# Recommend some foreign movies and TV series - with caveats **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [June 5, 2023, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035 "2023-06-05T12:36:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/1 "2023-06-05T12:36:29Z")
I’m interested in watching movies and TV from other cultures, and would like some recommendations. Here’s the two guidelines. 1. Anything goes as far as genre. Drama, comedy, mystery, horror, action, it’s all up for consideration. 2. A few countries are out of the running from the start. United States (since I’m an American), Canada, Mexico, Japan, UK, Australia, and New Zealand (because from a TV and movie standpoint they don’t really feel foreign enough). Any other place is up for consideration. I’d prefer more recent stuff, but feel free to recommend some good classics as well. Ok. There’s a third guideline as well, mostly for practical purposes. 1. It should be available on one of the major streaming sites. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/2 "2023-06-05T12:50:29Z")
_Borgen_ is on Netflix. It’s a compelling and entertaining series about a female prime minister in Denmark. > **[Borgen (TV Series 2010–2022) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1526318/)** > > Borgen: Created by Adam Price. With Sidse Babett Knudsen, Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, Søren Malling, Lisbeth Wulff. A political drama about a prime minister's rise to power, and how power changes a prime minister. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/3 "2023-06-05T12:59:35Z")
> **[Soviet Storm: World War II in the East](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Storm:_World_War_II_in_the_East)** > > Soviet Storm: World War II in the East (Russian title: Советский Шторм: Вторая мировая война на Востоке; original Russian title — Великая война, English: The Great War) is a 2011 17-episode Russian television World War II series created by Anna Grazhdan, Artem Drabkin, and Aleksey Isaev. An online version includes 18 episodes, ordered chronologically. > The series consists of 2 seasons, which document and recount the most important, bloody, costly, and decisive events, battles, and personalities o... [At least the first season is on YouTube.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97iOxxH_64s) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/4 "2023-06-05T13:07:08Z")
> **[Chuck Norris vs Communism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Norris_vs_Communism)** > > Chuck Norris vs Communism is a 2015 Romanian–British documentary film written and directed by Ilinca Călugăreanu. The film is about the illegal importation of American action and religious films on VHS cassettes to Romania in the late 1970s and 1980s, which the filmmakers believe contributed to the fall of the Nicolae Ceaușescu's communist dictatorship. The film recreates incidents and features interviews with Romanians such as film dubber Irina Margareta Nistor. > > This article about a documen... [The Internet Archive.](https://archive.org/details/PBS.Independent.Lens.2016.Chuck.Norris.vs.Communism.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/5 "2023-06-05T13:23:30Z")
Two recommendations: 1. Kleo [https://www.netflix.com/title/81216677](https://www.netflix.com/title/81216677) Think _The Count of Monte Cristo_, except the protagonist is an East German assassin betrayed by her superiors, and it happens mostly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It’s smart, bloody, stylish, and very funny. 1. Lupin [https://www.netflix.com/title/80994082](https://www.netflix.com/title/80994082) Think _The Count of Monte Cristo_, except the protagonist is a master thief whose father was betrayed and murdered, and he’s now out for revenge. It’s much less bloody, and okay, it’s not so much Monte Cristo except for the “revenge” part, but it’s a tremendously fun show organized around a series of heists and cons and narrow escapes. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/6 "2023-06-05T14:46:41Z")
I’ll second _Kleo_. It’s _very_ German. There will likely be many points at which you have no idea what’s happening or why, and it’s not always eventually explained. **Bigbug** : on Netflix. Movie from the same director as **Delicatessen** and **City of Lost Children**. Not as good as either of those movies, but still has that quirky style of his. A couple of Korean shows on Netflix: _Squid Game_: I’m certain you’ve heard of this. Also very Korean. It’s got that exaggerated Korean over-acting style that I find mildly annoying, but it’s still worth watching. _Physical 100_: kind of the reality-TV version of _Squid Game_. A physical challenge show featuring Korean celebrities. Probably more interesting if you actually know who these people are, but not necessary to enjoy the show. There are a lot of “getting to know the contestants” segments that can be fast-forwarded. The first episode is almost entirely just everyone walking into a room and meeting, for example. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/7 "2023-06-05T15:29:22Z")
