From Spanish tearjerkers to Japanese crime-dramas, there’s stories beyond subtitles
Park So Dam and Choi Woo Shik in 'Parasite.' Photo: Neon
Recently acclaimed drama hit Minari — written and Directed by Lee Isaac Chung – bagged six Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and won the award for Best Supporting Actress, making a huge splash in the world of cinema. We bring you the top five foreign-language films to watch if you liked watching Minari. So turn those subtitles on and brace yourself for a multicultural experience.
Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite is one of the greatest films of the decade. Sweeping four leading awards at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020 and a Palm d’Or, among many others, it takes you on an emotional ride as a destitute family masterfully welcomes itself into the world of the rich until things go horribly wrong. The South Korean thriller and comedy is the perfect combination of sardonic humor, high-adrenaline thrill, and an exceptionally well-crafted plot.
Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
The Japanese crime-drama is about the journey of a dysfunctional non-biological family in Tokyo that makes a living out of shoplifting. Exploring trauma, poverty, discrimination and love, Shoplifters is the struggle of a group of outcasts taking life one day at a time. Director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s beautifully humble yet mysteriously layered masterpiece unearths complex characters and family relations, juggling between surviving the hustle of Tokyo and escaping the radar of the law.
Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
Roma is a Mexican drama directed by Alfonso Cuarón as a semi-autobiography paying tribute to the people who helped raise him. Shot completely in black and white, the Spanish-language movie – instead of tracking his coming-of-age – looks at the world beyond, through his adolescent eyes. Every frame of Cuarón’s Roma is a visual treat. It is a meditative watch as he explores people’s lives outside the family space in Mexico City in the 1970s.
Watch on Netflix.
Released in 2001, Amelie is a heart-warming French romantic comedy. Amelie, the protagonist, will sweep you off of your feet with her whimsical charm as she takes to the streets of Paris to “change the world.” A shy but mysterious girl – played by Audrey Tautou – meets an eccentric plotline to make this happy-go-lucky watch.
This French Palm d’Or winner from 2012 is a sensitive juggle between love, life, and death as it unflinchingly captures the intensity of old age through an elderly couple living their last days. Director Michael Haneke’s romance/drama makes you confront uncomfortable yet important questions delicately and leaves you utterly heartbroken yet mesmerized in the end.
Watch on Amazon Prime Video.
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