Ours Go to 11: Volume 12, Less Heralded Foreign Films I Highly Recommend

I realize "less heralded" is rather vague and imprecise, and that some films quite foreign--pun intended--to causal movie fans may be very familiar to world cinema buffs (and vice-versa).

Many of the films below are far from secrets, including Oscar winners and nominees.

My intent is to highlight some foreign films I've greatly enjoyed beyond what I perceive as fairly well-known masterpieces like La Dolce Vita, The Seven Samurai, Bicycle Thieves, Rules of the Game, Cinema Paradiso, City of God, A Separation, etc. 

Of various vintages, I've purposely chosen just one movie per country of origin. These are all foreign language films and thus the list does not include quality movies from England, Ireland, Australia, etc.


This is not intended as a ranking, nor a comprehensive list of worthwhile films.

1. Blancanieves (Spain, 2012) 
2. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (France, 1964) 
3. The Son (Belgium, 2002) 
4. Ballad of a Soldier (Russia, 1959) 
5. Wadjda (Saudi Arabia, 2012) 
6. The Burmese Harp (Japan, 1956)
7. Ida (Poland, 2013) 
8. Yesterday (South Africa, 2004) 
9. Wild Tales (Argentina, 2014) 
10. Mother (South Korea, 2009) 
11. Sin Nombre (Mexico, 2009)

And a few more

Phoenix (Germany, 2014)
The Matchmaker (Israel, 2010) 
Central Station (Brazil, 1998)
Smiles of a Summer Night (Sweden, 1955)
Monsieur Lazhar (Canada, 2011)
The Song of Sparrows (Iran, 2008)
Peepli Live (India, 2010)
Malèna (Italy, 2000)

As always, I would love to hear some of your picks.