Along with my love of photography and reading, another thing I do is spend hundreds of hours watching foreign films.  I have a very close relationship with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.  Many of which have these movies. Although I do love a good hollywood action flick every once in a while, the feeling I get after watching an amazing foreign film leaves me asking myself why I waste time with mindless CRAP films.
I've decided to start a list of my favorite films.  I just have to share these!!!  
They aren't all foreign but they're all wonderful and sometimes challenging and I wouldn't recommend them if I wouldn't be willing to sit and watch them again, and possibly even again.
I also need to say to all of you that won't watch foreign films because of the subtitles, GET OVER IT!  After the first 5 minutes you won't even know you're reading.  NEVER watch a dubbed film.  You lose everything that is wonderful about the original film.
Trust me, I've watched hundreds of films and only the best are listed here.
Get your Netflix queue started.
Enjoy!

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​This Swedish movie is strangely engaging and often times uncomfortable. I loved it!
It's a dark drama that focuses on transgression and taboo as two troubled people living on the edge of society develop a strange friendship.
​Enjoy!

​Here are two really great, non Americanized zombie flicks that are fantastic. 
First Les Affames (Ravenous)
A French-language Canadian Horror film that is beautifully filmed.
The film depicts the residents of a small town in rural Quebec as they deal with an outbreak leading to an attack by zombie-like people.
I din't want this one to end.
​Enjoy

And Train to Busan.
​One of the best Zombie flicks out there for sure.
The film mostly takes place on a train to Busan, as a zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks out in the country and compromises the safety of the passengers.
It's so fun!
​Enjoy!

OOOHHHHHHHH....... Does anyone else love being incredibly uncomfortable watching other people's lives unfold bizarrely before them and wondering "Why?".  "Why are they doing that?".  "What's happening??????".
This movie won Best Film for France's Cesar awards (our Oscars) and Isabelle Huppert just won for best leading actress.  She had already won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama for this thriller of a film.
I actually had to stop the movie 2/3s of the way through, telling my husband "I'm gonna need another glass of wine for this one."
Elle is a psychological thriller that will have you slouching down in your seat with a feeling that you may not know how to describe. I kept thinking about how wildly uncomfortable I was and then giddy with anticipation as to where this story was taking me.
​Enjoy!

 Buzzing with rumors of Oscar nominations, this one will get you.  It's a difficult film to watch because of it's storyline and violence. But I knew I was going to love it within the first 5 minutes of watching it.
It's the story of a "good boy from a good family" who is forced to flee from his village during a civil war.
He ends up in the middle of a guerrilla skirmish and adopted as a new child soldier into a rising rebel faction.
This is beautifully filmed and will have you deeply invested in the young characters who's lives are ripped from their childhood innocence.

A multi story film all with the most awesome revenge themes.
​Nominated for best foreign of 2014.

Mired in controversy, this is an over 3 hour, NC-17, lesbain love story that was all the rage at Cannes in 2013. 
Set some time aside and marvel at the amazing acting abilities of these young women.
enjoy.

A heart wrenching Belgian film.
All I knew about this film before watching it was that it was one of the nominated best foreign films for the Oscars for 2013.
A beautifully composed, soul string drama about, love, sex, family, sorrow, faith and music.

I love movies that give you time to get to know the players intimately.  By the time it's at it's conclusion, you continue to stare at the rolling credits feeling horrified that something so sad happened to people you care about. 
A French film by the same director ofA Seperation, which is also listed in this recommendation list.
A woman requests that her husband to come home from Iran, after being separated for 4 years, to finalize their divorce so she can marry another man.  The task becomes complicated by shocking revalations. 
Give this movie time to get to know the characters. 
Enjoy.

A beautiful and very funny 2012 South Korean historical film.  
 This is a fictional account of the 15 days in which the king (Gwanghae, the 15th Joseon King from 1575-1641 of the Joeson Dynasty) was missing, recovering from being poisoned, being replaced by an imposter. However, the imposter turns out to be a better king than the real one and slowly wins over people of the court except those who originally wanted to king dead. Nice costume drama with a lot of heart.
This film won 15 awards in Korea's version of the Oscars including best film, best director and best actor.
Enjoy!

