Category Archives: Foreign Language

2014, French, French Detectives, MHz Choice, Murder

Murder In (2014)

From MHz Choice:

A gorgeous collection of mysteries, each one set in a different, picturesque region of France. Enjoy French towns and areas you may never have seen before!

From MHz Choice you can stream 9 seasons of this wonderful French crime series. Each season offers 9 episodes. Each episode lasts an hour and a half.

Not only is the scenery beautiful, but the stories are excellent. Despite each being a murder mystery,  equally important in each episode are personal relations and history.  There is always a male and female police detective. Often they have been in a relationship. Quite often one or both detectives are from the story’s region of France.  Sometimes an actor will appear in more than one episode.

Some episodes are better than others, but none has disappointed us.

2019, French, French Detective Series, MHz Choice, Romance

Alice Nevers (2019)

From IMDB:

Alice Nevers is a young and beautiful investigating judge. With her partner, policeman Fred Marchand, they use their own power to solve crimes to each their method.

From MHz Choice:

A popular and long-running French procedural, Alice Nevers is a tough and tenacious criminal prosecutor in a professional and personal partnership with police captain Fred Marquand.

From MHz Choice you can stream 4 seasons of this French detective series and continuing romance.  Seasons 1 and 3 have 8 episodes. Season 2 has 6 and Season 4 has 10 episodes. Each episode last about 50 minutes.

Initially Alice has a child with a convicted thief Mathieu and for quite a while in the series she plans on raising that child with Mathieu when he gets out of prison.  As the series progresses Fred Marquand and Alice fall in love but she remains faithful to Mathieu until Fred makes her accept the fact that Mathieu is dealing in an illicit diamond trade.

Nice mixture of crime and romance.

2023, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Polish, Sex Scenes

A Girl and an Astronaut (2023)

From Netflix:

An astronaut’s return after a 30-year disappearance rekindles a lost love and sparks interest from a corporation determined to learn why he hasn’t aged.

From Netflix you can stream the 8 episodes of this sci-fi romance, complete with young pilots competing for a woman and the chance to fly a space mission.  In Polish with English subtitles.  Each episode lasts less than 50 minutes.

Interesting plot and lots of human interest and interaction.

2019, Detective, German, MHz Choice

Irish Crime (2019)

From IMDB:

For years, Cathrin worked as a criminal psychologist, often on cases together with her police-officer husband Liam. But one day 10 years ago, Liam just vanished from the face of the earth. It took all of Cathrin’s strength and the support of her son Paul to get back on her feet after her emotional collapse and fall into alcoholism. Working private practice ever since, she is thrown back into her old life when Liam’s remains are found in a mass grave of dead children as a wide-ranging conspiracy is uncovered. Also, some of her clients seem to be connected to current criminal cases and Cathrin is increasingly drawn back into assisting the Galway police, and they welcome her back warmly. But when old agonies resurface, Cathrin is determined to uncover the truth.

From MHz Choice you can stream the 4 episodes of the only season offered. Each episode lasts an hour and a half. German with English subtitles.

Highly recommended.

 

2009, Detective, French, PBS Masterpiece Streaming

Paris Murders (2009)

From IMDB:

Chloé Saint-Laurent is a profiler and works with a police team to solve murders in Paris. She’s very sweet, she wears very colored clothes and a huge yellow bag. She looks like a little girl who needs a doll, but she’s very smart and a very good profiler. Step by step, she fits in the team and her colleagues, very reserved at first, become her best friends.

From PBS Passport you can stream 5 seasons of this French crime thriller.  Seasons 1 and 2 offer 12 episodes. Seasons 3, 4, and 5 offer 10 episodes. Each episode lasts between 50 minutes and 1 hour.

“Profilage” , as it is called in IMDB, is the French name for the series. Stories are well-done though sometime gruesome. Chloé, played by Odile Vuillemin is the main attraction but she lasts for only 3 seasons. After that Adele is the detective. Philippe Bas, who plays the male sidekick Rocher, is the one constant in all the seasons.

Well worth watching, which is why PBS has it in their catalog.

2015, Amazon Prime, Bromance, Comic Moments, French, Gay theme, German, Homophobia, Parents accepting gay child

Where are you going, Habibi ? (2015)

From Amazon Prime:

Ibrahim falls in love with Alexander, a handsome German show-wrestler that turns out to be a criminal. An impossible friendship develops that surpasses both of them. Passion and crime in a charming buddy-movie and bromance from Berlin.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 15 minute film made in Germany.  Watching is free provided you can stand the intermittent commercials ( so-called “freevee”). In German and French with subtitles.

