth (La meglio gioventù ) - Italy - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0346336/ 
Beware, this is a 6 hours movie. How in the earth I had patience to watch it. Yes, I did and I truly have no complaints. It is worth the 6 hours. Of course I watched it in over 2 days, but it's one of the best family drama I have seen. Truly the characters are part of your life, by the time you come towards the end. Don't worry about the length, go for it. 

A very long engagemnt (Un long dimanche de fiançailles) - French - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344510/
A movie with suspense element. Good Acting by the lead actress and a possible tears movement for weak hearts towards the end for sure. Story revolves around with the War background and it had sorts of "Manadhil Urudhi Vendum" (Have faith in heart) kind of theme.

Lifes of others (Das Leben der Anderen) - German - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/
Truly astonishing. It had good suspense and the way it has been directed is top class. I wasn't truly guessing what it might turn out to be towards the end. Again as the other lists, possible tears towards the end :) I thoroughly enjoyed watching this and towards the climax, you really feel for the characters.

Seven samurai (Shichinin no samurai ) - Japan - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047478/
Time for some action. Action in a sense which appeals to all. I went for the movie as I wanted to watch Director Akira Kurosawa's movies since I have heard a lot about him. I have few more to watch from his collections, and seven samurai was first in the list. I was first hesitant to watch this movie because it is a black and white movie. I had my own doubts, if i would enjoy it. But I was wrong. It was thoroughly enjoyable and never a dull moment in this movie. Go for it. The dialogues from the lead character towards the end though very short is worth debatable to 100 pages :)

My eyes went to this movie after I read writer Balakumaran recommending this movie in one of his article. Truly it's worth watching and very well taken by Mel Gibson. There are some seat edge scenes in the movies which are worth watching on screen. Go for it.

Let the Right one in (Låt den rätte komma in) - Sweden - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139797/
This movie may not be appealing to all and it can be categorized as a Vampire movie. It has some freaky stuff scenes and it also had some good acting by the kids characters. For this movie alone I would recommend you to read the reviews before going for it as it might not appeal to all. However this movie was so popular that it is now again remade in English as "Let Me In" which was well received by the audience.

A beautiful mind - English - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268978/
Oh well, English language also have some wonderful movies to watch out for. I liked this movie even more after knowing that the movie is based on the real character. Good acting by Russel Crowe after Gladiator.  You can know about the real character whom the story is based on here.

Schindler's list - English - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/
I heard about this movie first during my school days from Kamal Hassan through one of his movies, where he humorously calls his wife Goutami for this movie for the simple reason that it has got Oscars and so there wouldn't be any audience in theaters which would help them to have good romance ;) . Okay coming back to this movie, again I was hesitant to watch it because it's Black and White movie and it's quite lengthy. But again I was wrong. This is one of the Gem of movies I have watched. Truly it has to be seen to understand the real pain of the lead characters. The news that this movie is again based on true characters, adds much more importance to this movie. I highly recommend this movie and it's very difficult to hold your tears towards the end for sure.

The Shawshank Redemption - English - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111161/
Hats Off to this movie. Simply Superb and excellent acting. I was so curious to watch this movie since it top's the IMDB list. While I don't want to debate if it's really the No.1, I would certainly say it's one of the Top movies to be produced. I highly enjoyed watching it and there is never a dull moment in this flick.  Its very saddening to know that the movie was not commercially success though it had won many awards & nominations.

I would certainly add few more going forward, for the moment, you can watch and enjoy these first class cine flicks.

4 comments:

A said...

Hey welcome back! And great list of moives. I have jus watched 4 of thm. Since you recommend them, I shall watch the rest too!

Humanitarian said...

I thought I could add some of the ones I thought were good.
Memento - for sheer screen play
Inception - for the concept of the movie
Cast away - for Tom Hanks
Pursuit of Happyness - for earnest perfomance
and the list goes on..I have seen SR, SL, ABF, LIB, are the ones I have seen from your list...will check the others out. .

AS said...

want to add one more in the list: The Curious case of Benjamin. although Brad Pitt is bit of a mismatch, but still worth watching.

S said...

Well, I thought Fudge 44 was a film that made you really think about how different cultures influence our own, even without us realising it and so is probably one of the less obvious but most powerful foreign films. I don't agree with what everyone said abou the ethics of the voiceover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jac2-XMGd1w