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WeirdThe 17 Best Foreign Films on Netflix
By Claire Spellberg
@c_spellberg
Published
May 20, 2019, 9:00 p.m. ET
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Ranked by their Rotten Tomatoes Critic Scores!
Photos: NETFLIX; Illustration: Dillen Phelps
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The Wailing
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%
This Korean horror film follows a police officer, Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won), tasked with investigating a mysterious illness wreaking havoc in a small village. The disease has already killed countless villagers, and Jong-goo believes it has something to do with a stranger living in a secluded house. Just as Jong-goo is close to discovering the truth, his daughter falls victim to the mysterious illness, complicating his ability to truly investigate the case.
[Stream The Wailing on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%
This Korean horror film follows a police officer, Jong-goo (Kwak Do-won), tasked with investigating a mysterious illness wreaking havoc in a small village. The disease has already killed countless villagers, and Jong-goo believes it has something to do with a stranger living in a secluded house. Just as Jong-goo is close to discovering the truth, his daughter falls victim to the mysterious illness, complicating his ability to truly investigate the case.
[Stream The Wailing on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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A Separation
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%
Asghar Farhadi's Iranian drama follows a couple at a crossroads in their marriage. When Simin (Laila Hatami) asks to leave Iran with her daughter, citing his need to take care of his elderly father. Simin files for divorce, igniting a controversy that leaves their daughter squarely in the middle. The winner of the 2012 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, A Separation will move you with its emotional portrayal of a family in crisis.
[Stream A Separation on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99%
Asghar Farhadi's Iranian drama follows a couple at a crossroads in their marriage. When Simin (Laila Hatami) asks to leave Iran with her daughter, citing his need to take care of his elderly father. Simin files for divorce, igniting a controversy that leaves their daughter squarely in the middle. The winner of the 2012 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, A Separation will move you with its emotional portrayal of a family in crisis.
[Stream A Separation on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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The Cakemaker
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
Ofir Raul Grazier's Israeli-German drama stars Thomas Kalkhof as Thomas, a young German baker, and Sarah Adler as a cafe owner and widow named Anat. Unbeknownst to Anat, Thomas was once having an affair with her late husband, Oren; when Oren dies, Thomas travels to Israel and gets a job at Anat's cafe. As the two begin to process their grief, they grow close and bond over their shared love of food, but Thomas' secret threatens to destroy the carefully-crafted life he's set up for himself in Israel.
[Stream The Cakemaker on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%
Ofir Raul Grazier's Israeli-German drama stars Thomas Kalkhof as Thomas, a young German baker, and Sarah Adler as a cafe owner and widow named Anat. Unbeknownst to Anat, Thomas was once having an affair with her late husband, Oren; when Oren dies, Thomas travels to Israel and gets a job at Anat's cafe. As the two begin to process their grief, they grow close and bond over their shared love of food, but Thomas' secret threatens to destroy the carefully-crafted life he's set up for himself in Israel.
[Stream The Cakemaker on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
Netflix has tons of Oscar-winning fare on its service. Another Best Foreign Language Film winner, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a Mandarin-language film about a young Chinese warrior, a famed swordsman, and a private security company exec. Under the direction of Ang Lee, stars Chow Yun-fat, Zhang Ziyi, and Michelle Yeoh (yes, Crazy Rich Asians' Eleanor) shine, but more importantly for action fans, they kick some serious ass.
[Stream Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%
Netflix has tons of Oscar-winning fare on its service. Another Best Foreign Language Film winner, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a Mandarin-language film about a young Chinese warrior, a famed swordsman, and a private security company exec. Under the direction of Ang Lee, stars Chow Yun-fat, Zhang Ziyi, and Michelle Yeoh (yes, Crazy Rich Asians' Eleanor) shine, but more importantly for action fans, they kick some serious ass.
[Stream Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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Roma
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Alfonso Cuaron's Oscar-winning drama is a masterpiece. The ultra-personal film stars Yalitzia Aparicio as Cleo, a live-in nanny and housekeeper in Mexico City in the 1970s, a time of profound change. As protests rage around the house, Cleo battles her own inner demons, as well as the realities of domestic work. A moving portrait of racial and economic disparities, Roma is perhaps the best film of 2018. Stream it now on Netflix.
[Stream Roma on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Alfonso Cuaron's Oscar-winning drama is a masterpiece. The ultra-personal film stars Yalitzia Aparicio as Cleo, a live-in nanny and housekeeper in Mexico City in the 1970s, a time of profound change. As protests rage around the house, Cleo battles her own inner demons, as well as the realities of domestic work. A moving portrait of racial and economic disparities, Roma is perhaps the best film of 2018. Stream it now on Netflix.
[Stream Roma on Netflix]
Photo: Netflix
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The Pianist
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Roman Polanski's 2002 Best Picture nominee tells the story of real-life Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Jewish pianist living in Warsaw, Poland when the Nazi regime took over the country. Szpilman is later sent to Treblinka, where he becomes a slave laborer. While Szpilman eventually escapes, his journey is far from over, as he's forced to grapple with the atrocities of the Holocaust for years to come.
