The Drive My Car, a Japanese production from 2o21 up for a number of Academy Awards this year.
Several classic movies have been nominated for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film, and one of them made history by winning both in the same year. The Oscars have always been a great introduction to international movies and filmmakers, bringing great movies to the attention of American audiences who otherwise may never get the chance to see them in the theaters or at home.
Drive My Car (2021)
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Drive My Car is a Japanese movie nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The movie tells the story of Yūsuke Kafuku, a young director making a movie after his wife has died. He meets a young woman who he learns was also in love with his wife.
The movie is also nominated for three other Oscars, including Best Director for Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Best International Feature Film, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It's based on a short story by author Haruki Murakami.
Amour (2012)
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Amour is a 2012 Best Picture nominee from director Michael Haneke and it's one of the best French movies of the 2010s. The film follows the story of Anne, who suffers a stroke and is cared for by her elderly husband, Georges.
The movie was nominated for several Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress in a Leading Role for Emmanuelle Riva who played Anne, Best Original Screenplay by Michael Haneke, and also Best Director. It ultimately won for Best Foreign Language Film.
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Rent On Apple TV
Letters from Iwo Jima is a unique Japanese-American co-production from 2006 that retells the Battle of Iwo Jima from the perspective of Japanese soldiers. It's one of the best movies featuring Clint Eastwood as a director and was nominated for Best Picture in 2006.
Eastwood was nominated for Best Director for the movie, and it also received nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Sound Editing, which it won. The Oscar went to Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman.
Life is Beautiful (1997)
Stream On Paramount+
Life is Beautiful may be best ed at the Oscars for Italian actor and director Roberto Benigni walking across the tops of seats to collect his Oscar for Best Actor, but it's a unique movie that was also nominated for Best Picture in 1997.
The moving story tells the story of a bookshop owner who tries to keep up a brave face for his family as they are taken to a concentration camp in the worst days of World War II. The movie was also nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
Il Postino: The Postman (1994)
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Il Postino: The Postman is not to be confused for one of the worst post-apocalyptic movies ever made, but it's one of the most successful Italian language movies ever and was nominated for numerous Oscars, including Best Picture in 1994.
Written and directed by Massimo Troisi, who sadly died after production finished, it tells the story of a postman who strikes up an acquaintance with Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The movie won an Oscar for Best Original Score, for composer Luis Bacalov.
The Emigrants (1971)
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The Emigrants is often considered one of the best roles by legendary Swedish actor Max Von Sydow. He plays Karl Oskar Nilsson, who moves with his family from Sweden to America in the 1800s, eventually settling in Minnesota.
The movie was nominated in 1973 for Best Picture as well as Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It had been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film the year previous, though it didn't win any of its nominations.
Z (1969)
Stream On HBO Max
Z was nominated for Best Picture in 1970, as well as Best Foreign Language Film. The Algerian-French co-production tells the story of the 1963 assassination of Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis and the chaotic aftermath, which ultimately ends without any justice.
The movie was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Director for Costa-Garvas. He collected the Oscar in its win for Best Foreign Language Film, and the movie also won for Best Film Editing for Françoise Bonnot.
Roma (2018)
Stream On Netflix
Netflix's Roma is a 2018 movie written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, shot in black and white, and produced within both Mexico and the United States. The movie was nominated for Best Picture and was the first Mexcian movie to win for Best Foreign Language Film.
Cuarón won the Oscar for Best Director for his unique recount of his youth in Mexico, with the focus on Yalitza Aparicio, who plays the maid Cleo in her first movie ever. She was nominated for Best Actress.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Rent On Vudu
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is one of the best wuxia movies ever made and one of the most successful. The 2000 movie directed by Ang Lee was nominated for ten Academy Awards, the most of any foreign language movie to that point.
The Chinese-language film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film, which it won. It also won for Best Art Direction and Cinematography and was nominated for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Orignal Song.
Parasite (2019)
Stream On Hulu & Kanopy
There's no doubt that Parasite is the most successful foreign-language film in Oscar history. It's the first foreign-language movie to win Best Picture in Oscar history, and also won Best International Feature Film, a category formerly known as Best Foreign Language Film.
The darkly satirical movie about class struggles in South Korea also won Best Original Screenplay and Best Director for Bong Joon-ho, who also directed the dystopian science fiction movie Snowpiercer in 2013.
