We have been living in a world that’s been predominantly ruled by the English language. Many accept the fact as universal and are in constant close-minded search of Hollywood-like structured movies that are easy to watch; many are even too unwilling to read subtitles and explore the vast world of global cinema. Fortunately, the times are slowly changing. Many movies such as Parasite, Roma, Minari, and A Fantastic Woman are breaking the barriers of our Western-centered point of view.
Although there’s still a lot for us to achieve in terms of introducing non-English movies to the general audience, we’re here to show you what you’ve been missing out on. Let’s take a look at the best international-language movies that got released in 2022.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
10 Speak No Evil
Nordisk Film
With combination of English, Dutch, and Danish, Speak No Evil is a psychological thriller film directed by Christian Tafdrup. It follows a Danish couple Bjørn and Louise, who meet a Dutch couple on a holiday. A year later, they get an invitation to their rural Dutch home. Things escalate when the hosts start pushing their guests’ limits to unexpected lengths. Premiering at the 38th Sundance Film Festival, the film instantly received positive reviews for its screenplay and performances. It’s often described as a very relatable psychological thriller as “the Dutch hospitality quickly turns unnerving for the Danes, and they find themselves increasingly caught in a web of their own politeness.”
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
9 Godland
Snowglobe Films
Partly inspired by a collection of wet plate photographs of rural Iceland taken by a priest in the late-1800s, Godland is an internationally co-produced drama film directed by Hlynur Pálmason. Set in the late-19th Century, the film stars the actor Elliott Crosset Hove as Lucas, a Lutheran Danish priest who travels to Iceland to oversee an establishment of a new curch, only to get his faith tested by the harsh Icelandic conditions. It explores the contradicting realities of Iceland, with its fast-changing biological make-up, while simultaneously carrying the feeling of time standing still. It also focuses on language barriers and their challenges.
8 Moloch
XYZ Films
Directed by Nico van den Brink, Moloch is a Dutch folk horror film starring Sallie Harmsen and Alexandre Willaume. It follows a Dutch family that gets attacked by a stranger one night, which prompts the mother to investigate the incident. The deeper she digs, the more she’s convinced her family’s hunted by something ancient. The name Moloch appears in the Hebrew Bible several times and is often used in reference to a person or a thing which demands or requires a very costly sacrifice, such as children. The film mixes a character-driven drama with horror and uses slower pacing that might make it harder to watch, but the wait is worth it.
7 Close
A24
We can’t possibly forget to include Close in our list. Directed by Lukas Dhont, Close is a coming-of-age French-language drama, starring Eden Dambrine and Gustav de Waele in the leading roles. The plot follows two 13-year-old boys, Léo and Rémi, who spend a long summer building an innocently intimate friendship. However, once school resumes, and they start getting uncomfortable comments from the people around them, remarking on their closeness, Léo decides to distance himself from Rémi. The film has become Belgium’s entry for the International Film category at Oscars, and it has a high possibility of garnering a nomination (especially considering it just made the Oscar shortlist). In fact, it already won the award for Best Foreign Language Film from the National Board of Review.
6 Hatching
Directed by Hanna Bergholm, Hatching is a Finnish psychological body horror, starring Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, and Jani Volanen in the leading roles. The film centers on Tinja, who desperately tries pleasing her image-obsessed mother as she runs a blog where she portrays her family in a perfect manner. One day, Tinja finds a mysterious egg, which she starts nesting and taking care of, until it hatches and grows into a doppelgänger that acts on her repressed emotions. The film focuses on intermingled themes of blood, motherhood, and body dysmorphia, and is so much more than the horror aspects. There’s very little available for it online, which is a shame considering its quality.
5 Piggy
Morena Films
Based on the short film of the same name, Piggy is a Spanish-French rural horror thriller film directed and written by Carlota Pereda. Set in the Spanish countryside, the plot centers on an overweight girl, Sara, who gets intensively bulled by a clique of cool girls during the summer. When she later witnesses a stranger kidnap the clique, she’s tormented between helping the police and getting her vengeance. It offers the refreshing sight of having an overweight girl as the main character instead of making her the butt of the joke, and the choice does not disappoint.
4 You Won’t Be Alone
Screen Australia
Written and directed by Goran Stolevski in his directorial debut, You Won’t Be Alone is a horror film starring Sara Klimoska, Anamaria Marinca, and Alice Englert in the leading roles. Set in 19th-Century Macedonia, it centers around a young girl who is transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. To understand what it feels like to be human, she kills a peasant girl, takes her form, and starts living as a human under horrific circumstances. It manages to highlight timeless themes such as love, lust, and betrayal. It combines horror and beauty, and honestly deserved to be distributed in more theaters.
3 RRR
DVV Entertainment
As the most expensive Indian film to date, RRR is an Indian Telugu-language epic action drama film directed by S. S. Rajamouli. It stars N. T. Rama Rao Jr. as Komaram Bheem, a Gond tribal leader from Telangana, and Ram Charan as Alluri Sitarama Raju, a revolutionary leader from Andhra Pradesh, who waged an armed campaign against the British Raj. Set in the 1920s, it depicts the leaders’ fictional friendship as they fight against the British Raj. It’s broken streaming records on Netflix and became the third Indian film and the first Telugu film to receive nominations at the Golden Globes. As RRR is helping to bring Indian movies into the mainstream, Hollywood has a lot to learn from the epic film.
2 Decision to Leave
CJ Entertainment
Directed by Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave is a South Korean romantic mystery film, starring Tang Wei and Park Hae-il in the leading roles. It follows insomniac detective Jang Hae-jun, who is investigating a man’s death in the mountains, and he ends up falling in love with the dead man’s wife, Song Seo-rae. Many has described the film as the best love story of 2022, with its incredibly satisfying repressed and tragic plotline. No wonder it’s been selected as the South Korean entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards.
1 Girl Picture
Last but not least, directed by Alli Haapasalo, Girl Picture is a coming-of-age Finnish film. It follows three young women in the process of defying the persistent winter darkness in Finland. They end up tangled in a mess of dreams, friendships, and relationships. It’s a tale of falling in love, pleasure, loyalty, and the vibrant experiences of adolescence. If you haven’t already, you definitely should give it your watch if you want to enjoy an amazing women-driven spectacle.
