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Welcome to our foreign films page, featuring foreign movies in video and DVD format in languages from a host of countries. Note: unless stated otherwise, all videocassettes are in VHS and NTSC format, and all DVDs are for players that support Region 1 encoding (United States and Canada) and are in NTSC format. Check our DVD Compatibility FAQ for more information about region encoding, television formats, and other specifications. If you can't find what you need, please email us.
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Italian for Beginners Lone Scherfig "...a rarity: a humane picture about modern romance among believable adults" (Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune). A real charmer, this 12th "official" film in the Dogme 95 movement proved that its "vow of chastity" (location shooting, natural lighting and sound, hand-held camera) need not apply only to harsh and cynical stories. This is a warm, funny romantic comedy and its stylistic restrictions are less notable than its highly appealing characters and the equally winning actors who play them. Set mainly in Copenhagen, it follows the intersecting relationships and romances among a group of young adults, with the local church and a small Italian language class serving as focal points. Lars Kaalund is a standout as the class' comically combative new teacher. Shot on digital video. DVD in Danish and Italian with English subtitles; Denmark, 2000, 97 mins. DVD | $37.95
After the Wedding Susanne Bier Acclaimed Danish director Susanne Bier crafted this Academy Award-nominated drama about a foreign aid worker, Jacob (Mads Mikkelsen, Casino Royale), stationed at an impoverished orphanage in Mumbai. He returns home to Denmark to meet with a wealthy potential sponsor, Jorgen (Rolf Lassgard), who invites him to his daughter's wedding. There, deep family secrets, shattering confessions, and entrenched class conflicts come to the surface. In Dogme fashion, the film was shot by hand in DV, heightening the already exhilarating plot with the kinetic camerawork. "Powerful...Emotionally complex and gripping" (Allan Hunter, Screen International). In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 2006, 127 mins. DVD | $44.95
Allegro Christoffer Boe After taking top prizes at Cannes and the Chicago International Film Festival with Reconstruction in 2003, Danish writer-director Christoffer Boe returned with what can best be described as a very severe, very dark reworking of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with a little metaphysical support from Tarkovsky. A dour pianist (Ulrich Thomsen, The Celebration) travels back to Copenhagen to retrieve memories of a past lover (supermodel Helena Christensen), which he somehow managed to lock away. These visions are trapped inside "The Zone," a bizarre transparent shell in the city center. "An existential masterpiece...one of the most memorable films ever made" (Film Threat). Grand Jury Prize Nominee at Sundance. With Henning Moritzen (Cries and Whispers). In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 2005, 92 mins. DVD | $44.95
Babette's Feast Gabriel Axel "Subtle, funny and deeply felt...an instant masterpiece" (Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide). Stephane Audran is Babette, an exiled French cook-housekeeper for a pair of devoutly religious, elderly Danish sisters. When she wins a lottery she asks to prepare a Gallic feast for the women and their friends to show her appreciation. Based on the short story by Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen). Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. DVD in Danish with English subtitles; Denmark, 1987, 102 mins. DVD | $37.95
Brothers Susanne Bier In this affecting Danish drama by Suzanne Bier (Open Hearts), two brothers with starkly different personalities are torn apart by the physical and emotional trials of war. Ulrich Thomsen stars as Michael, an accomplished elder son who's sent to fight in post-9/11 Afghanistan. In his absence, his misfit, alcoholic brother (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) turns his life around and takes responsibility for his brother's family. But when Michael returns from war--traumatized by his experience in a military prison--he suspects his wife (Connie Nielsen) and brother of betrayal, and grows consumed by his insecurities. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 2004, 117 mins. DVD | $44.95
The Celebration Thomas Vinterberg Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, this riveting feature, filmed in a deliberately raw fashion, veers between being the bleakest of tragedies and the most astonishing of black comedies. A well-to-do family gathers for a weekend reunion, where rivalries and insecurities pale next to the dark secret shared by the father and his favorite son. Made as part of the Dogme 95 collective (which includes Lars Von Trier), a group devoted to making movies with as little technical polish as possible - no artificial lighting, sets or props, with an emphasis on hand-held camerawork and gritty realism. This film was shot on digital video before being transferred to film. "Imagine Eugene O'Neill and Woody Allen collaborating on a screenplay about a family reunion. Now let Luis Bunuel direct it" (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). The DVD includes Spanish and French subtitles and the theatrical trailer. In German and Danish with English subtitles; Denmark, 1998, 106 mins. DVD | $37.95
