Well I am Brazilian and live in Brazil, so to me US TV is foreign. With that in mind, I’m kinda obsessed with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. One of the few shows that make me laugh out loud...
Well I am Brazilian and live in Brazil, so to me US TV is foreign.
With that in mind, I’m kinda obsessed with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. One of the few shows that make me laugh out loud like a maniac.
I love IASIP! I posted above, but i'm repeating here: Watch "Cidade Invisivel" on Netflix. It's like Grimm + American Gods but with brazilian folklore. It is really beautiful.
I love IASIP!
I posted above, but i'm repeating here:
Watch "Cidade Invisivel" on Netflix. It's like Grimm + American Gods but with brazilian folklore.
I've really been enjoying Taskmaster this last year. I guess it would qualify as a foreign show for me, although I certainly don't need subtitles (usually, there have been a couple of contestants...
I've really been enjoying Taskmaster this last year. I guess it would qualify as a foreign show for me, although I certainly don't need subtitles (usually, there have been a couple of contestants that came close). It has been light, witty, stupid fun in a year that desperately needed all of those things. My wife and I are on season (series?) 8 and I'm dreading the day we run out of episodes.
English Taskmaster is amazing. They've pitched it perfectly. If you enjoy it you may like TaskMaster New Zealand which was pretty good. There are also other international versions and some of the...
English Taskmaster is amazing. They've pitched it perfectly.
If you enjoy it you may like TaskMaster New Zealand which was pretty good. There are also other international versions and some of the have been sub titled by pirates, but I don't know which are any good.
I really want to like this show, but by halfway through the first season I couldn't take any more of the telenovela melodrama. Does that change any in the subsequent seasons?
I really want to like this show, but by halfway through the first season I couldn't take any more of the telenovela melodrama. Does that change any in the subsequent seasons?
My partner and I absolutely LOVE this show! Certainly some elements are quite over-construed...but it doesn't dilute from the overall awesomeness of the show. Also, as muhc is i love this show,...
My partner and I absolutely LOVE this show! Certainly some elements are quite over-construed...but it doesn't dilute from the overall awesomeness of the show. Also, as muhc is i love this show, I'm glad that they're killing it off soon...i dislike when awesome shows get forced into so many seasons/series just to make money...which inevitably dilutes the cool factor. One example - the U.S. show named "Lost" - which was about characters experiencing an airplane crash on a remote island in the Pacific. In my opinion, the foirst 2 seasons were great and novel, and the show should have ended at the end there...but of course, it became a hit - at least in the U.S. - so they tried to push it several more seasons, adding too much silliness to the story arc. Back to Money Heist/Casa de papel...as much as i enoy it, i think this last season would reach its limit - in my opinion.
now that the thread has been revived, definitely get into LOST! It's great -- and even better the second time... and then even better the third when you watch it Chronologically :) LOST has aged...
now that the thread has been revived, definitely get into LOST! It's great -- and even better the second time... and then even better the third when you watch it Chronologically :)
LOST has aged really well, too. At the time it felt like a bit of a disappointment because they would say one thing in the podcast and not follow through. But now that its been a decade, all is forgiven. I watched it for the fourth time late last year and loved it.
Unrelated and not totally foreign, but you should definitely check out The Young Pope and The New Pope from HBO.
One of the best series I've seen. My wife and I watched it as we were planning our first trip to Japan. Only now our plans are dead. Maybe in 2-3 years we'll be able to go.
One of the best series I've seen. My wife and I watched it as we were planning our first trip to Japan. Only now our plans are dead. Maybe in 2-3 years we'll be able to go.
I was there in 2017, and I can guarantee you no matter when you get there, it will be worth the wait. We stayed in Shinjuku, which is why the description of Midnight Diner first caught my eye. And...
I was there in 2017, and I can guarantee you no matter when you get there, it will be worth the wait. We stayed in Shinjuku, which is why the description of Midnight Diner first caught my eye. And the show really does capture the vibe of Shinjuku and Tokyo as I remember it, right from the opening credits.
Woooah, Midnight Diner was the original? I was wondering why they switched cameras between the two series. Tokyo Stories is MUCH better IMO. Both in production and writing.
Woooah, Midnight Diner was the original? I was wondering why they switched cameras between the two series.
Tokyo Stories is MUCH better IMO. Both in production and writing.
We loved the 2 series! Did you know there's a site with several of the recipes? Just One Cookbook I've made several, including one you don't need Japanese ingredients for, the Sweet rolled omelette
We loved the 2 series!
