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[peakish]

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) is one of the most powerful and unconventional love stories I've seen.
The Man on the Roof (1976) is a tense and brutal criminal procedural with stellar low-key performances. It properly dissects the effects of systematic violence in a society.
Rififi (1955) is an incredible heist movie with one of my favorite movie scenes ever as they break into the vault. It's likely the most influental of these picks so I'd say it's definitely a must watch.

Rome, Open City
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Black Girl
The Apu Trilogy

Such a good movie. Can heartily second the recommendation.

 

[duckroll]

Any exceptional thrillers (and action movies) that aren't South Korean or The Raid? I rented A Prophet and Das Boot thanks to this thread

I dunno about "exceptional" but Infernal Affairs and SPL are both very good films. One is a thriller the other is an action movie. Both from Hong Kong.

As previously mentioned on my list, Brotherhood of the Wolf is also a very enjoyable French action/thriller from Christophe Gans. It's a period film that has quite a videogame feel to the setting and characters. *cough*

But Denis Villeneuve's Incendies puts everything to shame. I'm not really sure if I would categorize it as a "thriller" though. It's... very unique.

 

[Osahi]

I dunno about "exceptional" but Infernal Affairs and SPL are both very good films. One is a thriller the other is an action movie. Both from Hong Kong.

As previously mentioned on my list, Brotherhood of the Wolf is also a very enjoyable French action/thriller from Christophe Gans. It's a period film that has quite a videogame feel to the setting and characters. *cough*

But Denis Villeneuve's Incendies puts everything to shame. I'm not really sure if I would categorize it as a "thriller" though. It's... very unique.

Incendies is incredible.

Any exceptional thrillers (and action movies) that aren't South Korean or The Raid? I rented A Prophet and Das Boot thanks to this thread

Try Bullshead (Rundskop) from Belgium. Not a pure thriller, but a crime story about the hormones mafia. It's amazing. The director made the last film of James Gandolfini afterwards (The Drop). His new one, Racer and the Jailbird, which I saw as a test audience member, is pretty good too, although it stumbles at the end.

 

[dofry]

What was that Polanski and Harrison Ford combo movie?

 

[Neophant]

I'm a huge fan of Chungking Express, and wasn't sure if anybody had mentioned The Seventh Seal, 8 1/2 or M (the Fritz Land film) which are all great classics, but the two that I would definitely recommend are:

Tokyo Drifter, directed by Seijun Suzuki which is this wild, colorful journey of a gangster trying to get out of the game and,

Everlasting Moments, directed by Jan Troell, a wonderfully calm, beautiful look at the art of photography and the people behind every picture.

 

[Psychoward]

mentions of villeneueve are funny since I was just on MC and checking the list of the "Best" directors of the 2000's and he wasn't on there because of Enemy and Polytechnique

then again Sicario was his highest rated one which is bs when Arrival, Prisoners and Incendies exist but I digress

 

[Iokis]

In no particular order:

Juan de los Muertos (Spain/Cuba)
La vita è bella (Italy)
Intouchables (France)
Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex (Germany)
Lola rennt (Germany)
Seul contres tous (France)
Survive Style 5+ (Japan)
Audition (Japan)
Love Exposure (Japan)
Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico)
Borgman (Netherlands)
Funny Games (1997) (Austria)
Trollhunter (Norway)
Banlieue 13 (France)

 

[DeadRockstar]

Limited to stuff I've watched recently or I'd be here forever:

Bang Bang (1971)
Funeral Parade of Roses (1969)
Panther Panchali (1955)
Duelle (1976)
Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)
Happy Hour (2015)
House of Tolerance (2011)
Nocturama (2015) - Same director as House of Tolerance, but this might be impossible to see. I saw it at a film festival and I'm not sure it's been licensed for wider release due to its subject matter (terrorist activity in Paris), unfortunately.

Shout out to Gordon Shumway for mentioning Black Book; my favourite Verhoeven film but few people seem to have seen it compared to his fully English language films.

 

[Ratrat]

Fairwell My Concubine.
I think this is the most beautiful film I've ever seen. And the acting is so good. Rip Leslie

 

[Aselith]

13 Assassins
Full time Killer
Sword of Doom
Love Exposure

 

[HyperZone<3]

Well, gee. There's only like hundreds or so worthwhile non-English language films to see every year, depending on how widely you want to cast your net.

I've been getting into Indian films. I couldn't begin to call myself any sort of expert, but my two favs from last year were Shivaay, a quite solid punch-em-up about a Dad retrieving his kidnapped daughter (imagine an hour-longer version of Taken). I also enjoyed Kaabil, wherein a super-competent blind guy goes out on a mission of revenge.

