Why Foreign Films?
How and why are they any different to standard Hollywood Films? They essentially are providing the same type of entertainment: a visual story. But what differs in these is its content. From watching a small selection of foreign films, I've come to notice the stories reside around much heavier content; foreign films aren't afraid to exploit and explore subjects that American films find triggering and "dangerous". Among these topics include (but are not limited to) the exploration of sexuality, war and genocide, as well as cultural issues and controversies.
Take for example films directed by Xavier Dolan, a Québéçois director and screenwriter. At the young age of 27, he has already directed multiple feature films which have been recognized at prestigious film festivals including Cannes. Most of his films deal with the exploration of sexuality or the dramatization of life choices their consequences.
Mommy (2014) dir. by Xavier Dolan
While Mommy doesn't explore something extremely touchy such as sexuality, it explores the relationship between a troublesome teenager, Steve, and his single mother Dianne. Both are still dealing with the death of her husband, which can be attributed to Steve's destructive and needy nature. What makes this film so natural and incomparable to American films is not only the acting, but the way conversations are set up; for some strange reason, dialogue in foreign movies seems like seamlessly ornate conversations-- just plain natural. Their emotions are real and raw, it seems like they aren't reading from a script. These actors embody these characters so well that the story is elevated to a whole new level. It's the allusion that changes the feel of foreign films: they're not scripts, they're conversations you can envision people having, that's what sets it apart from dialogue in a majority of American films.
The story isn't filled with clichés, it recognizes the difficulties that Dianne faces and doesn't romanticize any aspect of it. We get what we see: a story about a boy and his mother; the ups and downs of what they endure. We see Dianne constantly contemplate her life: she gets by with self-depreciation but is also constantly distressed by Steve and his behavior. We see him lash out, we see how he treats her, but ultimately, the story is about saving someone you love-- and that's exactly what Dianne attempts to do.
Another example of a film willing to exploit its societal issues is Mustang (2015). It tells the story of a family of Turkish girls being raised by their traditionally strict grandmother and uncle. It presents the story of the inability for young girls to experience freedom and understand their changes through puberty. Their societal norms hold them off from being able to act like little girls. It's a patriarchal society where they are supposed to be married off to men. This still happens today to many young girls, and the film is here to exploit the consequences of it.
Mustang (2015) dir. by Deniz Gamze Ergüven
That's the thing about foreign films, they don't edit out the raw emotions. They don't turn it into a cliché to be more appealing, but most importantly, the content of the film isn't lessened for the prospect of profit. This whole speculation on an foreign films wasn't meant to drag American filmmaking, but rather to compare the two. This doesn't go to say that every single American film is the same and doesn't have what a foreign film has. It's mostly recognizing the fact that foreign films aren't afraid to explore ideas, whether they be socially acceptable or not. American films are hindered by the media and the preconceived notions of what's "right" and what's "wrong", thus it makes it hard for films to explore ideas that are touchy. Foreign films want to present a story rather than please a crowd. Foreign films represent the story, a truth that the director wants to show, rather than an idea and a concept that conforms to societal standards.