Non-American movie recommendations

[twistedmic]

Can anyone out there recommend some non-American movies, either live action or animated, to watch? Just about any genre would be fine, except for blood and torture flicks (Saw and Hostel type movies) and movies heavy on slapstick and visual puns (anything with Leslie Neilsen for example). I enjoy foreign movies from time to time and I'd like to hear (or read) about some good foreign (non-American) movies.

 

[Dags90]

Cube is an indie foreign film popular in nerd circles. It's a psychological/suspense horror, "Kafkaesque" gets thrown around a lot in describing it. Let the Right One In will also undoubtedly be mentioned as well.

 

[fnlrpa]

Stalker. It is a creepy post apocliptic film made in russia. Heavily influenced Stalker: SOC

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

The Audition is a good one i can tell you.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I highly recommend it, at least.

 

[Blemontea]

Jackie Chan: Drunken Master
and for once he plays an asshole instead of the nice guy.

 

[WolfThomas]

By Fire and Sword. It's a polish film with subs about a little known (outside of the region) period of their history with massive wars between Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Sweden. Lots of fighting, humour and romance. The books it's based on (this is the first) are so popular they are simply called "The trilogy" in Poland. Also they've finally translated the mount and blade spin-off to English and are about to release it any day.

The Girl with the Dragon tattoo and sequels, the original Swedish version with subs. I actually didn't enjoy the Millenium books that much, but the adaptions are really good, they streamline the plot and make both characters (especially Micke) less Mary-sueish.

 

[PunkyMcGee]

Scott Pilgrim! (it's Canadian)

seriously though OSS-117 it's a french spy movie in the style of the Airplane

EDITED (for spelling): thanks for the correction, Blue_vision!

 

[Shreder55]

If you mean not American then Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz both are very funny

If you mean not in English some of the Godzilla films are good for some entertainment.

 

[New Vegas Samurai]

The Devil's Backbone, REC, Audition, Kung Fu Hustle,
and even though it's very American, Go watch Moon, great indie flick with Sam Rockwell Acting REALLY well

EDIT: Ooh! Dead Alive too!

 

[Distazo]

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, One of the funniest movies I have ever seen and has pretty good suspense and action. The thick british accents made it very difficult for me to understand everything that was going on the first time. Its one of the movies that gets better everytime you see it.

 

[Blue Musician]

I highly recommend it, at least.

What is it about? I saw that cover a while back...

OT: All About Lily Chou Chou. Just note that it is a really sad film. It has a great music too!

 

[WildSeraph]

Kung Fu Hustle might be a bit too slapstick for you, but it's mostly a parody of Kung Fu movies. It's very good, and one of my favourite foreign live-action films.

 

[twistedmic]

If you mean not American then Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz both are very funny

If you mean not in English some of the Godzilla films are good for some entertainment.

Either way. I've already seen, and own both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. And I do enjoy watching asian films as well.

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, One of the funniest movies I have ever seen and has pretty good suspense and action. The thick british accents made it very difficult for me to understand everything that was going on the first time. Its one of the movies that gets better everytime you see it.

That is one of my favorite movies, so is Snatch. I've also seen and enjoyed RocknRolla and Revolver (even though it made my head hurt trying to figure it out).

 

[twistedmic]

Kung Fu Hustle might be a bit too slapstick for you, but it's mostly a parody of Kung Fu movies. It's very good, and one of my favourite foreign live-action films.

Already own it, and while it did have a good bit of slapstick it wasn't as ridiculous or pointless as what I've seen in other movies.

 

[Veloxe]

Ip Man.

 

[Spadge]

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, One of the funniest movies I have ever seen and has pretty good suspense and action. The thick british accents made it very difficult for me to understand everything that was going on the first time. Its one of the movies that gets better everytime you see it.

Highly recommended. Others with Guy Richie as director: Snatch, Rock'n'Rolla, Sherlock Holmes.

Australian film... it'll be a short list
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Mad Max
Two Hands
Animal Kingdom
The Proposition
The Castle
Romper Stomper

 

[latenightapplepie]

I highly recommend it, at least.

Ninjas, damn.

On topic: Um, I enjoyed Mongol. It was an intergovernmental coproduction between companies in Germany, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia. So it's four times non-American!

 

[Blue_vision]

Scott Pilgrim! (it's Canadian)
seriously though OSI-117 (that's what i think it's called not 100%) it's a french spy movie in the style of the Airplane

Both of these are excellent. There's OSS 117: Cairo, nest of spies, and OSS 117: Lost in Rio, which are both great.

I'd suggest Paint it Saffron, My Name is Khan, Kites, and Asoka, if that's what you were thinking of by "non-american" movies. All very good. Hero and Oldboy are also pretty good, just from a glance at my DVD library.

 

[octafish]

Delicatessen: A French post apocalyptic comedy, a modern classic.

Black Cat White Cat: A Yugoslav film about crazy Romany criminals, it actually defies description a bit. Great music.

Solaris: Some people hate Tarkovsky, some people love him. This is a Soviet Era sci-fi that was remade with George Clooney.

Cyclo: Vietnamese film about being down and out in Saigon, (and the origins of the Blue Man Group). Avoid if you like happy endings.

Hana-bi: Takeshi Kitano film about a retired policeman. Still, solemn, with moments of explosive violence. Beat Takeshi is Japan's pre-eminent film-maker and a difficult guy to nail down.