91 of the Best Movies and TV Shows from Around the World

---

Foreign language movies are a fantastic way to learn a language. They’re not just entertaining, but they expose you to authentic usage of your target language, help you with listening practice, and give you an inside view of another culture.

With that in mind, I asked the members of the Fluent in 3 Months Facebook community about the movies they love to watch in their target language. You told me about over ninety movies in twenty different languages!

So, whether you’re learning Chinese, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish or Visayan, we’ve got a movie for you.

This is also a great place to get started if you want to start digging into world cinema.

Finding language learning entertainment just became a whole lot easier.

Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese) Movies

英雄 (“Hero”) (2002)
Director: Zhang Yi Mou
Starring: Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Zhang Zi Yi, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung
Genre: Action, Drama
IMDb Description: A defence officer, Nameless, is summoned by the King of Qin regarding his success terminating three warriors.

洗澡 (“Shower”) (1999)
Director: Zhang Yang
Starring: Jiayi Du, Bing He, Wu Jiang
Genre: Comedy, Drama
IMDb Description: Shenzhen businessman, Da Ming, goes home to Beijing when he thinks his father has died.

Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
Director: Tsui Hark
Starring: Jet Li, Rosamund Kwan,
Genre: Action, Adventure, Biography
IMDb Description: Set in late 19th century Canton, this martial arts film depicts the stance taken by the legendary martial arts hero Wong Fei-Hung against foreign forces' plundering of China.

Dutch Movies

‘n Beetje Verliefd (“Happy Family”) (2006)
Director: Martin Koolhoven
Starring: Ad van Kempen, Geert de Jong, Yes-R
Genre: Comedy, Romance
IMDb Description: Thijs is a elderly Dutch tomato grower. His adult daughters plan to have him move to a skyscraper-flat, leaving home and professional life, but he takes his adolescent grandson Omar's advice to refuse and keep living.

English (US/American) Movies

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Jonah Hill
Genre: Drama
IMDb Description: Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.

Back to the Future (1995)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd
Genre: Action, Adventure
IMDb Description: A young man is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-travelling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown, and must make sure his high-school-aged parents unite in order to save his own existence.

Shooter (2007)
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Michael Peña
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
IMDb Description: A marksman living in exile is coaxed back into action after learning of a plot to kill the president. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt, he goes on the run to find the real killer and the reason he was set up.

Seventh Son (2014)
Director: Sergey Bodrov
Starring: Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
IMDb Description: When Mother Malkin, the queen of evil witches, escapes the pit she was imprisoned in by professional monster hunter Spook decades ago and kills his apprentice, Spook recruits young Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, to help him.

English (Australian) Movies

Australia (2008)
Director: Baz Luhrman
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman
Genre: Drama
IMDb Description: Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot.

English (UK/British) Movies

My Fair Lady (1964)
Director: George Cukor
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison
Genre: Drama, Family, Musical
IMDb Description: A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can take a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.

Love Actually (2003)
Director: Richard Curtis
Starring: Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson
Genre: Romantic Comedy
IMDb Description: Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

Esperanto Movies

Gerda Malaperis (“Gerda Disappeared”) (2006)
Director: Joe Bazilio Costa
Starring: Eliezer Emanuel, Vitor Leitão, Lorena Leos
Genre: Mystery
Description: Based on one of the most famous stories in Esperanto literature by Claude Piron of Switzerland, this mystery begins when three college students witness the strange disappearance of a woman who is an expert in cryptic languages.

Filipino Movies

Himala (“Miracle”) (1982)
Director: Ishmael Bernal
Starring: Nora Aunor, Veronica Palileo, Spanky Manikan
Genre: Drama
IMDb Description: Elsa sees the Virgin Mary, who changes her life and causes hysteria in a poor, isolated village.

Magnifico (2003)
Director: Maryo J. De Los Reyes
Starring: Lorna Tolentino, Albert Martinez, Gloria Romero
Genre: Drama
IMDb Description: Even though he is not good in school and belongs to a poor and unfortunate family, Magnifico still has a big heart and a large amount of optimism, which enables him to help not only his family but also the community.

