I Loves Me Some Culture Clash

January 27, 2009 3:11 PM

Looking for recent thoughtful, interesting, funny, quirky movies or books (2006 and beyond, preferably) that showcase characters from different cultures, different ages, different classes, who are brought together through unusual circumstances.

In the last few weeks, I've seen Gran Torino twice and The Visitor and enjoyed them immensely. Both movies brought together characters of vastly different cultures, ages, and classes who have to fight stereotypes and racism, etc.

Also love books / movies that throw people into foreign environments (i.e. In Bruges, Genghis Blues, The Band's Visit are also recent movies I've seen and enjoyed).

What other books or movies can you recommend?

posted by HeyAllie to media & arts (33 comments total)

I would suggest Last Life in the Universe as a film about two characters from different cultures brought together through unusual circumstances. It's not quite quirky or funny, but is very thoughtful and beautiful.
posted by casaubon at 3:18 PM on January 27

I immediately thought of Schultze Gets The Blues. (Trailer with utterly ridiculous voiceover.) A terrific film. But from 2003, to be fair.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 3:24 PM on January 27

10 Items or Less comes to mind.
posted by alpha_betty at 3:45 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

Keep them coming... Already saw 10 Items or Less and Schultze Gets The Blues, so you're all on the right track...
posted by HeyAllie at 3:49 PM on January 27

I thought Amal quite effectively told its story across different social strata in New Delhi. It's just been released on DVD, too.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:50 PM on January 27

Lost in Translation! immediately came to mind. 2003, but mayve you haven't seen it.
posted by Joh at 3:56 PM on January 27

Australia - 2008.
posted by Sassyfras at 4:02 PM on January 27

L'auberge espagnole comes to mind at once. Admiitedly, it is 2002, but not that well-known on this side of the pond.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:04 PM on January 27 [2 favorites]

Perhaps Paris Je T'aime?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:26 PM on January 27

1) The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (It's kind of a girl book but beautifully written and, I think, exactly what you're looking for).

2) The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst (It's not so much bringing different people together, but the plot is pretty weird with lots of little odd quarks).

3) The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman (It's non-fiction and almost more of a case study from modern anthropology but it's so incredibly interesting).
posted by jay.eye.elle.elle. at 4:40 PM on January 27

The Curious Case of Benjamin Britton was really good.
OldBoy is not very funny at all, it's really disturbing actually but definetely brings people of different ages together.....
posted by BrnP84 at 4:46 PM on January 27

I liked "California Dreamin' (Endless)," which is a Romanian / Irish film starring Armand Assante.

All Movie says: Romanian director Cristian Nemescu's comedy California Dreamin' (AKA Nesfarsit, 2007) unfolds against the backdrop of the Kosovo War, circa 1999. A NATO train rolls through a Romanian hamlet, transporting a plethora of weapons across the country - without official documents, and equipped only with the verbal consent of the Romanian authorities. The transport thus grows intensely vulnerable to the locals - particularly the corrupt head of the railway station, who moonlights as a mobster and promptly decides to interfere with the shipment.

This sounds serious, but the movie had a light and comedic side, mostly due to the interactions of the American / NATO soldiers and Romanian villagers. The villagers had never been 'blessed' with such important guests; the soldiers were happy to party with the villagers and flirt with the village's lovely young girls. The movie was done well enough to shed some light on how these two different cultures viewed each other, in a realistic way.

Sadly, the young (27) director of the film was killed just as the film was completed, in a different sort of culture clash - he was in a slow-moving taxi, in Bucharest. He was hit by a Porsche driven by an Englishman going 113 MPH.
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 5:06 PM on January 27

Son of Rambow
posted by Stylus Happenstance at 5:07 PM on January 27 [1 favorite]

I enjoyed Outsourced. Here's what Netflix has to say:
When his department is outsourced to India, customer call center manager Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) heads to Mumbai to train his successor (Asif Basra). Amusing culture clashes soon ensue as Anderson tries to explain American business practices to the befuddled new employees -- and in the process learns some important lessons about globalization … and life.

