Foreign Films and Non-English Movies

[Athena]

What are your favourite foreign films or non-English speaking films? For the purposes of this topic, we can discuss any film that were not produced or had a wide release in the USA. This means British films which do not make it across the pond can be included. The older and more obscure the better! I think movie making style does vary considerably by country and region so we can compare it with mainstream, Hollywood movies. 

[Ankai]

I mentioned this yesterday, but my absolute favorite film is Memories of Matsuko. I have written about it extensively here but, long story short, it is about the life of a woman whose search for love leads to misery and abuse. And it is a cheery musical. Yeah, I realize that that sounds somewhat insensitive and...maybe it is, but I think that the style actually works both to prevent emotional fatigue from setting in (which I found to be very important by the time the end rolled around) and in saying that even people whom society has written off as useless deserve a grand narrative.

[grawlix]

A couple of my old favorites:  Tampopo (Japan), Shall We Dance (Japan), Amelie (France).

[harrie]

I thought A Separation was for pretentious yutzes.  Then I watched it.  The flick is thought-provoking in that you can debate who was wrong or right and for what reason(s) forever; there are many layers and nuances in this film, in addition to a glimpse into a culture very different from my own.  

[Ankai]

I remember enjoying A Separation, though moreso for the things that it avoided than for what it was. I love Tampopo, and it is one of the first films that I remember seeing. I quite liked Amelie, though not quite as much as my cousin from Paris did. She saw it four times in the cinema.

[Rick Kitchen]

I love Like Water for Chocolate, but then, I'm a sucker for magic realism.

There's also Europa, Europa, about a Jewish boy trying to pass as a German in Nazi Germany.

 

Has anybody seen Salo?  Ick!

[harrie]

I remember enjoying A Separation, though moreso for the things that it avoided than for what it was.

 

 

Okay, I'll bite.  What was it and what did it avoid?  

 

 

I love Like Water for Chocolate, but then, I'm a sucker for magic realism.

 

Yes, a big cosign for Like Water for Chocolate.  It's funny, I forget it has subtitles.  In the same camp -- that is, being so into the flick I forget that I read it instead of hearing it - I love Cinema Paradiso.  it just makes me laugh, cry and everything. 

Edited October 12, 2014 by harrie

[Sharpie66]

I saw Paris Je T'aime in the theater (double feature with Once--excellent day at the movies!), and really liked it. It's a film about love in that city, love of all sorts, from romantic to maternal to love of the city itself, done in short vignettes directed by different people with no connection between the stories. Some of the stories are in French, some English, one (IIRC) in an African language, and one in Spanish.

[Ankai]

Okay, I'll bite.  What was it and what did it avoid?  

 

It has been a while since I have seen it, but it is about a couple and their daughter. The wife wants to leave the country and take the daughter with her, but the husband refuses and the courts deny a divorce. The wife moves in with her parents and the husband hires a lower-class woman (who had not consulted her own husband about this) to care for his father, who has Alzheimer's. What happens during the rest of the movie is a series of mishaps and misunderstandings that could have been played up for maximum tearjerking effect. I appreciated that the movie kept it emotionally grounded, not forcing the viewers to feel a certain way. Even the ending, which I understand frustrated a few people, seemed right to me. I also appreciated that it was quite subtle in portraying how things were in terms of class and gender in urban Iran. Perhaps this was a political necessity so that the filmmakers would not end up in jail, but  I still liked how the movie handled it. 

[wlk68]

A couple of my old favorites:  Tampopo (Japan), Shall We Dance (Japan), Amelie (France).

I love Amelie and one of Audrey Tautou's other movies: Coco Before Chanel (France). Another favorite of mine is Eat Drink Man Woman (Taiwan).

[harrie]

.... I appreciated that the movie kept it emotionally grounded, not forcing the viewers to feel a certain way. Even the ending, which I understand frustrated a few people, seemed right to me. I also appreciated that it was quite subtle in portraying how things were in terms of class and gender in urban Iran. Perhaps this was a political necessity so that the filmmakers would not end up in jail, but  I still liked how the movie handled it. 

 

Okay, got it.  I liked A Separation for the same reason(s) -- nobody is completely right or completely wrong, or completely good or completely evil, etc.  Well balanced and, as you note, well grounded.   On first reading of your post, I thought "Wait, did I miss something?"  