Finnish Movies

Paha Maa (“Frozen Land”) (2005)
Director: Aku Louhimies
Starring: Jasper Pääkkönen, Mikko Leppilampi, Pamela Tola
Genre: Drama
IMDb Description: When a schoolteacher is sacked, he projects his bad mood onto his troubled teen son. The son, in turn, buys a CD player from a pawnshop with counterfeit money. This causes a chain-reaction that wreaks havoc on many lives, as everyone transfers their problems to the next victim.

Rare Exports (2010)
Director: Jalmari Helander
Starring: Jorma Tommila, Peeter Jakobi, Onni Tommila
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Horror
IMDb Description: In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486 metres deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of Christmas. The time has come to dig it up! This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus.

French (France) Movies

Amélie (2001)
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus
Genre: Comedy Romance
IMDb Description: Amelie is an innocent and naive girl in Paris with her own sense of justice. She decides to help those around her and, along the way, discovers love.

La Fille Sur Le Pont (“The Girl on the Bridge”) (1999)
Director: Patrice Leconte
Starring: Vanessa Paradis, Daniel Auteuil, Frédéric Pfluger
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: It's night on a Paris bridge. A girl leans over the Seine River with tears in her eyes and a violent yearning to drown her sorrows. Out of nowhere, someone takes an interest in her.

La Mystérieuse Mademoiselle C (“The Mysterious Miss C”) (2002)
Director: Richard Ciupka
Starring: Marie-Chantal Perron, Gildor Roy, Ève Lemieux
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
Description: An eccentric teacher causes children at her elementary school to change the way they look at themselves.

Populaire (2012)
Director: Régis Roinsard
Starring: Romain Duris, Féodor Atkine, Déborah François
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Sport
IMDb Description: It’s 1958. Rose is a terrible secretary but a demon typist. Her handsome boss resolves to turn her into the fastest typist in the world.

Le Magnifique (“The Man From Acapulco”) (1973)
Director: Philippe de Broca
Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jacqueline Bisset
Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy
Description: An author of spy novels fantasizes about his neighbour being his lover in his latest book.

Une vieille maîtresse (“The Last Mistress”) (2007)
Director: Catherine Breillat
Starring: Asia Argento, Fu'ad Aït Aattou, Roxane Mesquida
Genre: Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: Secrets, rumours and betrayals surround the upcoming marriage between a young dissolute man and a virtuous woman of the French aristocracy.

The Intouchables (2011)
Directors: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano
Starring: François Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Le Ny
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
IMDb Description: After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.

De rouille et d'os (“Rust and Bone”) (2012)
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure
Genre: Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: Put in charge of his young son, Alain leaves Belgium for Antibes to live with his sister and her husband as a family. Alain's bond with Stephanie, a killer whale trainer, grows deeper after Stephanie suffers a horrible accident.

Les Enfants du Paradis (“The Children of Paradise”) (1945)
Director: Marcel Carné
Starring: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur
Genre: Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: The theatrical life of a beautiful courtesan and the four men who love her.

Les Valseuses (“Going Places”) (1974)
Director: Bertrand Blier
Starring: Gérard Depardieu, Patrick Dewaere, Miou-Miou
Genre: Comedy, Drama
IMDb Description: Two whimsical, aimless thugs harass and assault women, steal, murder, and alternately charm, fight, or sprint their way out of trouble.

L'inconnu du lac (“Stranger by the Lake”) (2013)
Director: Alain Guiraudie
Starring: Pierre Deladonchamps, Christophe Paou, Patrick d'Assumçao
Genre: Drama Thriller
IMDb Description: Summertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this, but wants to live out his passion anyway.

Le Chef (2012)
Director: Daniel Cohen
Starring: Jean Reno, Michaël Youn, Raphaëlle Agogué
Genre: Comedy
IMDb Description: A veteran chef faces off against his restaurant group's new CEO, who wants the establishment to lose a star from its rating in order to bring in a younger chef who specialises in molecular gastronomy.

French (Quebec) Movie

Bon Cop, Bad Cop (2006)
Director: Erik Canuel
Starring: Michel Beaudry, Patrice Bélanger, Pierre Boudreau
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
IMDb Description: Two Canadian detectives, one from Ontario and the other from Quebec, must work together when a murder victim is found on the Ontario-Quebec border line.

German Movies

Lola Rennt (“Run Lola Run”) (1998)
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Franka Potente, Moritz Bleibtreu, Herbert Knaup
Genre: Crime, Thriller
IMDb Description: After a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.