Is there anything that Mads Mikkelsen hasn't been in that wasn't an amazing movie? Mads won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for his role in this film.  It's also been nominated for Best Foreign Film for 2013.
A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son's custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.
Enjoy!

I love me some Mads Mikkelsen!
This film was nominated for Best Foreign Film last year only to be beat out by Amour.
I can't believe I JUST watched this film. It had me going straight to Google and researching the actual events and people in this movie.
Ain't history interesting!!!!????
Enjoy!

ACTION! SUSPENSE!
REPEAT!
I'm not going to lie.  Ive seen this movie 4 times!  I'll be watching it again for sure.  One of my all time favorites.

A Canadian drama about twins that are given a mysterious request by their dead mother.
They make a journey to the Middle East to find out about their mother's life they never knew about.
Nominated in 2011 for best foreign film.
Enjoy!

A 2010 Danish drama/thriller.
A movie split between revenge and forgiveness.
Nominated for Golden Globes and Oscars for Best Foreign Film.
Enjoy!

One of the best books I've ever read and the movie is actually just as good.
A heart wrenching look and betrayal and redemption.
Enjoy!

Come on.....  Of course you've seen this film!
If not, what the hell is wrong with you?  It's awesome!
Get on it!
Enjoy!

Another great thriller/drama from Korea.
What a mother wouldn't do, and does for her for her mentally challenged son. 
This is so beautifully filmed it makes the horrible things that happen in this film even more real.
Enjoy!

This film may have come out in 1997 but it got the attention of the United States that foreign films were legitimate.
My heart still swells when thinking about this film.
Enjoy!

The movie takes place in present-day Iran. 
The film's story has no quarrel with Islam, but it demonstrates that the inflexible application of the letter of the law may frustrate the spirit of the law.

Everything that you could possibly want in a Japanese Samurai action film plus a dramatic human aspect to it.
Get your eyes on this one!!!
Enjoy!

Bizarre, creepy edgy and wonderful!!!!
I love crazy people!
Enjoy!

Another book that I loved.
A french drama set in present day and 1942 German occupied Paris.
The story of a 10 year old girls desperation to get back to her younger brother during the occupation.  
Get your Kleenex ready!
Enjoy!

A British/American black comedy.
Hitmen with a conscious in hiding in Bruges.
very dark, very funny.
Enjoy!

You may think this a cheesy romantic comedy at first look but I'm telling you, I was very surprised at how good this movie was.
Give it a chance.  It's funny and sweet.
Enjoy!

A young woman engaged to be married finds herself in an affair with her stepmother's lesbian daughter.
ohhh what??????
Enjoy!

A Belgian Drama with a doozy of an ending.
Cattle, steroids, murder, revenge and love, what else is there?
Enjoy?

A psychological thriller that displays and analyzes the basic instincts, feelings of guilt, betrayal and fear that love can bring.

I'm not including the trailer because it gives away the secret to the movie which boggles my mind.  Just watch it!  it's great!
I just read that it's actually a remake of an Indian film called Murder 3.  I just put it on my Queue.
Enjoy!

A 2007 French film based on a true story of journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby.  It describes what his life is like after suffering a massive stroke that left him with Locked in Syndrome. 
Enjoy!

A 2010 dark British comedy.The film is a jihad satire following a group of homegrown terrorists jihads from England.
Enjoy!

Pretty much everything by Guillermo Del Toro is on my list of recommendations.  He just doesn't suck.
Hitchcockian suspense thriller.  It's just fun and scary!
Enjoy!

Get ready to get freaked out man!!!!!
I love you Guillermo!
Enjoy!

Alice in Wonderland for grown ups.
It won 3 academy awards!
Enjoy!

Guillermo Del Torro loves his orphanages.
He's a master at horror and thrillers.  This is another one of his fantastic works.
Enjoy!

