Movie suggestions
September 14, 2013 4:42 PM   Subscribe

Looking for some Mystery/Suspense/Thriller movie suggestions

We love mystery/thriller/suspense movies and were looking for suggestions. Recently we saw some foreign movies that we very much liked (The Debt, The girl with the dragon tattoo series (all three), The Aura, Una Pura Fomalita and The Heir Apparent).

Would love suggestions along these lines, fine with foreign movies with subtitles.

Thanks
posted by ladoo to Media & Arts (23 answers total) 41 users marked this as a favorite
 
The original, Luc Besson-directed La Femme Nikita.
posted by rtha at 4:52 PM on September 14, 2013 [1 favorite]




The Manchurian Candidate
posted by brujita at 5:22 PM on September 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Loved InBruges too. Recently we saw Side Effects it was ok. Also recently Contagion. Those may be a little mainstream for your tastes.
Maybe check out some Hitchcock classics.
posted by TheLibrarian at 5:23 PM on September 14, 2013


If you don't mind old, you can't go wrong with Melville. Particularly Le Cercle Rouge and La Samorai. They're more "crime" than thriller, though.

I'd also recommend Rififi, which is a heist movie and Le Trou, which is a prison movie--*very* thrilling.
posted by dobbs at 5:24 PM on September 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


Brick.
Like a 1940's noir super imposed on teenage surburbia. I highly recommend.
posted by gryftir at 5:28 PM on September 14, 2013 [6 favorites]


Nine Queens is one of the best thrillers I've ever seen. Actually, one of the best films I've seen.
posted by billiebee at 5:44 PM on September 14, 2013


Rapt.
posted by grounded at 5:47 PM on September 14, 2013


France:
Red Lights
Caché [Hidden]
With a Friend Like Harry

Scotland:
Red Road

Hungary:
Kontroll

Canada:
Incendies

Iran:
A Separation

Germany:
The Lives of Others
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:09 PM on September 14, 2013 [3 favorites]




La Haine - it's suspenseful, but I'm not sure if it's a suspense thriller.

Suture has a great cinematic gimmick and an intriguing plot.

The Conversation is a classic.

Read My Lips (that's the English title, it's a French film) is one of my favorites.

Knife in the Water is suspenseful and tight, if you can stomach Roman Polanski's work.

Dead Again is worth a look.

Sexy Beast. Ben Kingsley makes tighty whities look tough.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 11:07 PM on September 14, 2013


Three Days of the Condor
Alphaville
Dead Again
The Ipcress File

I really enjoyed the Masterpiece Mystery Zen if made-for-TV is OK.
posted by mumkin at 11:15 PM on September 14, 2013


Eastern Promises.
Page Eight.
Hanna. [sorry, trailer a bit spoilery]
The Whistleblower
Transsiberian
A Prophet
The Ghost Writer -- this is when I began to realize how exceptionally good Ewan McGregor is at playing the Everyman, an underrated task in my opinion.
Haywire -- see above, sort of
Match Point

btw, I coincidentally ran across an older British TV movie called The Debt -- it's more heist-gone-wrong in all the usual ways, with an interesting cast including a young Martin Freeman and the rarely-seen Warren Clarke from A Clockwork Orange.

Deadfall looked really promising and almost lived up to it but ultimately disappointed me. A strong cast, though.
posted by dhartung at 11:48 PM on September 14, 2013 [1 favorite]


A History of Violence (same director as Eastern Promises, mentioned by dhartung) is a great film. It wasn't nominated for best picture that year, but it was a hell of a lot better than Crash.
posted by jsturgill at 12:10 AM on September 15, 2013 [3 favorites]


Two srping to mind, Brotherhood of the Wolf, a 2001 French film is a historical mystery/monster movie with style and some political intruige.

And then there's The Tower , a South Korean remake of The Towering Inferno. Which is everything you want from a South Korean remake of The Towering Inferno. Late ngiht, lots of popcorn, lots of catcalling at the screen.
posted by ewan at 3:54 AM on September 15, 2013


Not a film, but the first series of Forbrydelsen - the Killing - is amazing. The Danish language one. Not the US remake.

Also try on the UK TV series Broadchurch - it is a bit Killing-derivative in places, but it is still excellent.
posted by kariebookish at 7:36 AM on September 15, 2013 [3 favorites]


Michael Clayton is superb. Don't let George Clooney's face on the cover fool you; watch it for (aside from the general excellence of the movie) Tilda Swinton's performance.

I very much enjoy The Game as well.
posted by jsturgill at 8:55 AM on September 15, 2013 [1 favorite]


I recently enjoyed Cold Fish - its a thriller about a Japanese exotic fish store owner that enters into a partnership with his cross town rival - a flashy and pschotic arch-criminal.
posted by cinemafiend at 9:42 AM on September 15, 2013


"Tell No One" is my favorite suspense/mystery of all time; I'm glad to see it mentioned already.

To "Brick," add "The Lookout," another from Joseph Gordon-Levitt's movies; he plays a young man with some memory and other deficits following a head injury, and has a menial job as a night janitor in a bank, where he's caught up in a heist plot.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:13 AM on September 15, 2013


Mother
posted by Chenko at 10:35 AM on September 15, 2013 [3 favorites]


France: The Crimson Rivers

A great TV movie series from PBS starts with Skinwalkers, based on the Tony Hillerman books. (Related in a way by taking place in Native American cultures: Thunderheart)
posted by emcat8 at 3:30 PM on September 15, 2013


Chenko already mentioned Mother, which is amazing—but I would also recommend Bong's Joon-ho's earlier film, Memories of Murder.
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 10:08 PM on September 15, 2013


I think it's very much overrated, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned Memento yet.

The Departed is thrilling. Ignore the twinge you're likely feeling when you see all the big-name stars. They do good work here, and Scorsese is in good form. The movie it was adapted from (Infernal Affairs) is also very, very good.

For an extremely different tone (horror thriller mystery), the original Wicker Man is one of the most unique movies I've ever seen. Most of the film feels like a documentary of a very, very strange place.
posted by jsturgill at 2:46 PM on September 23, 2013


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