Did you know there's a site with several of the recipes? Just One Cookbook
I've made several, including one you don't need Japanese ingredients for, the Sweet rolled omelette
If you liked Midnight Diner check out. "Samurai Gourmet" It's pretty good, Also... "Ms Sherlock." Japanese "Wild Bill" British with Rob Lowe, Dam good but only one season.
If you liked Midnight Diner check out.
"Samurai Gourmet"
It's pretty good, Also...
"Ms Sherlock." Japanese
"Wild Bill" British with Rob Lowe, Dam good but only one season.
@elcuello recommended this to me last year and I just finished the first season. I enjoyed it, and I thought the premise was really interesting with a lot of potential, but for me the highlight...
@elcuello recommended this to me last year and I just finished the first season. I enjoyed it, and I thought the premise was really interesting with a lot of potential, but for me the highlight was how everything built to that exchange between Saga and Martin the bridge in the last episode. It didn't feel like much of a thriller though... I think I was more amused or mildly intrigued throughout. Maybe the quality of subtitles I found had something to do with that, I always felt like I was missing some nuance. How similar/different are the second and third seasons?
I liked the second season, but haven't watched the third yet. They are very much their individual storylines. First season was definitely the most special for me. Like you i found it more of an...
I liked the second season, but haven't watched the third yet. They are very much their individual storylines. First season was definitely the most special for me.
Like you i found it more of an interpersonal drama than a thriller.
I just finished the third season, and actually found it the pretty much the best of the three. They address a couple niggles that I had in the back of my mind while watching the first two seasons.
I just finished the third season, and actually found it the pretty much the best of the three. They address a couple niggles that I had in the back of my mind while watching the first two seasons.
All of the below can be found on Netflix: Biohackers (Netflix) is one of the best modern science fiction shows coming out of Germany. La Révolution is an excellent alternate history of the French...
All of the below can be found on Netflix:
Biohackers (Netflix) is one of the best modern science fiction shows coming out of Germany.
La Révolution is an excellent alternate history of the French revolution.
Dark is another great German science fiction show taking on the concept of time travel.
3% is a great Brazilian show.
The Barrier is an interesting Spain-based dystopia show. Takes place during a pandemic and after/during world War 3.
Freud is a FANTASTIC take on a younger alt-history Sigmund Freud. I highly suggest this one. German as well.
Inhumane Resources is a good French show, but I'm only a few episodes into it.
La Monte is also a good French show. Serial killer helps solve copy cat murders.
Alice in Borderlands is a relatively decent Korean science fiction drama. It's new.
Omniscient is a fantastic Brazilian science fiction drama about surveillance. Thriller.
Babylon Berlin is one of my all time favourites, I especially love watching this with all the sound off. The audio is great, but the silence really adds to the dramatic impact of the show and the cinematography is a damn masterpiece. German.
Really? I’ve had multiple long conversations with different people about how bad is this show, to the point I can’t even muster the energy to talk trash it anymore. It’s not just bad, it’s...
3% is a great Brazilian show
Really? I’ve had multiple long conversations with different people about how bad is this show, to the point I can’t even muster the energy to talk trash it anymore.
I was troubled that I like something that I called absurd. I had two shower thoughts... First, preferences are subjective. It has to be an amazing period drama for me to even think about watching...
I was troubled that I like something that I called absurd. I had two shower thoughts...
First, preferences are subjective. It has to be an amazing period drama for me to even think about watching it. But I enjoy even poorly made sci fi's. And overall, this is a well made sci fi. Some have critiqued a low budget, but that never stopped Dr Who or Star Trek. Plus, given 3% is a critique of social inequality... criticizing 3% for a low budget just seems just.... wrong.
Second, even the best post apocalyptic dystopias are naturally absurd...
1. Mad Max 1 & 2 You only have to attend burning man once to know how absurd this is. A bunch of S&M wearing bandits constantly driving in the desert on three year old gasoline all because gas is scarce? I mean, they don't seem to worry about water, so maybe they drink the gasoline? Which would explain a lot, actually. But it is visceral, action oriented, and takes gas shortages and global warming to a very interesting extreme. Even now those two themes are very important to our races survival.
2. 1984 Takes totalitarianism to an interesting extreme. The themes in the book were rooted in history and are also (sadly) timeless, but the actual story elements are absurd. Which is why no movie is anywhere near as successful as the book. The movie visually shows you the absurdity of having a giant workforce rewrite all references to history... all so that you can tell your people you were always at war with Eurasia. As it turns out, even with all our modern technology, there is no need for such efforts. If you repeat the big lie often enough, most people will ignore the "alternative" facts. The movie was absurd, but the message is still eerily relevant today.
