Brush up on your French, practice your Chinese, polish your Spanish or strengthen your Arabic!

Whether you turn the subtitles on or off, pause, rewind, or play it again and again, these movies offer great stories – as well as the chance to explore another culture along with another language:

 

The Swimsuit Issue
Swedish [2011]

A botched prank gives Frank, a divorced dad, the idea to mold his motley buddies into Sweden’s only all-male synchronized swimming team. Mayhem ensues as they strive for the World Cup finals in Berlin.

 

 

The Girl Who Played With Fire
Swedish [2010]

The second installment in Steig Larssen’s trilogy. On the eve of publisher Mikael Blomkvist’s story about sex trafficking between Eastern Europe and Sweden, two investigating reporters are murdered.

 

 

Amelie
French [2002]

Amélie, a young woman who had a decidedly unusual childhood, didn’t attend school with other children, but spent most of her time in her room, where she developed a keen imagination. She has a whimsical, romantic nature, taking it upon herself in adulthood to step into the lives of others around her to help them out.

 

 

Queen to Play
French [2011]

Lovely, repressed, and quietly intelligent, French chambermaid Helene comes upon a couple engaged in an intense chess match, and discovers she has a knack for the game. This becomes an obsession, much to the chagrin of her husband and teenage daughter. She seeks the clandestine tutelage of a reclusive American doctor, a liaison that radically transforms both of their lackluster lives.

 

Like Stars on Earth
Hindi [2010]

Eight-year-old Ishaan can’t seem to get anything right in class and gets into more trouble than is parents can handle. They pack him off to boarding school where his art teacher, Nikumbh, realizes that something is wrong and sets out to discover what it is.

 

 

Guzaarish
Hindi [2011]

Ethan Mascarenhas is one of the greatest magicians of his time. Presently hosting a radio show that spreads magic, hope, and laughter through his wit and humor, it is hard to imagine that he has been immobilized with a spinal injury for the last 14 years.

 

 

Eat Drink Man Woman
Chinese [1994]

A retired master chef and widower is worried about the future of his three unmarried daughters who are skeptical about marriage. Yet he himself surprises them with his secret love affair with a young woman many years his junior.

 

 

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
Chinese [2002]

Set in the early 1970s during the later stages of China’s Cultural Revolution, two city-bred teenage best friends are sent to a backward mountainous region for Maoist re-education.

 

The Motorcycle Diaries
Spanish [2005]

An inspirational adventure, based on the true story of Ernesto Guevara and Alberto Granado, whose thrilling and dangerous road trip across Latin America becomes a life-changing journey of self-discovery.

 

 

All About My Mother/Todo Sobre Mi Madre
Spanish [1999]

Manuela is the perfect mother. A hard-working nurse, she’s built a comfortable life for herself and her teenage son. But when tragedy strikes and her son is killed in a car accident, her world crumbles.

 

 

Under the Bombs/Sous les Bombes
Arabic [2007]

“During a cease-fire in the Lebanon-Israel conflict of 2006, Tony, a Christian taxi-driver, brings Zeina, a Shiite woman from Beirut, to the heart of the conflict in the country’s south. While they scour the rubble of local towns for Zeina’s son, they discover that despite their very different backgrounds they have much in common.

 

 

The Human Resources Manager
Hebrew [2010]

The Human Resources Manager of Jerusalem’s largest bakery is in trouble. He is separated from his wife, distanced from his daughter, and stuck in a job he hates. When one of his employees, a foreign worker, is killed in a suicide bombing, the bakery is accused of indifference.

 

 

Italian for Beginners
Danish [2000]

Several students of an Italian language class find romance in their studies of the language of love

 

 

 

Bread and Tulips
Italian [2000]

When a harried housewife is accidentally left behind while on vacation with her family, she decides to take a holiday of her own in Venice. She becomes charmed by the city and her newfound freedom.

 

 

 

Quill: The Life of a Guidedog
Japanese [2012]

The story of a yellow lab retriever guide dog for the blind named Quill. We follow Quill from the litter, his selection to become a guide, and his life with a foster family until his first birthday, followed by highly specialized schooling in guiding the sightless. He is paired with a blind man who is at first reluctant to rely on Quill. But Quill’s great patience, gentleness, and skill eventually win him over and they become inseparable friends.

 

Shall We Dance
Japanese [1996]

A middle-aged businessman’s dull life takes an interesting turn when he signs up for a ballroom dance class just to meet the beautiful dance instructor.

 

 

The Story of the Weeping Camel
Mongolian [2003]

A family of nomadic shepherds assists with the births of their camel herd in the South Mongolian Gobi Desert. One of the camels has an extremely difficult delivery, but with help from the family, delivers a rare white colt.