Five Great Foreign Films

One thing I really liked about the film classes I took in college is that they make me aware of and gave me an appreciation for foreign films. Many countries outside the US are very aware of American films, but moviegoers in the States are often completely ignorant of films made in other countries.

I prefer subtitled films to dubbed versions as the preservation of the original soundtrack and dialog really helps to convey the emotion of the conversations and characters. Dubbing choices can sometimes be really off-character, bringing comedic reactions where none were intended. Hollywood also has a habit of snapping up remake rights to great foreign films and then churning out a lower-quality product as if domestic audiences just "can't handle" a film made in another country.

Below are five suggestions for foreign films that are really worth seeing. Each comes from a different country, so you have Russian, German, French, Italian and Spanish films to explore.

Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem, this Russian film is about a psychologist sent up to a space station when it appears the scientists sent to l a new planet (Solaris) are all starting to report strange happenings.

Kelvin, the psychologist, arrives to find that one scientist has killed himself, another has locked himself in his room with what appears to be some sort of strange dwarf he keeps fighting with, and the third is losing himself in flights of fancy. And then Kelvin's dead wife reappears. Are these new lifeforms on the station aliens from the planet or just figments of the scientists' imaginations? Should they continue to try and communicate with the planet, or attempt to destroy it?

The 2002 remake starring George Clooney and directed by Steven Soderburgh took a lot of the look from the original but seems to lose a lot of the psychological edge along the way.

This 2002 thriller from Germany has often been compared to David Fincher's SE7EN. Two German policemen, one older and world-weary, the other younger and brash, must track and stop a serial killer. The trick this time is this killer is stalking the clients of a Japanese tattoo artist, collecting the unique, tattooed skins from the victims.

Complicating matters, the older cop has a daughter who is a runaway, who he is also trying to find as they deal with the escalating case. The younger cop's dilemma is that he falls in love with one of the tattoo master's last surviving clients and is torn between protecting her and using her as bait for the killer.

Set in Berlin, the movie includes elements of the art world, the rave scene and an imagined tattooed underground.

Skip the tv series, and skip the US movie remake. This is one movie that is totally worth going back to the French original to see!

Luc Besson broke the stigma against a female-based action film with this one. The story follows "Nikita," a junkie caught after a robbery gone wrong and told she is condemned to death. Following a fake execution, she finds she has been "hired" by a government agency and has the choice of becoming the assassin they want her to be, or be put to death for real.

Anne Parillaud is rock solid as the title character, bringing a street-cred and hardness to the character that Bridget Fonda just never had in the Hollywood remake. Bonus: French cinema legend Jeanne Moreau stars as the woman who trains Nikita in feminine manners and wiles.

This wonderful movie won the first ever-awarded Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, handed out in 1954.

The story follows Gelsomina, a mute girl sold by her mother to a circus strongman. Her dresses her up as a clown and she passes the hat as they travel from town to town. His bad treatment of her causes her pain, but so does her attraction to "the Fool," a tight-rope walker who is kind to her. The character of Gelsomina is portrayed by Felinni's wife, Giulietta Masina, who manages to give whole speeches with her eyes. The two men in her life are played by Anthony Quinn (the strongman) and Richard Basehart (the funambulist). The performances by all three principles are excellent and this is in no way any sort of predictable love triangle.

This stunning fantasy came out just last year, and probably is the only film on this list that people may have actually seen already. Although this movie may appear to be a children's fantasy at a glance, it is in fact a highly-complex adult fairy tale.

Twelve-year-old Ofelia is growing up in fascist Spain at the end of WWII. She and her mother are moving to the countryside where her mother's new husband commands his military unit. The commander soon proves himself to be a sadist whose only joy in life is the idea of the impending birth of his son. Ofelia uses a mix of wits and fantasy to escape the horrors of her day-to-day life.

This movie was highly-acclaimed from the moment it was released and won awards at the Oscars and Spain's Goya awards, along with many others.