Ever since my weekly review count slowed down a few years back, November and December have become catch-up time as I look for potential selections for my annual UFCA ballot. (In my defense, many of the contenders aren’t made available until the end of the year, anyway.) Among the various categories, non-English language films is a genre that requires extra attention, but it also happens to be the source of many unexpected surprises. And from what I’ve seen, 2025 is no exception to that rule. Here are three foreign films worth checking out:
It Was Just An Accident
It’s tempting to heap praise on “It Was Just An Accident” simply for the circumstances in which it was made. But luckily for director Jafar Panahi, his morality play on the true nature of revenge has a lot more going for it than its status as an artistic act of rebellion. Panahi’s film focuses on a group of people who capture a man who may or may not have been the same intelligence officer that tortured them years before. At first it’s pretty jarring to see an everyday mechanic named Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) stalk and then violently apprehend a man named Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi), who seems to be innocently passing through town with his pregnant wife and young daughter. But as Vahid starts gathering various locals to get their input on the situation, the circumstances become more clear and complicated at the same time. Years earlier, each of them had been political prisoners, held by the government over protests, and tortured for information by a sadistic operative they called Peg Leg. So is Eghbal their old nemesis? And if he is, what are they going to do about it? Panahi’s story is the stuff of classic suspense, but–perhaps by necessity–the film plays out in a very no-frills, matter-of-fact manner. As a study on human nature and the realities of revenge, “It Was Just an Accident” is a fascinating blend of drama and black humor, made all the more impressive by the fact that it was filmed in secret.
My Neighbor Adolf
Black humor plays a similar role in “My Neighbor Adolf,” the fictional story of a former chess master from Poland named Polsky who relocates to South America after WWII, only to wind up next-door neighbors with a man named Herzog he suspects could be the not-actually-dead former Fuher Adolf Hitler. David Hayman and Udo Kier are perfectly cast as Polsky and Herzog, respectively, and their tactical back-and-forth strikes a perfect balance between comedy and very real tragedy. Mr. Polsky lost his entire family to the Holocaust, yet the local Israeli representation is slow to believe his suspicions even after they’ve been successful in hunting down other escaped Nazis. It doesn’t help that the two slowly build a cautious friendship–based in chess, of course–that makes things even more difficult once the circumstances escalate. Directed by Leon Prudovsky, “My Neighbor Adolf” feels like a charming example of how a people can use humor to heal pain. It isn’t quite “Jo Jo Rabbit,” but it’s a worthy view, and a nice send-off for Kier, who passed away this past November.
Sirat
Sirat is a perfect example of why I enjoy foreign films so much. I’m perfectly happy to enjoy a movie that follows the standard Hollywood formula, but it’s awfully nice to watch something that is willing to go completely bonkers when you least expect it…or just go bonkers from the beginning. Director Oliver Laxe’s “Sirat” is, on its surface, a road trip movie about a man and his son who join up with a group of nomadic ravers to search for his estranged daughter. The wayward girl has already been missing for five months when Luis (Sergi Lopez) and his son Esteban (Bruno Nunez Arjona) show up at a rave in the Moroccan desert, acting on a lead that she might be at the party. A tight-knit group of veteran ravers hasn’t seen her, but suggest that she might be planning to attend another upcoming event, so when the local military arrive to break up the event, Luis and Esteban set off across the desert, clinging to hope. What follows is a hypnotic, surreal, and often beautiful voyage into the heart of darkness, all set to a continuous soundtrack of bass-heavy club beats. Then things really start to get crazy. To say more would spoil the madness for anyone willing to take the ride, but for what it’s worth, towards the end of its run time, I started asking myself if “Sirat” was seriously my favorite movie of 2025.