The 1980s brought in a new era in movies, especially in Hollywood. The idea of simplistic high concept big-budget films took over the box office with movies like Top Gun, Die Hard, Beverly Hills Cop, and more. However, people who loved more grown-up cinema still had a lot to enjoy in the ’80s as the international movie scene was still pumping out fantastic movies throughout the decade.
Movies from France, Russia, and Italy were joined by the new up-and-coming filmmakers from Hong Kong and Germany, providing an eclectic mix of masterpieces throughout the decade. Here is a look at 10 of the best international movies from the 1970s.
DAS BOOT (1981)
In 1981, Wolfgang Peterson his first true masterpiece with the wartime movie Das Boot. The German international movie tells the story of a German U-boat named U-96 and the crew as they patrol the Battle of the Atlantic. Peterson smartly switches between the battles and the inner conflict of the young men on board.
This ended up as a critically lauded movie, showing the German soldiers during World War II as young men simply serving their nation in a time of war. Rotten Tomatoes lists it at 98% fresh, one of the highest-rated German-language films of all-time.
AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS (1987)
Louis Malle continued his exploration of friendship and the idea of being an outsider in his 1987 film Au Revoir Les Enfants (translated to Goodbye Children). The film took place in 1943 at a boarding school in Occupied France, where the headmaster offered to hide exiled Jews.
The different children become friends, but things go wrong when the Gestapo raids the school when someone reveals that three Jewish children are attending the school. The film, a denouncement of war and racism, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
THE KILLER (1989)
John Woo had been directing films since 1968, but he hit the biog time with his 1986 movie A Better Tomorrow and then followed it up with one of the movies that caught Hollywood’s attention — the 1989 Hong Kong action movie The Killer. Four years later, he was in American making Hollywood action movies.
The Killer starred Chow Yun-Fat and Danny Lee in an international movie about an assassin who accidentally injures a singer during a shootout. Feeling torment at the incidental actions, he sets out for one last hit to earn money for her surgery. Woo said the movie was a tribute to Jean-Pierre Melville and Martin Scorsese.
CINEMA PARADISO (1988)
The 1988 Italian film Cinema Paradiso was a true love letter to the art of cinema and movies. Giuseppe Tornatore helped bring critical acclaim back to Italian cinema, and much of it was due to this film, the second of his career.
This international movie takes place in Rome in the ’80s, specifically in a war-torn village in Sicily. When a young boy develops an interest in films, a theater projectionist instills his love of cinema, which leads the young boy on a journey of discovery as he grows into an adult. The film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
AKIRA (1988)
The ’80s saw international films start to excel in the realm of animation. One of the movies that seemed to attract a significant cult following was the 1988 animated cyberpunk film Akira. The film was based on the manga of the same name, which began in 1982.
The Japanese film took place in the dystopian year of 2019 and focused on the leader of a biker gang whose close friend develops telekinetic powers. This disrupts the new order of things, and a rebellion rises to battle the authority and military complex that tries to keep order.
WINGS OF DESIRE (1987)
Many American movie fans know the story of Wim Wenders’ German-language film Wings of Desire thanks to its remake. The American remake was titled City of Angels, starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, and told the story of an angel who becomes human when he falls in love with a human woman.
The original Wenders movie arrived in 1987 and had a similar story, with immortal angels living in Berlin and one who fell in love with a lonely trapeze artist in the city. Wenders won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987.
GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (1988)
While there is a lot of talk about Hayao Miyazaki and his run of successful films, which began in the 1980s, he wasn’t the only member of the Studio Ghibli team who had a masterpiece in that decade. In 1988, Isao Takahata created the brutally beautiful animated film Grave of the Fireflies.
The movie is in a city in Japan where two siblings try to survive during the final months of World War II. The film is a tragedy, with the movie opening with the revelation that the children died and then moving back to tell their heartwrenching story.
RAN (1985)
While many of his later films did not match the brilliance of Seven Samurai and Ikiru, Akira Kurosawa still had a brilliant film he released in the 1080s with Ran. As with many films in his career, Ran was a retelling of a William Shakespeare story.
Ran takes the story of King Lear and transposes it into Japanese culture. The movie has an aging warlord giving up his throne to his three sons, all of which struggle to work together as their father had planned. Kurosawa received an Oscar nomination for his directing.
FANNY AND ALEXANDER (1982)
Ingmar Bergman had masterpieces in every decade since the 1950s, and he finished his movie directing career in the 1980s with the Swedish international film Fanny and Alexander. This was a historical drama about two siblings and their large family after the death of their father, and the new husband to their mother, who is abusive to young Alexander for his imagination.
The film was semi-autographical with Alexander a stand-in for him, Fanny representing his sister and the abusive stepdad based on his father. While Bergman directed TV films after this, Fanny and Alexander was his final film made for the big screen, and it won four Oscars.
MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO (1988)
In the 1980s, Hayao Miyazaki started his rise to the top of the animation film world. During that decade, the film that represents his brilliance is the 1988 international movie My Neighbor Totoro. Miyazaki wrote and directed the film, which showed two young daughters of a professor who became friends with woodland spirits in post-war Japan.
Both the film and the character of Totoro stood the test of time as iconic figures in the world of Japanese animation. Totoro has even gone on to appear in several other films, including Kiki’s Delivery Service.