[Chrissytd]

Amelie, Sunny (Korea), Confessions (Japan)

[harrie]

I watched The Lunchbox, in which an unhappy Indian wife's lunches, via the Mumbai lunch delivery system, reach someone not her husband; and a note-based relationship ensues.  The happy recipient and the unhappy wife temporarily escape their circumstances through their notes to each other, but the real world intruding. The wife's father is dying of cancer and she believes her husband is straying (which he may well be), and the lunch recipient is dealing with both the death of his wife (possibly via suicide?) and the loss of his job, while he trains his replacement.  Much of the flick is spent observing the exchange of each other's notes and the notes' effects on the recipients.  In the end, the older guy, reminded of his age (like people constantly offering him their seat on the train), moves somewhere to retire; and the unhappy wife packs up herself and her daughter and leaves her husband.  One resolution (that of the older, accountant guy) is pragmatic, and the other (the unhappy wife) is not so much; it's basically two different solutions to the same issue, loneliness.  With any luck, the unhappy wife and the retired accountant will run into each other, but I wouldn't count on it.  Still, a pretty interesting and somewhat introspective flick.

[Ankai]

I really want to watch The Lunchbox, I have never gotten around to it.

Amelie, Sunny (Korea), Confessions (Japan)

If I understand correctly, there are actually two Korean movies called Sunny, but I would be interested in seeing both of them. And Confessions is great. The director also directed Memories of Matsuko, my favorite movie.

[Chrissytd]

I really want to watch The Lunchbox, I have never gotten around to it.

If I understand correctly, there are actually two Korean movies called Sunny, but I would be interested in seeing both of them. And Confessions is great. The director also directed Memories of Matsuko, my favorite movie.

I didn't realize there were 2 movies titled Sunny. The one I'm referencing is the 2011 one.

[MrsRafaelBarba]

Really liked Dutch thriller Spoorloos, aka Vanishing.

Still can't believe the same director was involved with the awful remake.

That starred Kiefer Sutherland, Jeff Bridges and a then unknown Sandra Bullock.

[RadiantAerynSun]

I enjoyed Snowpiercer recently on Netflix. In English but a South Korean director and wasn't released widely in the US, I don't think.

 

Also really liked Oldboy, the original Korean version.

[Shades of Red]

Some of my favourite foreign and French language films include :  "J'ai tué ma mère", 'C.R.A.Z.Y.", "The Intouchables", "Death at a Funeral" - the British version obviously and "Love is all You Need".

 

"The Intouchables" is hilarious, crude, a little shocking at times, tear worthy in others and is based on a real person.  I was laughing within the first two minutes of the movie and it just got better from there.

[Ankai]

I just watched The Lunchbox. What a wonderful film...and quite different from most of the Hindi-language Indian films that were not single-issue films.

I enjoyed Snowpiercer recently on Netflix. In English but a South Korean director and wasn't released widely in the US, I don't think.

 

Also really liked Oldboy, the original Korean version.

I really liked Snowpiercer, though I do kind of see why people thought that it would not do well with a wide release in the US, as a lot of it is allegorical. I doubt that cutting it up would have done well.

 

I actually did not like Oldboy all that much. I found it overly-stylized and alienatingly shaky. Of the Vengeance Trilogy, it is my least favorite by far. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is my favorite, though its poor performance probably convinced Park Chan-Wook to move far away from the spare and meditative style, which resulted in Oldboy. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance was a nice synthesis of the two styles, still operatic and fantastical like Oldboy, but with a little more restraint that allowed me to look at these characters as being actual humans. But, everyone talks about Oldboy this and Oldboy that and they have absolutely no idea about the other two movies.

[Athena]

I saw The Lunchbox yesterday, and I really enjoyed how well shot it was. It was such a quiet, subtle, and poignant film about connection. My friend and I had a feeling the ending would not be a clear cut happy ending, but she was really annoyed with the ending. I was more prepared, but it does make you wonder. A good experience though.

[RadiantAerynSun]

 

But, everyone talks about Oldboy this and Oldboy that and they have absolutely no idea about the other two movies.

 

Well I sure didn't ;) LOL Probably because Oldboy is on Netflix streaming, and I don't think the other 2 are. If they are, they are not offered up as suggestions by my Roku Netflix app!

[Ankai]

Well I sure didn't ;) LOL Probably because Oldboy is on Netflix streaming, and I don't think the other 2 are. If they are, they are not offered up as suggestions by my Roku Netflix app!

Well, it is a vicious cycle, isn't it? Nobody will know about them if nobody talks about them. And nobody will talk about them if nobody knows about them. That is why I mentioned them. You didn't know about them; now you do. Also, you could check out Joint Security Area. It is by the same director and is one of my favorite movies.