3. The Matrix 1 & 2. AI machines lose their power source so their natural solution is to... use humans as a battery? By creating an elaborate virtual reality? And when it turns out humans are too complex to appreciate a happy virtual reality, the natural solution is to create a crappy virtual reality? Instead of using a simpler and more plentiful battery like hydroelectric, nuclear or even sheep? But the fundamental fear of us becoming slaves to AI is even more relevant today. Facebook uses AI to manipulating us to scroll just one more page.
4. The Terminator 1 AI killing machines are having trouble stamping out a human resistance. Instead of germ warfare, nuclear holocaust or napalming all food supplies... They invent a time machine, send a killer bot back in time, fail to kill the unborn leader of the resistance but somehow the machine becomes the genesis of its own creation? No more absurd than Elon Musk warning us about the dangers of AI while touting self driving cars that have a questionable safety record. Absurd but relevant.
Now, 3% is no Metropolis, but it does have the same stark warning about our increasing wealth and class inequality. Metropolis came out a couple of years before the great depression, which coincidentally is the only other time in modern human history where we saw such incredible social inequality.
Most of the negative user reviews focus on 3% being ridiculous or unbelievable. With all movies, you either accept the premise or you should stop watching. There were a number of times during 3% that (even after trying my best to accept the fundamental premise of the show) I found myself breaking out of the immersive experience.
E.g. Minor Spoilers Why are the 3% so unwilling to share technology or almost anything really? Why are logic puzzles considered a reliable measure of merit even if you can cheat? They mostly avoided cronyism and murder... how exactly?
Yet just because a movie doesn't slow the action to explain itself, doesn't mean it is a bad movie. There are potentially plausible explanations for all those questions.
3% simply remains focused on provoking thought on one of the most fundamentally important economic issues of our time.
When I watch anything, I start with an empty mind and let the screen fill it. For some reason my mind doesn't stutter at impossibilities no matter how absurd because I just accept the world being...
When I watch anything, I start with an empty mind and let the screen fill it. For some reason my mind doesn't stutter at impossibilities no matter how absurd because I just accept the world being created at face value. There are many reasons I might not like a show, but absurdity is not one of them.
First time through, not at all. But on reflection I know exactly why so much misadventure befalls him - he and his friends are too big for their britches.
First time through, not at all. But on reflection I know exactly why so much misadventure befalls him - he and his friends are too big for their britches.
I enjoyed it, purely because of how outlandish it was and how hard it tried to take itself seriously. It's not one of the best, but I wouldn't call it violently bad. It was just a fun dawdle of a...
I enjoyed it, purely because of how outlandish it was and how hard it tried to take itself seriously. It's not one of the best, but I wouldn't call it violently bad. It was just a fun dawdle of a show (atleast the first two season, never watched the last).
I recently binged Still Game on Netflix (US, at least). Scottish sitcom about two pensioners, their friends, and their antics. Great characters and great humor. I would suggest subtitles if you...
I recently binged Still Game on Netflix (US, at least). Scottish sitcom about two pensioners, their friends, and their antics. Great characters and great humor. I would suggest subtitles if you don't have much experience parsing Scottish accents and slang. After 9 seasons, I almost don't need them!
Beforeigners is a Norwegian TV series in which people from 3 different past epochs suddenly appear in our modern era. The plot follows a detective and his partner (a viking-age shieldmaiden)...
Beforeigners is a Norwegian TV series in which people from 3 different past epochs suddenly appear in our modern era. The plot follows a detective and his partner (a viking-age shieldmaiden) investigating the murder of a Stone Age lady. Available on HBO.
Le Bureau des Légendes is a French thriller television series which revolves around the lives of agents of the DGSE (French secret service). It's based on real accounts from former spies, and gives a great view of what being a intelligence agent really is (spoiler: not James Bond...). Available on Amazon.
My partner and I have been enjoying both of these thanks to your recommendation! The satire of Beforeigners starts out eye-rolling, but grows and strengthens as they return to certain themes. I'm...
My partner and I have been enjoying both of these thanks to your recommendation! The satire of Beforeigners starts out eye-rolling, but grows and strengthens as they return to certain themes. I'm hoping to see more of Gregers in season 2.
