Edgar Wright is a great source of movie recommendations. He watches an absurd amount of movies. His taste is wide-ranging, meaning that his selections should appeal to cinephiles of all stripes. He's also an avid watcher of foreign films and has included dozens in the online list of his 1000 favorite movies.
In fact, Wright is part of the group that votes for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language film. His selections range from experimental films and comedies to thrillers and historical dramas. They include some of the best movies that world cinema has to offer.
'Show Me Love' (1998)
Show Me Love is a romantic comedy-drama that follows the relationship between two teenage girls, Elin (Alexandra Dahlström) and Agnes (Rebecka Liljeberg) in a small town. They feel smothered in this environment, and dream of escape. It's directed by Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson, who also made the comedy Together, set in a commune.
The film offers an immersive vision of the 1990s, perfect for viewers looking for a '90s nostalgia trip. Wright called it a "coming of age classic [...] about what is it to be a teenager in love [...] Sweet, quirky, relatable and romantic."
'A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence' (2014)
This absurdist black comedy is the third in a trilogy directed by Swedish filmmaker Roy Andersson, although they can more or less be watched in any order. It eschews a conventional story and instead is made up of loosely connected vignettes. In particular, the film uses bizarre situations to comment to explore philosophical situations, especially the absurdities of modern life.
"Roy Andersson is one of our best living directors and a cinematic stylist beyond compare," Wright tweeted. "A master of composition and palette control, as well as a noted purveyor of bleakly hilarious sight gags." Readers looking for more surreal entertainment should also check out Leo Carax's Holy Motors.
'Chungking Express' (1994)
Chungking Express is a crime film directed by Wong Kar-wai, perhaps best known for In the Mood for Love and The Grandmaster. It follows two parallel storylines both about police officers dealing with messy breakups. It sees Wong turn to more lighthearted fare after the dramas As Tears Go By and Days of Being Wild.
"After the very heavy stuff, heavily emphasized in Ashes of Time, I wanted to make a very light, contemporary movie, but where the characters had the same problems," Wong has explained. The result is a madcap romance featuring a ton of gunplay. Unsurprisingly, Quentin Tarantino also adores Chungking Express. "This film has this wonderful romantic-comedy flavor to it," he has said. "While at the same time being encapsulated in this crazy, frenetic Hong Kong world."
'Riders of Justice' (2020)
Mads Mikkelsen stars in this thriller as Markus, a traumatized former soldier returning to suburban life. After his wife dies in a train accident, he meets a group of hackers who believe a powerful gang was responsible for the derailment. Together, they start plotting their revenge. It's fast-paced, entertaining, and frequently hilarious, as when one of the hackers pretends to be a psychologist and ends up 'counseling' Markus's daughter (Andrea Heick Gadeberg).
The film is thoughtful too, with some sharp commentary on the meaning of justice. It's anchored by Mikkelsen's terrific performance. Markus is a complicated man, deadly and powerful in some ways, but also like a frightened child in others.
'Cold War' (2018)
Cold War is a historical movie about the romance between Polish music director Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) and Yula (Joanna Kulig), a singer. Wiktor urges Yula to flee with him to France and leave the Soviet Union behind, but in the end, she doesn't join him. They meet again years later and attempt to make sense of all that has taken place.
It's an intense drama, with one of the most powerful final shots in recent memory. It's also very quick-paced and engrossing. "I know they nixed the Popular Movie Oscar, but can I suggest a new special award to be given to Cold War for being both a) great and b) 88 minutes long," Wright said in a tweet.
'Burning' (2018)
This South Korean drama from director Lee Chang-dong centers on the love triangle between the shy Lee Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in), Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), a young woman who grew up in the same village, and the rich, cocky Ben (Steven Yeun). Jong-su and Ben's lives are changed forever when Hae-mi goes missing. Through these characters, the movie explores issues around wealth, status anxiety, and domestic violence in contemporary South Korea.
It's a slow burner, but it ends off with one of the strongest closing scenes of the last decade. "2018's simmering, hypnotic Burning which again should have been nominated in its year and features Steve Yeun as the most dazzling sociopath since Patrick Bateman," Wright said.
'On Body and Soul' (2017)
This idiosyncratic Hungarian drama follows two people working at a slaughterhouse who discover that they can communicate with each other in their dreams, where they appear as deer. An unlikely romance develops between them, but various forces threaten to undermine it.
It's a sweet movie, with terrific performances from the leads. They are both oddballs. Endre (Géza Morcsányi) is stiff and awkward, and Mária (Alexandra Borbély) has trouble understanding social cues. It's philosophical too, serving up plenty of food for thought. "The film wants to communicate, to anybody who is watching it, that everyday life is missing something," Ildikó Enyedi, the film's director, has said. "When you are in love, nothing is hidden. It’s a moment of truth. You are very naked, your partner is very naked, and the world around you is very naked."
'Train to Busan' (2016)
Just when the zombie subgenre seemed to be getting stale, this South Korean film from director Yeon Sang-ho burst onto the scene like a runaway train. The premise is simple: a group of survivors tries to travel to safety while hordes of zombies pursue them. But the humans on the train are almost as dangerous as the dead.
The film skillfully uses the train setting to explore social divides and class conflict. It quickly becomes clear that some characters are more than willing to sacrifice others to stay alive. In this regard, Train to Busan is kind of like Night of the Living Dead meets Parasite.
'Persepolis' (2007)
Persepolis is an animated movie directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi and based on Satrapi's graphic novel of the same name. It tells the story of her life growing up in Iran under theocratic rule, as well as her years studying in the West. This gives Satrapi an interesting perspective on her homeland but makes it even harder to accept the limitations of her life there.
The film is a moving character study and a vivid portrait of life in Iran, where the government represses its citizens and closely polices their behavior. Not to mention, the animation style is unique; simple, largely black and white, but gorgeous. Persepolis is more relevant now than ever, in light of the protests currently underway in Iran.
'Good Bye Lenin!' (2003)
Good Bye Lenin! is a comedy-drama set in Germany in 1990, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Alexander (Daniel Bruhl) is a young man living in Berlin, whose mother (Katrin Sass) - a staunch socialist - fell into a coma. When she wakes up, Alexander tries to hide the fall of Communism from her, fearing that her heart won't be able to handle the shock.
The young Bruhl delivers a great performance, hinting at the success he would go on to have with bigger projects like Inglourious Basterds and Rush. The main appeal is the warm approach the movie takes toward its characters. What could have been a caustic political satire is instead a sweet story about family.