Dear Wendy Thomas Vinterberg Like his countryman Lars von Trier (who penned the film's screenplay), Dogme 95 veteran Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration) is both fascinated and repelled by America's relationship with guns. His allegorical screed, set in a fictional mining town, follows a band of timid pacifists who are enthralled by weapons. When a police chief (Bill Pullman) asks the group to mentor a juvenile delinquent, they find that their nonviolent convictions begin to break at the seams. Jamie Bell, Michael Angarano, and Danso Gordon star. "All the more resounding for its acutely observed foreigners' perspective" (Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times). Includes commentary with Thomas Vinterberg and DP Anthony Dod Mantle, interview with Vinterberg and Lars von Trier, documentary short (Letters to Dear Wendy) with optional commentary track, deleted scenes, trailer, and filmographies. In English. Denmark/Germany/France/Great Britain, 2005, 100 mins. DVD | $37.95
Flickering Lights Anders Thomas Jensen A box office hit in its native Denmark, this comic thriller follows four small-time crooks who decide not to turn over the loot from a big heist to the dangerous mobster who hired them for the job. They stumble upon an old restaurant and decide to buy it and turn their lives around...but there is that pesky matter of the stolen money. Starring Ulrich Thomsen (The Celebration), Soren Pilmark (The Kingdom) and Iben Hjejle (Mifune, High Fidelity). Writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen is best known in the U.S. for his screenplay contributions to the Dogma 95 films Mifune and The King Is Alive. DVD in Danish with English subtitles; Denmark, 2000, 109 mins. DVD | $37.95
Haxan (Witchcraft Through the Ages) Benjamin Christensen While not as well known as Nosferatu or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, this incredible silent feature has had a major influence on the horror film, from the eerie Val Lewton productions to The Blair Witch Project (whose makers named their production company Haxan). A "history" of witchcraft is presented through reenactments of rituals described in witchcraft trials of the 15th and 16th centuries, with incredible imagery (including some animation) and a darkly humorous streak aimed at then-contemporary psychiatric practices. This set includes a speed-corrected transfer of the Swedish Film Institute's tinted restoration (104 mins.), featuring music from the original Danish premiere, as well as a more commonly seen, 1968 re-release (74 mins.) narrated by William S. Burroughs with music by Jean-Luc Ponty. The DVD versions is a Criterion Collection edition, and includes both versions of the film, commentary by Danish film scholar Casper Tybjerg, Benjamin Christensen's introduction to a 1941 re-release, outtakes, photo stills gallery, and Bibliotheque Diabolique: a photographic exploration of Christensen's historical sources. Sweden/Denmark, 1922, 104 mins./74 mins. DVD | $44.95
Heart of Light Jacob Gronlykke In this riveting drama of tragedy and the struggle for redemption, an Inuit father tries to keep his family together after his son commits a horrific act--opening fire on innocent people at a dance center before taking his own life. In the aftermath of the crime, the family is shunned by their housing project neighbors and the father tries desperately to understand what happened. This first feature ever shot entirely in Greenland in the Inuit language is more than a portrait of one family's burden, but a metaphor for the Inuit culture after the Danish occupation of Greenland. "It's a powerful work...with compelling images of a man searching for his soul in an endless wilderness" (Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle). Inuit and Danish with English subtitles. Greenland/Denmark, 1997, 92 mins. DVD | $44.95
Hip Hip Hurrah! Kjell Grede Stellan Skarsgard (Breaking the Waves, Insomnia, Good Will Hunting) plays the artist Soren Kroyer, leader of the Skagen group of painters in 19th century Denmark. His brilliant talent cannot prevent mental illness from taking its toll on his life and work. This well-acted feature from the director of Good Evening Mr. Wallenberg won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. In Danish with English subtitles; Sweden/Denmark/Norway, 1987, 110 mins. Videocassette | $44.95
In China They Eat Dogs Lasse Spang Olsen An unlikely blend of Danish black humor and American gangster violence, Lasse Spang Olsen's thriller follows the spate of violence and disaster that ensues when a pair of brothers try to do the right thing. Arvid (Dejan Cukic), a timid bank clerk, and his brother Harald (Kim Bodnia), a clever thief, have little in common. But when Arvid thwarts a robbery, he discovers that he has unwittingly prevented the thief's wife from being able to afford surgery, so he teams up with Harald and a team of crooks to enact a series of charitable (and criminal) ventures. "China is violent, occasionally sick and imbued with black humor" (L.A. Weekly). In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 1999, 90 mins. DVD | $44.95
