Unmissable films in a foreign language
by sgbreton77 | created - 29 Nov 2015 | updated - 1 month ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. In a Better World (2010)
R | 118 min | Drama, Romance
The lives of two Danish families cross each other, and an extraordinary but risky friendship comes into bud. But loneliness, frailty and sorrow lie in wait.
Director: Susanne Bier | Stars: Mikael Persbrandt, Trine Dyrholm, Markus Rygaard, Wil Johnson
Votes: 41,672 | Gross: $1.01M
2. City of God (2002)
R | 130 min | Crime, Drama
In the slums of Rio, two kids' paths diverge as one struggles to become a photographer and the other a kingpin.
Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund | Stars: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Matheus Nachtergaele, Phellipe Haagensen
Votes: 800,635 | Gross: $7.56M
3. City of Life and Death (2009)
R | 133 min | Drama, History, War
In 1937, Japan occupied Nanjing, the Chinese capital. There was a battle and subsequent atrocities against the inhabitants, especially those who took refuge in the International Security Zone.
Director: Chuan Lu | Stars: Ye Liu, Wei Fan, Hideo Nakaizumi, Yuanyuan Gao
Votes: 11,709 | Gross: $0.12M
4. The Yellow Sea (2010)
R | 136 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When the attempt to kill a professor goes wrong, a series of violent events are triggered which force a taxi driver to run for his life.
Director: Na Hong-jin | Stars: Lee Yoo-mi, Ha Jung-woo, Lee Hee-joon, Kim Yoon-seok
Votes: 22,951
5. My Father and My Son (2005)
Not Rated | 112 min | Drama, Family
The family of a left-wing journalist is torn apart after the military coup of Turkey in 1980.
Director: Çagan Irmak | Stars: Çetin Tekindor, Fikret Kuskan, Hümeyra, Ege Tanman
Votes: 92,584
6. Memories of Murder (2003)
Not Rated | 132 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Kim Roe-ha, Song Jae-ho
Votes: 216,152 | Gross: $0.01M
7. The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.
Director: Juan José Campanella | Stars: Ricardo Darín, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago, Carla Quevedo
Votes: 222,297 | Gross: $6.39M
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
R | 152 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A journalist is aided by a young female hacker in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years.
Director: Niels Arden Oplev | Stars: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Ewa Fröling, Lena Endre
Votes: 223,309 | Gross: $10.10M
9. Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within (2010)
Not Rated | 115 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After a prison riot, former-Captain Nascimento, now a high ranking security officer in Rio de Janeiro, is swept into a bloody political dispute that involves government officials and paramilitary groups.
Director: José Padilha | Stars: Wagner Moura, Irandhir Santos, André Ramiro, Milhem Cortaz
Votes: 86,736 | Gross: $0.10M
10. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 410,327 | Gross: $11.29M
11. Wild Tales (2014)
R | 122 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Six short stories that explore the extremities of human behavior involving people in distress.
Director: Damián Szifron | Stars: Darío Grandinetti, María Marull, Mónica Villa, Diego Starosta
Votes: 216,150 | Gross: $3.11M
12. Retribution (2015)
Not Rated | 102 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A banker and his kids are held hostage in their own speeding car by a bomb-making extortionist.
Director: Dani de la Torre | Stars: Luis Tosar, Javier Gutiérrez, Elvira Mínguez, Fernando Cayo
Votes: 11,092
13. Departures (2008)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama
Soon after buying an expensive cello, Daigo learns that his orchestra is disbanding. He moves back to his hometown with his wife, where he answers an ad for what Daigo thinks is a travel agency but is, in actuality, a mortuary.
Director: Yôjirô Takita | Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Ryôko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki
Votes: 54,960 | Gross: $1.50M
14. The Lunchbox (2013)
PG | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A mistaken delivery in Mumbai's famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to an older man in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox.
Director: Ritesh Batra | Stars: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Lillete Dubey
Votes: 60,836 | Gross: $4.23M
15. Amélie (2001)
R | 122 min | Comedy, Romance
Despite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta
Votes: 793,968 | Gross: $33.23M
16. Hero (2002)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A defense officer, Nameless, was summoned by the King of Qin regarding his success of terminating three warriors.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Jet Li, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang
Votes: 187,604 | Gross: $53.71M
17. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young Chinese warrior steals a sword from a famed swordsman and then escapes into a world of romantic adventure with a mysterious man in the frontier of the nation.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, Chang Chen
Votes: 281,556 | Gross: $128.08M
18. Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
R | 118 min | Drama, Fantasy, War
In the Falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú
Votes: 702,761 | Gross: $37.63M
19. Nobody from Nowhere (2014)
G | 118 min | Drama, Thriller
Sébastien Nicolas, realtor, leads a dull existence and gets used to disguising himself to take on the appearance of the characters he meets.
Director: Matthieu Delaporte | Stars: Mathieu Kassovitz, Marie-Josée Croze, Éric Caravaca, Diego Le Martret
Votes: 2,034
20. Suburra (2015)
130 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A gangster known as "Samurai" wants to turn the waterfront of Rome into a new Las Vegas. All the local mob bosses have agreed to work for this common goal. But peace is not to last long.
Director: Stefano Sollima | Stars: Pierfrancesco Favino, Elio Germano, Claudio Amendola, Alessandro Borghi
Votes: 21,822
21. 13 Assassins (2010)
R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A group of assassins come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord.
Director: Takashi Miike | Stars: Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yûsuke Iseya, Ikki Sawamura
Votes: 68,581 | Gross: $0.80M
22. Train to Busan (2016)
Not Rated | 118 min | Action, Horror, Thriller
While a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.
Director: Yeon Sang-ho | Stars: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an
Votes: 258,407 | Gross: $2.13M
23. The Innocents (2016)
PG-13 | 115 min | Drama, History
1945. Mathilde is a French Red Cross doctor working on a mission to help the French survivors of the German camps. While she works in Poland, she is asked for help by a nun. In her convent, several nuns are pregnant.
Director: Anne Fontaine | Stars: Lou de Laâge, Agata Buzek, Agata Kulesza, Vincent Macaigne
Votes: 11,602 | Gross: $1.06M
24. Capernaum (2018)
R | 126 min | Drama
While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.
Director: Nadine Labaki | Stars: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawsar Al Haddad
Votes: 105,304 | Gross: $1.66M
25. The Invisible Guest (2016)
TV-MA | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A successful entrepreneur accused of murder and a witness preparation expert have less than three hours to come up with an impregnable defense.
Director: Oriol Paulo | Stars: Mario Casas, Ana Wagener, Jose Coronado, Bárbara Lennie
Votes: 192,457
26. Society of the Snow (2023)
R | 144 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The flight of a rugby team crashes on a glacier in the Andes. The few passengers who survive the crash find themselves in one of the world's toughest environments to survive.
Director: J.A. Bayona | Stars: Enzo Vogrincic, Agustín Pardella, Matías Recalt, Esteban Bigliardi
Votes: 130,745
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