Recommend your favorite FOREIGN movie

[fedoragirl]

...one of my recent favorites is "The Italian" even though it's a Russian film. A real tearjerker.
I am looking to add more foreign movies to my Netflix queue.

[chiisai]

The Celebration, I believe director Is Thomas Bo Larson. Not a happy one, but I loved it.

[Reyadawnbringer]

Wow, I have so many... It depends on the mood you are looking for, but for lightweight foreign films I LOVE Amelie.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

Train Man (Japanese)
Run Lola Run (German)
Eat Drink Man Woman (Chinese)
Bicycle Thief (Italian)
Cinema Paradiso (Italian)

[ThreeofUs]

My absolute favorite is Le Dîner de Cons - hilariously funny.

[wellyes]

I was going to recommend Run Lola Run too.

[NN317]

City of God (Cidade de Deus) - Brazilian
Very dark, violent, and sad but amazing nonetheless.

[amldaley]

Amelie (French, quirky, romantic)
The Wedding Banquet


And, while I don't consider UK films to be "foreign" (my family is in England), there are several I love:

Billy Elliot
Howards End
Enchanted April
Son of Rambo
Undertaking Betty
Shirley Valentine

[larig]

Bread and Tulips!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0237539/

this is an old one, but I loved "may fools" (Milou en Mai) when
i saw it in college almost 20 yrs ago.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097884/

Happenstance may be even better than Amelie to me (audrey tautou stars in this too).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243135/

I also like most things that Juliette Binoche has been in (the one about lovers on the bridge is hard to watch, for me, though). Damage is a good thriller (great cast in this film). The Horseman on the Roof is great, and said. Red White and Blue are three other films of hers that are very different and interesting.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000300/

I loved The Lover. There's a lot of explicit sex, but it is relevant to the story, so if that's not your thing...Anyway I loved the story and cried.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101316/

DH says Kolya (or Kolja) is good.
http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=kolya

And it's not foreign, but it's an indie film and no one has ever heard of it, so I feel it is my personal crusade to tell the world about it...Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (great cast--Robert Carlyle is adorable in this movie).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409034/

[MommyofAmaya]

I have a feeling this list is going to reveal something about me. What exactly I don't know ;) Give or take a few and it is my favorite films list.

I second the PP's rec of City of God.

Mexico:
Amores Perros
Y Tu Mama Tambien

Spain:
Intacto
Pan's Labryinth
Talk to Her
Volver
All about my Mother

India:
Water
Monsoon Wedding

France:
Irreversible

If UK/Australia count:
East is East
Shallow Grave
Heavenly Creatures
My Beautiful Laundrette
Human Traffic
Sexy Beast

Most of these are fun, though mildly disturbing. Irreversible is incredibly disturbing.

[TwinFoxes]

The Full Monty
Monsoon Wedding
Like Water for Chocolate
La Femme Nikita
Once

I'm sure there are more I'm not remembering!

[tiapam]

My Life as a Dog
Sempre Xonxa (probably hard to find, but very good)
Waterboys
Cilantro y perejil

[fedoragirl]

My absolute favorite is Le Dîner de Cons - hilariously funny.

I've seen that--it IS funny. It's being remade in English, I believe.
I also loved "Mostly Martha" in German.
I don't care for "Run Lola Run."

[dhano923]

I don't consider Bollywood movies as "foreign" since I'm Indian, but there are some nice ones.
Dil Chaata Hai
Gaddar
Border
3 Idiots
My Name is Khan
Iqbal

For non-Bollywood:
Tokyo Sonata - Japanese (just watched this last week)
Hula Girls - Japanese
Shall We Dance? - Japanese (they remade this with Jennifer Lopez a few years ago)
Stoning of Soraya M - Farsi/Persian
Children of Heaven - Farsi
Eat Drink Man Woman - Mandarin

[Nicsmom]

Children of Heaven (Iran). It is beautiful and makes you think a lot. I saw it before I had children and I want to see it now that I have because I am sure it will impact me in a different way.

City of God (Brazil), fantastic. Also Central Station (Brazil).

[ett]

Venus Beauty Institute (also with Audrey Tautou)

Au Revoir Les Enfants

[goldenpig]

Delicatessen (it's by the same folks who did Amelie, which is another favorite).

