NOTE: All of these films are rated PG-13 or higher and feature themes that may be uncomfortable for some viewers.

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER (2012)

Set and shot in Pittsburgh, the film adaptation of Stephen Chbosky’s coming-of-age story is a bit different than your typical high school dramedy. The main character, Charlie, has severe anxiety and other mental health issues- obstacles treated with brutal honesty. It stars major Hollywood actors Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, and Ezra Miller in roles fairly opposite to the ones that made them famous. While it was a success when considering its budget and received critical acclaim, the film and book have both somewhat faded into obscurity. It’s worth revisiting if only for the frank and realistic depiction of being a teenager, regardless of its 90s setting. (Maybe this isn’t the most “indie” example, at least in terms of studio, but the overall themes and budget make it qualify.)

THE LAST SUPPER (1995)

Speaking of the 90s, this obscure black comedy is one of Cameron Diaz’s earliest works, starring alongside Ron Eldard and Bill Paxton. The film’s premise is spun off from that classic philosophical question: if you met a young Hitler and learned of his ideas, would you attempt to improve the future at the cost of his life? It’s an already morbid hypothetical made more gruesome by a group of grad students. They invite a stranger to eat dinner with them, listen to their thoughts on life, and decide whether it’s a night to play executioner. Despite the very dark story, the comedy is enough to keep it from growing too dour.

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE (2016)

Directed by Taika Waititi (of Thor: Ragnarok fame), Wilderpeople follows a teenage boy and his father figure as they flee to the New Zealand bush. Their reasons for disappearing are gut-wrenchingly realistic and far too much of a spoiler for this little blurb. But the true strength of the film is how main characters Hec and Ricky play off each other, portrayed by Sam Neill and Julian Dennison respectively. The dialogue is classic Waititi, with almost every line feeling like an outtake from Ragnarok or last year’s Jojo Rabbit. It’s also worth noting that this is the highest-grossing New Zealand film in history.

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT (2014)

While created in America, this “vampire western” is set in Iran and uses the Persian language exclusively. It combines elements from vampire films like Dracula with the style and general tone of spaghetti westerns a la Sergio Leone. Writer and director Ana Lily Amirpour has gone on record saying she had the cast watch Nosferatu and other western films in preparation for their roles. While it uses black-and-white to enhance the creepiness of the film and emulate its inspirations, the real standout is the use of shadows. The monochrome enhances the use of lighting- or lack thereof. The film also spawned a graphic novel adaptation and an alternate soundtrack, released in 2018.

THE FLORIDA PROJECT (2017)

It’s difficult to capture the perspective of a child, especially one going through a difficult situation. Their tendency to drift towards fantasy and imagination is sometimes a skill lost as adults. However, director-producer-writer Sean Baker proved he was capable with The Florida Project. A young girl lives in a Kissimmee, Florida motel room with her single mother as the parent tries to prevent them from becoming homeless. Not only does it accurately depict how a child would view and behave in such an environment, but the filming methods add a sense of realism. It was shot entirely on-site with a 35mm film. The film was a critical success, with Willem Dafoe being nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT (2015)

A film adaptation of the controversial Stanford prison experiment was originally announced in 2002. The movie would cover the 1971 project, in which a psychology professor used volunteer students to study abuse in the prison system. The time spent in development was due to the extreme nature of the original experiment and whether the film was profiting off the event. In the end, a more indie production was made and premiered at Sundance to rave reviews. Audiences praised the critical look at how quickly humans can turn on each other in positions of power. During its Sundance run, it won the Alfred P. Solan Feature Film Prize and the Waldo Walt Screenwriting Award, alongside being nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.

24 FRAMES (2018)

Some might argue whether this qualifies as a “movie,” seeing as there’s not a real plot. Instead, Abbas Kiarostami’s last production is two hours of 24 scenes that don’t seem to interconnect. It plays out closer to a series of short films than a cohesive work. But each scene features a different filming technique that might otherwise be seen as a gimmick. The short length- around 4 and a half minutes- keeps them from overstaying their welcome. It’s also considered to be a perfect encapsulation of Kiarostami’s history as a director, making it a must-watch for his fans.

