Favorite Foreign Films!!!

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 crappy 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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It's on everybody's favorite movie list this year. Parasite is a South Korean dark comedy thriller film that will have you cringing and feeling uncomfortable.
It's so good! 
​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.