Of late we’ve been watching a lot of International/foreign language movies. Here are some of them which we feel are must watch. All of them are available on Netflix streaming (that is our major source of online streaming, with PS3 being next).
The Motorcycle Diaries: A brilliantly done film about Che Guevara’s epic road trip in southern america; the acting is fantastic and the movie beautifully showcases the formative years of Che. If you don’t know Che, then google him 😉 . Certainly very interesting character. We are now planning on watching Steven Sodenberg’s two part movies on Che’s journey after the road trip to his eventual fall in Bolivia. Should be very interesting!
Song of Sparrows: This Iranian movie showed a lot of promise in the beginning about a man’s quest to provide for his family but it quickly disintegrated into an average ho-hum pointless fare. Cinematography was a let down considering that pretty much any and every Iranian movie captures the landscapes of Iran without much trouble.
District B13: 2 words for this movie: Total Timepass! I believe this french movie was later remade by hollywood as District 13. Screw the remake, watch this nonstop fun of District B13. There seriously was hardly a moment of respite in this adrenaline pumping movie. Total paisa wasool type movie. The action was cool!
Tell No One: Another French suspense that was very well done; A guy’s wife is murdered and he is the prime suspect but nothing comes of it. Years later, new bodies are discovered at the place his wife disappeared and the case is re-opened with all fingers pointing to him. This was a good well done mystery movie, though a bit slow (as French movies tend to be!). Recommended!
Amreeka: A bittersweet tale of a Palestinian woman and her kid who are trying to make America their own. The dialogues are often witty and there’s a sense of belonging in the movie that is hard to resist. Not to mention the lead actress’s acting is simply adorable – what would we not give to know someone so charming like her! Highly recommended.
Sin Nombre: Its a shame that due to Oscar’s new rules, this Mexican movie was not eligible to enter the best foreign film of 2009 category, which if it did, would stand a high chance of winning. This is a brilliantly told story about hope and survival and things people do to get to a better life; mixing up immigrants and gang-wars is a weird combo, but it works and how here. The background score of this movie is incredibly haunting. Very highly recommended!
Tale of Two Sisters: This Korean horror movie is less of a horror movie and more of a mind bend. The movie combines a deep psychological drama with horror and comes out tops; this one demands repeat viewings. And yeah does have some jump out of your seats moments.
The Vanishing: This Dutch movie began on an interesting premise about a guy searching for his girlfriend three years after she goes missing. But the movie simply gets more and more bizarre; one could say its a well made psychological drama about the victim and the killer, but something about the move was disturbing, particularly the ending. The ending was without respite or solution but pretty disturbing. See it if you are into that kind of movies!
That’s about all the foreign movies we’ve seen so far, this year only.
We hope Netflix keeps adding more and more foreign movies that we can keep checking out. Its become our favorite weekend activity for sure these days!