I learned some things about India watching it.
posted by thebrokedown at 6:22 PM on January 27

Pieces of April, although it's a little older.
posted by arianell at 6:54 PM on January 27

Crash. It like won best picture and stuff.

I am 90% sure that you have seen this movie.
posted by clearly at 7:04 PM on January 27

The Sparrow. It's about a very interesting and varied group of people who find themselves on a Jesuit mission to another planet. The circumstances don't get much more unusual. It's a fantastic read.
posted by bristolcat at 7:26 PM on January 27

Frozen River. A white woman and a Mohawk woman team up, grudgingly, to smuggle illegal immigrants from Canada to the U.S. It got nominated for several Oscars.
posted by A dead Quaker at 7:30 PM on January 27

Netherland.
posted by Falconetti at 8:51 PM on January 27

If you like graphic novels, you might want to check out Guy Delisle's latest three books: Pyongyang, Shenzen and the Burma Chronicles. They're travelogues following the artist's experiences trying to adjust to these places when he is forced to be there for his (or his wife's in the last book) work.
posted by minicloud at 9:03 PM on January 27

Island Of The Sequined Love Nun
posted by Thistledown at 9:43 PM on January 27

Some elements of your description (people of different cultures coming together, unusual circumstances, people in foreign environments) reminded me of "Everything is Illuminated," although I have to admit that I have only read the book and have not seen how it was adapted for the screen. (I'm usually not one of "those people" that goes around whining about how the book was better! I swear! It just hasn't made it to the top of my Netflix queue yet!)
posted by rebel_rebel at 11:08 PM on January 27

Two recent examples -

The Edge of Heaven

Let The Right One In
posted by fire&wings at 1:56 AM on January 28

2666 (by Roberto Bolaño) probably qualifies. It's quirky if you think a rebar-studded brick shat from a steaming metaphysical vent is quirky.
posted by jeeves at 4:05 AM on January 28

2nding rebel_rebel's suggestion for Everything Is Illuminated, which was a pretty good film as well.
These two are a little older, but maybe you haven't seen them yet...

Jim Jarmusch's Night On Earth and Down By Law are terrific.
posted by orme at 5:23 AM on January 28

The Visitor, with Richard Jenkins, a recent release.
posted by comedownbird at 5:55 AM on January 28

For books, check out Nadine Gordimer's The Pickup. It deals with interactions between upper class white South Africa and Arab culture.
posted by motherly corn at 7:14 AM on January 28

Also, I haven't read any of these but someone out there thought they deserved to be tagged "culture clash." Might be worth checking out.
posted by motherly corn at 7:18 AM on January 28

Lots of great suggestions here and have marked Best Answer to anything I haven't seen or read yet. Thanks!
posted by HeyAllie at 9:10 AM on January 28

There's always the TV show Lost.
Might be a little conventional for your taste, but one of the show's overarching themes is people from different cultures being thrown together and forced to work together.
posted by tylerfulltilt at 2:13 PM on January 28

Welcome to the sticks. French - 2008. Very funny.
posted by kjs4 at 5:26 PM on January 28

I know you didn't mention TV series, but on the offchance - Life on Mars is really great and all about culture clash through time. A policeman in 2003 is involved in a hit and run, and wakes up in 1973. Everyone behaves as if he is meant to be there, and he has to carry on working as a policeman in the midst of what he perceives as appallingly old-fashioned, sexist and incompetent cops. Meanwhile, they all think he is crazy. There's the UK version and now a US version. Personally I think the UK version is better, but then I'm a Brit :)
posted by Joh at 9:43 PM on January 28

Not quite what you asked for, but still excellent:

Nervous Conditions, written by Tsitsi Dangarembga in 1989, is a semi-autobiographical coming of age story about a young woman in modern Africa. The story takes place in Rhodesia in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The story centers around Tambu and Nyasha, female cousins who, until their early teens, lead very different lives.

posted by aniola at 12:55 PM on May 17