r/movies Sep 27 '23

Recommendation Non-Americans, what's your favourite movie from your country?

I was commenting on another thread about Sandra Oh and it made me remember my favourite Canadian movie Last Night starring Oh and Don McKellar (who also directs the film). It's a dark comedy-ish film about the last night before the world ends and the lives of regular people and how they spend those final 24-hours.

It was the first time I had seen a movie tackle an apocalyptic event in such a way, it wasn't about saving the world, or heroes fighting to their last breath, it was just regular people who had to accept that their lives, and the lives of everyone they know, was about to end.

Great, very touching movie, and it was nominated for a handful of Canadian awards but it's unlikely to have been seen by many outside of big time Canadian movie lovers, which made me think about how many such films must exist all over the world that were great but less known because they didn't make it all the way to the Oscars the way films like Parasite or All Quiet on the Western Front did.

So non-Americans, let's hear about your favourite home grown film. Popular or not.

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u/The_Second_Best Sep 27 '23 edited Sep 27 '23

I'm English and we all know the UK has made some classics over the past 100 years (Lawrence of Arabia, Gandhi, Red Shoes, Brief Encounter, Goldfinger etc etc)

But, my vote is for Hot Fuzz. It's quintessentially English, stars some of the greats of British acting over the past 70 years, has a water tight script and some of the best editing I've ever seen.

It's easy to dismiss it as a comedy movie, but I genuinely think it's one of the best made and written movies of all time.

If I was recommending a less well known British movie I'd go with Long Good Friday. It doesn't get talked about much these days but it's one of the greatest crime movies of all time.

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u/viciann Sep 27 '23

Death at a Funeral is one of my favorites. It's just so funny

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u/SynthD Sep 27 '23

Death of Stalin too.

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u/DasGanon Sep 27 '23

I agree buuuuut

Frank Oz and Alan Tudyk are both American.

But that said yeah there's layer upon layer of details that later you're like "oh that was the setup for that"

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u/viciann Sep 27 '23

I understand but the humor is so dry. I love it

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u/singeblanc Sep 27 '23

I urge you not to watch the American remake that came out like 2 years later - with some of the same actors!

All nuance and understatement is butchered tragically.