10 Brilliant Foreign Crime Films

10 Brilliant Foreign Crime Films

Fans of crime films should dive into this list of critically acclaimed foreign crime movies. Take a chance with any of these highly-rated top films.

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People love a late-night good, intriguing, suspenseful crime film or a true-crime show. And why not? Crime films (if done cleverly) can sharpen people’s deductive skills, impress, intrigue, and overall, offer an enjoyable and thought-provoking experience.

However, there are hundreds of unexplored foreign crime film gems out there that never receive the same hype as their English counterparts, because of subtitles or simply people’s hesitation to watch anything that may appear unfamiliar. This list introduces 10 great recommendations to start amending this, from a film that is almost 100 years old to some that are not even five.

10 The Crimson Rivers / Les Rivières Pourpres (2000) – France

This French picture, starring Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel, tells the story of two detectives who have to solve a series of related murders in a remote university campus situated somewhere in the French Alps. Apart from a very compelling and challenging crime film, the viewer can also enjoy the beautiful filming locations in the Alps and near the city of Grenoble.

The film received positive reviews, with the critics finding it very smart and praising Jean Reno’s performance. Some, however, including co-star Vincent Cassel, thought the final cut was somewhat confusing – which is not a lie – but one can compensate for this by reading the brilliant novel from which this film was adapted.

9 The Invisible Guest / Contratiempo (2016) – Spain

This Oriol Paulo film has received mixed reviews by critics, but has been loved by audiences and has an 86% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.1/10 rating on IMDb. The story follows Adrian (Mario Casas), a businessman charged with the murder of his lover, as he tries to prove his innocence with the help of a renowned witness trainer, Virginia (Blanca Martínez).

The many twists and clever surprises in this film keep audiences guessing. The film was shot mostly in the region of Catalonia and grossed $30.5 million worldwide on a budget of $4.5 million.

8 City On Fire / 龍虎風雲 [Long Hu Feng Yun] (1987) – Hong Kong

After the murder of an undercover cop investigating a group of thieves, another undercover officer has to resume the investigation. In order to do this, he must work undercover and gain the trust of the robbers.

This premise provides viewers with a captivating crime film. The movie has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is said to have been one of the films that inspired Quentin Tarantino. Let’s say this much – if you have seen Reservoir Dogs, this film will look incredibly familiar. City On Fire also features a young Chow Yun-fat at the start of his action career.

7 Victoria (2015) – Germany

Sebastian Schipper directs Laia Costa and Frederick Lau in this recent crime film from Germany. Victoria (Laia Costa) is a young woman from Spain who lives in Berlin. She works in a coffee shop, until one night when she goes on a criminal adventure with a group of young men.

The film was very positively reviewed by critics and received many awards at the German Film awards in 2015, including Best Feature Film, Direction, Actress in a Leading Role, Actor in a Leading Role, Cinematography, and Original Score by Nils Frahm. Its uniqueness lies in that it is comprised of one single long shot.

6 La Femme Nikita (1990) – France

This action thriller by Luc Besson gave Anni Parillaud a Best Actress award at the César awards. She starts as Nikita, a young drug addict who assaults a cop with her gun. Nikita is arrested and imprisoned and subjected to unusual treatment, but she’s given a chance to avoid execution by being trained as an assassin for the government.

Nikita takes this chance, but life gets in the way. The film received mixed reviews from the French press on its release, but it has aged surprisingly well, having an approval rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

5 Pusher (1996) – Denmark

Nicolas Winding Refn writes and directs the story of Frank, a small scale heroin pusher who sells it with his friend Tony. The two get their heroin from a Yugoslav provider and hide it, but at some point they are found by the police. Frank is set free because of a lack of evidence, but then finds out that he has to find a big sum of money to pay their dealer back if he wants to escape with his life.

The film was well-received, both by the audience and the critics, as its presentation of events touched many themes and different people. It is considered one of Winding-Refn’s best, in a career that features quite a few impressive cinematic feats, including Drive.

4 Infernal Affairs / 無間道 [Wú Jiān Dào] (2002) – Hong Kong

Famously remade by Martin Scorsese as The Departed (2006) and soon to be remade in India, this Hong Kong movie features Andy Lau and Tony Leung as a corrupt mole and an undercover police officer respectively. Both the gang boss and the chief of police eventually understand that there’s a mole, and both try to find the culprits.

Infernal Affairs was critically acclaimed, with a staggering 94% approval rating and 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and was also the Hong Kong entry for Best Foreign Language Film in the 76th Academy Awards.

3 Lady Vengeance / 친절한 금자씨 [Chinjeolhan Geumjassi] (2005) – South Korea

Released from prison after many years, Lee Geum-Ja, a mother who has been wrongly accused and imprisoned for the murder of a child, embarks on a journey of revenge, while at the same time, trying to make amends with her estranged daughter. Lady Vengeance was the third movie in Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy.

Critically acclaimed, the movie was awarded Best Film and Best Actress (Lee Young-Ae) at the 26th Blue Dragon Film Awards. The movie features an impressive baroque musical score, with music based on Vivaldi, Paganini, Savall, and other music pieces from the period.

2 M / M – Eine Stadt Sucht Einen Mörder [A City Searches For A Murderer] (1931) – Germany

A few years before he rejected a proposal to be the official director of the Nazi propaganda, Fritz Lang directed M. This old, but nevertheless inspiring picture tells the story of a city searching for a man who has committed a series of murders of children. With the official police unable to solve the case, a group of criminals takes the law in their own hands.

The film is worth watching, not only because of how well it is made, but also because of its inevitable correlations with Lang’s critical approach to German politics of the time.

1 The Bad Sleep Well / 悪い奴ほどよく眠る [Warui Yatsu Hodo Yoku Nemuru] (1960) – Japan

This classic by Akira Kurosawa has received critical acclaim over the years, with a Rotten Tomatoes critic rating of 100% and praise for its noir aesthetic and social significance. Toshiro Mifune stars in yet another Kurosawa film, as Kōichi Nishi, a man who is employed in a company in postwar Japan who tries to find and expose the people who are to blame for the death of his father.

With an inevitable connection to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, this film is considered one of Kurosawa’s best works and a hidden gem of a Shakespeare (loose) adaptation.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/brilliant-foreign-crime-films/

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