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[Fudgepuppy]

I'm trying to catch up on movies again as I kind of fell into a slump, and I want to broaden my horizon again the way I did in high school, so I want to watch more international movies.

I'm thinking specifically movies in French, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean and Cantonese (my friend is a martial arts-buff, so he's got some he wants to show me).

I'm planning on going through some stuff with Argento, Fellini, Sorrentino, Almodovar, Noe and Jodorowsky, but any good suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[DarkCronos]

start here:

The Story of Film: An Odyssey is an incredible 15 hours long documentary about the history of movies, from the brothers lumiere to the digital age. It's split up in 15 episodes, so it's less intimidating but it's an outstanding, enriching experience. It may serve your purposes well because it focuses not only on hollywood cinema and european authors, but also on less known cinema, like movies from south america, africa, middle east and asia. It mentions thousands of movies and directors, you could use it to discover interesting movies to watch!

 

[Platy]

This will be a huge list, but let me start with this while I think better

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_..._with_previous_foreign-language_film_versions

 

[Laevateinn]

Akira Kurosawa's entire catalog.

 

[sugarman]

Mongol

 

[Goldfishking]

Im not normally someone who watches non-english films. but I will say that downfall is an amazing film.

 

[Osahi]

That's a very broad range offcourse. What are you interested in genrewise?

Pretty recent stuff like Amour, Das Weisse Band, un prophete, incendies, toni erdman, The handmaiden, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Son of Saul, Bullshead, ... are pretty good starting places.

 

[Enduin]

Memories of Murder (2003) is one of my favorite films ever. It is Korean, of which there are tons and tons of really fantastic films from thrillers to comedy to romance and action. They have a tremendously good film industry that has been producing high quality films for decades now.

Edit: And if you are going to watch Oldboy, watch all three films of the Vengeance Trilogy. First watch Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, then Oldboy, then Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. They are all amazing in their own way.

 

[daviyoung]

You may, at some point, come into contact with a film called Alphaville and in turn you may be enticed to watch it.

Don't, it's shit.

 

[Nielm]

Oldboy and A Bittersweet Life. They are both fantastic South-Korean revenge movies.

 

[arts&crafts]

Oldboy.

 

[Osahi]

Also, one of the best movies of the 2000s: In the Mood for Love (and all of wong kar wais work prior My Blueberry Nights)

 

[jamsy]

Oldboy
Ballad of a Soldier
Pan's Labyrinth
Let the Right one In
Lilja 4 Ever

Some of my favorites.

 

[Fudgepuppy]

Oldboy
Ballad of a Soldier
Pan's Labyrinth
Let the Right one In
Lilja 4 Ever

Some of my favorites.

Oldboy.

Oldboy and A Bittersweet Life. They are both fantastic South-Korean revenge tales.

Have seen the bolded, but the rest will be seen.

Keep up the work!

 

[Art Teitlebaum]

Werner Herzog + Klaus Kinski = Emotional Art
- Aguirre
- Nosferatu
- Woyczek
- Fitzcarraldo
- Cobra Verde

And then watch the doku 'My best fiend' about the production. Great stuff!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hG8dd5Vsnc

 

[Dr.Acula]

I'd say there are probably more essential non-English films than there are English films, really. But here's a selection of major art-house epics from strong directors that you can really sink your teeth into. They're all well known (although The Human Condition is something that only recently been rediscovered in the West as it was not really available for decades) probably owing in part to their length and breadth as "serious" works.

Apu Trilogy (Indian melodrama follows a boy through his adulthood from rural India to an urban city)

Three Colours Trilogy (K. Kieslowski, Poland's greatest film director creates a series centering around the symbols behind the three colours of France's flag)

Antoine Doinel adventures (a series of film's by critic and new wave architectect Francois Truffaut, loosely based on his life)

The Human Condition Trilogy (a Japanese pacifist tries to survive in war-time Japan without compromising his ideals or betraying his country)

Six Moral Tales (Eric Rohmer's series of films on moral quandries)

 

[Fudgepuppy]

That's a very broad range offcourse. What are you interested in genrewise?

Pretty recent stuff like Amour, Das Weisse Band, un prophete, incendies, toni erdman, The handmaiden, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Son of Saul, Bullshead, ... are pretty good starting places.