[aradia22]

For the longest time I kept getting Like Water For Chocolate confused with A Walk in the Clouds with Keanu Reeves that involves chocolate at some point. I don't know. I've never seen the latter in its entirety but there was a while when they were both on premium cable all the time. LWFC is alright but for me it was unsatisfying and neither fun enough nor enough of a serious prestige pic.

 

I remember liking Amelie but I really need to sit down and watch it again. I found Coco Avant Chanel incredibly boring. The story lacked complexity and it didn't even satisfy as a glamorous period piece. I don't get L'auberge espagnole. I know people love it and that there are sequels but... no. It never really went anywhere. I enjoyed The Princesse de Montpensier when I saw it. It's your typical serious period piece. That is, there's all the melodrama but everyone's either whispering or shouting and they don't try to film everything like a perfume commercial. I don't think it's for everyone but I liked it. I saw the trailer for Haute Cuisine and was excited. The actual movie was a bit of a letdown. There are better movies that tell the same story. This one lacked both complexity and heart. I need one or the other. My real recommendation for a French movie is Romantics Anonymous. I thought it was so adorable and also very French.

 

I watched The Lunchbox on a plane which is how I think I've watched all 3 or 4 Bollywood movies I've seen. It's very enjoyable. It's not a masterpiece but it has enough conventional storytelling to entertain you in that way and swerves enough into making unconventional indie movie choices that it keeps you surprised and engaged. It's a quieter, more mature version of a romantic comedy without all the deep angst of some of those romantic dramas.

 

200 Pounds Beauty is the only Korean film I've seen so far. I was entertained but it's like you took a conventional romantic comedy and then poured a giant bucket of crazy over it. Two people cut their hands and bleed dramatically in this movie. That's at least one too many.

 

I also watched Wadjda on a plane. I think it manages to get a feminist message across without being too heavyhanded and while still being respectful of the culture and religion it portrays. It confronts ideology but it's more about people than ideas.

[harrie]

Many people recommended Wadjda as an uplifting film, so I was disappointed in it.  The ending left me feeling bummed and like no matter what Wadjda will accomplish in her life, she will always be confined to her role as a woman in a male-dominated society.  Then again, if the film had ended with crowds of people celebrating Wadjda as she rode her bike down the road, it would have been just completely fantastical.. To be fair, I totally attribute my difficulties with Wadjda to my own cultural blind spot.  

[aradia22]

I had no expectations so I enjoyed it for what it was but I can see how you'd be disappointed if you went into it expecting an uplifting film. Even though it has that driving plot running through it, it's much more slice of life-y.

[Athena]

I finally got around to watching A Royal Affair (2012). I've seen a few Danish films over the years and they have been generally memorable. I adored Babette's Feast and the original Brothers. There is definitely a restraint to how they do things and I mean that in the best possible way. Like Brothers, Affair had some wonderful romantic chemistry between the leads. Mads was excellent as usual, but I've only ever seen him as a Bond villain because I don't watch Hannibal (I will one day). I was impressed with the Swedish actress who played Caroline. I also didn't realize how big the age gap between the actors were, but their chemistry over rode that for me. The film was beautifully shot and an excellent period piece. It was a bit of a downer though, but it's a historical movie. I think it really captured the period and the problems of being even a noble person in that time. The use of the letter is a bit Hollywood and contrived, but then again if they didn't use it, the movie would be completely tragic and sad.

[Sharpie66]

I just love Babette's Feast!  It's a movie that's all about the mood, not so much about the plot. There is so much quiet stillness throughout that reveal so much behind the words being said.

Edited December 29, 2014 by Sharpie66

[Helena Dax]

I love Cyrano de Bergerac, I watched it in the cinema about ten times. Depardieu was magical in that movie. 

 

My favourite Spanish movies are:

 

-The Dumbfounded King.(El Rey Pasmado) It's a comedy set in 17th century Spanish court, where King Philip IV (Gabino Diego), is stunned to see the naked body of a prostitute of the town and after that, he also wants to see the naked body of his wife, Queen Elisabeth of France. Some friars and priests in the court are against it because they think it could anger God. 

 

-Not on your life (El verdugo). It's considered a masterpiece of the Spanish cinema. It's a very black comedy about an undertaker who marries a girl whose father works as a executioner in the  Franco's Spain. The executioner's actually a very gentle man and convinces his son-in-law to take his place after his retirement. At the beginning, he doesn't want to accept because he doesn't want to kill anyone, but his father-in-law assures him that he possibly will never have to do that. Its ending is iconic. 