Actually, if anybody has some picks to suggest I'm all ears. My favorite Indian film of all time the wonderfully berserk Eega AKA Makkhi (title varies in Tamil or Hindi), which is about a dude who's trying to keep his relationship going with his girlfriend and get revenge at her flagrantly evil suitor, despite having been murdered by said man and being reincarnated as a housefly. Its wonderful.

 

[venom473]

The Secret in their Eyes (Argentine/Spanish)
The Raid 1 + 2 (Indonesian)
The Hunt (Danish)
Life is Beautiful (Italian)
The Lives of Others (German)
Incendies (English/French/Arabic)

Incendies has large parts in English I think, but a lot of French and Arabic as well. It and The Hunt are among my favourite movies ever, I'd highly recommend them.

 

[jufonuk]

While not the correct name
I would recommend the Spanish Apartment Trilogy

Snowpiercer
Old boy
Intouchables
Versus
The Big Blue
Taxi series of films (french version)
Wasabi
Shaolin Soccer
Infernal affairs trilogy
The Nightwatch/Daywatch films
Delicatessen
Rec
R-Point.
Zatoichi

 

[darkwing-buck]

400 blows (french) coming of age drama

Day for night (french) Comedy

Run Lola Run (german) Thriller

High and Low (japanese) Police procedure/drama/thriller

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

Too many to list. I'll just say that Memories of Murder is the best film of the 21st century so far and everybody should watch it.

 

[iPaul93]

The Wailing
Amelie
Cinema Paradiso
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Old Boy
Memories of Murder

 

[wazoo]

I agree with lots.

For people who you enjoyed Blood Father, Richet's movies are great such as "Mesrine, public enemy"

 

[True Savior]

10 "classics": Rules of the Game, Tokyo Story, Battleship Potemkin, Cercle Rouge, Persona, Umberto D, In th Mood for Love, Conformist, Aguirre, Harakiri

Any exceptional thrillers (and action movies) that aren't South Korean or The Raid? I rented A Prophet and Das Boot thanks to this thread

80% of Johnnie To's filmography after 1997.

 

[Strax]

Any exceptional thrillers (and action movies) that aren't South Korean or The Raid? I rented A Prophet and Das Boot thanks to this thread

Jar City is pretty good

 

[Sillverrr]

Don't think Tokyo Sonata has been mentioned. Wonderful story about the pressures of modern life and cultural expectations in Japan. Fantastic acting and the ending came out of nowhere and made me cry.

 

[JoeNut]

Pans labyrinth, crouching tiger hidden dragon, Sin Nombre

 

[Thug Waffle]

Wong Kar Wai's true masterpiece.

you are one enlightened hombre

 

[Kazaam]

It would be an impossible list, so I'll just talk about this year so far. I didn't manage to see as many yet and we are only in the middle of it, but I have no problem recommending as must-see On body and soul, Visages villages, On the beach at night alone, Loveless, Summer 1993, 120 Beats per Minute, Western, My Happy Family

 

[lightskintwin]

Is this a real thing? Please god tell me it's not a real thing, Kevin Hart? Christ

 

[Hypron]

why is this even a thing

 

[Skiptastic]

I love Ashes of Time. I think every WKW film offers something different and somewhat unique, even the not so great ones. But Ashes of Time isn't a tragic stab in the gut story so much as a melancholic one. It eats away at you slowly. My favorite thing about Ashes of Time though, is reading impressions or reviews from people who actually expected a wuxia action movie. Lmao.

Oh man, expecting a wuxia action movie :lol

You are right about every WKW being unique. I haven't seen all of them, but what I've seen definitely proves that. (Have his movies post Christopher Doyle still looked good?)

 

[RoaringMdog]

Has Infernal affairs been mentioned yet? If not, Infernal Affairs is a great film.

 

[lightskintwin]

why is this even a thing

Because foreign companies like money, and sell their rights to remake their movies to America and a much bigger English speaking global market.

 

[Wensih]

Just a reminder to everyone who is interested in classics and foreign films. University libraries often host streaming services where students can access a range of movies for free. My university offers Kanopy which allows streaming of the Criterion Collection.

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

Oh no.
Why, Bryan, why?

Because foreign companies like money, and sell their rights to remake their movies to America and a much bigger English speaking global market.

You're absolutely right but I doubt it will end up making nearly as much money as the original:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=intouchables.htm

 

[Easy_D]

Let The Right One In

Yes. I'm probably biased, being Swedish and all, but it's a must watch. From what I've seen the Hollywood remake just doesn't compare, it doesn't really capture that Swedish winter melancholy that the original does.

