The 10 Best Foreign Language Films on Streaming
2024-10-14 · 5 min read
The label foreign language film is reductive, but the category contains some of the most powerful cinema ever made, and streaming platforms have made it more accessible than ever. These ten films represent essential viewing that will expand your understanding of what cinema can achieve.
Parasite by Bong Joon-ho on Hulu is the gateway drug. A poor family infiltrates a wealthy household, and what follows is a genre-shifting masterpiece that moves from comedy to thriller to horror without a single wasted frame. It won four Oscars including Best Picture. If you've been avoiding subtitles, start here.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire by Celine Sciamma on Hulu is the most visually stunning romance film of the century. Set in 18th-century Brittany, a painter falls in love with the woman she's been commissioned to paint. Every frame is composed like a painting. The final scene is devastating.
The Handmaiden by Park Chan-wook on Amazon Prime is an erotic thriller set in 1930s Korea under Japanese occupation. The plot twists are genuinely shocking, the visual design is jaw-dropping, and the central love story is both transgressive and deeply romantic.
Drive My Car by Ryusuke Hamaguchi on Max is three hours of mostly people talking about Chekhov, grief, and communication. It won Best International Feature at the Oscars and deserved Best Picture. The patient accumulation of emotional weight makes its final act one of cinema's most cathartic experiences.
Roma by Alfonso Cuaron on Netflix is a semi-autobiographical memory piece about a domestic worker in 1970s Mexico City. Shot in luminous black and white with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, it's a technical masterpiece that also functions as a tender portrait of the women who hold families together.
Other essential picks include Shoplifters by Hirokazu Kore-eda on Hulu, A Separation by Asghar Farhadi on Criterion Channel, The Lives of Others on Netflix, Yi Yi by Edward Yang on Criterion, and Amour by Michael Haneke for the most honest film about aging ever made.