 

-The Holy Innocents. (Los Santos Inocentes). This movie's amazing. It's like a kick in the guts too. It tells the story of a very poor family who works in a ranch in one of the poorest parts of the country, back in the sixties. My blood boils everytime I see the way they were forced to live, almost like animals.  

[SlackerInc]

Of the films mentioned above, I definitely cosign Wadjda, A Separation, and Babette's Feast.

 

I agree that it's frustrating to see the strictures women face in Saudi Arabia (and even more frustrating that we as a country treat them as an ally rather than isolating them as we eventually did with South Africa in the apartheid days).  But I think there were definite rays of hope in there; and Wadjda's personality (like how she was always angling for cash) was so infectious.

 

My favorite foreign film of all is Un Coeur en Hiver ("A Heart in Winter"), but it is frustratingly not available in Region 1 DVD even, much less to stream (you can get it on Amazon on VHS, is about it).  My favorite foreign film that you can at least get on DVD is Ingmar Bergman's Persona; and my favorite that streams on Netflix is the 2007 Turkish-German film The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite), which won Best Screenplay at Cannes.

 

I would invite anyone who enjoys these kinds of films to follow me on Twitter.  Last summer I challenged myself to count down my 365 favorite films, reviewing one per day in a single tweet (so, 140 characters max, including the title) in both French and English.  I've got my top 150 still left to count down, and my handle there is the same as here: @slackerinc.

[funkopop]

I love City of God. We were shown this in my college Literature class and it stuck with me ever since.  I went and watched the City of Men and the tv series but the City of God was always the best.  

[90PercentGravity]

I just watched Antichrist on Netflix. That has to be the weirdest damn movie I've ever seen. It took me all day to watch it. I kept having to stop and do other things. Just too weird and slow. The acting is pretty amazing though, especially when you realize that there are only two actors in the whole thing.

[Schweedie]

I recently got round to watch the Hungarian movie White God from last year, and... Well, in one way it's not really a movie for dog lovers, that's for sure. It's certainly not Homeward Bound or Lassie and it's very hard to watch in places, very violent, but oh man, the cinematography was beautiful and the "lead actor" dogs (apparently two brothers play Hagen the dog) are absolutely amazing. The story itself sort of drags in the middle and the people aren't very interesting - I kept wanting them to go back to the dogs - but it was definitely worth seeing. The dog version of a revenge fantasy, basically.

[GreekGeek]

In addition to several already mentioned, I enjoyed:

 

Black and White in Color, about French colonists and Africans caught up in war with the Germans.

 

La Cage Aux Folles, remade in English as The Birdcage. The original is definitely worth checking out, though.

 

Monsoon Wedding, about the serious and comic problems leading up to the title wedding.

 

Shower, set in a Japanese bathhouse. I remembered the film and forgot the title. While Googling it, I came across another Japanese movie called Thermae Romae, in which an ancient Roman bath architect time-travels to a modern-day Japanese bathhouse. This was apparently a huge hit in Japan and even has a sequel. Has anyone come across it?

 

Footnote--an Israeli film about father and son scholars. You may not find the characters relatable if you're not into comedies set in academia, or you may find the family dynamics interesting even if you couldn't care less about linguists.

 

Lastly, I recommend L'Amour with the caveat that it is extremely depressing. It chronicles the physical disintegration of an elderly wife and the effect on her husband.

[raezen]

So last night I saw My Internship in Canada, starring Patrick Huard and Irdens Exantus. It was about 80 to 90% in french. It was a well acted comedic film although Irdens played his part as a really really enthusiast intern a little broadly sometimes. I did like his Skype talks with his entire village in Haiti who were way more involved in the political drama going on in Quebec then the rest of Canada. It was a good way to explain some of the politics without stalling too much of the story.

Now, I'm a Canadian and this wasnot a foreign film to me (although my french is nonexistent), but this is a foreign film to most posters here. And really if I hear that anyone else here saw this film I'll be shocked.

Edited January 22, 2016 by raezen

[tennisgurl]

One of my favorite movies is City of God, a Brazilian movie about gangs in Rio de Janeiro. Its got great acting (from mostly non actors), great cinematography, and is just a really compelling story, with a ton of characters and plots that all end up tying together, more thematically than anything. 