Das Leben der Anderen (“The Lives of Others”) (2006)
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Starring: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch
Genre: Drama, Thriller
IMDb Description: In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

Barfuss (“Barefoot”) (2005)
Director: Til Schweiger
Starring: Hans-Peter Abts, Gustav Adolph, Micha Breidenstein
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: Nick, a hedonistic bachelor, falls for an escaped mental patient.

Soul Kitchen (2009)
Director: Fatih Akin
Starring: Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Pheline Roggan
Genre: Comedy, Drama
IMDb Description: In Hamburg, German-Greek chef Zinos unknowingly disturbs the peace in his locals-only restaurant by hiring a more talented chef.

Im Juli (“In July”) (2000)
Director: Fatih Akin
Starring: Moritz Bleibtreu, Christiane Paul, Mehmet Kurtulus
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Romance
IMDb Description: Can Daniel follow the sun from Hamburg to the Bosporus by Friday to meet his love?

Goodbye Lenin! (2003)
Director: Wolfgang Becker
Starring: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saß, Chulpan Khamatova
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.

Schlussmacher (2013)
Directors: Matthias Schweighöfer, Torsten Künstler
Starring: Sascha Alexander, Ariane Pochon, Martin Neuhaus
Genre: Comedy
IMDb Description: An employee at a professional separation agency, a business that helps couples break up, Paul tries to tackle the problems that come with Toto, the boyfriend of a customer, while he has his own thinking to do about love and relationships.

Lore (2012)
Directors: Cate Shortland
Starring: Saskia Rosendahl, Kai-Peter Malina, Nele Trebs
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller
IMDb Description: As the Allies sweep across Germany, Lore leads her siblings on a journey that exposes them to the truth of their parents' beliefs. An encounter with a mysterious refugee forces Lore to rely on a person she has always been taught to hate.

Das Boot (“The Boat”) (1981)
Directors: Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann
Genre: Adventure, Drama, War
IMDb Description: The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth, and sheer terror.

M (1931)
Directors: Fritz Lang
Starring: Peter Lorre, Ellen Widmann, Inge Landgut
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
IMDb Description: When the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.

Hindi Movies

Veer Zaara (2004)
Director: Yash Chopra
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji
Genre: Drama, Musical, Romance
IMDb Description: The story of the love between Veer Pratap Singh, an Indian, and Zaara Hayaat Khan, a Pakistani…a love so great it knows no boundaries…

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)
Director: Aditya Chopra
Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Amrish Puri
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical
IMDb Description: A young man and woman – both of Indian descent but born and raised in Britain – fall in love during a trip to Switzerland. However, the girl's traditional father takes her back to India to fulfill a betrothal promise.

Delhi Belly (2011)
Directors: Abhinay Deo, Akshat Verma
Starring: Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunaal Roy Kapur
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
IMDb Description: Three struggling roommates unknowingly become potential prey of a ruthless gangster.

Indonesian Movies

The Raid Redemption (2011)
Director: Gareth Huw Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais, Ananda George, Ray Sahetapy
Genre: Action, Thriller
IMDb Description: A S.W.A.T. team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs.

Pesan Dari Surga (“Messages from Heaven”) (2006)
Director: Sekar Ayu Asmara
Starring: Luna Maya, Vino G. Bastian, Ario Bayu
Genre: Drama
Description: The plight of five young members of a band as they deal with various trial and tribulations

Italian Movies

Il Postino: The Postman (1994)
Director: Michael Radford
Starring: Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret, Maria Grazia Cucinotta
Genre: Biography, Drama, Comedy
IMDb Description: A simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet; he uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.

Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Starring: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili
Genre: Comedy, Drama
IMDb Description: A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theatre and formed a deep friendship with the theatre's projectionist.

La vita è bella (“Life is Beautiful”) (1997)
Director: Roberto Benigni
Starring: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: When an open-minded Jewish librarian and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humour and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.

Pane e tulipani (“Bread and Tulips”) (2000)
Director: Silvio Soldini
Starring: Licia Maglietta, Bruno Ganz, Giuseppe Battiston
Genre: Comedy, Romance
IMDb Description: After being forgotten in a highway café during a bus trip, a housewife decides to start a new life by herself in Venice.