I liked the German _Dark_ on Netflix. It’s a sci-fi show. The first two seasons are great. The third season wraps up the story, but is not nearly as strong. The creators of _Dark_ followed it with _1899_, also on Netflix. It is not nearly as clever or interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/8 "2023-06-05T15:36:41Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I’ll second _Kleo_. It’s _very_ German. There will likely be many points at which you have no idea what’s happening or why, and it’s not always eventually explained. Huh. I don’t remember that happening, although I agree that it’s super German. It may be that, as I mostly watched it while folding laundry, I didn’t pay enough attention to get confused. > [@](#): > > **Bigbug** : on Netflix. Movie from the same director as **Delicatessen** and **City of Lost Children**. Not as good as either of those movies, but still has that quirky style of his. City of Lost Children is one of my all-time favorite movies. **Bigbug** left me pretty flat–it was didactic, and unsubtle and derivative in a way that CoLC wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/9 "2023-06-05T15:36:54Z")
What I came in to recommend. Lots of political intrigue. The lead speaks several languages fluently. A Czech film called **The Painted Bird**. A gripping and brutal story about a young boy trying to make his way across Eastern Europe during war time. For a synopsis, see the [Wiki entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painted_Bird_(film)). ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/10 "2023-06-05T15:39:31Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Huh. I don’t remember that happening, although I agree that it’s super German. It may be that, as I mostly watched it while folding laundry, I didn’t pay enough attention to get confused. It’s been a while since I watched it, so I don’t remember anything specific that was like that, but I just remember having that _feeling_ while watching it. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/11 "2023-06-05T15:51:15Z")
I just enjoyed the series _Drops of God_ on Apple TV+. It’s in English, Japanese and French. You never know which language some of the characters will use at any given time. A silly and convoluted premise, but still sweet and well acted. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/12 "2023-06-05T21:07:36Z")
French films worth checking out, imo. Not positive all of these are available on major streaming sites, but most should be: _La Tête d’un Homme_ (1933) - Inspector Maigret matches wits with a psycho. _Pépé le Moko_ (1937) – Trapped – but free - in the Casbah, crook Jean Gabin dreams of the ocean while falling for a pretty girl. _Un Carnet de Bal_ (1937) – A widow checks the haps of her dance partners (played by an all-star French cast) from an event held long-ago. _Hôtel du Nord_ (1938) – Romance and intrigue surround hotel guests. _Le Main du Diable_ (1943) – A cursed talisman changes hands. _Panique_ (1946) – Unsavory types involved in a murder and its aftermath. _Wages of Fear_ (1953) – Classic trucks-with-nitro-over-bumpy-roads drama. _Diabolique_ (1955) – Classic suspense, murder and twists. _Bob le Flambeur_ (1956) – Gambler Bob gambles on a heist. _Any Number Can Win_ (1963) – Jean Gabin and Alain Delon team up and against one another in the course of a casino heist. _Up to His Ears_ (1965) – Rich, but bored playboy Jean-Paul Belmondo hires a hitman to kill him, then meets Ursula Andress and changes his mind. Based on a Jules Verne story. _The Battle of Algiers_ (1966) – Classic army vs. guerillas. _Le Magnifique_ (1973) – James Bond spoof with Belmondo and Jacqueline Bisset. _Coup de Torchon_ (1981) – Meek cop turns brutal. Based on a Jim Thompson novel, so don’t expect sympathetic characters. _One Deadly Summer_ (1983) – Isabelle Adjani’s disturbed behavior masks an elaborate revenge plan. _Brotherhood of the Wolf_ (2001) - Beast murders in an 18th century French town prompt an investigation led by the King’s Naturalist and his kung fu-fighting Native American pal. _Micmacs_ (2009) – From IMDB: “A man and his friends come up with an intricate and original plan to destroy two big weapons manufacturers.” Lesser Jeunet, but still entertaining. > [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > A few countries are out of the running from the start…Japan…(because from a TV and movie standpoint they don’t really feel foreign enough)… Japanese movies don’t feel “foreign enough?” This is not my experience at all. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/13 "2023-06-05T22:09:25Z")
From South Korea: “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”. About an autistic lawyer. > **[Extraordinary Attorney Woo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Attorney_Woo?wprov=sfti1)** > > Extraordinary Attorney Woo (Korean: 이상한 변호사 우영우) is a 2022 South Korean television series starring Park Eun-bin in the title role, along with Kang Tae-oh and Kang Ki-young. It follows Woo Young-woo, a female rookie attorney with autism, who is hired by a major law firm in Seoul. Being different from her neurotypical peers, her manner of communication is seen by them as odd, awkward, and blunt. With each legal case and through her intelligence and photographic memory, she becomes an increasingly... ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/14 "2023-06-05T22:30:56Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > A few countries are out of the running from the start. United States (since I’m an American), Canada, Mexico, Japan, UK, Australia, and New Zealand (because from a TV and movie standpoint they don’t really feel foreign enough). Any other place is up for consideration. **The Head of Joaquin Murrieta** (2023 Amazon Prime) may seem out of consideration because the characters are Mexican and American (and Chinese and Native American) but it’s very much a product of South America and specifically Colombia. (It’s the same team responsible for _Narcos_) . It’s the kind of morally ambiguous but empathetic characterizations that are culturally jarring to an American viewer (even one familiar with Spaghetti Westerns) but also a lot of fun. I’m surprised how little attention this series has gotten; it doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/15 "2023-06-05T22:35:54Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > I liked the German _Dark_ on Netflix. It’s a sci-fi show. The first two seasons are great. The third season wraps up the story, but is not nearly as strong. I should really take another swing at that. I watched the first five or so episodes and really enjoyed them, but then made the mistake of stepping away for a few weeks. When I came back to it, it was hard to figure out/remember the timeline pieces, as you could imagine. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2023, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/16 "2023-06-05T22:46:15Z")
[Troll Hunter](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740707/) ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/17 "2023-06-06T07:46:23Z")
_Call my agent_ (Netflix, original _Dix Pour Cent_): a French series about a casting agent bureau. Funny, gives an exaggerated peek in the workings of the film industry. Every episode circles around one or more actual movie stars (exaggerated, again) who are played by themselves in cameo. Most are French, but some Americans show up as well. Note: it is French, so there are some digs at American stereotypes. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/18 "2023-06-06T08:24:15Z")
Watch Kleo to get yourself warmed up for the great trilogy of East-West German espionage TV. Check out: _Deutschland 83_ (just called _Deutschland_ on release) _Deutschland 86_ _Deutschland 89_ Great fun, and tense action, and closely plotted to weave around real Cold War events - and could stand up very well as a documentary on East German office furniture if you turned the volume down. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/19 "2023-06-06T08:45:35Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > _Call my agent_ (Netflix, original _Dix Pour Cent_): a French series about a casting agent bureau. Funny, gives an exaggerated peek in the workings of the film industry. Every episode circles around one or more actual movie stars (exaggerated, again) who are played by themselves in cameo. Most are French, but some Americans show up as well. Note: it is French, so there are some digs at American stereotypes. This has been remade a couple of times (in India and the UK, that I know about) but frankly the French version is the best from what I’ve seen of the others. Random comment: Thibault de Montalembert looks, sounds and acts a lot like Roger Allam, so naturally when they cast the British version they went for… Jack Davenport? Yes, that makes sense… (Fun fact: Montalembert also does a lot of French dubs for Hugh Grant roles.) I will add: **Au Service de la France/A Very Secret Service** , a dramedy about a French spy agency in 1960/61. Lots of gags about Francophone Africa, the Cold War and Eastern bloc, and (in season 2) Quebec. I watched it on (UK) Netflix a while ago; not sure if it is still available. And is **Servant of the People** still on (US) Netflix? I managed to watch most of S1 last time I was stateside and it’s very funny, although recent events have added a certain tinge to watching Zelenskyy playing president. ETA: On the foreign film side - you’ve seen **RRR** , right? It’s freaking insane. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2023, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035/20 "2023-06-06T11:03:23Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > I’m interested in watching movies and TV from other cultures, and would like some recommendations. Here’s the two guidelines. > … > 2. A few countries are out of the running from the start. United States (since I’m an American), Canada, Mexico, Japan, UK, Australia, and New Zealand (because from a TV and movie standpoint they don’t really feel foreign enough). Any other place is up for consideration. I’m gonna break the second rule, but I think there’s a good reason, and it’s arguably not breaking the rule: _Reservation Dogs_. Depending on how you count things, it’s either set in the United States or in the Muskogee Nation, in Oklahoma. But as a suburban White American, I definitely found it to be a show from another culture. > **[Reservation Dogs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservation_Dogs)** > > Reservation Dogs is an Indigenous American television series created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi for FX Productions. It follows the lives of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, as they spend their days hanging out and committing crimes to earn enough money to leave their reservation community. > It is the first series to feature all Indigenous writers and directors, along with an almost entirely Indigenous North American cast and crew. The first season was filmed entirely in Okl... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-foreign-movies-and-tv-series-with-caveats/985035.md?page=2)