Foreign Films

Foreign films. I’ve always loved watching them because they generally offer a different perspective or feature some interesting perspective on life or society that isn’t often present in Hollywood and other mainstream Western movies. While I’m most familiar with Asian cinema, just based on random anecdotal evidence of the other foreign movies I’ve seen, they really do offer something that feels unique and refreshing compared to the average blockbuster. I personally think this is generally a combination of (generally) a smaller budget, and therefore filmmakers need to make do with limited resources and come up with other creative ways that do not involve some of the high cost CGI and special effects that Hollywood movies often have. Again this may be observational bias, but most of the foreign films that I’ve seen are noticeably lower budget – not in a way that detracts from the experience, but they are often much less flashy than the movies that are shown in large theaters. I see this often in American independent films as well, where filmmakers often try to craft an intricate or compelling plot, or try to push social boundaries in some way instead of trying to make a film to appeal to a wide audience and make a profit. In some ways, I think it’s the fact that these films feel like they are more of an honest effort to tell a story for the sake of telling a good story, rather than for making a large amount of money for the studies that funded them. Obviously this isn’t true across the board – there is plenty of “mindless entertainment” in developed countries with a significant film industry as well (Hong Kong, India, Japan, etc.), but I’ve noticed many of the foreign movies that I’ve watched tend to fit this pattern.