Japanese Movies

僕の彼女はサイボーグ (“My Girlfriend is a Cyborg” or “Cyborg Girl”) (2008)
Director: Jae-young Kwak
Starring: Haruka Ayase, Keisuke Koide, Risa Ai
Genre: Action, Comedy, Romance
IMDb Description: Jiro is a lonely university student. One day he meets a beautiful and interesting woman who turns out to be a Cyborg lacking manners and emotions.

七人の侍 (“The Seven Samurai”) (1954)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima
Genre: Action, Drama
IMDb Description: A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.

るろうに剣心 (“Rurouni Kenshin”) (2012)
Director: Keishi Ohtomo
Starring: Takeru Satô, Yû Aoi, Emi Takei
Genre: Action
IMDb Description: In 1868, after the end of the Bakumatsu war, the former assassin Kenshin Himura promises to defend those in need without killing. Kenshin wanders through Japan with a reverse-edged sword

Korean Movies

쉬리 (“Shiri” or “Swiri”) (1999)
Director: Je-kyu Kang
Starring: Suk-kyu Han, Min-sik Choi, Yunjin Kim
Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama
IMDb Description: North and South Korean superspies battle and fall in love.

아라한 장풍 대작전 (“Arahan”) (2004)
Director: Seung-wan Ryoo
Starring: Seung-beom Ryu, So-yi Yoon, Sung-kee Ahn
Genre: Action, Comedy
Description: An earnest but inept rookie cop is injured in the line of work by a young martial arts student who studies under her father and the six Masters of Tao. They believe the cop has the makings of a great warrior.

엽기적인 그녀 (“My Sassy Girl”) (2001)
Director: Jae-young Kwak
Starring: Tae-hyun Cha, Ji-hyun Jun, In-mun Kim
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Description: A college student becomes involved with a self-centered young woman who humiliates him at every turn.

Latvian Movie

Sapņu Komanda 1935 (“Dream Team 1935”) (2012)
Director: Aigars Grauba
Starring: Janis Amanis, Inga Alsina, Vilis Daudzins
Genre: Comedy, Drama, History
IMDb Description: A story about the Latvian basketball team, which won the first-ever European Championships in 1935, and its enthusiastic head coach Valdemars Baumanis.

Norwegian Movie

Varg Veum – Falne engler (“Fallen Angel”) (2008)
Director: Morten Tyldum
Starring: Trond Espen Seim, Per Kjerstad, Bjørn Floberg
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
IMDb Description: Murder and trouble hits Veum when he meets up with classmates in the rock-band Camp, when he resumes contact with a former flame Rebecca, now the wife of his buddy. A Varg Veum mystery based on the best-selling crime novel by Gunnar Staalesen.

Polish Movie

Potop (“The Deluge”) (1974)
Director: Jerzy Hoffman
Starring: Daniel Olbrychski, Malgorzata Braunek, Tadeusz Lomnicki
Genre: Adventure, History, Romance
IMDb Description: During the 1655 war between Protestant Sweden and Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, some Polish-Lithuanian nobles side with Swedish king Charles X Gustav while others side with the Polish king Jan Kazimierz.

Portuguese (Brazil) Movies

Cidade de Deus (“City of God”) (2012)
Directors: Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund
Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Matheus Nachtergaele, Leandro Firmino
Genre: Crime, Drama
IMDb Description: Two boys growing up in a violent neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer.

Tropa de Elite (“Elite Squad”) (2007)
Director: José Padilha
Starring: Wagner Moura, André Ramiro, Caio Junqueira
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
IMDb Description: Captain Nascimento has to find a substitute for his occupation while trying to take down drug dealers and criminals before the Pope comes to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Odeio o Dia dos Namorados (“I Hate Valentine’s Day”) (2013)
Director: Roberto Santucci
Starring: Heloísa Périssé, Marcelo Saback, Daniel Boaventura
Genre: Comedy, Romance
IMDb Description: After having a car accident, a cold businesswoman recounts the events of her life that led to that moment with the help of the ghost of her deceased best friend and work partner.

Entre Nós (2013)
Directors: Paulo Morelli, Pedro Morelli
Starring: Júlio Andrade, Caio Blat, Diogo da Silva
Genre: Drama
IMDb Description: A group of literature-loving friends bury letters to be opened 10 years later when they will confront the dreams of their youth with what the future has held in store for them.

