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Foreign Modern Movies
Build your taste profile and get better suggestions. You've rated 0 of 39 movies. Want more suggestions? Launch Quick Rate- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Starring Yun-Fat ChowMichelle YeohZiyi Zhang
By Ang Lee, 2000.
Ang Lee's articulate direction, coupled with Yuen Woo-Ping's (The Matrix) balletic martial arts choreography, makes for a devastating one-two punch. Potent performances from Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh and newcomer Ziyi Zhang also give heft to this story about a young woman in ancient China who...
- Life Is Beautiful
Starring Roberto BenigniNicoletta BraschiGiustino Durano
By Roberto Benigni, 1997.
In this poignant tragicomedy, a clever Jewish Italian waiter named Guido (Roberto Benigni, who also directs and won an Oscar for his role) is sent to a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, along with his wife (Nicoletta Braschi) and their young son (Giorgio Cantarini).
- Run Lola Run
Starring Franka PotenteMoritz BleibtreuHendri Ferch
By Tom Tykwer, 1998.
A thrilling post-MTV roller-coaster ride, Run Lola Run is the internationally acclaimed sensation about two star-crossed lovers who have only minutes to change the course of their lives. Time is running out for Lola (Franka Potente): She's just received a frantic phone call from her boyfriend...
- Hero
Starring Jet LiTony Leung Chiu Wai
By Yimou Zhang, 2002.
The Qin King has long been obsessed with conquering all of China and becoming her first Emperor -- which makes him the target of three legendary assassins. To anyone who defeats the assassins, the King promises great power, mountains of gold and a private audience with the King himself. ...
- Volver
Starring Penélope CruzLola DueñasBlanca Portillo
By Pedro Almodóvar, 2006.
Written and directed by Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, this humorous fantasy stars Carmen Maura as Abuela Irene, who revisits her hometown in the La Mancha region -- in spectral form -- to resolve problems she couldn't settle during her life. Abuela's spirit gradually becomes a reassuring...
- Amores Perros
Starring Emilio EcheverriaGael García BernalGoya Toledo
By Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2000.
When a director shifts gears as often as does Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the man behind the emotionally rich debut film "Amores Perros," you may wonder if he knows what he wants.
- Oldboy
Starring Choi Min-sikJi-tae YuHye-jeong Kang
By Chan-wook Park, 2003.
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years -- and no one to hold accountable for his suffering -- a desperate businessman seeks revenge on his captors, relying on assistance from a friendly waitress. Korean director Chan Wook Park -- a former philosophy student and...
- Y tu mama tambien
Starring Maribel VerdúDiego LunaDiana Bracho
By Alfonso Cuarón, 2001.
Director Alfonso Cuaron's Oscar-nominated film was one of the most talked-about films of 2002. Rich teenagers Tenoch (Diego Luna) and Julio (Gael Garcia Bernal) meet the alluring, older Luisa (Maribel Verdu) at a wedding and try to impress her with stories of a road trip to a beautiful, secret...
- Battle Royale
Starring Tatsuya FujiwaraAki MaedaTaro Yamamoto
By Kinji Fukasaku, 2001.
Kinji Fukasaki's explosive drama takes place early in the new millennium, with Japan on the verge of societal collapse. When even the schoolchildren begin to abuse the system, the government introduces a strict new punishment whereby a randomly chosen group of students are taken to a desert island...
- City of God
Starring Matheus NachtergaeleAlexandre RodriguesLeandro Firmino da Hora
By Katia Lund, 2002.
Busca-Pe (Alexandre Rodrigues) lives in Cidade de Deus (City of God), a housing project reputed to be one of the most dangerous parts of otherwise magical Rio de Janeiro. He's frightened he'll end up like the countless others around him -- troubled, violent or dead.
- Cinema Paradiso
Starring Philippe NoiretJacques Perrin
By Giuseppe Tornatore, 2002.
Directed by the acclaimed Guiseppe Tornatore, Cinema Paradiso: The Director's Cut is a digitally restored picture that features over a half hour of never-before-seen footage. (Miramax).
- The Lives of Others
Starring Martina GedeckSebastian KochUlrich Mühe
By Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, 2007.
Set in 1980s East Berlin, director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's debut feature (which earned an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film) provides an exquisitely nuanced portrait of life under the watchful eye of the state police. When a successful playwright and his actress companion become...
- Downfall
Starring Bruno GanzAlexandra Maria LaraCorinna Harfouch
By Oliver Hirschbiegel, 2004.
In 2002, the gripping documentary Blind Spot: Hitler's Secretary, introduced audiences to the German dictator's stenographer, Traudl Junge, by letting her tell her own story. Now director Oliver Hirschbiegel brings Junge to life in the form of actress Alexandra Maria Lara, who stars in this...