What are your favorite underrated indie movies? Let us know!

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1) A Fantastic Woman (Chile, 23rd in the world in awards)

In 2018 in particular, a list of impactful foreign films wouldn’t be complete without the year’s most influential one- A Fantastic Woman. This was the film that took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film a few months ago. The film stars Daniela Vega who plays Marina, a transgender waitress and singer who faces considerable opposition after the death of an older lover. This movie surrounds Marina as she grieves the loss of someone she loved dearly, while simultaneously having her relationship discredited by those around her because of how she chooses to identify herself.

This film was not only impactful enough to make it award-winning, but it also caused some real world impact in its home. This film was made in Chile and the win was historic as it was the first time a film from Chile had taken home this honor. It came at a critical time in Chile as well, since the subject matter involves transgender rights. In September, their government passed a bill allowing transgender citizens to change their names without having to go through a judge. Shortly after the film’s win, the star, Daniela Vega, made an impassioned speech discussing the issue. No matter what your political leaning, there’s no denying that this film made a real-world impact, both natively and world-wide.

2) Okja (South Korea and U.S., 63rd in the world in awards)

Though this one may not technically be considered a ‘foreign language film’, the South Korean director and writer Joon-ho Bong made a huge splash with this Netflix release. With a setting split between South Korea and the United States, the film split itself in terms of language and talent- using a combination of both South Korean and American language and actors. The film centers around a young South Korean girl who risks everything to prevent a power-hungry multinational company from kidnapping her best friend, Okja, who is a genetically modified animal.

This story was particularly impactful because of the subject matter as, though we don’t have genetically mutated super pigs, it directly addresses and foreshadows the problems with the current food and meat industry. It’s a tale like the classics Babe and Homeward Bound in that, at its core, it’s a touching tale about a girl and her pet. The way this film balances innocence and hard-hitting realism has gained it a lot of attention and influence this year, and it’s made a lot of viewers want to switch to vegetarian lifestyles.

3) Stalker (Russia, 7th in the world in awards)

This film has transcended it’s ‘foreign film’ status, being shown at Indie movie theaters around the world, including Row House Cinema in Pittsburgh, PA. It originally wasn’t super well-known, but re-releases have changed that. It actually broke box office records when it played at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City back in 2017. In fact, it had the second-highest per-screen average nationwide, only behind the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.

It’s based on the novel Roadside Picnic and is set in a vague time and place that is largely made of industrial spaces or overgrown fields and forests. A man named the Stalker (Alexander Kaidanovsky) prepares to lead two men, the Writer (Anatoly Solonitsyn) and the Professor (Nikolai Grinko), into an abandoned wasteland called the Zone. This journey is in hopes of finding the Room, which is said to be a mystical place which fulfills people’s deepest desires.

Though the film has had a strange journey and largely had to be re-shot because of problems processing the original footage, a Times critic wrote about the film and director (Tarkovsky) back in 1983 declaring Tarkovsky, “the Soviet cinema’s one genius and most honest voice.The worlds in which Tarkovsky plunges us becomes utterly compelling — even as they weary — and we emerge feeling that we have experienced a revelation, no matter how shrouded in ambiguity.”

The film plunges the viewer into a mystical, almost dreamlike state with moments that are both bizarre and profound. It’s almost reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode or a film such as Mulholland Drive where there are small-yet- profound and inexplicable moments throughout. That’s a very difficult atmosphere to cultivate.

The successes of the recent re-releases have once again brought this bizarre foreign film to the minds of many, giving critics and film buffs the chance to try to decipher its mystery.

Though these countries may not typically come to mind when we think of film, they’re still managing to make an impact in the industry and on real lives. The next time you’re looking for a foreign film or film set in a foreign country, go outside your comfort zone a bit. You may be surprised by what you’ll discover.

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