24 International Films You Need To Watch Right Now If You're

RRR is the most expensive Indian film ever made, the third highest-grossing Indian film of all time, and has received topnotch reviews from critics the world over. Now, it's readily accessible on Netflix and continuing to build a fandom in the US. It's a frenetic, highly stylized Indian musical action film about two revolutionaries who fought against British imperialism (using tigers, according to this). Think Moulin Rouge! meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets The Matrix meets The Patriot. It's a three-hour-plus gory action film with extended musical numbers (including a rather upbeat public torture song), which sounds miserably weird, but I loved every single second of it. India, unfortunately, did not select it for the International Feature race, BUT this seems to almost be helping its Oscar chances as more and more fans are rallying around the musical's music in hopes of an Original Song nomination. 

Another of last year's breakout international films was Joachim Trier's film about a woman (Renate Reinsve) floating aimlessly through life, juggling a pair of relationships and looking for purpose. The film, the third in Trier's "Oslo Trilogy," was nominated for both Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars, with many crying for Reinsve to be nominated in Best Actress for her performance as well. In the titular role, (although, is she the worst person in this cinematic world? Perhaps not. But I digress.) Reinsve, who won the acting prize at Cannes in 2021, delivers an infuriating performance that will make you love and hate this "everywoman" at the same time. She's a slow-motion train wreck that has you oscillating between cheering her destruction and mourning her losses as each consecutive train jumps the track. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll learn how to identify an "iconic butthole." 

Only the second documentary on this list, Writing with Fire did go head-to-head with Flee last year in Best Documentary Feature (although, both lost to Summer of Soul only seconds after "the slap"). A powerful and encouraging documentary, it follows the staff of Khabar Lahariya, a news organization run by a group of low-caste Indian women. Equipped with iPhones, they travel the region, tackling some of the toughest stories of their day even as they face discrimination based on their gender and caste (mixed with a healthy dose of corruption). It's an empowering doc, and one that has stuck with me since I first watched it last winter.