highly rated international movies, a list by Chaz Larson

8.7

/11433/

81

/278/

82

/214/

4.5

/16063/

100

/37/

97

/117/

99

/4/

4.0

age 15+

Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years on this sprawling documentary about the Holocaust, conducting his own interviews and refusing to use a single frame of archival footage. Dividing Holocaust witnesses into three categories – survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators – Lanzmann presents testimonies from survivors of the Chelmno concentration camp, an Auschwitz escapee, and witnesses of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, as well as a chilling report of gas chambers from an SS officer at Treblinka.

92

8.6

/398058/

84

/5714/

84

/4069/

4.6

/383477/

100

/103/

97

/6724/

98

/7/

4.0

age 13+

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

91

8.2

/33174/

83

/661/

79

/256/

4.6

/103646/

100

/105/

100

/64/

93

/24/

4.0

This film made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.

91

IMDb 95

8.5

/1133005/

85

/43852/

84

/19932/

4.5

/4795835/

99

/485/

90

/2503/

97

/56/

4.0

age 16+

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

91

8.6

/88624/

85

/1880/

84

/1144/

4.7

/197912/

100

/10/

97

/415/

85

/9/

4.0

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

91

8.6

/950309/

86

/30099/

85

/17811/

4.5

/3244089/

96

/225/

96

/23081/

96

/41/

MAL

8.7

/1391593/

4.0

age 9+

A young girl, Chihiro, becomes trapped in a strange new world of spirits. When her parents undergo a mysterious transformation, she must call upon the courage she never knew she had to free her family.

90

8.3

/100744/

82

/1704/

83

/1271/

4.5

/174362/

98

/57/

96

/1465/

92

/20/

4.0

age 11+

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

90

8.3

/19631/

79

/389/

81

/411/

4.4

/34418/

100

/20/

95

/266/

96

/17/

4.0

In medieval Japan, a woman and her children journey to find the family's patriarch, who was exiled years earlier.

90

8.1

/76639/

81

/1435/

82

/1171/

4.4

/135798/

100

/52/

93

/871/

100

/19/

4.0

The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.

90

8.2

/141563/

80

/2363/

80

/1613/

4.3

/162000/

96

/51/

96

/2271/

93

/17/

4.0

A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.

90

8.2

/149647/

80

/2532/

80

/1722/

4.5

/224656/

96

/94/

95

/2188/

97

/21/

4.0

Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

90

8.5

/374856/

85

/9884/

84

/6266/

4.5

/1023250/

100

/50/

95

/5486/

94

/16/

MAL

8.5

/449120/

4.0

age 15+

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

89

8.0

/699/

85

/19/

89

/14/

4.2

/3172/

98

/57/

98

/26/

82

/16/

4.0

"From Ground Zero" is a compelling project that brings together 22 short films created by talented filmmakers from Gaza. Launched by Rashid Masharawi, a notable Palestinian filmmaker, the initiative emerged amid the backdrop of conflict, aiming to provide a platform for young artists to express themselves through their craft. Each film, ranging from 3 to 7 minutes, presents a unique perspective on the current reality in Gaza. The project captures the diverse experiences of life in the Palestinian enclave, including the challenges, tragedies, and moments of resilience faced by its people. With a mix of genres such as fiction, documentary, docu-fiction, animation, and experimental cinema, "From Ground Zero" showcases a rich tapestry of stories that reflect the sorrow, joy, and hope inherent in Gazan life.

89

8.3

/22309/

79

/345/

80

/442/

4.3

/23283/

98

/42/

95

/480/

96

/20/

4.0

In a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans, theater mime Baptiste is in love with the mysterious actress Garance. But Garance, in turn, is loved by three other men: pretentious actor Frederick, conniving thief Lacenaire, and Count Edouard of Montray.

89

8.6

/861535/

85

/13747/

84

/7929/

4.6

/998306/

91

/162/

97

/15604/

79

/33/

4.0

age 18+

In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood, while José “Zé” Pequeno is an ambitious drug dealer diving into a dangerous life of crime.

