If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary, you’ve come to the right place… here we have fourteen fantastic foreign films for you to choose from. Let’s take a look at what’s new this month:
France/Belgium:
Give Me Your Hand (Donne-moi la main) (2008) - Two twin brothers, en route to attend their estranged mother’s funeral, struggle to accept each other as individuals. (France/Germany) – [imdb]
Germany/Austria:
Import/Export (2007) – A nurse from the Ukraine searches for a better life in the West, while an unemployed security guard from Austria heads East for the same reason. (Austria/France/Germany) – [imdb]
Mein Führer (2007) – In this wry satire, Goebbels, desperate to inspire a depressed Hitler into giving a rousing speech, enlists the help of his former acting teacher, a Jew by the name of Adolf Grunbaum. (Germany) – [imdb]
Red Cartoons: Animated Films from East Germany - 16 short animationed films from the East German DEFA Studio for Animation Film. (East Germany)
Whisper & Shout! (flüstern & SCHREIEN!) (1988) – A document of important parts of the East German rock music scene of the late 1980s, from well-established bands like Silly, to underground rock bands like Feeling B. (East Germany) – [imdb]
Northern Europe:
As It Is In Heaven (Så som i himmelen) (2004) - A successful international conductor returns to his childhood village in Sweden, where he is reluctantly drawn into the local church choir. Nominated for a 2005 Academy Award. (Sweden) – [imdb]
Higher Force (2008) – A small time crook improves his status with the help of a delusional old man in this comedy . (Iceland) – [imdb]
UK/Ireland:
Mr. Right (2009) - A female artist worries that her current flame is a little too at ease with her gay friends. (UK) – [imdb]
St. Trinian’s (2007) – St Trinian’s, a school for “young ladies” with its anarchic doctrine of free expression, brings together a motley crew of ungovernable girls who, using their wit and ingenuity, save the school from bankruptcy. (UK) – [imdb]
Russia:
Mermaid (Rusalka) (2007) – A lonely little girl from a seaside village must adjust to life outside of her fairy-tale world when her family is forced to move to the big city. (Russia) – [imdb]
The Vanished Empire (2008) – A grittily realistic look at a teenage boy’s stumbling journey into adulthood, from the streets of early 70′s Soviet Moscow, to a lost city in the timeless Uzbekistan desert, to a post-communist Russian future. (Russia) – [imdb]
Middle East:
Boats Out of Watermelon Rinds (2004) - Two boys living in a small Turkish village spend their time selling watermelons, assisting a local barber, and indulging in their dreams of cinema. (Turkey) – [imdb]
Asia:
24 City (Er shi si cheng ji) (2008) – From director Jia Zhang-ke, 24 City chronicles the dramatic closing of a once-prosperous state-owned aeronautics factory in Chengdu, a city in Southwest China, and its conversion into a sprawling luxury apartment complex. (China/Hong Kong/Japan) – [imdb]
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning (2008) – Martial-arts superstar Tony Jaa returns in this prequel to Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior. (Thailand) – [imdb]
(Thanks to Imdb, RottenTomatoes, AllMovie and MetaCritic for help with these synopses)