Niche foreign film recommendations anyone??

[b-lly]

is La Haine niche? I recommend it, a social thriller set in the poor Parisian suburbs. but it could bore you

I never watched them but the Bud Spencer and Terenz Hill comedy westerns are very famous in Italy

if you're also interested in tv series, I higly recommend the animated Tear Along the Dotted Line, an adult comedy drama by famous cartoonist Zerocalcare (adult not because it's crass but because of serious topics). I also recommend the second one he made, This World Can't Tear Me Down but it's less universal since it deals with local political problems

I want everyone outside of Italy to know about Fantozzi (first movie with eng subs on youtube!) but it's probably not even that funny to foreigners. or people who didn't grow up with it. and honestly some jokes have aged like milk. but now you know it exists

all of Ghibli movies count as foreign :) !

[almostcorporeal]

some of my favorite foreign films are Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key directed by Sergio Martino which is a giallo (Italian horror genre) film, i worry it may be a bit slow though. Deep Red directed by Dario Argento is also of the same genre and i really enjoyed it as well.

Fallen Angels directed by Wong Kar-wai (who is well known for directing In The Mood For Love, one of my top 5's) was also really enjoyable and is more niche than In The Mood For Love (although i super recommend In The Mood For Love as well). His movies are gorgeous too  they're both Hong Kong drama romances

I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK directed by Park Chan-wook (of Oldboy and Handmaiden fame) was super cute and sweet, i watched it a while back and i still think of it frequently! it's a Korean romance drama comedy.

House (Hausu as it's sometimes written) directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi is fairly popular but i'm still recommending it because i adore it. it's a Japanese horror film.

i also love Wetlands directed by David Wnendt which is a bit crude but is a German drama comedy

[Memory]

I would recommend Gaspar Noé's 'Enter the Void' as it's quite a trippy and interesting movie - I am also a sucker for first person experiences like that. (I would also recommend 'Love' which was another of his movies)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is also great. It's a 1920s German silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene - it's basically like watching someone's abstract nightmare.

and ofcourse Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror - another German movie, this time a 1922 silent Expressionist vampire film directed by F. W. Murnau.

[_ghost_]

Andrei Tarkovsky is a bit like the Russian Stanly Kubrick. His films are meditative, melancholic, And just beautiful. He really encourages you to actively reflect rather than be a passive observer. Solaris(1972) is a good starting point. This is probably exactly what you'd consider 'mind numbingly boring' tho...

Solaris is fantastic! I watched it in a film class I took last year. We watched it back-to-back class periods with 2001: A Space Odyssey which is a somewhat overwhelming experience if you don't tend to like movies with long stretches of silence (which I don't), but it's absolutely worth doing as a double-feature. They're fun to compare as two different approaches to the purpose of a science fiction film; they have some similarities on a surface level but are incredibly different in ways that become very clear when you take the time to look at them in conversation with each other, highly recommend.

I haven't watched a lot of foreign films, but I have been meaning to watch more of the work of Pedro Almodóvar. I've seen ¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto! (What Have I Done to Deserve This?), which is really a really weird and uncomfortable film about the family structures, gender, and sexuality, and I know Almodóvar's other work tends to be exploring similar themes. It's in theory a comedy but in my experience it's more like you spend the whole time nervously laughing because you don't know how else to respond. It's social commentary delivered in subtle and unsettling ways. I don't know if I necessarily recommend it, but it's definitely a film you can watch.

[xolta]

Son of the white mare is a Hungarian animated film based of a myth of the same name and  makes me wish more people here in america would talk about these soviet area animated movies. You can find it on the internet archive.

[Myrmeform]

November (2017) is a very fun movie that features estonian folklore! The main story is a bit sad, but every else that goes on is very interesting and silly.

If you liked noroi: the curse you MIGHT like Kōji Shiraishi's other movies, such as occult (2009) and cult (2013). I say might because the special effects are a bit more rough around the edges and that really puts some people off, but I really like what he's trying to go for and the story and concepts are really interesting, and I also really like that they have some cartoonish elements which is really fun to me. There's also Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi which he directed a number of, also really fun and cartoony.

[Corrupted Unicorn]

Son of the white mare is a Hungarian animated film based of a myth of the same name and  makes me wish more people here in america would talk about these soviet area animated movies. You can find it on the internet archive.

SON OF THE WHITE MARE MENTIONED ON MELONLAND FORUMS!!! (and not by me!)

But yes, I can't stop recommending Son of the White Mare. It was the first movie from a list of Obscure Animated Films I'm watching with my bf and it blew my mind. It's beautiful, unconventional, VERY psychedelic... but don't wait for me to tell you all of it, go watch it!

Other

animated

movie recs from what I watched from that list so far that fit the bill of the topic:

- A Town Called Panic: Franco-Belgian Stop-motion film about a cowboy, a Native American and a horse who get into shenanigans. Notable for looking like it was entirely animated with cheap plastic toys (the "bucket of animals/soldiers" kind). Also, the plot is really stupid and funny, kinda like if a 5-year old came up with it.
- The Snow Queen (1957): If you ever wondered how Disney's Frozen would look like in traditional 2D animation, this is the closest thing that exists. Russian film about the traditional fairytale where a sister tries to rescue her brother from the eponymous Snow Queen, with surprisingly compelling characters and emotional moments.
- The King and the Mockingbird: French film about a selfish King who wants to marry a townsgirl against her will, and how his plans are foiled by the townsgirl's true love, the eponymous Mockingbird, a trickster figure; and the King's own folly. Notable for being kind of surreal (you'd have to watch the film for that, or I'd be talking too much)
- Mary & Max / Memoir of a Snail: Two stop-motion films by the same author, narrating the life stories of an Australian little girl in a dysfunctional family and her long-distance friendship with an autistic man stuck in a New York apartment (Mary & Max) and a depressed Australian lady with an estranged twin brother and a huge snail item collection (Memoir of a Snail). These are emotional, hard-hitting films that show life with all its highs and lows, its joys and miseries. If there's any sensible topics that are particularly sensitive to you, you can message me and I can tell you what's in there without spoilers. The other three films should be good to watch for any audiences.

Annnnd I'm finishing this topic now because otherwise I won't finish all day  Going thru this list with my dear has fanned the flames of my passion for animation, and I'd be more than glad to share more films!

[egbert]

i reccomend this video as an entrypoint to asian cinema

god its so peak.

bad genius is a thriller heist movie. except the heist is cheating on exams. and its so good .

also. watch house (1977), its this very niche japanese horror movie that ive been meaning to watch for YEARS and never did, so live my dreams for me, ok?