- Talk to Her
Starring Javier CamáraDarío GrandinettiLeonor Watling
By Pedro Almodóvar, 2002.
After a chance encounter at a theater, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia, Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession, has been gored and is in a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma, Alicia, a young ballet...
- All About My Mother
Starring Cecilia RothMarisa ParedesPenélope Cruz
By Pedro Almodóvar, 1999.
A single mother in Madrid sees her only son die on his 17th birthday as he runs to seek an actress's autograph. She goes to Barcelona to find the lad's father, a transvestite named Lola who does not know he has a child. First she finds her friend, Agrado, a wild yet caring transvestite; through him...
- Waltz with Bashir
Starring Ron Ben-Yishai, Ronny Dayag, Ari Folman
By Ari Folman, 2008.
Utilizing vivid black-and-white animation in this Golden Globe winner for Best Foreign Language Film, director Ari Folman documents his quest to explore the memory gaps in his life during his service for the Israeli army in the Lebanese war of the early 1980s.
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Starring Mathieu AmalricMax von SydowMarie-Josee Croze
By Julian Schnabel, 2007.
In 1995, author and Elle magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a stroke that put him in a coma; he awakened mute and completely paralyzed. Mathieu Amalric stars in this adaptation of Bauby's autobiography, which he dictated by blinking. Julian Schnabel was nominated for the 2008 Best...
- Malena
Starring Daniele ArenaMonica BellucciGiuseppe Sulfaro
By Giuseppe Tornatore, 2000.
When 12-year-old Renato catches a glimpse of beautiful new bride Malèna (Monica Bellucci), his heart skips a beat. But when jealous town busybodies begin spreading vile rumors about Malèna, Renato must incorporate those falsehoods with what he knows to be true.
- Broken Embraces
Starring Penélope CruzRubén OchandianoBlanca Portillo
By Pedro Almodóvar, 2009.
An aging and blind film director (Lluís Homar) tells his personal assistant, Diego (Tamar Novas), about his life before the accident that left him in the dark, when he became embroiled in a torrid affair with aspiring actress Lena (Penélope Cruz). His story also involves Diego's film producer...
- Mongol
Starring Honglei SunYing BaiTadanobu Asano
By Sergei Bodrov, 2007.
In the 12th century, an orphaned young slave named Temudjin (Tadanobu Asano) escapes from his captors and begins the journey that will lead him to become one of the greatest conquerors the world has ever known. Honglei Sun and Ying Bai co-star in this Oscar-nominated epic adventure from...
- Cache
Starring Juliette BinocheDaniel AuteuilMaurice Benichou
By Michael Haneke, 2005.
Winner of the Cannes Best Director Award, Michael Haneke's psychological thriller centers on wealthy French couple Georges (Daniel Auteuil) and Anne (Juliette Binoche), who begin receiving threatening videotapes and phone calls. Eventually, Georges realizes who the perpetrator is but refuses to...
- Love Me If You Dare
Starring Guillaume CanetThibault VerhaegheMarion Cotillard
By Yann Samuell, 2003.
Ever since they were kids, Sophie (Marion Cotillard) and Julien (Guillaume Canet) have gotten their kicks out of a game where they continuously attempt to one-up the other with a chain of extreme pranks. When their relationship escalates to romance, the game turns harshly negative, and the two...
- La Haine
Starring Benoît MagimelVincent CasselHubert Koundé
By Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995.
French director Mathieu Kassovitz's jolting drama traces a fateful day in the lives of alienated ghetto youths Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui) and Hubert (Hubert Koundé) -- a Jew, an Arab and an African, respectively. When their friend Abdel ends up comatose after a police beating...
- 2046
Starring Li GongCarina LauFaye Wong
By Kar Wai Wong, 2004.
In this loose sequel to Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai returns as struggling writer Chow Mo-wan, but now he's a boozing womanizer who writes soft porn. Through time travel and parallel worlds, this lushly photographed romantic drama explores...
- In the Mood for Love
Starring Lai ChenMaggie CheungTony Leung Chiu Wai
By Kar Wai Wong, 2001.
In director Kar Wai Wong's delicately mannered tale of platonic romance set in 1962 Hong Kong, neighboring married apartment-dwellers Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung, a Cannes Film Festival best actor winner for his role) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) discover that their often-absent spouses are having an...
- Gomorrah
Starring Toni ServilloGianfelice ImparatoMaria Nazionale
By Matteo Garrone, 2008.
The intertwining tales of a delivery boy, a tailor, a businessman and two cocky teenagers form the fabric of this gritty and lyrical examination of the influential Neapolitan mob known as the Camorra. Peering into a multitude of social strata within present-day Naples, director Matteo Garrone's...
- Legend of 1900
Starring Tim RothPruitt Taylor VinceClarence Williams III
By Giuseppe Tornatore, 1998.
