Foreign Films To Watch

I personally love foreign films, specifically French and Japanese. True, it may be a bit much for some people to read the lines below the story moving so quickly on the screen, but for me it forces me into another world.  

For this first post I'm going to keep it a bit more modern with a few older exceptions, giving a list of just a few 'subtitle films' that I suggest everyone try to indulge in.

Amelie (French)

Amelie (Audrey Tautou) is a quirky young 'naive' French girl, who gains a sense of justice and decides to do good deeds for those around her. Through her journey of helping others, she discovers love, and nervously is pushed into confrontation with her dream man through a series of mysterious and quirky interactions. A bit surreal, and definitely feel-good, it's a fun modern classic.

The Dreamers (French)

Oh my, I adore this film so much. Matthew (Michael Pitt), playing a young American man studying abroad in Paris, befriends French twins Theo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green). Inseparable, the twins lead Matthew around Paris during a time of student riots, and show him the culture of film and romance and a life he is fascinated with. As he dives deeper into their world, their secrets unfold in curious ways and Matthew learns more than he bargained for.

Blue is the Warmest Color (French)

The newest of all of these films, it really pushes the boundaries of what well known film generally shows, which is why I adore foreign films. There is a normality in what many people have hesitance to or prejudices against. Starring Adele Exarchopoulos, this film shows the unfolding of a young girl's discovery into who she truly is, and a new kind of first love that has to be hidden away. The strange and beautiful blue haired Emma (Lea Seydoux) helps to unfold truths in what has previously been a mysterious world to young Adele.

A Woman is a Woman / Une Femme est un Femme (French)

Anna Karina and Jean-Claude Brialy are such a charismatic couple. Karina, playing a striptease artist, is feeling desperate to become a mother. When her boyfriend reluctantly suggests his best friend to fulfill those feelings, things become complicated when she accepts the offer. It's sassy and contemplative and a fun watch.

Paprika (Japanese)

If you liked the film Inception, this is another one for you. Basically the guidelines for the Inception film, Paprika is an even more complex, trippy, animated version of that similar concept of traveling through other peoples' dreams in order to affect reality. When one of the doctors working on the "DC Mini" dream machine goes insane, Dr. Atsuko Chiba and her alter ego Paprika set out to find the cause behind the madness, discovering betrayal and danger along the way.

Any films by Hayao Miyazaki (Japanese)

This list goes on forever, though his better known films which I have watched and loved include Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Kiki's Delivery Service. You really can't go wrong with any of these. They're lighthearted and each have their own soul-searching adventure that is exceptionally moving and enjoyable. Even if you are not interested in an animated film at first, you'll be happily surprised with how these will immediately grab your heart.