The Inheritance (Arven) Per Fly Danish director Per Fly's grim fable communicates the grey, tortured mood one expects from the country where Hamlet was set. Ulrich Thomsen plays Christoffer, an amiable Stockholm restaurant owner who's summoned back to Copenhagen only to learn that his father, the owner of a steelworks, has hanged himself as a result of corporate losses. Fly's scrupulous camera follows Christoffer as his decision to resurrect the business leads to difficult moral choices. "The deft understatement of the actors and the resistance of cinematic artifice make the tale all the more devastating" (Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger). The DVD is letterboxed and includes director commentary, making-of documentary (55 mins.), and essay by film critic Richard Schickel. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 2003, 115 mins. DVD | $44.95
The Intended Kristian Levring Danish director and Dogme 95 co-founder Kristian Levring (The King is Alive) directs a stellar cast in this taut and effective thriller. The film takes place in a Herzog-esque setting--an ivory trading post in the Malaysian jungle circa 1920--and concerns a headstrong young woman, Sarah (Janet McTeer), and her lover Hamish (JJ Feild). The pair set out in search of fortune but what they find instead is a feverish, fire-lit jungle colony where greed, murder, and madness reign. Academy Award winners Olympia Dukakis and Brenda Fricker co-star. "Imagine a sexually charged Heart of Darkness by way of Denmark's bare-bones Dogme 95 and you'll have an idea of what this dark, moody melodrama is like" (David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor). English language dialogue. Denmark, 2002, 110 mins. DVD | $44.95
It's All About Love Thomas Vinterberg Compared to his deliberately raw Dogme 95 showpiece The Celebration, Thomas Vinterberg almost did a complete 180 with this stylishly grand romance set in the near future. John (Joaquin Phoenix) arrives in New York to serve his wife, Elena, (Claire Danes) divorce papers. She's a superstar in the high-stakes, corporate-controlled world of competitive ice-skating (remember, it's the future). When he finds she's the target of a murder conspiracy, though, they reunite, flee her handlers, and journey across a haunting sci-fi landscape brought to life by production designer Ben Van Os (Girl with a Pearl Earring) and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (28 Days Laster). "This brave, foolish, improbably moving film's great achievement may be the utter sincerity with which it lives up to its title" (Village Voice). In English. USA/Japan/Sweden/Great Britain/Denmark/Germany, 2003, 106 mins. DVD | $44.95
Kick 'N Rush Aage Rais-Nordentoft A well-observed and unguarded coming-of-age drama from Denmark, Aage Rais-Nordentoft's film utilizes a non-professional cast to paint an authentic picture of adolescence. Jakob, Bo, and Mikkel spend their afternoons playing soccer, lusting after girls, and renting movies, but they soon find their friendship threatened by new pressures. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 2003, 94 mins. DVD | $44.95
The King Is Alive Kristian Levring A group of tourists are stranded in the North African desert in this fourth Dogme film, a story of the intense exchanges among the group as they struggle for survival. Taking refuge in a deserted mining town, the travelers try to stay distracted from their dire circumstances by performing Shakespeare's King Lear. Filmed with handheld video cameras and natural light, in accordance with the Dogme "vow of chastity," The King Is Alive is a visually and emotionally raw experience. The excellent ensemble cast includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Davison, Janet McTeer, David Bradley, Romane Bohringer, David Calder, and Brion James in his last performance. In English. Denmark/Sweden/USA 2000 107 mins. DVD | $37.95
Kira's Reason: A Love Story Ole Christian Madsen This delicately told love story by Danish director Ole Christian Madsen follows a woman's struggle to cope with herself, her family and friends while recovering from a breakdown. Film according to the principles set forth by Dogme 95, Kira's Reason combines a raw immediacy with a powerful performance by Stine Stengade as the unstable Kira to produce haunting results. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 2001, 94 mins. DVD | $44.95
Ladies on the Rocks Christian Braad Thomsen The "buddies" in this very funny road movie are two self-determined women. Aspiring comediennes Micha and Laura pack up their van and tour rural Denmark with their cabaret act. But the show does not sit too well with Micha's rock musician boyfriend nor Laura's bourgeois husband, and domestic problems invariably arise. Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 1983, 100 mins. Videocassette | $44.95
Old Men in New Cars Lasse Spang Olsen Although it was made three years after In China They Eat Dogs, this action-packed black comedy functions as a prequel for Lasse Spang Olsen's Danish blockbuster. Recently sprung from prison, Harald (Kim Bodnia) turns to henchmen Peter (Tomas Villum Jenson) and Martin (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) to help him with a major heist. Before they can snag the loot, however, the gang must figure out how to deal with the serial killer son of Harald's dying mentor and a feisty young hostage who's committed to ruining their fun. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 2002, 94 mins. DVD | $44.95
Pretty Boy Carsten Sonder In this unflinching and harshly poetic film, the chronicle of a young runaway boy unfolds on the streets of Copenhagen. There he becomes a street hustler. Before the camera, innocence is plundered and finally lost in this compelling exploration of desire. The DVD is letterboxed and includes trailers, 5.1 sound, and English, French, and Spanish subtitle options. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 1993, 87 mins. DVD | $37.95