89

8.1

/194433/

79

/3188/

80

/2433/

4.2

/264948/

98

/64/

93

/2665/

98

/18/

4.0

age 15+

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

89

8.2

/199198/

79

/3692/

81

/2996/

4.2

/240888/

97

/140/

92

/3874/

98

/14/

4.0

age 12+

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

89

8.1

/115945/

78

/1658/

79

/1507/

4.3

/168895/

100

/62/

94

/1327/

100

/11/

Part-time model Valentine unexpectedly befriends a retired judge after she runs over his dog. At first, the grumpy man shows no concern about the dog, and Valentine decides to keep it. But the two form a bond when she returns to his house and catches him listening to his neighbors’ phone calls.

89

8.4

/27343/

82

/460/

80

/589/

4.3

/17292/

94

/62/

98

/603/

89

/28/

4.0

After a fateful encounter in the summer of 1966, the lifepaths of two brothers from a middle-class Roman family diverge, intersecting with some of the most significant events of postwar Italian history in the following decades.

89

8.0

/124712/

81

/4680/

81

/2832/

4.4

/994684/

97

/338/

92

/98/

95

/48/

4.0

age 15+

On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

89

8.2

/21198/

80

/450/

80

/454/

4.3

/57652/

100

/25/

92

/256/

93

/18/

4.0

Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.

89

8.1

/28715/

78

/690/

79

/714/

4.4

/54052/

97

/77/

94

/535/

99

/24/

4.0

Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.

89

8.4

/69684/

84

/1467/

83

/1059/

4.6

/185667/

97

/70/

95

/556/

90

/17/

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

89

8.1

/67307/

79

/1163/

79

/1045/

4.4

/119726/

98

/63/

93

/953/

98

/21/

4.0

A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.

89

8.1

/74420/

78

/1175/

79

/847/

4.5

/112151/

99

/94/

95

/1191/

96

/22/

4.0

Paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu, a former French Resistance fighter during World War II, is sent to Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch the uprisings of the Algerian War. There he faces Ali la Pointe, a former petty criminal who, as the leader of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale, directs terror strategies against the colonial French government occupation. As each side resorts to ever-increasing brutality, no violent act is too unthinkable.

89

8.1

/70851/

77

/952/

77

/847/

4.4

/70186/

100

/46/

94

/1018/

100

/8/

4.0

age 17+

As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.

89

8.3

/275430/

80

/3241/

78

/1897/

4.4

/175929/

99

/177/

92

/1634/

95

/41/

4.0

age 16+

A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.

88

8.1

/142016/

83

/2590/

79

/937/

4.3

/720960/

97

/205/

97

/182/

85

/43/

4.0

age 14+

A woman married to a former politician during the 1971 military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.

88

8.2

/14728/

80

/533/

83

/366/

4.5

/68776/

100

/26/

94

/99/

91

/6/

A boy experiences first love, friendships and injustices growing up in 1960s Taiwan.

88

8.1

/39085/

78

/708/

77

/614/

4.3

/42109/

92

/53/

95

/536/

97

/13/

4.0

Out of prison after a five-year stretch, jewel thief Tony turns down a quick job his friend Jo offers him, until he discovers that his old girlfriend Mado has become the lover of local gangster Pierre Grutter during Tony's absence. Expanding a minor smash-and-grab into a full-scale jewel heist, Tony and his crew appear to get away clean, but their actions after the job is completed threaten the lives of everyone involved.

88

8.1

/72709/

78

/1143/

80

/1040/

4.3

/60837/

100

/54/

94

/694/

85

/15/

4.0

In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.

88

8.8

/881268/

85

/13572/

84

/9335/

4.5

/660478/

97

/76/

97

/11687/

90

/7/

3.0

age 15+

While the Civil War rages on between the Union and the Confederacy, three men – a quiet loner, a ruthless hitman, and a Mexican bandit – comb the American Southwest in search of a strongbox containing $200,000 in stolen gold.

88

7.9

/93951/

79

/3577/

78

/2214/

4.3

/280254/

99

/230/

91

/197/

93

/40/

4.0

age 16+

In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.

88

8.1

/198055/

82

/7794/

81

/4144/

4.4

/706360/

96

/226/

91

/449/

85

/40/

4.0

1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.