 

I also just saw Girlhood, a French movie about a teenage girl growing up with a messed up home life, and has the best use of Rihanna music in any movie ever.

 

I have been on a bit of a non English movie kick lately, and might be checking out some of the earlier recommendations in this thread.  

[raezen]

I just saw the movie Mustang last night. I really enjoyed it and I felt like it was what The Virgin Suicides wanted to be. Okay not really but the plots do have similarities but I enjoyed this a lot more then TVS. And just like the girls family in TVS wasn't a representation of all 1970's suburban American families I know that what happened in Mustang was not a cultural norm Anatolian Turkey. I hear that there was a lot of criticism directed at the film for that.

Edited March 11, 2016 by raezen

[VCRTracking]

The Longest Day isn't a foreign made film but it had sections in it where the Germans and French sides of the story where the people spoke their own language with subtitles. That's the version of the movie I've seen for years on TV and on home video. Yesterday I see I can watch it streaming on Netflix so I decide to check it out. Suddenly the Germans and French are speaking English! At first  I thought they were dubbed but then I realized the actors were actually on set speaking English with accents in an alternate version of the original scene! I look it up online and apparently they shot two versions of the movie, one where the French and Germans are speaking their native language and another all in English. It's trippy seeing the same scene that I've watched countless times in German and French but now spoken in English by the same actors!

[Schweedie]

I watched Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary), a Japanese film from 2015, the other day and really, really enjoyed it. Nothing much actually happens - it's just these four sisters, living their daily lives, but it was so lovely. Funnily something about it reminded me of Like Father, Like Son, which I also love, and when I looked closer I realised it was the same director and writer, Hirokazu Koreeda. I will definitely hunt down more of his films, because both of these have such a distinctive warmth and melancholy to them.

[Schweedie]

Has anyone caught Indian film Dangal? It's a (dramatised) biography of a national champion wrestler who always regretted he couldn't win a gold medal for his country, and ended up training his daughters to be wrestlers in an attempt to do so through them. From what I understand female wrestlers were pretty much unheard of in India before Geeta and Babita Phogat. Great film - a bit long, two and a half hours and could have been trimmed down a bit, but really gripping. It shows how girls were/are often viewed in India and how they have to fight to be seen as worthy.

And the actual wrestling scenes are brilliant, especially when the girls are still children. A lot of intensity there.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 7/9/2016 at 8:43 AM, Schweedie said:

I watched Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary), a Japanese film from 2015, the other day and really, really enjoyed it. Nothing much actually happens - it's just these four sisters, living their daily lives, but it was so lovely. Funnily something about it reminded me of Like Father, Like Son, which I also love, and when I looked closer I realised it was the same director and writer, Hirokazu Koreeda. I will definitely hunt down more of his films, because both of these have such a distinctive warmth and melancholy to them.

I absolutely adored Our Little Sister.  I was sad when it ended because I wanted to hang out with them some more.

Koreeda's most recent movie is After the Storm, and it was to be released in theaters in the U.S. in early 2017.  It has the same distinctive warmth and melancholy, so you'll probably like it.

If you're okay with movies where not much happens, you might try Warehoused (Almacenados), a fairly recent movie from Mexico.

[sweetcookieface]

Several of my favorites have already been mentioned: A Separation, Like Water for Chocolate, City of God, Girlhood...

I find Asghar Farhadi's movies so distinctive. My favorite remains A Separation, but About Elly and The Past had a similar naturalistic style of story-telling, with constantly shifting sympathies as pieces of information are gradually revealed. I'm still kicking myself for not getting to the theater in time to see The Salesman.

Quote

 

I watched Our Little Sister (Umimachi Diary), a Japanese film from 2015, the other day and really, really enjoyed it. Nothing much actually happens - it's just these four sisters, living their daily lives, but it was so lovely. Funnily something about it reminded me of Like Father, Like Son, which I also love, and when I looked closer I realised it was the same director and writer, Hirokazu Koreeda. I will definitely hunt down more of his films, because both of these have such a distinctive warmth and melancholy to them.

 

 

 

Funny... I recently had a similar experience with this director. A friend of recommended After the Storm (referenced above), and when I looked it up I saw that it was the same director as Our Little Sister (which I had recently started watching) and After Life, a movie that I saw nearly 20 years ago and absolutely LOVED. It's a really affecting film with a unique premise - a bunch of people are caught in a sort of purgatory/way-station where they have one week to pick a memory to enjoy for eternity.

