3d ago

What's your favorite movie that is in a language which you do not speak?

241 comments

Pan’s Labyrinth for me
- I love it because it's one of the few dark fantasy movies natively made in Spanish. The dead fascists are a bonus.
  One of my favorite details that is easy to miss if you aren't a native speaker is that Pan speaks in medieval Spanish. It honestly almost sounds like French
  
  I can't find anything to really support the note about the faun speaking an early version of Spanish; do you have a link I could read/watch?
  I've found people noting that Doug Jones is dubbed by the Spanish voice actor into Castilian (rather than any Central or South American dialect) and that his language is formal and somewhat archaic.

I mean it's gotta be Parasite (the Korean Movie)
- I would enter "memories of murder". It goes toe to toe with Rear Window as one of the best suspense movies ever made, and MOM would go on my top 50 in any language any genre.
  
  I was just going to say Memories of Murder. It's my favorite Bong Joon Ho film, and possibly my favorite Korean language film (that I've seen).
  It's so fucking good. The fight scenes have to be some of the most realistic looking I've seen. At times it looks like they're really throwing each other around. There's one scene where the main cop guy comes flying in from off screen and full on drop kicks a dude, and he commits completely. Made me lol the first time I saw it, I had to rewind and watch it again.
- I hated that movie, so predictable I had to stop watching.

Spirited Away or Run Lola Run
Spirited Away is so good in Japanese and does lose something being dubbed. Run Lola Run is so good in German, I don't know if there is a dub because there is no reason to seek it, the dialogue was perfect for subtitling and the story is based on slightly different loops in time so you pick up what is happening each loop through. Very cool.
- Likewise with Kiki's Delivery Service for me, although probably because Disney felt the need to fuck with the music as well as the dialogue in their dub.
  How this did not result in Miyazaki, Hisaishi, and Sugimura going on a rampage in Disney's offices with their katana, Walther P-38, and magnum is beyond me.

Godzilla minus one

There are so many, but I think my first choice would probably have to be Seven Samurai. It is such an amazing piece of cinema. One of the most influential pieces that has inspired almost all of the film we still see today.
- Great choice. In a similar vein - Rififi.
  
  Very solid choice! It's another one that has been an inspiration to so much of modern cinema.
- Came here to write this, so many movie tropes have their roots in that movie and Kurosawas genius directing. Also the sounds and emotions in the original Japanese language are so brilliantly conveyed, it loses so much in dubbing.
- that rain... love it
- that rain... love it

Shaolin Soccer
- Shaolin Soccer is great, but I think Kung-Fu Hustle edges it out for me.

Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, hands down. Possibly the best movie ever made. Every shot is just beautiful.

Not actually my favorite as that's too difficult, but Kung Fu Hustle is great
- I'm here to laud Kung Fu Hustle as a masterpiece. The knife throwing scene... Peak physical comedy.

Das Boot, maybe.
- The movie about starting up a German computer
  
  I heard they're doing a remake, Das Reboot
- This is a good one as is Good Bye, Lenin!
  
  Goodbye Lenin is fantastic.
  The Lives of Others is amazing too.
- and the 5 hour version. I still got the dvd and it wasn’t easy to find.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Troll Hunter
- Such a fun movie.

Yojimbo
- Akira Kurosawa + Toshiro Mifune = Some of the best movies ever!

Old Boy.

Battle Royale.
Pretty sure it was the first foreign language film I've watched.

RRR is fantastic
- This one is just off the hook, very enjoyable
- I will never understand the love for this movie.
  There is no end to the cheap “plot twists” a filmmaker can get away with if the audience is willing to accept “lol everyone was hypnotized” as an explanation for glaring holes in the narrative.
  
  Did you respond to the wrong comment? Because I’m having trouble imagining what you could possibly be referring to

Amélie
- It has been over 20 years since I have seen Amélie but it still lives rent free in my head. What a lovely warm whimsical movie with a fantastic soundtrack.
  
  They made a musical of it a while back. It didn't do very well on Broadway, but it had some good songs in my opinion.

I've really enjoyed Parasite, I didn't scroll to read everyone's answers but didn't see that one mentioned
- I think the marketing needs a tweek. I went in expecting a horror.

Pan's Labyrinth
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
I admit that the list of foreign made films I am familiar is quite small.
- Love both of those!
  Also Talk to Her, Amelie and Run Lola Run.
  Crouching Tiger's probably my #1.
- I didn't even realize Pan's Labyrinth wasn't in English... I need to watch more movies.

Kung Fu Hustle
- Excellent film, and shaolin soccer is brilliant too from the same guy. Steven chow.
  
  Came here to mention this one, and here it is! I love Shaolin Soccer.
- Right on. At least half of Stephen Chow's catalog came to mind when I read this question.

City of Lost Children is my pick. It has such amazing worldbuilding. Drops you in cold with no apologies and trusts you to just go on the ride.
- Oh what a ride it is.. that scene with the ship.. Holy cats!
  My favorite line.. "Silence, legume!"
- The flea scene blew me away the first time I saw it. Still does. Also, Ron Perlman is always awesome.

