Like Water for Chocolate
With the gorgeous period costumes, the romance, and the familial dynamics, you would think that Like Water for Chocolate’s latest…
Jean de Florette
Dir. Claude Berri
As the Provence countryside is painted in golden sunshine, Jean de Florette seems like a straightforward period drama, celebrating the…
Story of Women
Dir. Claude Chabrol
Based on the true story of the last French woman executed by guillotine, Story of Women depicts wartime survival under…
Shanghai Triad
Dir. Zhang Yimou
To pacify Chinese authorities after politically-charged drama To Live (1994), filmmaker Zhang Yimou decided to pivot to the gangster genre…
The Promise
Dir. Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne
The Promise has all the trappings of a sleazy crime drama, but there’s a sense of innocence buried underneath all…
Kon-Tiki
Dir. Espen Sandberg & Joachim Rønning
Adventure films now seem to only be CGI blockbusters, but it used to be about real world exploration. They were…
La Femme Nikita
Dir. Luc Besson
Before assassin protege Mathilda in Léon the Professional, humanoid Leeloo in The Fifth Element, and superpowered drug mule Lucy in…
Joyeux Noel
Dir. Christian Carion
Christmas isn’t usually the best time to watch a tense war drama, but there were some Christmases where war was…
A Royal Affair
Dir. Nikolaj Arcel
If you’ve been paying close attention to Royal Families in general, then get a snack and settle in, because A…
Like Water for Chocolate
Dir. Alfonso Arau
Food can warm you, can nourish you, and can make you feel so much better. Food is also the way…
Rust and Bone
Dir. Jacques Audiard
This is the type of movie I completely fell in love with but cannot articulate exactly why. Maybe it’s the…
Amores Perros
Dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu & Alejandro González Iñárritu
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s cleverly layered directorial feature film debut follows three persons whose lives are connected by a car crash…
Broken Embraces
Dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Is there any other filmmaker more suited to the melodrama than Pedro Almodóvar? Broken Embraces holds many of the themes…
The Baader Meinhof Complex
Dir. Uli Edel
Given how plenty of the issues mentioned still linger today, The Baader Meinhof Complex is hesitant to take a side…
Tangerines
Dir. Zaza Urushadze
A beautiful and touching story about staying true to your inner morals and humanity in the middle of a raging…
The Motorcycle Diaries
Dir. Walter Salles
Let’s fight! I’m not a fan of “Into the wild” okay okay, calm down… Maybe we can fix this. Maybe…
Lust, Caution
Dir. Ang Lee
During wartime, war supersedes everything, including love. Wartime would have people ending relationships, forgoing potential dates, and seducing enemies to…
The Kite Runner
Dir. Marc Forster
From one of the most compelling books of this generation, comes the good movie that aims to tell the tale…
Behind the Sun
Dir. Walter Salles
Brazilian badlands, April 1910. Tonho is ordered by his father to avenge the death of his older brother. The young…
I’ve Loved You So Long
Dir. Philippe Claudel
A woman struggles to interact with her family and find her place in society after spending fifteen years in prison.
The Return
Dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
The relationships among two pre-pubescent brothers and their estranged father are tested on a trip into the Russian wilderness.
Salaam Bombay!
Dir. Mira Nair
After destroying his older brother’s motorbike in retaliation for his constant bullying, 11-year-old Krishna is sent to a traveling circus…
Monsoon Wedding
Dir. Mira Nair
As the romantic monsoon rains loom, the extended Verma family reunites from around the globe for a last-minute arranged marriage…
Good Bye, Lenin
Dir. Wolfgang Becker
An intriguing, funny and rather bizarre movie which serves as a fantastic introduction to ‘new-wave’ German cinema. Featuring a cast…
Good Bye, Lenin!
Dir. Wolfgang Becker
Alex Kerner’s mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to…
Kung Fu Hustle
Dir. Stephen Chow
It’s the 1940s, and the notorious Axe Gang terrorizes Shanghai. Small-time criminals Sing and Bone hope to join, but they…
Monsieur Ibrahim
Dir. François Dupeyron
Paris, 1960s. Momo, a resolute and independent Jewish teenager who lives with his father, a sullen and depressed man, in…
Apocalypto
Dir. Mel Gibson
Set in the Mayan civilization, when a man’s idyllic presence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force, he is…
The Wind Rises
Dir. Hayao Miyazaki
In what was originally intended to be his final film, Hayao Miyazaki is at his most lucid with The Wind…