I have my preferences, but I've basically been watching almost nothing but movies that fit my genres for years, so I want to try other things. Anything of quality is worthy of watching.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

A Separation is in my opinion the best film of the last 10 years.

edit: in terms of essential in a more classic sense I'll add: Persona, Fanny and Alexander, and La Cage aux Folles

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

Korea: Bong Joon-Ho (Memories of Murder, The Host), Kim Ki-Duk (3-Iron)
France: Jacques Audiard (Read My Lips)
Russia: Tarkovski (Solaris)
Japan: Takashi Miike (Ichi the Killer)

I think you'd like those, especially Audiard's work, based on the filmmakers you listed in the OP.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

[img]https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ0MzQxODQ0MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNTQ0NzY4NDE@._V1_UY1200_CR90,0,630,1200_AL_.jpg[/img]
[img]https://filmwonk.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/a-separation-insert-3.jpg[/img]
[img]http://cdn-media.festival-cannes.com/film_poster/0001/06/thumb_5722_film_poster_big.jpeg[/img]

 

[Confrontation]

 

[arts&crafts]

I don't watch a lot of foreign films but A Prophet was really good.

 

[KainXVIII]

 

[TheOfficeMut]

I Saw The Devil

 

[Violence Jack]

I can recommend you some horror titles. I'm sure the original non-English language options are available on the disc for some of these.

Argento:
Tenebre
Suspiria
Deep Red
Cat O'Nine Tails
Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Sleepless
Demons

Bava
Blood and Black Lace
Black Sunday
Black Sabbath
Bay of Blood
Whip and the Body


Fulci:
Don't Torture A Duckling
Zombie

Other Titles:
Les Diaboliques
Spoorloos (The Vanishing)
Santa Sangre
Cronos
The Devil's Backbone
Frontier(s)
Rec
Rec 2
High Tension
Them
Let The Right One In
Inside
A Tale of Two Sisters
Audition
The Orphange
Pulse
Eyes Without A Face
Martyrs
Funny Games
Train To Busan

 

[Kalor]

Ive been meaning to watch more foreign movies myself but from what I've seen.

The Raid 1 and 2
Hard Boiled
Oldboy

 

[lightskintwin]

A 2014 German film titled "Phoenix". I watched it last year off a recommendation and it was great.

 

[RK9039]

Raid 1 and 2.

 

[lemmykoopa]

Le Fabuleux Destin De Amelie Poulain (France)

 

[Androidsleeps]

Start with new Korean cinema, these I think are pretty easy to get into (and accessible):

The Handmaiden
The Chaser
The Wailing
Memories of a Murder
Oldboy

 

[D4Danger]

I don't know about essential but here's some films I've enjoyed watching

The Skin I Live In (Spain)

A Prophet (France)

City of God (Brazil)

Headhunters (Norway)

You should also just Google the Oscars best foreign language category and see if any of the synopsises grab you.

 

[Fancy Clown]

Fancy Clown's foreign film starter pak™:

The Wages of Fear
Harakiri
High and Low (any thing from like 55-65 would be a good entry to Kurosawa tbh)
Ivan's Childhood
In the Mood for Love
La Dolce Vita
Wild Strawberries
M
Sansho the Bailiff
Rififi
The 400 Blows
The Handmaiden

 

[John Kowalski]

I would think Embrace of the Serpent is an essential movie.

As a general note i think watching foreign movies is much, MUCH more important than watching movies made where you live.

 

[Herr Schwarz]

Victoria is a good one

 

[platakul]

Run Lola Run

 

[Candeldandel]

Amelie. Nearly eveyone I know has seen it and loved it

 

[Withnail]

Rec
The Lives of Others

 

[disappeared]

Caché (2005)

Watch this film preferably alone and not before you plan on doing anything else that evening.

 

[Sephzilla]

 

[Platy]

You should also just Google the Oscars best foreign language category and see if any of the synopsises grab you.

Good idea, but remember that there are some countries that SUCK at choosing oscar movies. Brazil for example didn't sended City of God and last oscar didn't sended Aquarius, which won every critique award outside of it because the directors protested against the goverment =P

 

[sixteen-bit]

Chungking Express

 

[LincolnSixEcho]

Apocalypto
Grave of the Fireflies
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Life is Beautiful
Malena
Irreversible
Das Boot
Hero (Jet Li)

 

[RetroDLC]

Battle Royale.

 

[Kaban]

All fantastic films in different ways. Also, if you want to feel really depressed:

 

[timetokill]

La Jetee

 

[brawly]

And Oldboy.

 

[fluffydelusions]

Tons of great recommendations here. Also like to add the original swedish trilogy of

 

[Indelible]

Just watched The Handmaiden last night and it might be one of my favorite foreign films ever, just fantastic. I also recommend Audition if you enjoy slow burn Japanese films.

 

[Makonero]

City of God (Cidade de Deus)

 

[PantherLotus]

Glad to see lots of Oldboy mentions. I would throw in Ip Man.