WATCH THE WORLD

Our goal is to open up the world to everyone through film. Everyone should travel if they can (the world is amazing), but it costs time and money which we don't always have. That's where FilmRoot comes in. We bring the world of films to your couch, so you can travel wherever you want to without the flight fees.


Use our World Map to find the best films from each country, choose a continent below to explore the best films from each continent, or simply scroll down to see our latest posts featuring films from around the world. Or, if you're up for a challenge, work your way up to the top of our Film Difficulty Rankings to become a World Film expert.







Latest Posts


The Colours of the Mountain (Colombia)

The Colors of the Mountain Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Buy by clicking on the poster or find it elsewhere!

Watch The Colors of the Mountain to see the beauty and ugliness of Colombia side by side. See beauty in the lush vegetation, innocent school children, and peaceful life in the countryside. And see ugliness in the spreading war between the local guerillas and paramilitaries. Luckily for tourists, the ugliness of the war has subsided. And luckily for film viewers, Colombia is still producing great films, just go and watch Embrace of the Serpent after this one.

Why Watch The Colors of the Mountain?
  • For a great coming-of-age film (for more coming-of-age films check out Kids Return, The Wounded Angel)
  • See the beautiful Colombian countryside and the people that live in it
  • Witness how the war between the guerillas and the paramilitary groups affected life in Colombia (for something similar, see Silvered Water which follows a young kid living in the Syrian war zone)
  • See how arepas are made!
The Breakdown

The Colors of the Mountain starts with a shot of a small house in the lush Colombian countryside. A boy with a football in his arms runs down the drive and into the rolling fields across from his house. The countryside is full of sounds of insects, birds, and frogs, and you can almost feel the heat. The boy runs to his friend’s house and persuades him to come and play football.

This is their simple, peaceful life. They wake up, eat, and either go to school or play football. 9-year old Manuel’s parents are always around the house, tending to their two cows, fixing the house, or cooking. Life is good.

However, the signs of trouble become more and more obvious. The first sign of danger is the graffitti written across the wall of the school in red: ‘el pueblo con las armas, vencer o morir’. This roughly translates to ‘the town with weapons, conquer or die’. Secondly, the potential danger is confirmed in Manuel’s Dad. When Manuel and his Dad are milking their cow, his Dad spots four men in ponchos walking up to their house. You can just make out the butt of a machine gun on one of them, protruding from their clothes. Manuel’s Dad urgently grabs Manuel and runs him into their house to hide. His reaction confirms the threat of the men in ponchos, and the danger they live with which is largely unnoticed by Manuel and his friends.

Conclusion

The Colors of the Mountain shows us the danger posed by both the Guerillas and the Paramilitaries in rural Colombia. It also shows us how normal life can temporarily appear in a war zone. For those that want to see Colombia in all it’s beauty and ugliness, this one is for you.

 

 

Kids Return (Japan)

Kids Return Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Some of the best films just can’t be reviewed well. Kid’s Return is one of these greats. It’s great score and simple story-telling will whisk you away to Japan for a while. You’ll become friends with two high-school drop-outs and follow their journey into adult life. With school-life, boxing, and Yakuza, this one is one to watch.

Why Watch Kids Return?
  • For a great coming-of-age film and boxing film rolled into one. Think of Boyhood mixed with Rocky.
  • See more of Japan – just like Kitano’s Kikujiro – from Japanese coffee shops to adult film cinemas!
  • Hear a classic film soundtrack from Joe Hisaishi
  • For the great clash of colours in the cinematography: red vs. blue!
The Breakdown

Kids Return starts with two guys in sequin jackets on a stage performing their comedy act. We only see them from back stage. We later learn that these two guys are from the same school as the two main protagonists who we are introduced to in the next scene. They both meet each other for the first time in ages and go for a nostalgic bike ride in the city.

Following the introduction, we are taken back to school days with Masaru and Shinji (the two main characters). They are bullies who skip school to mess around. They steal money from other students, beat up people, and prank their teachers. As a result, nobody thinks they have many future prospects. Their teachers all agree that the best they’ll be is become petty crooks.

At this time, both of them are vulnerable to the allure of power. This leads them both to boxing. At this time in the film, Kitano dresses one of them in red and the other in blue. Their opposing colours are a metaphor for them drifting apart. After a pivotal boxing match showing red vs. blue, they both follow different paths.

Conclusion

It’s harder to write about your favorite films. I end up trying to hard to mention everything that’s great about the film to persuade you to watch it. But the best films have something intangible, something you can’t write about. It’s a cathartic ability to truly immerse the viewer in the images and story and temporarily forget about your own reality. Kids Return does this cathartic ability perhaps aided by the soundtrack and story.

Asmaa (Egypt)

Asmaa Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Can you imagine a place where TV adverts about HIV/AIDS show scary images of bats, blood, drugs, and prostitutes? Well, you don’t have to. Egypt actually showed these adverts. In Asmaa director Amr Salama challenges the social prejudice towards HIV/AIDS suffers. Watch this film to learn about the limitations of being a HIV/AIDS patient and a woman in Egypt.