88

8.1

/30293/

79

/526/

79

/721/

4.2

/43205/

98

/41/

93

/453/

92

/9/

4.0

When elderly pensioner Umberto Domenico Ferrari returns to his boarding house from a protest calling for a hike in old-age pensions, his landlady demands her 15,000-lire rent by the end of the month or he and his small dog will be turned out onto the street. Unable to get the money in time, Umberto fakes illness to get sent to a hospital, giving his beloved dog to the landlady's pregnant and abandoned maid for temporary safekeeping.

88

8.3

/29948/

79

/713/

78

/781/

4.3

/78492/

98

/43/

88

/577/

96

/16/

4.0

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

88

8.0

/131725/

77

/2027/

81

/2462/

4.3

/241077/

97

/62/

91

/2559/

93

/23/

4.0

Guido Anselmi, a film director, finds himself creatively barren at the peak of his career. Urged by his doctors to rest, Anselmi heads for a luxurious resort, but a sorry group gathers—his producer, staff, actors, wife, mistress, and relatives—each one begging him to get on with the show. In retreat from their dependency, he fantasizes about past women and dreams of his childhood.

88

8.2

/741026/

80

/18180/

77

/11186/

4.2

/916678/

95

/239/

91

/62195/

98

/37/

4.0

age 15+

In post–civil war Spain, 10-year-old Ofelia moves with her pregnant mother to live under the control of her cruel stepfather. Drawn into a mysterious labyrinth, she meets a faun who reveals that she may be a lost princess from an underground kingdom. To return to her true father, she must complete a series of surreal and perilous tasks that blur the line between reality and fantasy.

87

7.8

/19834/

80

/1728/

80

/460/

4.3

/374142/

100

/25/

98

/131/

90

/6/

MAL

8.6

/122499/

age 11+

Popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing.

87

7.9

/119994/

78

/7250/

81

/2547/

4.1

/948994/

97

/196/

98

/216/

87

/31/

4.0

age 6+

A solitary cat, displaced by a great flood, finds refuge on a boat with various species and must navigate the challenges of adapting to a transformed world together.

87

8.0

/104422/

79

/2457/

79

/2066/

4.2

/208467/

96

/163/

92

/7559/

90

/31/

4.0

age 15+

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.

87

7.9

/34124/

75

/598/

77

/913/

4.1

/47288/

98

/50/

88

/407/

100

/12/

4.0

As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life. Proud but pragmatic Prince Don Fabrizio Salina allows his war hero nephew, Tancredi, to marry Angelica, the beautiful daughter of gauche, bourgeois Don Calogero, in order to maintain the family's accustomed level of comfort and political clout.

87

8.4

/285538/

82

/4641/

81

/2406/

4.3

/101514/

98

/55/

96

/2946/

85

/16/

age 15+

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

87

7.9

/20975/

78

/836/

77

/380/

4.2

/81729/

98

/198/

89

/66/

91

/33/

4.0

age 14+

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.

87

8.0

/43944/

81

/3072/

81

/1323/

4.2

/158929/

99

/174/

98

/20/

87

/28/

3.5

age 8+

In a time of superstition and magic, when wolves are seen as demonic and nature an evil to be tamed, a young apprentice hunter comes to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last pack. But when she saves a wild native girl, their friendship leads her to discover the world of the Wolfwalkers and transform her into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy.

87

8.1

/14150/

78

/492/

75

/178/

4.0

/23070/

99

/134/

89

/37/

95

/24/

4.0

In the aftermath of a tragic fire in a Romanian club, burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life threatening. A team of investigative journalists move into action uncovering the mass corruption of the health system and of the state institutions. Collective follows journalists, whistle blowers, and authorities alike. An immersive and uncompromising look into a dysfunctional system, exposing corruption, propaganda, and manipulation that nowadays affect not only Romania, but societies around the world.

87

8.0

/11784/

78

/272/

79

/311/

4.2

/31049/

95

/21/

90

/81/

91

/17/

4.0

Shuhei Hirayama is a widower with a 24-year-old daughter. Gradually, he comes to realize that she should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.

87

8.1

/33544/

78

/555/

77

/594/

4.3

/43874/

94

/51/

93

/387/

86

/19/