Foreign Movies That I Saw in 2018 That I Can Recommend

I have been finding some excellent foreign films on Netflix, often enjoying them more than those made in this country.


1.  Dunkirk.  2017. US, UK, France, Netherlands.  Gritty.  Another historical drama.  Little dialogue.  It's more as if you are part of the scene, present at the time as German troops force the allies onto the beaches at Dunkirk where they are being strafed as the big ships there to take them home are being sunk.  No Americans are present since the U.S. hasn't yet entered the war.

2.  From the Land of the Moon.  2016.  France.  A passionate French woman (Marion Cotillard) must decide between her husband who fought in Spain and a young man wounded in France's Indochina war. Beautiful settings.  An interesting, complex story line.

3.  Goodbye, Christopher Robin.  2017.  UK.  Bio drama about A. A. Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh.  It concentrates on the family's troubles following WWI all the way up to WWII.

4.  Lemon Tree.  2008.  Israel.  Based on a true story of an Israeli Defense Minister whose department orders the lemon grove next door to be cut down so that it might not harbor terrorists.   Since the orchard is her livelihood and harbors no terrorists, the owner, a Palestinian widow, takes the case to the Israeli supreme court.  Poignant.

5.  The Fencer.  2015.  Estonia and Finland.  Set in the late '40s and early '50s, this is the story of a man who takes a teaching position in a small Estonian village school to hide from the KGB.  He is a fencing champion and starts a sporting club of students who become good enough to go on to a tournament, but by taking them there, he then exposes his identity.  A true story.

6.  The Syrian Bride.  2004.  Israel, France, Germany.  The story is set in a Druze village in the Golan Heights right on the Israeli-Syrian border.  Living there creates untold troubles for the residents ... such as making it seemingly impossible (due to political strictures) for the bride on one side of the border and the groom on the other to physically reach each other.

7.  The Treasure.  2015.  Romania.  A lovely little film.  Two men attempt to find a great grandfather's buried treasure in the family garden.  It's very slow-paced, amusing in its little bits of business, with a very adequate ending (not to be a spoiler and tell all).  In Romanian.

8.  The Wedding Plan.  2016.  Israel.  A moving film.  After a decade of looking for someone to marry (even the matchmakers aren't successful), a young woman decides to trust that God will provide and goes ahead with wedding plans though a groom hasn't yet shown up.  In Hebrew.

9.  The Women's Balcony.  2016.  Israel.  A group of neighborhood women work at patching up a rift in their community with the help of a new charismatic rabbi.  In Hebrew.

10.  Things to Come.  (L'Avenir).  2016.  France and Germany.  Set in Paris and the Grenoble area.  Less plot, more reporting about the daily life of the main character, a fifty-ish philosophy professor who follows a good life--job, husband, children, Parisian apartment--but then finds that everything shifts as she acquires a new freedom that she doesn't realize comes with choices that are up to her to make.  Isabella Huppert.

U.S. Movies That I Saw in 2018 That I Can Recommend

The popcorn aisle

1.  Allied.  2016.  Brad Pitt is a Canadian in World War II who meets and marries a French woman (Marion Cotillard) who is later accused of being a German spy.  Is she?  Isn't she?

2.  Brooklyn.  2015.  From the book by Colm Toibin.  A romance about a young Irish immigrant who lives in 1950's Brooklyn but then has to decide between two different men--one back in Ireland and one in the U.S.  Beautifully done.  Many subtleties plus intelligent acting.

3.  Chef.  2014.  This is the kind of movie I love--fun, nice music (Cuban), good food, no one's hitting anyone, good story line, good actors including Robert Downey Jr. in a playful role.  A chef leaves the restaurant where he works and goes back to basics opening a food truck which proves to be the perfect work for him to get back on his feet and spend time with his 10-year-old son.

4.  Darkest Hour.  2017.  US and UK.  Historical war drama.  How words can inspire--the "we will fight them on the beaches" speech when Churchill, as someone said, "mobilized the English language and sent it into battle."  Through words, spirit, courage, at their darkest hour, the English were able to prevail and Churchill was able to speak for the people and carry out the country's destiny through those words which astonished everyone and brought them to a new place--a place they hadn't really tapped but that he tapped for them.  Gary Oldman is Churchill.  Excellent.  Joe Wright is the director.  Look him up; he's done some beautiful work.

5.  A Dog's Purpose.  2017.  I loved this movie--a comedy-drama directed by Lasse Hallstrom.  Wonderful.  In realizing that he's being re-incarnated, a dog begins to wonder what the purpose of his life is.  "Here we go again," he says to himself at the beginning of each new puppy-hood, " ... but just what is this life stuff all about?"  He decides it all boils down to "Be here now."  A charming film.

6.  Gifted.  2017.  Whether to let a 7-year old girl who is a mathematical genius be a child or send her off into an adult's world to solve some of the Millennium Problems, as they are called.  Her uncle has taken her in on the death of her mother and hopes he is doing the right thing by letting her enjoy her childhood and learning to socialize with others her age.  Her grandmother has a different vision for her.  Mostly set in Florida.

7.  Inside Job.  2010.  Documentary narrated by Matt Damon about the 2008 financial meltdown.  Wonderfully executed.

8.  Mark Felt.  2017.  A biopic that mostly seems to hit the high spots of the Watergate affair.  Liam Neeson plays Mark Felt, aka Deep Throat.  The film is okay but very superficial.  It's also very dark, very hard to see as if the whole thing was taken at night with no extra lights.

9.  The Post.  2017.  Same era.  A well-done rendering of That Time.  But, again, this movie seems to have been filmed at night, everything is dark and hard to see.  Okay for an effect and metaphor but not easy to watch.  Tom Hanks is always good.