Why Watch Asmaa?
  • Follow the life of a woman with HIV battling against social prejudice in Egypt
  • Watch the film here on YouTube to start your adventure into Egyptian film
  • Experience a bit of life in Cairo and the country surrounding the capital
The Breakdown

First of all, it is important to know that there is a bit social stigma around the HIV positive in Egypt. The director, Amr Salama, states:

“In Egypt we think it’s a punishment from God and we should not treat it. We think that they get it from a sin so they deserve it, and we think it’s very contagious so we don’t deal with them in any way. So people die from that more than they die from anything else. “

Asmaa starts in a small HIV group, a bit like an alcoholics anonymous group. The director cuts between the group talking and scenes in a hospital. We find out that our protagonist Asmaa has HIV and was denied hospital treatment because of it.

Asmaa is a do it all mother. She looks after her father, her daughter, whilst working shifts at the airport. Through flash backs to her former life, we learn how she caught HIV and her former dreams. Her flashbacks are shown in golden colours which contrast with the dreary blue and grey filter that depicts her current life and her visits to the hospital. It is obvious she wishes to recapture the dreams of her early life with her former husband.

Conclusion

Asmaa is an important tale based on the true stories of many HIV/AIDS suffers that Salama met when filming a documentary before he filmed Asmaa. The film reveals the plight of women in Egypt as well as the social prejudice against HIV/AIDS patients. It challenges the controversial portrayal of HIV/AIDS in Egypt by putting you in the shoes of a strong woman coping with the disease.

The Handmaiden (South Korea)

The Handmaiden Film Difficulty Ranking: 2Image result for the handmaiden poster

Did you think Gone Girl or Oldboy was good? Well here’s another thriller for you to figure out. The Handmaiden will keep you guessing throughout the film. What is being hidden from you? In addition you’ll witness some gorgeous set and costume design and a lot of nudity (probably not one to take your mum to see). If you have a chance to watch this in the cinema – don’t wait!

Why Watch The Handmaiden?
  • You want to see something thrilling and erotic
  • If you liked Gone Girl or any of Park-Chan wook’s earlier films (definitely check out his classic revenge thriller Oldboy)
  • To see colonial Korea recreated in costume and setting (the house is like the mansion in The Shining)
  • Do you want to find out what is in the basement?
The Breakdown

The Handmaiden starts with Sook-hee, a petty thief living with a family of con-artists in Japanese ruled Korea. Her prospects are pretty much non-existent. However, she is taken to become the maid of a wealthy Japanese lady living in a colonial palace in a remote part of the country.

We soon find out that one of her fellow con-artists, Count Fujiwara, has set her up to become Lady Hideko’s handmaiden. His goal is for her to help her seduce the rich heiress into marrying him and for them to split the profits. You should note how she acts throughout the first part of the film. Her character is at the center of a number of laughs. She is a target for the other maids, she storms through the house with shoes on, and gets scared on her first night in the mansion. The director, Park Chan-wook uses her role to play with us.

Park Chan-wook tells the story like piecing together a puzzle. Initially he gives us a decent idea of the story-line. We think we know what is going on until he places the next puzzle piece and changes what we see. He is a master of guise (just think how he tricks you in Oldboy). In addition, the characters hide a lot at the start and slowly reveal more and more as the film progresses. Park Chan-wook is a master of surprise.

Conclusion

The Handmaiden is another classic thriller from Park Chan-wook. If you like films with twists and turns (like the old M. Night Shyamalan films) you will love Park Chan-wook.

 

Kikujiro (Japan)

Click the poster to buy the DVD and open up Japan!

Kikujiro Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Want to experience Japan without paying the expensive flight tickets? Then watch Kikujiro. You’ll travel the cities and country of Japan with little Masao and Kikujiro and do things that probably aren’t in the guide books, like betting on bike races and having fun at a local fair. You’ll also get a beautiful soundtrack from Joe Hisaishi to go with it all!

Why Watch Kikujiro?
  • If you like coming-of-age films or road trip movies! This one is inspired by The Wizard of Oz!
  • For some cool camera shots. Look out for one shot from the inside of a glass, and another shot from a car hub-cab.
  • For another Kitano classic (check out his gangster flick Hana-bi for something different)
  • It’s a postcard tour of Japan – watch this if you want to go to Japan!
The Breakdown

Kikujiro starts with a slow motion shot of a young boy running across a pedestrian bridge. He is smiling and is wearing a backpack with little wings attached to it. The camera follows him as he runs from one side of the bridge to the other.

The young boy, Masao, is described as a ‘gloomy kid.’ His parents left him when he was a baby and he has grown up with his grandmother ever since. You start to feel sorry for him as soon as his school finishes for the summer holidays. He runs home by himself, he lets himself into the house by himself, and eats a plate of food left for him on the table by himself. He’s all alone with no parents. The next morning, he walks to football practice but the instructor tells him that the session is cancelled because of the summer vacation. He plays by himself for a bit before going home. Poor Masao! He just wants a friend!

He doesn’t get a friend, but one of his grandmother’s friends (Kikujiro) reluctantly takes him to find his mum. Their journey takes us through a diverse range of life in Japan. First, Kikujiro takes Masao to the cycle races as a good luck totem for his betting. After he strikes a bit of luck, we are taken into a strip club and a Japanese diner. Later we are taken to a local fair, a hotel resort, and even end up at a bus stop in the country which is reminiscent of the bus stop in My Neighbour Totoro. Watch Kikujiro to experience Japan!

Conclusion

Just like The Wizard of Oz, Masao comes across a rabble of people from different walks of life. They all allow Masao to escape his loneliness for the summer holidays. Kikujiro shows the versatility of director Kitano as he ranges from Yakuza gangster film Hana-bi to this endearing coming-of-age film.