International cinema has always had a profound influence on American movies. At the same time, many great films in languages other than English retool the styles and genres of popular American movies. Have you ever forgotten you were reading subtitles as you were swept up in the action on screen? Westerns, film noirs, and even romances tap into universal visual languages of movement, action, and emotion that draw in worldwide audiences.
Some of the best reviewed films of 2025 come from other countries, including the Chinese film "Caught by the Tides," which hit American theaters on May 9, 2025; the absurdist Canadian comedy "Universal Language," a February release in the U.S. that features characters speaking French and Farsi; and "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl" from Zambian-Welsh director Rungano Nyoni, which earned a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes after its March 2025 debut.
To find other noteworthy international films, Stacker compiled data, as of July 2023, on all international movies to come up with a Stacker score—a weighted index split evenly between IMDb and Metacritic scores. To qualify, the film had to be primarily in a language other than English, produced primarily outside of the U.S., have a Metascore, and have at least 5,000 votes. Ties were broken by IMDb user votes, and scores from critics and audiences were combined to give you a sense of a movie's reception.
This list of the 50 best international movies includes the science fiction masterpiece of German expressionist style, "Metropolis," with its epic, futuristic city and iconic robot gone bad. You'll also find the smash hit "Parasite," a taut thriller from South Korea that captured acclaim across the globe for its suspenseful, tragicomic look at two families from different classes.
We feature work from major auteurs of European cinema like François Truffaut of the French New Wave and Vittorio De Sica of Italian neorealism. Our list also includes major Japanese masterpieces from Akira Kurosawa and Masaki Kobayashi; Hong Kong cinema's Wong Kar-wai; and Taiwanese auteur Edward Yang.
International cinema often has a political or philosophical bent—a rebel core—it frequently explores the human condition within histories of oppression. While African cinema and women directors are underrepresented on this list and across the international film festival circuit, Céline Sciamma's "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" from France masterfully reinvents ideas around gendered gaze. Get ready for films you've heard about and obscure gems that just may become your new cinematic obsession.
Read on to see what you've already watched—and what great and underappreciated must-see film to add to your list.
