Entertainment

The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade  

Jason Bancroft
536 votes 23 voters 112 items

List Rules Vote up the foreign films you love that were released in the US between 2010-2019.

Fans of global cinema are invited to vote for the best foreign movies of the past decade. The following list compiles notable motion pictures from around the world that were released in the last decade. China, Denmark, Japan, France, Spain, and Germany are just a few of the countries represented. They all have thriving film scenes and turn out plenty of worthy movies each year. We've collected the most acclaimed and popular movies from each nation. Now it's time to see which one rises to the very top. 

Aside from ranking the most memorable titles from other countries, this list will also provide a handy guide for anyone looking to check out foreign films. You'll find dozens of great recommendations, but of course, the ones ranked highest are most worthy of your time. Don't be intimidated by subtitles, because the strength of the storytelling in the top 100 foreign movies of the 2010s will keep you hooked. Multiple genres are represented, as well. Many are dramas, but comedies, horror flicks, and action pictures are also accounted for.

Vote up the top foreign films of the last decade. When you're done, take a chance on one of them that you haven't yet seen. 

list ordered by
1
Blue Is the Warmest Colour is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Alma Jodorowsky

Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%

Blue Is the Warmest Colour is a 2013 French romantic coming-of-age drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, based on the graphic novel by Julie Maroh. French teenager Adèle ...more
2
A Separation is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Leila Hatami, Peyman Moaadi, Shahab Hosseini

Rotten Tomatoes score: 99%

A Separation is a 2011 Iranian drama film directed by Asghar Farhadi. A middle-class couple in Iran are attempting to divorce while dealing with the conflicts that arise when the husband hires a ...more
3
Parasite is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong

Rotten Tomatoes score: 99%

Parasite is a 2019 South Korean dark comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho. An unemployed driver (Song Kang-ho) and his out-of-work family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and ...more
4
Train to Busan is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Gong Yoo, Ma Dong-seok, Jung Yu-mi

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

Train to Busan is a 2016 South Korean zombie apocalypse action thriller film directed by Yeon Sang-ho. The film takes place in a train to Busan, as a zombie apocalypse suddenly becomes apparent ...more
5
Roma is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira

Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

Roma is a 2018 Mexican drama film directed by Alfonso Cuarón. The film follows the life of an indigenous live-in maid for a wealthy family named Cleodegaria "Cleo" ...more
6
Cold War is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Agata Kulesza

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Cold War is a 2018 Polish historical period drama film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski. A passionate love story between two people (Joanna Kulig and Tomasz Kot) of different backgrounds and ...more
7
Your Name is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Masami Nagasawa

Rotten Tomatoes score: 97%

Your Name is a 2016 Japanese animated drama film directed by Makoto Shinkai. A high school girl in rural Japan and a high school boy in Tokyo experience a strange phenomenon: they occasionally ...more
8
TrollHunter is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Knut Nærum, Otto Jespersen, Robert Stoltenberg

Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%

Trollhunter is a 2010 Norwegian found footage and dark fantasy film directed by André Øvredal. A group of students investigates a series of strange bear killings and follows a ...more
9
13 Assassins is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Tsuyoshi Ihara, Kōji Yakusho, Goro Inagaki

Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

13 Assassins is a 2010 Japanese samurai film directed by Takashi Miike and is a remake of the1963 Eiichi Kudo film. Toward the end of the Edo period, A group of thirteen assassins—comprising ...more
10
Shoplifters is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Mayu Matsuoka

Rotten Tomatoes score: 99%

Shoplifters is a 2018 Japanese drama film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. A poor, shoplifting family adopts a homeless girl after noticing signs of abuse, integrating her into the family by ...more
11
Holy Motors is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Kylie Minogue, Michel Piccoli, Denis Lavant

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

Holy Motors is a 2012 Franco-German fantasy drama film directed by Leos Carax. Dennis Lavant stars as a man whose job is to perform various roles in the same way an actor would, only he doesn't ...more
12
Tabu is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Ana Moreira, Carlotto Cotta, Manuel Mesquita

Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%

Tabu is a 2012 Portuguese romance drama film directed by Miguel Gomes. A restless retired woman teams up with her deceased neighbor's maid to seek out a man who has a secret connection to her ...more
13
Revenge is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

Revenge is a 2017 French revenge horror film directed by Coralie Fargeat. After being assaulted by three married men and left for dead, a young woman (Matilda Lutz) returns with revenge on her
14
Amour is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emmanuelle Riva

Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%

Amour is a 2012 French-language drama film directed by Michael Haneke. The narrative focuses on an elderly couple, Anne and Georges, who are retired music teachers with a daughter who lives ...more
15
Leviathan is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Aleksey Serebryakov, Vladimir Vdovichenkov, Roman Madyanov

Rotten Tomatoes score: 98%

Leviathan is a 2014 Russian drama film directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. In a fictional town in Russia, a small family fends off the Mayor's attempts to buy their land, despite the increasingly ...more
16
Ida is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Joanna Kulig, Jerzy Trela, Agata Kulesza

Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

Ida is a 2013 Polish drama film directed by Paweł Pawlikowski. Set in Poland in 1962, a novice nun about to take her vows must first spend time with her much less conservative aunt, and in the ...more
17
Burning is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo

Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

Burning is a 2018 South Korean mystery drama film directed by Lee Chang-dong, based on the short story "Barn Burning" by Haruki Murakami. A part-time worker (Yoo Ah-in) hoping to spend ...more
18
Capernaum is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole

Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%

Capernaum is a 2018 Lebanese drama film directed by Nadine Labaki. While serving a five-year sentence for stabbing someone, a 12-year-old boy from the slums of Beirut named Zain El Hajj (Zain Al ...more
19
The Raid: Redemption is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Victoria

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%

The Raid: Redemption is a 2011 Indonesian martial arts action film directed by Gareth Evans. A SWAT team becomes trapped in a tenement run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and
20
Elle is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Isabelle Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Anne Consigny

Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%

Elle is a 2016 French psychological thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven and based on the novel Oh... by Philippe Djian. A businesswoman, Michèle Leblanc (Isabelle Huppert), is raped in ...more
21
Embrace of the Serpent is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade

Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%

Embrace of the Serpent is a 2015 Columbian adventure drama film directed by Ciro Guerra. The film tells two stories thirty years apart, both featuring Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last ...more
22
Dogtooth is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Alexander Voulgaris, Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley

Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%

Dogtooth is a 2009 Greek drama film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. A husband and wife keep their children ignorant of the world outside their property well into adulthood, causing those children ...more
23
Tuesday, After Christmas is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Dragoș Bucur, Victor Rebengiuc, Maria Popistasu

Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%

Tuesday, After Christmas is a is a 2010 Romanian drama film directed by Radu Muntean. A man who has been married for ten years and has a beloved daughter must make a choice between his wife and ...more
24
I Saw the Devil is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Cheon Ho-Jin

Rotten Tomatoes score: 80%

I Saw the Devil is a 2010 South Korean psychological thriller/horror film directed by Kim Ji-woon. The film follows NIS agent Kim Soo-hyun (Byung-hun), who embarks on a quest of revenge, ...more
25
The Wind Rises is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list The Best Foreign Films Of The 2010s Decade
Emily Blunt, Martin Short, John Krasinski

Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%

The Wind Rises is a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film directed by Hayao Miyazaki and based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi. The film follows the life and romance of Jiro Horikoshi, the ...more