Portuguese (Portugal) Movies

Vale Abraão (“Abraham’s Valley”) (1993)
Director: Manoel de Oliveira
Starring: Leonor Silveira, Cécile Sanz de Alba, Luís Miguel Cintra
Genre: Drama
IMDb Description: Ema is a very attractive but innocent girl, so pretty that cars crash in her presence. Young Ema marries Dr. Carlo Paiva, who she is not attracted to, but is her father's friend.

O Pai Tirano (“The Tyrannical Father”) (1941)
Director: António Lopes Ribeiro
Starring: Vasco Santana, Francisco Ribeiro, Leonor Maia
Genre: Comedy
IMDb Description: While rehearsing for the annual play, a clerk tries to regain the attention of his beloved, in a comedy of equivoques.

Russian Movies

Метро (“Metro”) (2012)
Director: Anton Megerdichev
Starring: Sergey Puskepalis, Anatoliy Belyy, Svetlana Khodchenkova
Genre: Action, Thriller
IMDb Description: Terror strikes the underground train system in Moscow in the form of a flood from a collapsed tunnel.

ночной дозор (“Night Watch”) (2004)
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Vladimir Menshov, Mariya Poroshina
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Thriller
IMDb Description: A fantasy-thriller set in present-day Moscow where the respective forces that control daytime and nighttime do battle.

Возвращение (“The Return”) (2003)
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev
Starring: Vladimir Garin, Ivan Dobronravov, Konstantin Lavronenko
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
IMDb Description: In the Russian wilderness, two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father – a man they know only through a single photograph – resurfaces.

Brat (“Brother”) (1997)
Director: Aleksey Balabanov
Starring: Sergey Bodrov Jr., Viktor Sukhorukov, Svetlana Pismichenko
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: An ex-soldier with a personal honour code enters the family crime business in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Неадекватные люди (“Inadequate People”) (2010)
Director: Roman Karimov
Starring: Ilya Lyubimov, Ingrid Olerinskaya, Evgeniy Tsyganov
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: Adequacy is relative. Vitalik, the main character of the movie, seems to be pretty normal. With a respectable office job, a comfy little dwelling and a personal couch doctor, Vitalik looks as adequate as a human can possibly be.

Кухня в Париже (“Kitchen in Paris”) (2014)
Director: Dmitriy Dyachenko
Starring: Dmitriy Nazarov, Mark Bogatyrev, Elena Podkaminskaya
Genre: Comedy
Description: A restaurant in Moscow is closed after they mess up a presidential dinner. The chef and owner do not despair and move the business to Paris.

Spanish (Latin America) Movies

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal, Daniel Giménez Cacho
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
IMDb Description: In Mexico, two teenaged boys and an attractive older woman embark on a road trip and learn a thing or two about life, friendship, sex, and each other.

El infierno (“El Narco”) (2010)
Director: Luis Estrada
Starring: Damián Alcázar, Joaquín Cosío, Ernesto Gómez Cruz
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
IMDb Description: Benny gets involved in the narcotics business after he is deported from the United States, then discovers that a criminal life is not as lucrative as he expected.

La misma luna (“Under the Same Moon”) (2007)
Director: Patricia Riggen
Starring: Eugenio Derbez, Kate del Castillo, Adrian Alonso
Genre: Drama
IMDb Description: A young Mexican boy travels to the U.S. to find his mother after his grandmother passes away.

Sin Nombre (2009)
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Starring: Paulina Gaitan, Marco Antonio Aguirre, Leonardo Alonso
Genre: Adventures, Crime Drama
IMDb Description: A young Honduran girl and a Mexican gangster are united in a journey across the American border.

Spanish (Spain) Movies

El laberinto del fauno (“Pan’s Labyrinth”) (2006)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi López
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, War
IMDb Description: In the falangist Spain of 1944, the bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes into an eerie but captivating fantasy world.

Tristana (1970)
Director: Luis Buñuel
Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Fernando Rey, Franco Nero
Genre: Drama
IMDb Description: When the young woman Tristana's mother dies, she is entrusted to the guardianship of the well-respected though old Don Lope.