As for other foreign films that I really like...

The Hunt, starring Mads Mikkelsen. It had been sitting in my Netflix queue for a couple of years, but I recently became a Mads stan after binge-watching Hannibal so it shot to the top of my list. :) It's a quiet, devastating film about a teacher accused of sexually abusing a young girl, and the extreme shunning he experiences as a result. The main character's travails, and his relationships with his son, the alleged victim, and her father (the protagonist's best friend), are all heartbreaking in different ways. Mads' acting is impeccable - especially one (largely wordless) scene that takes place in a church on Christmas eve.

The Handmaiden, the most recent film from Chan-wook Park (same director as Oldboy, which I happened to enjoy). Beautifully directed with lots of twists and turns. (VERY explicit though, so don't watch with mom/dad or the kids!)

A Hijacking, a very gripping film about a ship hijacked by Somali pirates - similar to Captain Phillips, but less melodrama.

Amores Perros, or the film that introduced me to the lovely Gael Garcia Bernal. Brutal triptych with three inter-connecting stories and an amazing soundtrack.

Let the Right One In. Beautiful, affecting vampire story; there's one revelation towards the end that really packed an emotional wallop for me.  I actually love the Swedish version and American remake equally.

Edited May 9, 2017 by sweetcookieface

[Zola]

On 08/10/2014 at 3:19 PM, Athena said:

What are your favourite foreign films or non-English speaking films? For the purposes of this topic, we can discuss any film that were not produced or had a wide release in the USA. This means British films which do not make it across the pond can be included. The older and more obscure the better! I think movie making style does vary considerably by country and region so we can compare it with mainstream, Hollywood movies. 

Living in the UK I can't really be sure what favourite foreign films of mine have been subsequently released across the Pond. But the following stand out for me, and I get round to watching at least a couple of times a year:-

Sweden:

• The Seventh Seal (1957) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050976/combined
• Pelle - The Conqueror  (1987) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093713/combined

Japan

• Hanabi (1997) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119250/combined
• High & Low (1963) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057565/combined
• Kikujiro (1999) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199683/combined
• Onibaba (1964) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058430/combined

New Zealand

• Once Were Warriors (1993) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110729/combined

Italy

• The Bicycle Thieves (1948) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040522/combined

France

• Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092593/combined
• Les Diabolique (1955) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046911/combined
• The 400 Blows (1959) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053198/combined
• PickPocket (1959) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053168/combined

[dusang]

On 1/21/2016 at 2:11 PM, raezen said:

So last night I saw My Internship in Canada, starring Patrick Huard and Irdens Exantus. It was about 80 to 90% in french. It was a well acted comedic film although Irdens played his part as a really really enthusiast intern a little broadly sometimes. I did like his Skype talks with his entire village in Haiti who were way more involved in the political drama going on in Quebec then the rest of Canada. It was a good way to explain some of the politics without stalling too much of the story.

Now, I'm a Canadian and this wasnot a foreign film to me (although my french is nonexistent), but this is a foreign film to most posters here. And really if I hear that anyone else here saw this film I'll be shocked.

I saw it!!  It was quite charming.  I watched at TIFF because the year before I had seen the wonderful Monsieur Lazhar from the writer/director Philippe Falardeau. I have to say I preferred Monsieur Lazhar to My Internship in Canada but both are really good.  French Canadian cinema is an underappreciated gem in English Canada.  I'm hardly an expert but almost all of the films I've seen were excellent (and WAY better production value than many English Canadian films). I've seen Inch'Allah and  La Grande Seduction, which are both excellent (although VERY different from one another), and I've heard good things about Incendies, and Starbuck.

And, although not amazing films, I did enjoy Bon Cop Bad Cop and Mambo Italiano (although it's entirely in English, so doesn't count in this thread).  I haven't watched Bon Cop Bad Cop 2 yet, though.

Two of my absolute favourite non-English films are Poetry, a South Korean film about a grandmother that is just beautiful and heartbreaking, and A Simple Life, a Hong Kong film about an aging domestic worker that is charming and human.

[Athena]

9 hours ago, dusang said:

although it's entirely in English, so doesn't count in this thread).

It counts. This thread is basically for movies that aren't widely known in mainstream North American cinema. I clarified in the first post that this can mean movies that aren't widely released in the USA so Canadian and British movies do count.

French Canadian cinema is definitely underrated in Anglo-Canada. Quebec and French Canadian actors and directors are more widely known in France/Europe than to most of Canada to be honest.