Heavily recommended.

Let The Right One In
Pan's Labyrinth

Ah shit, Pan's Labyrinth is amazing too. Probably Del Toro's best, imo.

 

[lightskintwin]

Oh no.
Why, Bryan, why?

You're absolutely right but I doubt it will end up making nearly as much money as the original:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=intouchables.htm

Don't hate on what will clearly be the superior version. America has to show the French once again how it's truly done. LOL

You're absolutely right but I doubt it will end up making nearly as much money as the original:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=intouchables.htm

GOTDAMN, it made that much money.

The American remake is just the cherry on top of the money they've made thus far. LOL

 

[wideface]

Only going to recommend one, but it's been a while since a movie stuck with me.

The Wailing.

Came to post this.

 

[kruis]

We Are The Best is a recent one I thought was terrific. It's basically about three friends in 1980's Stockholm trying to form a punk band. It's a really fun feel-good kind of movie.

Moodysson's a great director. "Fucking Amal"(aka Show Me Love) is my favorite lesbian movie ("Blue is the Warmes Color" is a close second though). His "Lilya 4-Ever " is one of the most depressive movies ever.

 

[Cepheus]

What We Do in the Shadows is the best film about vampires since Dracula.

 

[Caode]

Let The Right One In
I Saw The Devil
Departures
Tokyo Sonata
Tokyo Story
Lady Vengeance
Oldboy
Sympathy for Mr Vengeance
Audition
Rare Exports
The Raid
The Raid 2

 

[Wensih]

What We Do in the Shadows is the best film about vampires since Dracula.

Dracula (1992) right?

 

[kruis]

Any exceptional thrillers (and action movies) that aren't South Korean or The Raid? I rented A Prophet and Das Boot thanks to this thread

The French seem to have a knack for them:

Tell No One (2006)
The Wages of Fear (1953)
MR73 (2008)
36th Precinct (2004)
Les Lyonnais (2011)
The Beat My Heart Skipped (2005)
Read My Lips (2001)

 

[Adamastor]

There's a lot of good one, but I don't think any one's mentioned Y Tu Mamá También yet, so I'll throw that in.

Trailer

 

[pottuvoi]

Chinese Ghost Story (Sien nui yau wan - 1987)

One of my favorite movies of all time.

 

[More_Badass]

The French seem to have a knack for them:

Tell No One (2006)
The Wages of Fear (1953)
MR73 (2008)
36th Precinct (2004)
Les Lyonnais (2011)
The Beat My Heart Skipped (2005)
Read My Lips (2001)

How does Wages of Fear compare to Sorcerer? I've only seen the latter

 

[tedrotheredro]

Solaris and Stalker get the fame, but my favorite Tarkovsky movie (and quite possibly my favorite movie of all time) is Andrei Rublev. It's stunningly epic and moving.

The Mirror is also a Tarkovsky favorite of mine. Bring your patience, but the visuals are out of this world.

 

[ExInferus]

La Haine

 

[SOME-MIST]

A Prophet

Nice! I was surprised I hadn't seen much Jacques Audiard till this point. My favorite of his is The Best That My Heart Skipped

And I guess another one starring Romain Duris directed by Michel Gondry, L'ecume des jours (mood indigo)

Edit:

The French seem to have a knack for them:
The Beat My Heart Skipped (2005)
Read My Lips (2001)

Dang

 

[Crankshaft]

Amelie
City of Lost Children
Crouching Tiger
House of Flying Daggers

 

[wandering]

Chinese Ghost Story (Sien nui yau wan - 1987)

One of my favorite movies of all time.

Worth it for the Daoist rap alone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpydzN9AuyU

 

[Sgt. Kabukiman]

How does Wages of Fear compare to Sorcerer? I've only seen the latter

I haven't seen either (I'll try to remedy that very soon) but Wages of Fear is generally considered to be an absolute classic while Sorcerer is a little bit more controversial but definitely has some hardcore defenders.

 

[The Main Event]

Only going to recommend one, but it's been a while since a movie stuck with me.

The Wailing.

I had no clue it was available on Netflix. Will watch it very soon.

Edit: Mixed it up with another title, loved the atmosphere in The Wailing.

I had The Handmaiden in mind, which I haven't seen yet.

 

[julrik]

My favourites are already mentioned, but Contratiempo (The Invisible Guest - Spain) is a really, really clever thriller.

It's on Netflix in Norway - might be available in US/UK as well.

 

[ogbg]

What was that Polanski and Harrison Ford combo movie?

Frantic