Tres metros sobre el cielo (“Three Steps Above Heaven”) (2010)
Director: Fernando González Molina
Starring: Mario Casas, María Valverde, Álvaro Cervantes
Genre: Drama, Romance
IMDb Description: The story of two young people who belong to different worlds. Babi (Maria Valverde) is a girl from upper-middle class that is educated in goodness and innocence. Hache (Mario Casas) is a rebellious, impulsive boy, with an appetite for risk and danger embodied in endless fights and illegal motorbike races.

Swedish Movie

Masjävlar (“Dalecarlians”) (2004)
Director: Maria Blom
Starring: Sofia Helin, Kajsa Ernst, Ann Petrén
Genre: Comedy, Drama
IMDb Description: Mia, who's living in Stockholm, comes home to her small childhood town to celebrate her father's birthday.

Turkish Movie

Benim Dünyam (“My World”) (2013)
Director: Ugur Yücel
Starring: Beren Saat, Ugur Yücel, Ayça Bingöl
Genre: Drama
Description: An unorthodox teacher changes the lives of a family when he educates a young woman who lost her sight and hearing at the age of two.

Visayan Movie

Matud nila (1991)
Director: Leroy Salvador
Starring: Gloria Sevilla, Suzette Ranillo, Mat Ranillo III
Genre: Drama
Description: A dramatic story of a family’s attempts to deal with deception and adultery.

Movies in Multiple Languages

These films are great if you’re learning a number of different languages.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Languages: English, German, French
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth
Genre: Adventure, Drama, War
IMDb Description: In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.

Idiot’s Delight (1939)
Languages: English, Russian, Esperanto
Director: Clarence Brown
Starring: Clark Gable, Norma Shearer
Genre: Comedy, Musical, Drama
IMDb Description: A group of disparate travellers are caught are thrown together in a posh Alpine hotel when the borders are closed at the start of WWII.

Les femmes du 6e étage (“The Women on the 6th Floor”) (2010)
Languages: Spanish, French
Director: Philippe Le Guay
Starring: Fabrice Luchini, Sandrine Kiberlain, Natalia Verbeke
Genre: Comedy
IMDb Description: In 1960s Paris, a conservative couple's lives are turned upside down by two Spanish maids.

2009: Lost Memories (2002)
Languages: Korean, Japanese
Director: Si-myung Lee
Starring: Dong-gun Jang, Tôru Nakamura, Jin-ho Seo
Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
IMDb Description: A failed assassination attempt in Harbin, China in 1909 changes the course of history. Now, two Japanese Bureau of Investigation (JBI) agents must find the connection between it and an ancient Korean artifact.

Friendship! (2010)
Languages: German, English
Director: Markus Goller
Starring: Matthias Schweighöfer, Friedrich Mücke, Alicja Bachleda
Genre: Comedy
IMDb Description: A young man from East Germany travels to San Francisco to search for his father, who fled 12 years ago.

No se aceptan devoluciones (“Instructions Not Included”) (2013)
Languages: Spanish, English
Director: Eugenio Derbez
Starring: Eugenio Derbez, Karla Souza, Jessica Lindsey
Genre: Comedy, Drama
IMDb Description: A man who has made a new life for himself and the daughter left on his doorstep 6 years ago finds his family threatened when the birth mother resurfaces.

Maria Llena eres de Gracia (“Maria Full of Grace”) (2004)
Languages: Spanish, English
Director: Joshua Marston
Starring: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Guilied Lopez, Orlando Tobón
Genre: Crime, Drama
IMDb Description: A pregnant Colombian teenager becomes a drug mule to make some desperately needed money for her family.

English Movies Dubbed Into Other Languages

A lot of the Fluent in 3 Months community said they enjoyed watching movies which were originally produced in English, and then dubbed into another language. Disney movies made the top of this list with Frozen being a crowd favourite.

Here are a list of English-language movies that are worth checking out in dubbed versions:

• Frozen or anything animated from Disney (2013)
• Any of the Harry Potter films (2001 – 2011)
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 – 2003)
• Dallas Buyers Club (2013)
• Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

Conclusion: When You’re Burned Out from Language Learning, Watch a Movie

Language learning can be draining. The trick to maintain your motivation with languages is to work smart, not hard, which means keeping some variety in your study routine to keep you from burning out.

If you’re finding your motivation lacking, or your mind begins to wander, watch a movie in your target language. It keeps you exposed to the language in a fun way.

Thanks to all the readers for these amazing film suggestions. Know of a film that should be on the list? Add your ideas to the list here.