Ibrahim is gay and Alexander is a straight homophobe. Despite Alexander’s best efforts at avoiding Ibrahim, over and over Ibrahim saves Alexander from one tight spot after another.  As far as I can tell, their final relationship is a non-sexual close friendship which turns Alexander into an honest businessman.

Enough comedy and warmth to make the film worth watching.

2021, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Acceptable for teenagers, Addiction, Amputee, Angola, Attempted Murder, Based on true facts, Binge worthy, Bloody scenes, Bureaucracy, CIA, Cold War, Communists, Complicated, Conspiracy, Corrupt Military, Corrupt Politicians, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Cover-up, Cruelty, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Ethical struggles, Extramarital Affair, FADO songs, False Accusations, False Imprisonment, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Frame someone for a crime, Government cover-up, Historical Fiction, Hostage Taking, International thriler, Invincible villain, Jealousy, Lesbian Theme, Local color, Longsuffering wife, Love Story, Male Chauvinism, Marital Infidelity, Military, Missing Person, Monstrous Father, Mother-son relations, Murder, Murder by poison, Mysterious Disappearance, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Pianist, Plot twists, Police Corruption, Police cover-up, Political Intrigue, Portuguese, Portuguese History, Portuguese-Angola War, Promiscuity, Puzzling Ending, Radio Free Europe, Rape, Revenge, Russian Anti-USA Scheme, Russian Spy, Ruthless Killer, Sex Scenes, Sexual promiscuity, Spousal Abuse, Suicide, Surprise Ending, Suspense, Tennis, Thriller, Torture, Traitors, Trust Nobody, Unhappy Marriage, Unwanted Pregnancy, Violent, War, Wife Beating, Womanizing, Wrongful Arrest

Glória (2021)

From IMDB:

In the 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, in the small village of Glória do Ribatejo, João Vidal will take on several high-risk espionage missions that could change the course of Portuguese and world history.

From Netflix you can stream the 10 episodes of this Portuguese spy thriller.  Each episode lasts about 45 minutes. In Portuguese and English with subtitles.

RARET is short for portuguese RAdio de RETransmissão (Retransmission Radio).  Think of RARET as Radio Free Europe.  An article in the New York Times suggested this film to me. That article, which is worth reading, begins as follows:

————————————————————————-

Anyone who didn’t live through the Cold War might find the Portuguese Netflix spy thriller series “Glória” improbable.

Deep in the Portuguese countryside, in the tiny village of Glória, a complex radio transmission operation run by Portuguese and American engineers springs up in the 1950s, a branch of a Munich-based news organization called Radio Free Europe.

It broadcasts news and anti-communist messages in languages of various Soviet republics, but, in the show and in real life, that’s only part of its early mission: It’s also a C.I.A. front.

Until 1971, Radio Free Europe was a covert U.S. intelligence operation seeking to penetrate the Iron Curtain and foment anti-communist dissent in what was then Czechoslovakia, in Poland and elsewhere.

João (Portuguese for John) is a Russian spy seeking to undermine the activities of RARET.  Through 10 episodes we watch his masterful deceits while many around him get hurt as a result. To really appreciate the story you might brush up on some Portuguese history such as its imperialism (especially in Angola), the dictator Salazar, and PIDE (the Portuguese secret police).

Because the very ending comes as a complete and puzzling surprise, after finishing the series you can read an explanation.

Do not expect much happiness. But – DO NOT MISS!

2014, Action sequences, Argentinian Detectives, Bisexual theme, Bureaucracy, Cocaine, Corrupt policemen, Corrupt Politicians, Corruption, Cover-up, Detective, Drama, Drug Dealers, Erotic Tension, Everybody lies, Extramarital Affair, Father-son relations, Flirting, Frame someone for a crime, Gay theme, Horses, Insomnia, Kanopy streaming, Murder, Mystery Film, Personal Betrayal, Plot Twist, Police Corruption, Police Culture, Police Investigation, Psychological Drama, Sociopath, Spanish, Surprise Ending, Violent

Death in Buenos Aires (2014)

From Kanopy:

The biggest hit of the year in its native Argentina, DEATH IN BUENOS AIRES is a gripping police thriller about corruption, paranoia, and the secret gay lives of the wealthy elite of Buenos Aires during the politically tumultuous 1980s. At the scene of a murder of one of the city’s high society figures, veteran police inspector Chavez (Academy Award nominee (A Better Life, 2011) Demian Bichir, runs into Gomez (Chino Darin), a.k.a. “El Ganso” (The Goose), a handsome young rookie cop with dreams of advancement. When Chavez uncovers that the murder may be linked to a small-time hustler, and the gay nightclub La Manila, the detective sends the rookie undercover to pose as a gay newcomer on the prowl for an older benefactor. As they come close to luring out the killer, the erotic charge of their new surroundings triggers changes in both Chavez and Gomez. Director Natalia Meta’s deeply involving debut film delivers rich, multi-faceted characters that match the complexity of its riveting story.

From Kanopy you can stream this 1 hour 32 minute Spanish language thriller. Subtitles in English.

Murder, corruption, gay characters, sociopathic personality, personal betrayal, drug dealing, marital infidelity : you name it, it’s in the plot.  In addition the film is also a mystery which hopefully by the end you will solve.

Damián Bechir who plays the detective  Chavez also stars as the father in the Showtime series “Let The Right One In.”

Confusing, but certainly not dull with a surprise ending.

 

2021, Binge worthy, Brother-Brother relations, Brother-Sister relations, Cocaine, DO NOT MISS, Everybody lies, Explicit sex, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Farm Life, Gay theme, Homophobia, Marital Infidelity, Melodrama, Milk Farming, Mother-son relations, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Personal Betrayal, Rape Victim, Sex Scenes, Soap Opera, Suicide, Swiss German, Swiss Soap Opera

New Heights [Neumatt] (2021)

From IMDB:

Michi is a successful consultant in Zurich. But a phone call changes everything. His father took his own life. Together with his mother and two siblings, Michi must now decide between his own career or saving the family farm.

From Netflix you can stream the 8 episodes of season 1 of this award-winning Swiss soap opera centering around milk farming in Switzerland. Each episode lasts about 48 minutes. “Neumatt” is the Swiss title for this series which is notable for the fact that the original language is Swiss German.  Season 2 is supposed to be released in spring 2023.

According to Wikipedia :  “Netflix will offer the series in 30 languages and in 190 countries worldwide.” Now is your change to hear Swiss German. Choose from a slew of languages for subtitles.

“Neumatt” is the name of the family milk farm of the Wyss family.  Farming is an arduous, difficult life for which not everyone is suited.  In one of the companies for which I worked there was a fellow employee who grew up on a North Dakota farm. He loathed the life and fled. Similarly in the Wyss family the son Michi and daughter Sarah also fled to other careers while the mother Trudi, son Lorenz (LoLo), grandmother, and father remain on the struggling, almost bankrupt farm.  Is it any wonder the father commits suicide?

Julian Koechlin (Michi) and Marlise Fischer (Trudi) received the Prix Swissperform as “Best Leading Actor” as “Best Supporting Actress” in the first season of Neumatt as part of the 57th Solothurn Film Festival.

Make no mistake, this series is a SOAP OPERA.  But I could not stop watching, no matter how harrowing the lives of the characters became.  And if season two ever comes along, you can be sure I will be there rooting for Michi and Lorenzo.

If you are willing to endure a series that sometimes seems to go on forever, then

DO NOT MISS!

2022, Acceptable for teenagers, Bullying, Detective, Drama, Dysfunctional Lives, Extramarital Affair, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Fatherless child, Flirting, French, French Detectives, French Mystery, Longsuffering wife, MHz Choice, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Occasionaly violent, Revenge, Small Town, Suspense

A Long Lost Silence (2022)

From IMDB:

During the summer, Jules, 10 years old, is welcomed by a young couple in the countryside, because his mother had an accident. How to feel at home in a village where its inhabitants are shaken by deep antagonisms?

From MHz Choice:

French thriller about a 10-year-old boy encountering secrets among the people who’ve taken him in for the summer.

From MHz Choice you can stream this 3 episode French mystery thriller. Each episode lasts no more than 55 minutes.  The French title is “Les Hautes Herbes”. English subtitles are provided.

Jules, the 10 year old center of attention, hardly ever speaks. But his glances and stares speak volumes as he watches the adults around him misbehave in various ways.  When episode 3 reveals the killer, things get very tense.

Lots of contention between characters and  emotional scenes make this very French film watchable.