At the 2020 Golden Globe Awards, Bong Joon-ho, director of the Korean film Parasite, advised the audience in his acceptance speech for Best Foreign Film. His interpreter relayed the message that, “once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”
Here are five films that make overcoming that one-inch tall barrier worthwhile.
- The Farewell (2019) Dir. Lulu Wang
Based on true events, The Farewell tells the story of a family shielding the knowledge of a cancer diagnosis from their matriarch, Nai Nai. A story told partly in English and partly in Mandarin, The Farewell is altogether wonderful.
- Faces Places (2017) Dir Agnès Varda and JR
A documentary from veteran French New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda, Faces Places is a love letter to France and its people. Along with artist JR, Varda travels the French countryside making murals and forming bonds along the way.
- The Way He Looks (2014) Dir. Daniel Ribeiro
This Brazilian drama tells the story of a blind teenager who falls for a new student at his school. A tender romance unfolds between the two teenage boys.
- Persepolis (2007) Dir. Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
An animated film based on a graphic novel of the same name, Persepolis uses a distinct artistic style to follow Marjane Satrapi’s experiences growing up in Iran in the 1970s.
- Y Tu Mamá También (2001) Dir. Alfonso Cuarón
Y Tu Mamá También is a Mexican film that explores the lives of two teenage boys and a grown woman who embark on a road trip, learning about themselves and one another while on the road.
Next time you open up Netflix in search of your next watch, consider a foreign language option. In the words of Bong Joon-ho, “I think we use only one language: the cinema.”