[gatorsmom]

My favorite foreign film is La Reine Margot in French starring Isabelle Adjani and Daniel Autieul. I'm a huge fan of Alexander Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books) and I really like how this film version stays rather true to the original book (which is pretty close to historically accurate).

I also LOVE Le hussard sur le toit (The Horseman on the Roof in English). So romantic. I'm a big fan of Juliette Binoche. Plus I think Olivier Martinez (from Unfaithful with Diane Lane) is heartstoppingly gorgeous.

Those are the 2 I can think of off the top of my head.

ETA: I was a big fan of Red, White and Blue when those movies came out. And the french version of La Femme Nikita is brilliantly acted, in my humble opinion. I hated the American made version.

[fattytuna]

One of my favorites: Teheran 43 ("http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081609/)

Saw it many many many years ago.

[mom_hanna]

Cinema Paradiso
Chungking Express
Kolya
Il ladro di bambini
Prisoner of the Mountains

[DrSally]

Amelie (French)

Nobody Knows (Japanese)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_(2004_film)
Oh Gosh, this makes me want to cry just reading about it.

Rabbit Proof Fence (Australian)

[gatorsmom]

Nobody Knows (Japanese)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_(2004_film)


Oh my God, I wish I hadn't read that.

[bluestarfish18]

80's Chinese film: "To Live (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110081/)"

Goes through the life of this man and his family, going through gambling loss, wars, child loss, and all the worst possible things that a family can go through. But still one of my all time favorite movies.

And even though it's a silent film, my all-time favorite foreign movie is by Fritz Lang, "Metropolis (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/)". The best version is the 80' redux with heavy metal music...odd, but it works.

[wellyes]

Nobody Knows (Japanese)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_(2004_film (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody_Knows_%282004_film))

Heh, when I saw this one I did a double-take, thinking I'd somehow popped into that "movies that scarred you for life" thread.


City of God (Cidade de Deus) - Brazilian
Very dark, violent, and sad but amazing nonetheless.

Oh man, that was a good movie. I remember people comparing it in style / intensity / quality to a Scorsese film. In retrospect its plot is similar to Slumdog Millionaire - two slum kids take opposite paths in life - but keeps track of both kids, not just the one in the fairy tale.

[lizzywednesday]

...
And even though it's a silent film, my all-time favorite foreign movie is by Fritz Lang, "Metropolis (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136/)". The best version is the 80' redux with heavy metal music...odd, but it works.

I <3 Metropolis. I heard they released a full version recently to DVD which included scenes that had been "lost" when Lang emigrated from Germany to the US.

Wasn't it Queen who did the soundtrack of the version you're thinking of?

But, back to OP's question, hands-down my favorite foreign film is Seven Samurai while The Seventh Seal runs a close second. To this day, I have a weakness for Akira Kurosawa.

[schrocat]

I third Eat Drink Man Woman (it's a Taiwanese film in Mandarin Chinese to be more precise). The food looks amazing.

- Children of Heaven (Iran)

- La Cite Des Enfants Perdue (France)

- Il Mare (Korea) - such a beautiful love story

[DrSally]

I really need to see City of God. I've heard such great things.

[jbowman]

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Wings of Desire
My Neighbor Totoro

[shawnandangel]

Two good ones are:

Pan's Labyrinth - Dark, dark, dark. I'll never watch it again but it was one of the best I've ever seen

Sophie Scholl - about the "white rose" a group that printed pamphlets during ww2 in Germany urging citizens to uprise against the war. It's pretty dark as well and doesn't have a happy ending but it was good.

[momof2girls]

French: Intimate Strangers

British: Shakespeare Retold

[Tracey]

The Lives of Others
Live and Become

[mom_hanna]

Thought of more:

Whale Rider
Burnt by the Sun

[vludmilla]

The Celebration, I believe director Is Thomas Bo Larson. Not a happy one, but I loved it.

OMG, I was going to recommend this too. I don't have favorites so I can't say it is a favorite but it is fantastic. It is a DOGMA film and I highly recommend other DOGMA films.

