With immediate streaming, movies have become a magnifying glass for looking into the daily lives of peopleliving in culturesfrom around the world. Different from what viewers may experience in their day-to-day realities, international and foreign language films will submerge them into a universe that is often unfamiliar with unconventional subject matters and locations they probably never thought about initially traveling to. Experiencing a distinct, yet gloriously specific socioeconomic environment paired withforeign languagesformulates their own the ability to expand the learning pallet, which is always a plus.
6My Happy Family
A 50-year-old Georgian woman, Mañana (Ia Shughliashvili), leaves her husband and the home they share together, setting out to build a new life for herself. For reasons and rationale largely unknown to her whole family and which are never fully splled out, Mañana’s decision is connected todefying the cultural expectationsof women in her community who are taught to be submissive and dependent on the husband. After creating a life of her own, Mañana later learns of her husband’s past infidelities and his secret child, who is now a 13-year-old boy.My Happy Familyis a testament to real world family secrets that in many cases remain a mystery for generations, in addition tomarriage conflicts; it’s a powerful (and empowering) film.
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Watchthe modern horror masterpieceRawat your own discretion. Though entertaining and enthralling, it can get a bit excessive and gory; some audience members with weak stomachspassed outduring a midnight screening after watching the film’s cannibal scenes at the Toronto International Film Festival back in 2016. Life-long vegetarian Justine (Garance Marillier) begins her first semester at the veterinary school her parents once attended, where her sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) also currently attends. On Justine’s first night she meets roommate Adrien, and the two are forced to participate in a week-long hazing ritual where new students are forced to cover themselves in blood and consume raw rabbit kidneys. After the ritual, Justine begins to have repulsive cravings for meat added to her sinister obsession with human flesh in this great New French Extremity movie about sapphic sexuality and veganism.
ThisSouth Koreanzombie film details the events of Joon-woo (Yoo Ah-in) who is alone in his family’s apartment when zombies unexpectedly begin to attack and infect the community of people outside. The film is primarily shot through a tight yet fast-paced framing technique, while central characters are intentionally placed intiny and secluded spacesto add significance to the fact they are in unfamiliar or uncomfortable surroundings as all hell breaks loose around them. The zombie rollout is pictured throughout the film in a ramped and chaotic speed, which makes it more horrifying and difficult for the viewers to catch up to.
If you ever find an abandoned cellular phone anywhere, either throw it out orrun immediatelyand don’t look back.Traveling through a rural area in South Korea, 28-year-old Kim Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) loses her cellphone while traveling to visit her sick mother. Once Seo-yeon arrives at her childhood home she stumbles across an older model cordless phone, receiving calls from a distressed woman, Oh Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo), who conveys in a panic that she’s being tortured by her mother. Though Kim Seo-yeon and Oh Young-sook are in the same house, the two are living in two different time zones (Kim Seo-yeon in 2019 and Oh Young-sook in 1999). The young women are able to interact through the phone despite their time differences communicating desperately while realistic horrors are unleashed. This is an efficient little supernatural thriller.
2First They Killed My Father
This Cambodian-American Khmer-language biographical dramadirected by Angelina Jolietells the story of a 5-year-old girl who ventures through a quest for survival in the midst of the horrifying reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Based on the acclaimed book by Loung Ung, this true story follows Ung when the Khmer Rouge first assumes power over the country in 1975. Forcibly removed from her family home, Ung is trained as a child soldier while her six siblings are sent to labor camps. The film depicts thefour-year-long reignof terror with often brutal realism, shedding light on a tragedy where almost 2 million Cambodians died.
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1Through My Window
Crushing on a neighbor is a trueart form, but actually dating a neighbor could either be a dream come true or one’s worst nightmare (because you still have to live near them when you break up). Raquel (Clara Galle) has had a longtime crush on her out-of-this-world handsome neighbor, Ares (Julio Peña), for as long as she can remember. Raquel secretly watches him at first from afar but has never manged to speak with Ares because no girl wants to be pushy and too forward. Once the two’s relationshipgrows immenselyand Ares also develops feelings for her, many social ties come into play, making their relationship a challenge in this sexy, angsty romance.