[Stream The Pianist on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Roman Polanski's 2002 Best Picture nominee tells the story of real-life Holocaust survivor Władysław Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Jewish pianist living in Warsaw, Poland when the Nazi regime took over the country. Szpilman is later sent to Treblinka, where he becomes a slave laborer. While Szpilman eventually escapes, his journey is far from over, as he's forced to grapple with the atrocities of the Holocaust for years to come.
[Stream The Pianist on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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Train to Busan
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
The first of two train-centric films on this list, Train to Busan follows a group of passengers who must fight for their lives amid a zombie apocalypse. The passengers try to quarantine their zombified counterparts in certain cars, but their efforts prove to be in vain, as the zombies are much more powerful than they look. Will anyone manage to make it to Busan alive? Watch Train to Busan to find out.
[Stream Train to Busan on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
The first of two train-centric films on this list, Train to Busan follows a group of passengers who must fight for their lives amid a zombie apocalypse. The passengers try to quarantine their zombified counterparts in certain cars, but their efforts prove to be in vain, as the zombies are much more powerful than they look. Will anyone manage to make it to Busan alive? Watch Train to Busan to find out.
[Stream Train to Busan on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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Pan's Labyrinth
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Before cleaning up at the 2018 Oscars with The Shape of Water, director Guillermo del Toro put his stamp on another Oscar-nominated flick, Pan's Labyrinth. The Spanish-language film follows a young woman, Ofelia, in 1940s Spain who is drawn into a fantasy world inhabited by mythical creatures. As Ofelia's home life becomes increasingly hostile, she immerses herself further into the magical realm, and soon, she becomes obsessed with leaving the real world behind for good.
[Stream Pan's Labyrinth on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
Before cleaning up at the 2018 Oscars with The Shape of Water, director Guillermo del Toro put his stamp on another Oscar-nominated flick, Pan's Labyrinth. The Spanish-language film follows a young woman, Ofelia, in 1940s Spain who is drawn into a fantasy world inhabited by mythical creatures. As Ofelia's home life becomes increasingly hostile, she immerses herself further into the magical realm, and soon, she becomes obsessed with leaving the real world behind for good.
[Stream Pan's Labyrinth on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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Snowpiercer
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
In Snowpiercer, a collaboration between Korean and Czech production teams, Chris Evans stars as Curtis Everett, a lower-class passenger aboard the Snowpiercer train. For over 15 years, the Snowpiercer has carried the last humans alive on Earth after an attempt to counteract global warming went awry, and now, in 2031, its passengers are starting to get restless. Tired of living in brutal conditions, Curtis leads a revolt against the elite at the front of the train -- a challenge that soon proves deadly.
[Stream Snowpiercer on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
In Snowpiercer, a collaboration between Korean and Czech production teams, Chris Evans stars as Curtis Everett, a lower-class passenger aboard the Snowpiercer train. For over 15 years, the Snowpiercer has carried the last humans alive on Earth after an attempt to counteract global warming went awry, and now, in 2031, its passengers are starting to get restless. Tired of living in brutal conditions, Curtis leads a revolt against the elite at the front of the train -- a challenge that soon proves deadly.
[Stream Snowpiercer on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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The Innocents (Les Innocentes)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
This French drama from Anne Fontaine follows a group of Polish nuns who were raped and impregnated by Russian soldiers during World War II. A Red Cross doctor, Mathilde, steps in to treat the nuns, many of whom are physically, emotionally, and spiritually traumatized by the attack. A harrowing and nuanced portrait of trauma, The Innocents is a foreign drama well worth the watch.
[Stream The Innocents on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
This French drama from Anne Fontaine follows a group of Polish nuns who were raped and impregnated by Russian soldiers during World War II. A Red Cross doctor, Mathilde, steps in to treat the nuns, many of whom are physically, emotionally, and spiritually traumatized by the attack. A harrowing and nuanced portrait of trauma, The Innocents is a foreign drama well worth the watch.
[Stream The Innocents on Netflix]
Photo: Netflix
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Burning (Beoning)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
This Cannes darling follows Lee Jong-su (Ah-in Yoo), an aspiring writer who is asked to look after a childhood neighbor's cat. When his old neighbor, Shin Hae-mi (Jong-seo Jun), returns, she introduces Jong-su to Ben (Steven Yeun), a man she met while traveling. But Ben has a dark secret, and before long, the group is drawn into a mysterious world with potentially deadly consequences.
[Stream Burning on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94%
This Cannes darling follows Lee Jong-su (Ah-in Yoo), an aspiring writer who is asked to look after a childhood neighbor's cat. When his old neighbor, Shin Hae-mi (Jong-seo Jun), returns, she introduces Jong-su to Ben (Steven Yeun), a man she met while traveling. But Ben has a dark secret, and before long, the group is drawn into a mysterious world with potentially deadly consequences.