I wouldn't call it great, but I enjoyed the French series Lupin on Netflix (mystery, crime drama). I didn't sit down to binge anything, but found myself binging it anyway. It kept my attention...
I wouldn't call it great, but I enjoyed the French series Lupin on Netflix (mystery, crime drama). I didn't sit down to binge anything, but found myself binging it anyway. It kept my attention from start to finish, and the only negative would be that it ends on a cliff hanger. That doesn't bother me too much as long as we get the second part in the future.
I've started watching Mirzapur which is like an fast paced Indian version of breaking bad with a hint of Sopranos and Game of Thrones thrown in. I am half way through season 2. Available on Amazon...
I've started watching Mirzapur which is like an fast paced Indian version of breaking bad with a hint of Sopranos and Game of Thrones thrown in. I am half way through season 2. Available on Amazon Prime in the USA.
The King's Avatar is an absolutely fantastic show about the top player in an e-sport called Glory getting forced out of his team and turning the whole meta on its head. Glory is sort of like a...
The King's Avatar is an absolutely fantastic show about the top player in an e-sport called Glory getting forced out of his team and turning the whole meta on its head.
Glory is sort of like a hybrid of WoW and Overwatch and is the only game anyone plays.
I've only seen the live action version on Netflix, but it's really enjoyable. My girlfriend and I watched straight through even though neither of us are into esports. The characters are charming. The world and story are fun. And it feels like whoever wrote it actually plays and loves video games.
Gomorrah is fantastic. The book is killer. If you like this, also check out ZeroZeroZero (also a great book from the same author.)
Gomorrah is fantastic. The book is killer. If you like this, also check out ZeroZeroZero (also a great book from the same author.)
Set in Naples in the 2010s, the series follows Ciro Di Marzio, a member in the Savastano Camorra clan of Secondigliano, headed by Pietro Savastano. When Pietro is arrested, an internal power struggle breaks out with his rivals as well as between the "old guard" of the clan and the "young guard" headed by his son Gennaro Savastano. Ciro and Gennaro eventually find themselves at odds with their own families, and the several alliances they make with various criminal groups, as they navigate the Naples underworld.
UK sitcom Ghosts is lovely. Short, funny, ensemble cast. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m00049t9/ghosts UK drama All Creatures Great and Small is nice escapist and gentle. It's a bit of a...
UK drama All Creatures Great and Small is nice escapist and gentle. It's a bit of a problem to me that it's so white -- the casting feels a bit off. But other than that it's great. I was a bit worried because it's a reboot/remake of a much loved series. I watched the first version when I was a kid and I really didn't want them to ruin it. https://www.channel5.com/show/all-creatures-great-and-small/
I'm Brazilian so i'm going to jump in here and recommend a brazilian show. Watch "Invisible City" on Netflix. It's like Grimm + American Gods but with brazilian folklore. It is really beautiful....
I'm Brazilian so i'm going to jump in here and recommend a brazilian show.
Watch "Invisible City" on Netflix. It's like Grimm + American Gods but with brazilian folklore.
It is really beautiful.
Fun fact: Alessandra Negrini (Cuca in the show) is 50 years old.
Knight Scoop (I'm linking the Wikipedia article since IMDB gives even less info.). It's a Japanese variety show with a vague theme of the presenters acting as "detectives" solving "mysteries" or...
Knight Scoop (I'm linking the Wikipedia article since IMDB gives even less info.). It's a Japanese variety show with a vague theme of the presenters acting as "detectives" solving "mysteries" or just helping out random people. They might help a parent simulate a zombie invasion to let kids try out their traps, investigate a mysterious sound that wakes someone up every night at 2am, make someone's parents talk to each other after them living together without speaking to each other for 10 years, follow a dog around to see what he's doing all day or count how many grains are in a box of rice (by hand). You know, just a random Tuesday in Japan.
It's very much the kind of show you're probably thinking of when you think of "Japanese television". You might have seen a clip of it on youtube here and there, it took me a while to figure out that a lot of those are from this very show. You occasionally find people dumping large amounts of English dubs of the show online, otherwise it's hard to find (I doubt there's official releases outside Japan).
I found a mega link somewhere last year and went down a Knight Scoop rabbit hole. It's so interesting to peek into another culture like that, and even better when it's Japan.
I found a mega link somewhere last year and went down a Knight Scoop rabbit hole. It's so interesting to peek into another culture like that, and even better when it's Japan.