A 2007 spanish film.  A dramatic story of a intersexed 15-year-old.
Enjoy!

The Academy Award winner for 2009. 
A newly unemployed cellist takes a job preparing the dead for funerals.
Enjoy!

This movie comes with a very strong WARNING!  It's not for everyone and is may be very disturbing and violent for some.
The perfect epitome of a revenge thriller.
I liked it because of the cinematography and it's extreme edginess.  This is a movie with a lot of symbology and makes you think "How far could I go?".
Enjoy!

I LOVE me some Korean films!
A thrilling crime drama. Based on the true story of the country's first known serial murders, which took place between 1986 and 1991.
Enjoy!

Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender have a special thing going. They just finished making 12 years a Slave. This is a good combo.
A British 2011 psychological drama about the main characters carefully cultivated private life -- which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction -- is disrupted when his sister arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.
Enjoy!

A 2008 Austrian thriller.
It centers on the ill-fated love story between a Viennese ex-con and a Ukrainian prostitute who get involved in a bank robbery.
Enjoy!

A 2002 Academy Award winner by Pedro Almodovar. 
                 A twisted story that unfolds in flashbacks, giving details of two separate relationships that become intertwined with each other.
Enjoy!

A crazy suspenseful movie based on a true story. 
It's about two German climbers involved in a competition to climb the most dangerous rock face in the Alps.
You will be goggling the events of this movie after you see it.
Enjoy!

Get ready for a little NC-17!
A 2007 espionage thriller film set in Shanghai in 1943 directed by Ang Lee of Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Fame.
Enjoy!

As the Allies sweep across Germany, Lore leads her siblings on a journey that exposes them to the truth of their parents' beliefs.
Enjoy!

A 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
Enjoy!

I'm gonna say this is a bit of a dark sci fi psychological drama.It's an exploration of the experience of solitude and survival set in a spectacularly beautiful Austrian mountain landscape. 
Enjoy!

A 2008 Australian film. A man's life begins to unravel when his mistress brings him a bag of cash.
Enjoy!

The real-life story of Spaniard Ramon Sampedro, who fought a 30 year campaign in favor of euthanasia and his own right to die.
Enjoy!

A French film that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2012.  
One day, Anne has a stroke, and the couple's bond of love is severely tested.
Enjoy!

 A 2007 French drama.
The pediatrician Alexandre Beck misses his beloved wife Margot Beck, who was brutally murdered eight years ago when he was the prime suspect. When two bodies are found near where the corpse of Margot was dumped, the police reopen the case and Alex becomes suspect again.
Enjoy!

A romantic police captain breaks a beautiful member of a rebel group out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.
Enjoy!

A 2006 Danish drama directed by Susanne Bier and staring Mads Mikkelsen. 
A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.
Enjoy!

A 2009 Spanish Drama.
The story of two men on different sides of a prison riot -- the inmate leading the rebellion and the young guard trapped in the revolt, who poses as a prisoner in a desperate attempt to survive the ordeal.
Enjoy!

A 2001 famous magical French film.
 An innocent and naive girl in Paris, with her own sense of justice, decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love.
Enjoy!

Yes, you might want to be ready for this one.  It's very upsetting but tells a very interesting true story. 
A drama set in 1986 Iran and centered on a man, Sahebjam, whose car breaks down in a remote village and enters into a conversation with Zahra, who relays to him the story about her niece, Soraya.
Enjoy!

A 2006 Spanish drama written by Pedro Almodovar, the most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker.  Nothing he does sucks! 
After her death, a mother returns to her home town in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life.
Enjoy!

A 2007 British Drama.  A film that shares similarities with actual events that happened in 1993. The story of a young ex-con Jack, newly released from serving a prison sentence for a murder he committed as a child.
Enjoy!

A 2000 Mexican drama. Sometimes referred to as the Mexican Pulp Fiction.
A horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life's harsh realities, all in the name of love.
Enjoy!

The Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film of 2010.
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.
Enjoy!

A 2009 black and white German Drama.
Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.
Enjoy!