[Stream Burning on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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The Lives of Others
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Another Best Foreign Language Oscar winner in the house. This German flick tells the story of an East German spy who is tasked with spying on a playwright and his lover. The spy soon becomes absorbed by his target's relationship and life, and before long, he begins to question everything he thought he knew about his job. Part spy thriller, part relationship drama, and part Cold War period piece, The Lives of Others is a perfect addition to your next film night -- just make sure no one is watching you.
[Stream The Lives of Others on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Another Best Foreign Language Oscar winner in the house. This German flick tells the story of an East German spy who is tasked with spying on a playwright and his lover. The spy soon becomes absorbed by his target's relationship and life, and before long, he begins to question everything he thought he knew about his job. Part spy thriller, part relationship drama, and part Cold War period piece, The Lives of Others is a perfect addition to your next film night -- just make sure no one is watching you.
[Stream The Lives of Others on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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Y Tu Mamá También
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Over 15 years before Roma, Alfonso Cuaron found success with another Spanish-language drama, Y Tu Mamá También. Cuaron's coming-of-age story centers on two teenage boys (Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal) who take a road trip with a woman in her late twenties, Luisa (Maribel Verdu). As the trio travels around rural Mexico, they have sex and do drugs, but they also attempt to grapple with the political and economic realities of late-1990s Mexican society.
[Stream Y Tu Mamá También on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%
Over 15 years before Roma, Alfonso Cuaron found success with another Spanish-language drama, Y Tu Mamá También. Cuaron's coming-of-age story centers on two teenage boys (Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal) who take a road trip with a woman in her late twenties, Luisa (Maribel Verdu). As the trio travels around rural Mexico, they have sex and do drugs, but they also attempt to grapple with the political and economic realities of late-1990s Mexican society.
[Stream Y Tu Mamá También on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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City of God (Cidade de Deus)
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Fernando Meirelles' 2002 action-drama charts the rise of two young men as they navigate the drug-filled world of Rio de Janiero. The story is told from the perspective of Buscape, a young photographer who captures the brutal drug war on camera -- a talent which he soon realizes may provide his only means of escaping the never-ending cycle of gang violence.
[Stream City of God on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Fernando Meirelles' 2002 action-drama charts the rise of two young men as they navigate the drug-filled world of Rio de Janiero. The story is told from the perspective of Buscape, a young photographer who captures the brutal drug war on camera -- a talent which he soon realizes may provide his only means of escaping the never-ending cycle of gang violence.
[Stream City of God on Netflix]
Photo: Netflix
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District 9
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
This South African sci-fi film centers on a race of stranded aliens who have been confined to an internment camp in Johannesburg for many years. After living in slum-like conditions for almost 30 years, the aliens form a resistance movement, and thanks to the help of a rogue government agent (Sharlto Copley), they have a real chance at obtaining freedom. District 9 went on to be nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, so if you're looking for an award-worthy sci-fi flick to sink your teeth into, this is the one for you.
[Stream District 9 on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
This South African sci-fi film centers on a race of stranded aliens who have been confined to an internment camp in Johannesburg for many years. After living in slum-like conditions for almost 30 years, the aliens form a resistance movement, and thanks to the help of a rogue government agent (Sharlto Copley), they have a real chance at obtaining freedom. District 9 went on to be nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, so if you're looking for an award-worthy sci-fi flick to sink your teeth into, this is the one for you.
[Stream District 9 on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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Kung Fu Hustle
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Another Chinese martial arts flick featuring Stephen Chow, Kung Fu Hustle centers on a wannabe gangster in 1940s Shanghai. Chow's Sing dreams of joining the notorious Axe Gang, but he begins to change his tune when he realizes the sinister nature of the group. Since its release in 2005, Kung Fu Hustle has become something of a cult classic, so if you've been wondering what all the fuss is about, now's the perfect time to check it out.
[Stream Kung Fu Hustle on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Another Chinese martial arts flick featuring Stephen Chow, Kung Fu Hustle centers on a wannabe gangster in 1940s Shanghai. Chow's Sing dreams of joining the notorious Axe Gang, but he begins to change his tune when he realizes the sinister nature of the group. Since its release in 2005, Kung Fu Hustle has become something of a cult classic, so if you've been wondering what all the fuss is about, now's the perfect time to check it out.
[Stream Kung Fu Hustle on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
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Blue is the Warmest Color
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
Blue is the Warmest Color isn't all about the sex; it's also a moving portrait of love and loss. The French film follows Emma (Léa Seydoux), a French teenager, and Adele (Adèle Exarchopoulos), an aspiring painter, at various stages in their relationship, which spans over a decade. As the women flit through each other's lives, they discover their sexuality, contend with class issues, and question what it really means to love someone.
[Stream Blue is the Warmest Color on Netflix]
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 89%
Blue is the Warmest Color isn't all about the sex; it's also a moving portrait of love and loss. The French film follows Emma (Léa Seydoux), a French teenager, and Adele (Adèle Exarchopoulos), an aspiring painter, at various stages in their relationship, which spans over a decade. As the women flit through each other's lives, they discover their sexuality, contend with class issues, and question what it really means to love someone.
[Stream Blue is the Warmest Color on Netflix]
Photo: Everett Collection