Yea, there's a collection of like 120 fan (?) subbed clips from the show floating around. It's so interesting! It's so far off anything you'd see on western shows yet you totally get the appeal,...
Yea, there's a collection of like 120 fan (?) subbed clips from the show floating around.
It's so interesting! It's so far off anything you'd see on western shows yet you totally get the appeal, all that obsession over how to properly roll the last bite of omurice on a spoon or something. It's like the kind of stuff you might laugh about for hours with friends but you wouldn't dream about ever seeing captured on camera for real-real. Not even on reality tv. Absolutely brilliant!
Japanese variety, game, and panel shows are absolutely amazing. Gaki no Tsukai, and their Batsu "no laughing" game specials (fansub videos of them all), are my absolute favorites. Every one of...
Japanese variety, game, and panel shows are absolutely amazing. Gaki no Tsukai, and their Batsu "no laughing" game specials (fansub videos of them all), are my absolute favorites. Every one of them is genuinely painful to watch because my cheeks are usually legitimately cramping after 30min from smiling and laughing so much while watching them... so I have to watch each one over several days instead of all at once. :P
I will have to track down some fansub episodes of Knight Scoop, as I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds great too!
My wife and I just watched season 1 of Trapped (2015), an Icelandic Crime/Drama. My wife loves true-crime stuff and we camped all through Iceland for our honeymoon in 2015 so the draw was...
My wife and I just watched season 1 of Trapped (2015), an Icelandic Crime/Drama. My wife loves true-crime stuff and we camped all through Iceland for our honeymoon in 2015 so the draw was definitely to see how much of the locations we recognized. It's rather well done and anyone who likes murder mysteries should give it a shot.
I really enjoyed the first season of Shadow over Balkans / Black Sun but have not been able to find English subs for the second season :( To me, the show is consistently high quality in its...
I really enjoyed the first season of Shadow over Balkans / Black Sun but have not been able to find English subs for the second season :( To me, the show is consistently high quality in its performances, narrative, set and costume design, cinematography, etc.
EDIT: Looks like there are subs available for S02 on OpenSubtitles now yaaaay!
Foreign as "not from the USA" I suppose ;-) If I understand "show" as "series", I'd say : German : I second Babylon Berlin and add Deutschland 83. French : Le Bureau des légendes (aka The Bureau)...
Foreign as "not from the USA" I suppose ;-)
If I understand "show" as "series", I'd say :
German : I second Babylon Berlin and add Deutschland 83.
Well I am Brazilian and live in Brazil, so to me US TV is foreign.
With that in mind, I’m kinda obsessed with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. One of the few shows that make me laugh out loud like a maniac.
I love IASIP!
I posted above, but i'm repeating here:
Watch "Cidade Invisivel" on Netflix. It's like Grimm + American Gods but with brazilian folklore.
It is really beautiful.
I've really been enjoying Taskmaster this last year. I guess it would qualify as a foreign show for me, although I certainly don't need subtitles (usually, there have been a couple of contestants that came close). It has been light, witty, stupid fun in a year that desperately needed all of those things. My wife and I are on season (series?) 8 and I'm dreading the day we run out of episodes.
English Taskmaster is amazing. They've pitched it perfectly.
If you enjoy it you may like TaskMaster New Zealand which was pretty good. There are also other international versions and some of the have been sub titled by pirates, but I don't know which are any good.
The TaskMaster (Greg Davies) has a good sitcom available called Man Down. https://www.channel4.com/programmes/man-down
Money Heist aka La casa de papel is an amazing Spanish show, looking forward to the season finale. Available on Netflix.
I really want to like this show, but by halfway through the first season I couldn't take any more of the telenovela melodrama. Does that change any in the subsequent seasons?
It becomes increasingly melodramatic.
So from that perspective it gets worse.
I somehow ignored that aspect and still managed to enjoy the show.
My partner and I absolutely LOVE this show! Certainly some elements are quite over-construed...but it doesn't dilute from the overall awesomeness of the show. Also, as muhc is i love this show, I'm glad that they're killing it off soon...i dislike when awesome shows get forced into so many seasons/series just to make money...which inevitably dilutes the cool factor. One example - the U.S. show named "Lost" - which was about characters experiencing an airplane crash on a remote island in the Pacific. In my opinion, the foirst 2 seasons were great and novel, and the show should have ended at the end there...but of course, it became a hit - at least in the U.S. - so they tried to push it several more seasons, adding too much silliness to the story arc. Back to Money Heist/Casa de papel...as much as i enoy it, i think this last season would reach its limit - in my opinion.