Pusher Trilogy Nicolas Winding Refn Exciting, frightening and vivid, this Danish feature combines elements of cinema verite and film noir to tell the story of Frank, a small-time Copenhagen heroin dealer who finds himself deeply in debt and with his life on the line. "The ultra-real Copenhagen locations, racy handheld camerawork and Scorsese-Cassavetes style acting and filmmaking heighten the mood, immersing us so thoroughly in Frank's mean-streets world that the ending has the wham of a solar plexus kick" (Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune). Set includes Pusher I, Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands, and Pusher III: I'm the Angel of Death. Includes original short film version of Pusher, the behind-the-scenes documentary The Gambler, a featurette with Milo as the host of his own cooking show, director's commentary, a trailer for the Bollywood remake, and trailers. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 1996-2005, 309 mins. DVD | $59.95
Quiet Days in Clichy Jens Jorgen Thorsen The uncut and uncensored version of a sexually daring film adaptation of Henry Miller's erotic novel. The story follows Joey, a self-indulgent American living in Denmark, who spends most of his time seducing sexy Parisian girls with his buddy Cal. In 1970, English language prints of the film were confiscated on charges of obscenity, although the movie was eventually cleared in a U.S. federal court. "...a relaxed, very sexy outrage..." (Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art). The DVD is letterboxed, and includes interviews with Miller's editor and publisher, Barney Rossett, and musician, Country Joe McDonald; a poster and stills gallery; talent bios; and court documents (DVD-ROM feature). Music by Country Joe McDonald. Dubbed in English. Denmark, 1970, 91 mins. DVD | $37.95
Reconstruction Christoffer Boe Christoffer Boe's enigmatic and intensely satisfying debut film, a Camera d'Or winner at Cannes (2003), follows an affair between a photographer (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) and a married woman (Marie Bonnevie) who meet by chance and fall in love over the course of a single, emotionally intense day. Their quick decision to impulsively leave behind their long-term former relationships has mysterious and unintended consequences, however, when they discover that their former lives have vanished without a trace. Elegantly photographed in the hotels and open streets of Copenhagen, Boe's film "creditably re-creates the hesitation, creeping doubt and fear that attend life-shaping decision, especially in love" (Los Angeles Times). In Danish and Swedish with English subtitles. Denmark, 2003, 91 mins. DVD | $44.95
Snapshots Rudolf Van Den Berg Burt Reynolds stars as Larry, an aging bookstore owner in Amsterdam whose life changes when a young girl (Carmen Chaplin) enters his life. She revitalizes the hermit-like Larry and awakens memories of a long-lost love he had nearly forgotten. When the girl introduces Larry to her mother, wonderfully played by Julie Christie, he has one more chance at romance and an opportunity to live his life in a way he never imagined. In English. Netherlands/USA, 2001, 93 mins. DVD | $44.95
Soap Pernelle Fischer Christensen A sparsely-designed Danish film about a strong-willed beauty shop owner (Trine Dyrholm), who abruptly leaves her long-term boyfriend and moves into an apartment above a timid transsexual (David Dencik). An loving bond forms between the pair, and the ensuing drama displays definite soap opera melodramatics, while at the same time reacting against that narrative mode. "What Soap lacks in production values, it makes up for in fresh performances" (San Francisco Chronicle). Winner of Best Debut Film at the Berlin International Film Festival. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark/Sweden, 2006, 104 mins. DVD | $44.95
Strings Anders Ronnow Klarlund A stirring Scandinavian adventure set in a mythical kingdom populated entirely by marionettes. Anders Ronnow Klarlund's adventure took four years, 115 puppets, a crew of 150, and 6 miles of string to bring to the screen. The result is a magical epic with thematic ties to Shakespeare and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. "A virtuoso work" (The Observer). Denmark, 2004, 91 mins. DVD | $44.95
Villa Paranoia Erik Clausen This Danish dramatic comedy from writer-director Erik Clausen tells the story of Anna, a failed actress who accepts a job offer from Jorgen (Clausen), a chicken farmer, to care for his vicious, wheelchair-bound father. Often silent, preferring to speak with his fists, Anna helps the old man reveal what is tormenting him. In doing so, she uncovers a family secret that could change all of their lives forever. "A surprisingly fierce undercurrent of violence runs through Villa Paranoia, subversively interrupting the feel-good vibe" (Variety). With Sonja Richter and Frits Heltmuth. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 2004, 106 mins. DVD | $37.95
You Are Not Alone Lasse Nielsen/Ernst Johansen The boundaries between friendship and love in a boys' school are explored with nuance, gentleness and humor in Lasse Nielsen's Danish coming-of-age drama, which is reminiscent of the early films of Truffaut. In Danish with English subtitles. Denmark, 1982, 90 mins. DVD | $37.95