7 Samauri, I am not fluent in Japanese but was conversational. That movie illustrates the Japanese and their system of honor, which can be very odd and flexible.

City of God
- If you liked that you might also enjoy Elite Squad.

Let the right one in.
There was also a French film very similar to Chappie that was decent.
- Let the Right one in is such an excellent movie!
- Great movie!!

Les untouchables. Way better than the American remake.
- Is that the same as Intouchables? If so, I loved that film!
  
  "Come over here. READ. Now you print, print, print and get out of here!"
- American remake
  (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
  Why would anyone remake a perfect film?
  
  Why wouldn't you want to inject Kevin Hart and Jared Leto into the perfect film? Sounds like audiences would really go for that combo!
- Great film. Brilliant performances. I think the actor playing Driss is one of the most charismatic. He really nails that role.
  
  Omar Sy

Let the Right One In
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Amelie
Ong Bak
Banlieue-13/District B13

The Triplets of Belleville
- Literally no speaking. Solid choice.
  
  Not true, there are like 10 sentences in the whole movie! But yeah, you can understand this movie without speaking the language.

Der Untergang

The only possible answer to this is Amelie.
- Surely there are native French speakers in this thread.
  
  Maybe but they would likely pretend otherwise so that they could answer with Amelie as well!

Probably Your Name for me. Beautiful movie, score, story, art.
- Ditto, easily one of my favorite movies of any genre
- Great choice

Oh man, tough...
Cinema Paradiso
Amelie
The Spanish Apartment
All come to mind first.
- Cinema Paradiso is a masterpiece.
  
  Until you watch the extended version

Nausicaa

Train to busan
- My pic as well! Korean cinema is cranking out bangers these days.

My Neighbor Totoro
- All of the Ghibli movies are great, though they're some of the only foreign films I will watch dubbed, because the voice casts they get are insane. The English dub of Totoro with the Fanning sisters while they were still children is just fantastic.
  
  The sketchy site I used only had the Japanese version unfortunately.
- Such a perfect heartwarming movie.

Ong Bak 2. That movie is one of the best martial arts films I’ve seen.

Seven Samurai!

So many, it's hard to pick. But a few off the top of my head
*The lives of others (Germany, 2006)
*Akira (Japan, 1988)
*Red Beard (Japan, 1965)
*The Seventh Seal (Sweden, 1957)

Tampopo
- I always upvote Juzo Itami.
  
  Makes me think I should watch the rest of his movies.

Two from me that haven't yet been mentioned (as far as I can see)
Dark Water: A beautiful Japanese horror that was released at a similar time to Ringu, but didn't get an English language remake.
City of God: A stunning portrait of gang rivalry in Rio de Janiero that bears repeat viewings.
- City of God is great. Watched it as part of some recommended films list and it stuck with me.
  
  City of God has the best child acting of any movie I've ever seen. It is so good I sorta suspect they weren't even acting in some scenes. I have to imagine they straight up pulled in random kids and told them they were going to gun them down in the street and just filmed it.
- Would you believe, there was a Dark Water English remake?
  
  Have seen both. The original is better.
  
  Well, TIL

Life is Beautiful is one of my favorites that should really only be watched with subtitles. It's a really sad movie, but sticks with you in a good way.

Without being able to log into my Jellyfin atm, so relying on the jelly between my ears:
Y tu mamá también (2001)
Waltz with Bashir (2008)
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)
There is no 'favorite' in cinema imho!
- Very solid picks!

Wings of Desire. (Der Himmel über Berlin)
German, Wim Wenders, 1987. Solveig Dommartin was so beautiful in that.
Was remade into a movie called City of Angels with Nick Cage that didn't even come close to being as good.
- Wings of Desire
  So good, I need to rewatch it soon.

Stalker

LA Dolce Vita or The Queen Margot (1994).

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Tho I prefer the English dub over subtitled Chinese because the subtitles lose a lot of the flavor and is extremely basic. If I understood, I think its Cantonese, I would like to hear the original poetry that I'm sure it actually has.

RRR was pretty fun
- The scene where the car flies into the air and the guy takes a sniper shot mid flight cemented it for me.
  
  It's ridiculous, and I loved it for that. I've seen a couple of Indian action movies now. They lean into the crazy action and don't care that it's nonsense.

The Lives of Others.

There are some really good ones here. I'm not sure if it's my favorite because moods change, but I want to give a shout out to Le Pacte des Loups or Brotherhood of the Wolf was the English dub.
Nothing wrong with the English version but I saw it in French first and really enjoyed it (and I don't like live action dubs in general because the words don't match the lips). It's schlocky French medieval martial arts mystery, so nothing as artistic as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but it was fun.

A few that come to mind:
Festen
Das Leben der Anderen
La haine
Relatos salvajes
La vita è bella

Yojimbo which apparently was the basis for Last Man Standing.
- Also A Fistful of Dollars. It's kind of crazy how many people just ripped off Kurosawa films

Black cat white cat

Run Lola Run
Guimba (AKA Guimba the Tyrant)
Saraounia

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