International film has been a little quiet in the previous decade, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of critically praised foreign films to see.
Spanish cinema has prospered in the previous ten years, with some of the world’s best filmmakers hailing from Spain and Mexico. However, that isn’t the only area where you may find top-notch international films.
Several high-quality animated pictures from Japan, critically acclaimed horror and action films from Hong Kong, and some groundbreaking dramas from other Asian countries were also released in the last decade.
The best foreign films of the last ten years are listed here.
1. BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
The film Blue is the Warmest Color was released in France in 2012, and many people are unaware that the tale is based on a comic book.
In a world where superheroes and otherworldly threats abound, Blue is the Warmest Color is a drama about a French adolescent who discovers passion and desire when she meets an aspiring female painter and begins a relationship that lasts into adulthood.
At Cannes, the film was awarded the Palme d’Or.
2. INCENDIES
Incendies is a thriller film directed by Denis Villeneuve that was released in 2010. It is based on a theatrical play of the same name.
During a horrific civil war in the Middle East, two Canadian twins travel to the Middle East to learn about their mother’s past.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and it launched Villeneuve’s career, as he went on to direct films like Prisoners, Arrival, and Blade Runner 2049.
3. 13 ASSASSINS
Dramas aren’t required in all critically acclaimed foreign-language films. Takashi Miike’s samurai martial arts film 13 Assassins was released in 2010 and directed by the legendary Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike.
It is a remake of the 1963 film of the same name, and it takes place in 1844 when 12 samurai assassins and a hunter plot to kill the clan’s chief.
The film received ten nominations for the Japan Academy Prize, with four of them being awarded.
4. ROMA
Due to the advent of Netflix in the film industry, Alfonso Cuaron’s Labor of Love, Roma, was released in 2018. Cuaron, like Scorsese in 2019 with The Irishman, struggled to get funding for his semi-autobiographical picture about his boyhood in Mexico City until Netflix came along.
The picture, which was shot in stunning black and white, was a huge smash. It won the Golden Lion at Venice and subsequently received ten Oscar nominations, which is nearly unheard of for a foreign film.
It was the first Mexican picture to win Best Foreign Film, as well as Best Director, for Cuaron.
5. THE SKIN I LIVE IN
Pedro Almodovar, a second world-class Spanish filmmaker on this list, directed the film The Skin I Live In in 2011.
This film stars Antonio Banderas as a plastic surgeon who produced burn-resistant artificial skin but was disgraced when it was discovered that he conducted unethical research.
The surgeon, on the other hand, has kept a lot more hidden than anyone could have imagined.
The film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and it established Almodovar as the Spanish counterpart of Alfred Hitchcock.
6. THE HANDMAIDEN
Park Chan-wook, a South Korean director who rose to prominence in the 2000s with the Vengeance trilogy, has directed some of the best foreign films.
With The Handmaiden, he tried for something a little more psychologically disturbing in 2016.
This worldwide film was based on the novel Fingersmith; however, it was set in Korea instead of Britain. Two women, a Japanese Lady on a lonely estate and her handmaiden, plot to cheat her out of her fortune in this film.
7. THE RAID
When Gareth Evans directed The Raid in 2011, he crafted one of the most visually spectacular action films in international cinema history.
An elite police strike group was dispatched to a high-rise structure to bring down a crime lord in the Indonesian action flick.
The video then showed nearly nonstop battle sequences, with amazing choreography during bouts between the police and the criminals in the building in hallways and stairwells, as well as incredibly imaginative and inventive images. Three years later, a sequel was released.
8. THE HUNT
The Hunt is a Danish drama directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Mads Mikkelsen that was released in 2012.
Mikkelsen plays a male teacher who is wrongly accused of sexually abusing a kindergarten child and is targeted by people in his village around Christmas.
Mikkelsen deservedly earned the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for his performance.
It received positive reviews and was nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Rotten Tomatoes presently has a 94 percent fresh rating.
9. SEPARATION
A Separation, an Iranian film, is one of the most successful independent films ever. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, making it the first Iranian film to do so.
The film is a drama about a couple who divorce and the difficulties they confront in Iran’s rigid culture.
With a 99 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the picture gets almost universal appreciation. It received the most positive reviews from critics in 2011.
The film masterfully covers every side of the dispute in one of cinema’s finest marriage dramas.
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