Here is my list of top 10 foreign films released in 2013 (in alphabetical order):<\/p>\n
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<\/a>The Attack<\/strong><\/em> (Belgium-Egypt-France). Written and directed by Ziad Doueiri; starring Ali Suliman, Uri Gavriel and Raymond Amsalem. This is an intelligent, thought-provoking film about an Arab surgeon living in Tel Aviv who discovers a shocking secret about his wife in the aftermath of a suicide bombing. I heard Doueiri speak about the film after a screening and admire the way he doesn\u2019t shy away from difficult subjects or opinions. It\u2019s not easy to make a film about this topic that doesn\u2019t immediately label the \u201cgood\u201d guys and the \u201cbad\u201d guys. The film has proved fairly controversial and has both admirers and virulent detractors on both sides. It\u2019s banned in the director\u2019s native Lebanon as well as most other Arab countries.<\/p>\n<\/a>Augustine<\/strong><\/em> (France). Written and directed by Alice Winocour; starring Soko, Vincent Lindon and Chiaro Mastroianni. Set in the 1890s, this film examines the questionable relationship between famed French neurologist Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot and his star patient, a 19-year-old kitchen maid named Augustine who is left partially paralyzed after a seizure. Charcot puts Augustine on display in lecture-hall demonstrations to impress potential funders. Though illiterate, the young woman is savvy enough to understand her place in Charcot\u2019s career and the two soon begin a back-and-forth dance in which it\u2019s not always clear who\u2019s in control. I spoke to actress\/singer Soko<\/a> last May.<\/p>\n<\/a>Blue Is the Warmest Color<\/strong><\/em> (France). Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche; written by Ghalia Lacroix and Abdellatif Kechiche; staring L\u00e9a Seydoux and Ad\u00e8le Exarchopoulos. After winning the Palme d\u2019Or at this year\u2019s Cannes Film Festival, this film about the intense relationship between two women became mired in controversy, both because of its graphic sex scenes between the two women and the fact that stars Seydoux and Exarchopoulos criticized the working style of their director. The squabbles are unfortunate because as far as I\u2019m concerned, this beautiful three-hour film is one of the best of the year \u2014 in any language. I attended the tense press day last October after which some of the actress\u2019s allegations were published and spoke with Tunisian-French Abdellatif Kechiche<\/a> about his experience making the film.<\/p>\n<\/a>The Broken Circle Breakdown<\/strong><\/em> (Belgium). Directed by Felix Van Groeningen; written by Johan Heldenbergh, Mieke Dobbels, Carlos Joos and Van Groeningen, starring Veerle Baetens and Johan Heldenbergh. The last thing I ever expected to find in a Belgian film in Flemish was one of the best bluegrass soundtracks I\u2019ve heard in years. I was very moved by this unique story of an offbeat tattoo artist and a banjo player in a bluegrass band who bond over their love of American music, fall deeply in love and then must grapple with a terrible, unexpected tragedy. Van Groeningen was named by Variety as one of \u201c10 European Directors to Watch.\u201d I sat down with Felix Van Groeningen<\/a> last month to talk about his award-winning film.<\/p>\n<\/a>Fill the Void<\/strong><\/em> (Israel). Written and directed by Rama Burshtein, starring Hadas Yaron and Yiftach Klein. Set in a Chasidic community in modern-day Tel Aviv, this film focuses on an 18-year-old girl who must decide whether to marry her deceased older sister\u2019s husband following the death of her sister in childbirth. It\u2019s so rare that we get a true glimpse into this closed community and rarer still when the film is actually directed by an observant Chasidic woman. I was thrilled to get the chance to talk to Rama Burshtein<\/a> last May after her remarkable film debuted at the Venice Film Festival. Burshtein is the first Orthodox Jewish woman ever to make a film intended for wide distribution. I also had a chance to talk to Hadas Yaron<\/a> who won the Best Actress award at the Venice festival.<\/p>\n<\/a>Haute Cuisine<\/strong> <\/em>(France). Directed by Christian Vincent; written by Etienne Comar and Christian Vincent, starring Catherine Frot, Arthur Dupont and Jean d\u2019Ormesson. Hortense Laborie is a celebrated chef living in the P\u00e9rigord region of France. To her utter amazement, the President of France appoints her as his personal cook. She accepts reluctantly but then works hard to produce magnificent cuisine. The male chefs at the President\u2019s residence are filled with resentment when Hortense arrives and cause her endless problems, but her indomitable spirit saves the day. I\u2019ve always loved movies that show incredible food being prepared and all I can say is don\u2019t go to this film hungry! It\u2019s a fictionalized account of the life of Dani\u00e8le Delpeuch who became the first female head chef at the Elys\u00e9e Palace.<\/p>\n<\/a>A Hijacking<\/strong><\/em> (Denmark). Written and directed by Tobias Lindholm; starring Pilou Asb\u00e6k and Dar Salim. A Danish cargo ship is attacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean and all of the men are taken hostage. In this taut, suspenseful film, a psychological drama unfolds between the pirates and the CEO of the Copenhagen-based shipping company. When I talked to writer\/director Tobias Lindholm<\/a> last June, he explained how the shooting conditions helped the actors playing the ship\u2019s crew. \u201cI basically treated them as hostages. Everybody on this team knew that we had a common goal to get as close to reality as possible and the actors helped by enduring all sorts of physical discomfort. They didn\u2019t need to act as if they had to go to the bathroom, they didn\u2019t need to act that they were hungry or thirsty!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>Kon-Tiki<\/strong><\/em> (Norway). Directed by Joachim R\u00f8nning and Espen Sandberg; written by Petter Skavlan; starring P\u00e5l Sverre Hagen, Agnes Kittelsen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen and Gustaf Skarsg\u00e5rd.This gorgeous historical epic tells the true story of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl who, in 1947, with a tiny crew, sailed a balsa wood raft on a 4300-mile journey across the ocean from Peru to Polynesia to prove his theory that people from South America settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. Few expected Heyerdahl or his crew to make it across the ocean alive, but after some terrifying encounters with storms, sharks and other perils, the bedraggled men on the Kon-Tiki reached the shores of Polynesia three months later. I spoke with P\u00e5l Sverre Hagen<\/a> who played Heyerdahl when the film opened last April.<\/p>\n<\/a>Lore<\/strong><\/em> (Australia-Germany). Directed by Cate Shortland; written by Cate Shortland and Robin Mukherjee; starring Saskia Rosendahl, Kai-Peter Malina and Nele Trebs. As the Allied forces sweep across Germany in the spring of 1945, a high-ranking SS officer and his wife are arrested by the victors. The couple\u2019s 14-year-old daughter, Lore, must lead her four younger siblings on a harrowing journey across a devastated country to their grandmother\u2019s house. When Lore meets a mysterious young refugee, she must confront her mixed feelings of hatred and desire. Despite her training as an enthusiastic Hitler Youth, will she be able to put her trust in the only person who can help her? I talked to director Cate Shortland<\/a> about this unique film that looks at what happens to the children of perpetrators.<\/p>\n