This was a question theAtlantic posed to some of its writers. Their answers largely disappointed me. Let me quickly review them, with some alternate suggestions.
- Argentina 1985 (2022)–This is court-room drama about political trials in Argentina. The description sounded good. If readers want a foreign language courtroom drama, I would recommend the recent film, Anatomy of a Fall, which involves a woman accused of pushing her husband off a balcony.
- The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)–French musical, very different from a Hollywood music–in terms of the music which is more influenced by 60’s jazz and pop (composed by Michel Legrand) and a more operatic sensibility (I don’t think there is much dancing in this). If one wants something different from a Hollywood musical, this would be a good pick. (There’s gotta be a really good Bollywood film to recommend here, but I haven’t seen enough of those films to pick one.) If I had to choose a French film, I would pick Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro’s Delicatessen, a film focusing on the inhabitants of a small apartment complex in post-apocalyptic Paris. Because of a scarcity of meat, the butcher on the bottom floor seeks out human victims. (It’s more comedic and light than it sounds.)
- Burnt by the Sun (1994)–I saw this Russian film about Stalin’s purges affecting a general and his family soon after it came out, and I didn’t care for it. I don’t remember a lot about it, but if I didn’t care for it at the time, it’s not a film I’d recommend. As an alternate, I would recommend Larissa Shepitko’s The Ascent.
- Shadow (2018)–The trailers made this seems like a kung-fu film, but that’s misleading. Instead it’s more of a slow-moving drama, romance. As an alternative, I would recommend Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
By the way, I assumed that the target audience for this mostly watches and enjoys Hollywood films. On the other hand, since the target audience is likely regular Atlantic readers, that may not necessarily be true. On the other hand, I would think the number of Atlantic readers who have never watched a foreign-language film would be relatively small, maybe younger readers as well. In most of my alternative picks above, I think people who have like Hollywood films wouldn’t have a hard time enjoying those films. (The Ascent might be an exception.)
In the list above, I recommended alternatives to the Atlantic picks, but if I had to choose one film myself, I would consider the following qualities: a really good story that would appeal to a broad audience; a film grabs audiences and carries them a long, or at least a film that mainstream viewers won’t find sluggish; and a live action film in color. To put in more succinctly, a foreign-language Casablanca, but in color.
I tried thinking of a film that fits this description. I couldn’t think of one, so I went to They Shoot Pictures Don’t They (TSPDT) website and looked at all the films from 1970 to 2025. I couldn’t find anything that fit the description (although I was going through the list quickly), except for one film (which I’ll share in a moment). Seven Samurai is the film I’d like to select, but it’s in black-and-white, and scenes that may drag on for many viewers. High and Low has the same problems, and Hara-kiri fits in most ways except its in black-and-white. I thought of Spirited Away, but it’s animated, and I feel like live-action might have a broader appeal. The film that actually fits is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. However, I haven’t seen it in a while, and I’m not sure about the pacing and if the story is strong enough.
One last thing. Going through the TSPDT lists, my conclusion is that American filmmakers–and maybe Hollywood specifically–are the greatest storytellers–in terms of the overall quality of the stories with a wide appeal and sucking viewers into the film and carrying them along easily to the end. This isn’t to say that a film can’t be great without these qualities, but I feel as the best films with these qualities are American films, or at least English-speaking films. If that’s wrong, what are some examples? (Actually, I suspect that are non-English language films that meet this criteria prior to the 1970s, and I probably missed several from the 1970s until now.)
I assume by foreign they mean (as you sorta point out at the end) films where the primary language isn’t English? Because I’d certainly go for a film from the UK otherwise.
Yes. I’m assuming theAtlantic used the word with that meaning as well.
I also think a good Japanese anime should do it, but too many people are just resistant to animation, which I just don’t understand.
I think for accessibility, films should not only be in color, but they should not look like they are very old. A film set in WWII has to look like a WWII picture, but it should have a wide aspect ratio, the sound should be good, and the production should come close to the quality of good films in the past 20 or 30 years. I guess.
I suffer from having gone too long since seeing these films.
I may think of others.
My guess is that they’re associating animation with movies for children.
Coincidentally, I thought of Eat Drink Man Woman, Like Water for Chocolate, and Shall We Dance?–I think they would be accessible and entertaining for people who are used to Hollywood films, but I was looking an even more outstanding films (and I enjoyed all three of those films.) I think Tampopo would have been great, but I think it may be too odd, funky for some.
I also thought of Babette’s Feast, and Run Lola Run–films that would be entertaining, I think, but, again, I was going for something even more outstanding.
In terms of entertaining, I could choose a lot of Johnnie To films. Maybe something like Life Without Principle or Breaking News would be good. Oh, Edward Yang’s Yi-yi–I think that’s a terrific film, but while it’s an accessible drama, I’m not sure if it would be as entertaining as something like Crouching Tiger.
I agree–that’s why I scanned films from 1970 until now (although 70’s films may look a little too old for some).