I never watched lost. Sometimes I am tempted to.
now that the thread has been revived, definitely get into LOST! It's great -- and even better the second time... and then even better the third when you watch it Chronologically :)
LOST has aged really well, too. At the time it felt like a bit of a disappointment because they would say one thing in the podcast and not follow through. But now that its been a decade, all is forgiven. I watched it for the fourth time late last year and loved it.
Unrelated and not totally foreign, but you should definitely check out The Young Pope and The New Pope from HBO.
I really enjoyed Midnight Diner and its followup Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories. They're on Netflix. Very chill vibe.
One of the best series I've seen. My wife and I watched it as we were planning our first trip to Japan. Only now our plans are dead. Maybe in 2-3 years we'll be able to go.
I was there in 2017, and I can guarantee you no matter when you get there, it will be worth the wait. We stayed in Shinjuku, which is why the description of Midnight Diner first caught my eye. And the show really does capture the vibe of Shinjuku and Tokyo as I remember it, right from the opening credits.
I know it will worth the wait. The plan is to get at least one month of vacation there. I hope I'll get to see most of what I like.
Woooah, Midnight Diner was the original? I was wondering why they switched cameras between the two series.
Tokyo Stories is MUCH better IMO. Both in production and writing.
We loved the 2 series!
Did you know there's a site with several of the recipes? Just One Cookbook
I've made several, including one you don't need Japanese ingredients for, the Sweet rolled omelette
If you liked Midnight Diner check out.
"Samurai Gourmet"
It's pretty good, Also...
"Ms Sherlock." Japanese
"Wild Bill" British with Rob Lowe, Dam good but only one season.
The Bridge. A fantastic Swedish-Danish crime thriller about a murder that happens on the border between Sweden and Denmark.
@elcuello recommended this to me last year and I just finished the first season. I enjoyed it, and I thought the premise was really interesting with a lot of potential, but for me the highlight was how everything built to that exchange between Saga and Martin the bridge in the last episode. It didn't feel like much of a thriller though... I think I was more amused or mildly intrigued throughout. Maybe the quality of subtitles I found had something to do with that, I always felt like I was missing some nuance. How similar/different are the second and third seasons?
I liked the second season, but haven't watched the third yet. They are very much their individual storylines. First season was definitely the most special for me.
Like you i found it more of an interpersonal drama than a thriller.
I just finished the third season, and actually found it the pretty much the best of the three. They address a couple niggles that I had in the back of my mind while watching the first two seasons.
All of the below can be found on Netflix:
Biohackers (Netflix) is one of the best modern science fiction shows coming out of Germany.
La Révolution is an excellent alternate history of the French revolution.
Dark is another great German science fiction show taking on the concept of time travel.
3% is a great Brazilian show.
The Barrier is an interesting Spain-based dystopia show. Takes place during a pandemic and after/during world War 3.
Freud is a FANTASTIC take on a younger alt-history Sigmund Freud. I highly suggest this one. German as well.
Inhumane Resources is a good French show, but I'm only a few episodes into it.
La Monte is also a good French show. Serial killer helps solve copy cat murders.
Alice in Borderlands is a relatively decent Korean science fiction drama. It's new.
Omniscient is a fantastic Brazilian science fiction drama about surveillance. Thriller.
Babylon Berlin is one of my all time favourites, I especially love watching this with all the sound off. The audio is great, but the silence really adds to the dramatic impact of the show and the cinematography is a damn masterpiece. German.
Dark is in the running for the best thing I've ever watched on any screen, period.
Really? I’ve had multiple long conversations with different people about how bad is this show, to the point I can’t even muster the energy to talk trash it anymore.
It’s not just bad, it’s violently bad.
It's a dystopic futuristic thriller set on an increasingly absurd premise, what's not to like?
I agree 100%
I was troubled that I like something that I called absurd. I had two shower thoughts...
First, preferences are subjective. It has to be an amazing period drama for me to even think about watching it. But I enjoy even poorly made sci fi's. And overall, this is a well made sci fi. Some have critiqued a low budget, but that never stopped Dr Who or Star Trek. Plus, given 3% is a critique of social inequality... criticizing 3% for a low budget just seems just.... wrong.
Second, even the best post apocalyptic dystopias are naturally absurd...
