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BY CLARE KENNEDY
Five Exquisite Foreign Films That You Will Probably Fall In Love With
Woo, I love movies a lot, a lot (in Jim Carrey voice)! Before we had kids my hubs and I would watch a movie a night, sometimes more. Now I don’t want to offend any filmmakers in America, but I usually feel like foreign films make me feel more. Actually maybe now that I think of it, maybe it’s because I go to sources like our local indie theater The Palm for entertainment and education and the films there are so well curated by owner Jim Dee that it just seems like every foreign film is perfection when there are so many less than perfect movies here. Only the best of the best can make it to our theaters. Truthfully, I’ve yet to see a lame movie from the Palm. Anyhow, here are some of my absolute favorite foreign films. YAY!!!
#1) Amelie So Amelie is not just my favorite foreign film, but probably my all-time favorite film. Amelie grabbed my soul and is woven into my DNA now. To know this movie is to know me.
I went to go see the 2001 French film with a friend. And then I went back and saw it in the theater two more times. Naturally, I bought the soundtrack, then listened to it over and over. Next, found and bought prints of the artwork featured in the film. Also, I looked at images of her to show my hair stylist so that she could cut my hair like Amelie. That lovely ingénue was about my age. We were both early twenties. You could say I was already a Francophile and that affinity grew after seeing the delightful feel-good movie! By now I was a fangirling this movie like I was for the Little Mermaid when I saw it in grade school. Amelie had a sneaky way of bringing people around her happiness, bringing strangers together, to delivering beautiful gifts anonymously. Honestly, I dreamed of naming a baby girl Amelie, the name was so endearing to me. And well…maybe another baby named Audrey after the lovely Audrey Tautou.
The movie is not perfect. It’s been pointed out that there is a major lack of diversity in the cast of characters. Where are all of the beautiful people of color that I saw when I visited the city of lights? At any rate, Amelie remains the longest-playing film at the Palm, playing for over 32 weeks. If you go to the Palm you will see a painting of her iconic face on their walls. All these years later I am still inspired by Amelie to bring love and light to those around me. I truly want to spread goodness wherever I go. Tres magnific!!
Also check out: A Very Long Engagement another romantic movie made by the same director, also very beautiful, but with less whimsy and fantasy and more real drama.
#2) The 2007 English movie Son of Rambow is the uplifting story of two schoolboys who become friends as they work to create a homemade action movie. These kids have zero budget and lots of enthusiasm. I love the tunnel vision these wee filmmakers have! They are not professionals, but they don’t give a care! They have a story to tell the world and as people try to keep them from realizing their dreams I want to holler at the screen “leave them alone!”. Here we get to experience the sweetness of childhood friendships, the drama that can go with, and them pursuing their dreams with aplomb.
Also see: the touching Jack Black and Mos Def movie Be Kind Rewind about two grown guys making movies for pennies because they love it.
#3) A Sweedish dramedy A Man Called Ove (Ooh-vah) is an isolated widower with a hilariously short fuse for incompetence. As he has given up on life and is on the brink of suicide he forms some unlikely friendships with his neighbors.
Recently I read the novel after a recommendation from my friends Kylee and Gina and then rented the movie on Netflix. I hear Tom Hanks is going to start in the new version of the story. What a perfect universal story for an actor who has such a strong history of bringing heartwarming stories to American audiences. It’s a good story of hope when you hate your spot in life so you have this overwhelming bitterness in your heart hate everyone and everything around you.
The universe has screwed him over and now people you see around him either don’t deserve their happiness or are just idiotic annoyances to his. His neighbor Parvaneh (heart eyes emoji) decides no one should be alone and pulls him out of his comfort zone with a fierce metaphorical grip and pulls with much force to bring him back to the realm of happiness being a possibility. She is honestly as captivating as movie characters come. She is strong, resourceful, maternal, and confident. Man, I love this woman. With the story told in flashbacks to his younger days, we see why he is like he is and I get it!
At first, it appears that there is nothing redeemable about this pill of a man, but in ninety short minutes a miracle happens and magically I am begging the movie to spare Ove’s life. 😀 Choose life. In the vain of life is sh*t, but life is worth it all. What an absolute gem of a movie. This is one novel that I enjoyed very much that translated really well to film.
Also watch: St. Vincent about an older neighbor who is rough around the edges and The Skeleton Twins seeing people broken moving forward and the outtakes are LOL
#4) Italy Life Is Beautiful: A kind, funny man marries a pretty teacher. The sweet couple has a son and a joyful life. Nazis take the family and put them in concentration camps. To protect his dear son from the hellish reality the loving father convinces his boy that their time there is merely a game. Oh, how I desperately want to reach through the screen and protect that sweet, darling boy, and his daddy and mommy for that matter. Roberto Begnini is a genius. In the tragic backdrop of the Holocaust Love conquers all. This movie will break your heart, but it’s a journey that’s worth taking. Loosely based on a real story!
#5) French: Tell No One: He receives an email from the wife who he tragically lost eight years ago. These characters love and passion feels so real. Francois Cluzet and Marie-Josée Croze give
You also really must see The Untouchables as well to see Francois in another sweet role, this time telling the tale of two unlikely friends. Similar movies portraying an innocent man on the run and wrongfully accused of murdering their wife: The Fugitive and Shawshank Redemption
If you have seen any of these do you agree they are wonderful?! What other movies are on your list? Please share!! 😀