From the director of Cinema Paradiso comes a compelling drama of a virtuoso piano player who lives his entire life aboard an ocean liner. Born and raised on the ship, 1900 (Tim Roth) learned about the outside world through interactions with passengers, never setting foot on land, even for the love...
- The Class
Starring François BégaudeauNassim AmrabtLaura Baquela
By Laurent Cantet, 2008.
In an inventive adaptation of his novel about his experiences working in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Paris, François Bégaudeau stars as a replica of himself -- a passionate French teacher who presides over a classroom of diverse young minds. Not your standard drama or documentary but...
- 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Starring Adi CarauleanuLuminita GheorghiuVlad Ivanov
By Cristian Mungiu, 2007.
In the last days of communism in Romania, Gabita (Laura Vasiliu), a young college student, wants to end her unplanned pregnancy. With the help of her best friend, fellow student Otilia (Anamaria Marinca), she seeks an abortion, illegal under the oppressive Ceaucescu regime.
- Live Flesh
Starring Javier BardemPenélope CruzFrancesca Neri
By Pedro Almodóvar, 1997.
One of director Pedro Almodóvar's best films recounts the story of Victor, born on a bus to prostitute Penélope Cruz. As a troubled teen, Victor is in the apartment of drug addict Elena (Francesca Neri). He accidentally shoots a policeman and gets sent to prison.
- Tango
Starring Miguel Ángel SoláCarlos RivarolaMía Maestro
By Carlos Saura, 1998.
Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storano painted the backdrop for this film about a director with a passion for dance. When his wife (Cecilia Narova) leaves him, Mario (Miguel Angel Sola) begins work on a film about the tango. Trouble begins when he falls for Elena (Mia Maestro), whose lover...
- Nowhere in Africa
Starring Juliane KohlerMerab NinidzeMatthias Habich
By Caroline Link, 2001.
Shortly before World War II, a Jewish couple and their young daughter emigrate to Kenya from Germany to escape the Nazis. Not all members of the family are happy with this drastic change -- but going home isn't an option. Ultimately, they must all come to terms with a new life in a new continent.
- After the Wedding
Starring Mads MikkelsenRolf LassgårdSidse Babett Knudsen
By Susanne Bier, 2007.
To save the failing orphanage he runs in India, Danish transplant Jacob Petersen (Mads Mikkelsen) returns to his homeland to meet a self-indulgent businessman named Jørgen who's offered a generous donation -- and who represents everything the noble-minded Jacob abhors.
- The Edge of Heaven
Starring Hanna SchygullaBaki DavrakTuncel Kurtiz
By Fatih Akin, 2007.
When his father accidentally kills a prostitute, Nejat Aksu (Baki Davrak) seeks out her 27-year-old daughter, Ayten (Nurgül Yesilcay), to make amends. Nejat focuses his search in Turkey, but Ayten, who's part of a closely watched activist group, has fled to Germany.
- Still Life
Starring Sanming HanTao ZhaoHong Wei Wang
By Zhang Ke Jia, 2006.
Two couples reunite amid the construction of a new neighborhood along the Yangtze River near the old city of Fengjie, which is now under water after the opening of the Three Gorges Dam. After 16 years apart, Han Sanming returns to look for his ex-wife, while Shen Hong has come back in search of her...
- Yi Yi
Starring Nien-Jen WuElaine JinIssei Ogata
By Edward Yang, 2006.
A wedding and a grandmother's illness reveal fault lines in the lives of one Taipei family in Edward Yang's extraordinary film. Yi Yi is built from deceptively simple elements that together create a complex, warm, and utterly convincing portrait of family life.
- East/West
Starring Sandrine BonnaireRuben TupieroCatherine Deneuve
By Regis Wargnier, 2000.
When Stalin invites Russian émigrés to return to their motherland, nearly all who accept are killed or taken prisoner. Alexei (Oleg Menchikov), however, is spared because as a physician he's useful to the Soviets. Alex and his wife, Marie (Sandrine Bonnaire), are sent to Kiev, but the KGB...
- Morvern Callar
Starring Samantha MortonKathleen McDermottRaife Patrick Burchell
By Lynne Ramsay, 2002.
Morvern Callar (Samantha Morton), a poor Scottish supermarket clerk, wakes to find that her boyfriend has committed suicide. Sensing an opportunity, Morvern claims authorship of his unpublished novel. When the money starts pouring in, Morvern and her pal Lanna (Kathleen McDermott) take off for the...
- Werckmeister Harmonies
Starring Djoko RosicLars RudolphHanna Schygulla
By Béla Tarr, 2001.
A group of decidedly weird circus attractions -- including a giant stuffed whale and a mysterious man known as "The Prince" who's imbued with magnetic powers -- stirs up tensions among the denizens of a provincial Hungarian town. Director Bela Tarr's edgy psychological drama consists of just 39...