[vludmilla]

Not sure if this is really a foreign film...may be Canadian, but I really liked Smilla's Sense of Snow too but also not a favorite...wouldn't know how to pick one of those :)

[vludmilla]

Agh, I just keep thinking of movies...I didn't see Ingmar Bergman films listed and there are so many fantastic ones. I think you can pretty much blindly choose a Bergman movie and it will be worth seeing. I like some more than others but there are none that I have not enjoyed at least a little but most I love.

[vludmilla]

Ok, I must be going for most responses to one post. I keep hitting send to soon. How about Akiro Kurosawa movies (Japanese)?

[Karinyc]

Pan's Labyrinth (Spain/Mexico)
Il Postino (Italy)
Cinema Paradiso (Italy)
Run Lola Run (Germany)
Secrets & Lies (UK)
Europa, Europa (Germany/Poland/France)
Story of Women (France)
Sex & Lucia (Spain)
Lovers of the Arctic Circle (Spain/France)
Volver (Spain)
All About My Mother (Spain)
The Secret in Their Eyes (Argentina)
Trainspotting (UK)
A Room With A View (UK)
The Host (Korea)
Brotherhood of the Wolf (France/Germany/Italy)

[fauve01]

I'm going over my netflix history and these are what DH and i liked
Cinema Paradiso (probably our all-time foreign fav)
The Dinner Game -- Le dîner de cons (rented this recently--pretty hilarious)
Eat Drink Man Woman--Yin shi nan nu (i also liked the cheesy American remake)
Merry Christmas -- Joyeux Noel
the Perfect Crime --El Crimen Perfecto is pretty funny
Tsotsi

Waking Ned Devine (not sure if this counts as foreign ;))


not really foreign, but an "indie"--we both loved
The Visitor

editing to add: Dh is insisting I add

La Strada (the Fellini version)
Sexy Beast (he is constantly quoting Ben Kingsley to me)

[Sweetum]

Goodbye Lenin
Amelie
Run Lola Run
8 1/2
The bicycle thief

[Nicsmom]

Oh, I forgot to include "The Lives of Others". Fantastic.

[lizzywednesday]

Agh, I just keep thinking of movies...I didn't see Ingmar Bergman films listed and there are so many fantastic ones. I think you can pretty much blindly choose a Bergman movie and it will be worth seeing. I like some more than others but there are none that I have not enjoyed at least a little but most I love.


Ok, I must be going for most responses to one post. I keep hitting send to soon. How about Akiro Kurosawa movies (Japanese)?

I included both a Bergman & Kurosawa in my post!

The Seventh Seal is Bergman, and, oddly enough, I was inspired to see it after seeing Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey.

Also, one of my favorite musicals was inspired by Smiles of a Summer Night, though I haven't seen it.

Seven Samurai is probably my go-to Kurosawa film, though I also love the scenes he directed in Tora! Tora! Tora!

[Fairy]

Run Lola Run. I can watch this over and over and over again.
Life Is Beautiful but can never watch it again.
Pan's Labyrinth but can never watch it again.
Y Tu Mama Tambien was disturbing but fascinating in the final scene
Bride & Prejudice and very Bollywood.

[codex57]

A little surprised it wasn't mentioned yet, but the only one I can think of off the top of my head is a Korean rom com called My Sassy Girl. As Korean films are wont to do, there's a dramatic twist thrown in but it's good. They made a straight to dvd American remake that I heard was crap but it stars Elisha Cuthberg so I'll prolly check it out anyways.

[truly scrumptious]

I haven't read the other responses, but I wanted to mention The Lives of Others a German film (Das Leben der Anderen) which won the Oscar for Best Foreign film a few years ago. Absolutely stellar performances and a very haunting story.

[MelissaTC]

Another fan of Like Water for Chocolate and Pan's Labrinyth. I also really loved Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Cracked me up. I prefer Spainsh speaking films so I don't have to read the subtitles. :P

[DrSally]

How could I forget about Tsotsi, one of my all time fav movies, foreign or not.

[DrSally]

I've watched many Bergman & Kurosawa film when one of my good friends was a film major at NYU. At the time, I wasn't really watching closely, but would love to take the time to go back and watch them again...

[jhamman]

French:
Etre et Avoir (listed on netflix as: To Be and To Have)
Sunday in the Country
Cyrano de Bergerac (the 1990 Gerard Depardieu version)


Russian/Japanese:
Dersu Uzala

I think these are all still available on netflix.