1. Mad Max 1 & 2
You only have to attend burning man once to know how absurd this is. A bunch of S&M wearing bandits constantly driving in the desert on three year old gasoline all because gas is scarce? I mean, they don't seem to worry about water, so maybe they drink the gasoline? Which would explain a lot, actually. But it is visceral, action oriented, and takes gas shortages and global warming to a very interesting extreme. Even now those two themes are very important to our races survival.2. 1984
Takes totalitarianism to an interesting extreme. The themes in the book were rooted in history and are also (sadly) timeless, but the actual story elements are absurd. Which is why no movie is anywhere near as successful as the book. The movie visually shows you the absurdity of having a giant workforce rewrite all references to history... all so that you can tell your people you were always at war with Eurasia. As it turns out, even with all our modern technology, there is no need for such efforts. If you repeat the big lie often enough, most people will ignore the "alternative" facts. The movie was absurd, but the message is still eerily relevant today.3. The Matrix 1 & 2.
AI machines lose their power source so their natural solution is to... use humans as a battery? By creating an elaborate virtual reality? And when it turns out humans are too complex to appreciate a happy virtual reality, the natural solution is to create a crappy virtual reality? Instead of using a simpler and more plentiful battery like hydroelectric, nuclear or even sheep? But the fundamental fear of us becoming slaves to AI is even more relevant today. Facebook uses AI to manipulating us to scroll just one more page.4. The Terminator 1
AI killing machines are having trouble stamping out a human resistance. Instead of germ warfare, nuclear holocaust or napalming all food supplies... They invent a time machine, send a killer bot back in time, fail to kill the unborn leader of the resistance but somehow the machine becomes the genesis of its own creation? No more absurd than Elon Musk warning us about the dangers of AI while touting self driving cars that have a questionable safety record. Absurd but relevant.Now, 3% is no Metropolis, but it does have the same stark warning about our increasing wealth and class inequality. Metropolis came out a couple of years before the great depression, which coincidentally is the only other time in modern human history where we saw such incredible social inequality.
Most of the negative user reviews focus on 3% being ridiculous or unbelievable. With all movies, you either accept the premise or you should stop watching. There were a number of times during 3% that (even after trying my best to accept the fundamental premise of the show) I found myself breaking out of the immersive experience.
E.g. Minor Spoilers
Why are the 3% so unwilling to share technology or almost anything really? Why are logic puzzles considered a reliable measure of merit even if you can cheat? They mostly avoided cronyism and murder... how exactly?Yet just because a movie doesn't slow the action to explain itself, doesn't mean it is a bad movie. There are potentially plausible explanations for all those questions.
3% simply remains focused on provoking thought on one of the most fundamentally important economic issues of our time.
When I watch anything, I start with an empty mind and let the screen fill it. For some reason my mind doesn't stutter at impossibilities no matter how absurd because I just accept the world being created at face value. There are many reasons I might not like a show, but absurdity is not one of them.
You don't find yourself wondering why so much misadventure befalls Harry Potter?
First time through, not at all. But on reflection I know exactly why so much misadventure befalls him - he and his friends are too big for their britches.
I enjoyed it, purely because of how outlandish it was and how hard it tried to take itself seriously. It's not one of the best, but I wouldn't call it violently bad. It was just a fun dawdle of a show (atleast the first two season, never watched the last).
I wholehartedly second that.
Paranormal is a really solid Egyptian thriller. Available on Netflix.
I recently binged Still Game on Netflix (US, at least). Scottish sitcom about two pensioners, their friends, and their antics. Great characters and great humor. I would suggest subtitles if you don't have much experience parsing Scottish accents and slang. After 9 seasons, I almost don't need them!
Beforeigners is a Norwegian TV series in which people from 3 different past epochs suddenly appear in our modern era. The plot follows a detective and his partner (a viking-age shieldmaiden) investigating the murder of a Stone Age lady. Available on HBO.
Le Bureau des Légendes is a French thriller television series which revolves around the lives of agents of the DGSE (French secret service). It's based on real accounts from former spies, and gives a great view of what being a intelligence agent really is (spoiler: not James Bond...). Available on Amazon.
My partner and I have been enjoying both of these thanks to your recommendation! The satire of Beforeigners starts out eye-rolling, but grows and strengthens as they return to certain themes. I'm hoping to see more of Gregers in season 2.
Into the Night is a good Belgium show available on Netflix.
I wouldn't call it great, but I enjoyed the French series Lupin on Netflix (mystery, crime drama). I didn't sit down to binge anything, but found myself binging it anyway. It kept my attention from start to finish, and the only negative would be that it ends on a cliff hanger. That doesn't bother me too much as long as we get the second part in the future.
