Vermiglio
Maura Delpero’s Italian period drama won the Silver Lion at Venice and earned a 93% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score. Set in an Alpine village during World War II, it uses family life and quiet observation to create an unusually intimate historical portrait.
Kneecap
This anarchic Irish-language comedy-drama tells the origin story of the Belfast hip-hop group Kneecap, who play themselves. Critics gave it a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, praising its energy, originality, and irreverent approach to language, politics, music, and identity.
Godzilla Minus One
Takashi Yamazaki’s Japanese Godzilla movie became an international sensation by combining spectacular monster destruction with a serious postwar human story. It earned 99% from critics and made history as the first Godzilla film to win an Academy Award.
Perfect Days
Wim Wenders’ Japanese-set drama follows a Tokyo toilet cleaner whose carefully ordered life is disrupted by unexpected encounters. Its quiet approach earned 96% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, while Kōji Yakusho’s performance became one of the film’s biggest sources of praise.
Society of the Snow
J.A. Bayona’s Spanish-language survival drama revisits the 1972 Andes plane crash with extraordinary technical precision and emotional restraint. The film earned 90% from critics, received an Oscar nomination, and became one of Netflix’s most successful recent international-language movies.
When Evil Lurks
Argentina’s When Evil Lurks proved that possession horror did not need Hollywood resources to be genuinely terrifying. Demián Rugna’s brutal supernatural thriller earned a 96% critics’ score, with reviewers praising its uncompromising violence, bleak atmosphere, and inventive approach to demonic horror.