I've started watching Mirzapur which is like an fast paced Indian version of breaking bad with a hint of Sopranos and Game of Thrones thrown in. I am half way through season 2. Available on Amazon Prime in the USA.
The King's Avatar is an absolutely fantastic show about the top player in an e-sport called Glory getting forced out of his team and turning the whole meta on its head.
Glory is sort of like a hybrid of WoW and Overwatch and is the only game anyone plays.
I've only seen the live action version on Netflix, but it's really enjoyable. My girlfriend and I watched straight through even though neither of us are into esports. The characters are charming. The world and story are fun. And it feels like whoever wrote it actually plays and loves video games.
Gomorrah is fantastic. The book is killer. If you like this, also check out ZeroZeroZero (also a great book from the same author.)
UK sitcom Ghosts is lovely. Short, funny, ensemble cast. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m00049t9/ghosts
UK drama All Creatures Great and Small is nice escapist and gentle. It's a bit of a problem to me that it's so white -- the casting feels a bit off. But other than that it's great. I was a bit worried because it's a reboot/remake of a much loved series. I watched the first version when I was a kid and I really didn't want them to ruin it. https://www.channel5.com/show/all-creatures-great-and-small/
Some picks are already mentioned here, but you may find a similar thread I posted a while back useful.
Thanks, no idea how I missed it.
I'm Brazilian so i'm going to jump in here and recommend a brazilian show.
Watch "Invisible City" on Netflix. It's like Grimm + American Gods but with brazilian folklore.
It is really beautiful.
Fun fact: Alessandra Negrini (Cuca in the show) is 50 years old.
Knight Scoop (I'm linking the Wikipedia article since IMDB gives even less info.). It's a Japanese variety show with a vague theme of the presenters acting as "detectives" solving "mysteries" or just helping out random people. They might help a parent simulate a zombie invasion to let kids try out their traps, investigate a mysterious sound that wakes someone up every night at 2am, make someone's parents talk to each other after them living together without speaking to each other for 10 years, follow a dog around to see what he's doing all day or count how many grains are in a box of rice (by hand). You know, just a random Tuesday in Japan.
It's very much the kind of show you're probably thinking of when you think of "Japanese television". You might have seen a clip of it on youtube here and there, it took me a while to figure out that a lot of those are from this very show. You occasionally find people dumping large amounts of English dubs of the show online, otherwise it's hard to find (I doubt there's official releases outside Japan).
I found a mega link somewhere last year and went down a Knight Scoop rabbit hole. It's so interesting to peek into another culture like that, and even better when it's Japan.
Yea, there's a collection of like 120 fan (?) subbed clips from the show floating around.
It's so interesting! It's so far off anything you'd see on western shows yet you totally get the appeal, all that obsession over how to properly roll the last bite of omurice on a spoon or something. It's like the kind of stuff you might laugh about for hours with friends but you wouldn't dream about ever seeing captured on camera for real-real. Not even on reality tv. Absolutely brilliant!
Japanese variety, game, and panel shows are absolutely amazing. Gaki no Tsukai, and their Batsu "no laughing" game specials (fansub videos of them all), are my absolute favorites. Every one of them is genuinely painful to watch because my cheeks are usually legitimately cramping after 30min from smiling and laughing so much while watching them... so I have to watch each one over several days instead of all at once. :P
I will have to track down some fansub episodes of Knight Scoop, as I haven't seen it yet, but it sounds great too!
My wife and I just watched season 1 of Trapped (2015), an Icelandic Crime/Drama. My wife loves true-crime stuff and we camped all through Iceland for our honeymoon in 2015 so the draw was definitely to see how much of the locations we recognized. It's rather well done and anyone who likes murder mysteries should give it a shot.
great suggestion, thanks
I really enjoyed the first season of Shadow over Balkans / Black Sun but have not been able to find English subs for the second season :( To me, the show is consistently high quality in its performances, narrative, set and costume design, cinematography, etc.
EDIT: Looks like there are subs available for S02 on OpenSubtitles now yaaaay!
Thanks!
Foreign as "not from the USA" I suppose ;-)
If I understand "show" as "series", I'd say :
German : I second Babylon Berlin and add Deutschland 83.
French : Le Bureau des légendes (aka The Bureau)
British : The Avengers, and The Prisonner.
I was thinking non-english with subtitles but anything unusual works for me.
Edit Usual = Hollywood or Bollywood.