The Top 10 Foreign Films and Series Being Watched By Americans on Netflix

rankings, United States, Wall Street Journal 2 Minutes

Looking to add some international flare to your TV series and movie watching?

Netflix has released its list of the top 10 films and series being watched by Americans on Netflix.

Ellen Gamerman at the Wall Street Journal has shared that list, along with a brief synopsis of each. I feel it is my public duty to not only watch these myself, but to share the list with you.

Top 10 Movies

1. “The Platform” (Spain): In this dystopian study of privilege, prisoners eat food off a platform that grows increasingly bare as it lowers to the inmates beneath them.

2. “Lost Bullet” (France): An ex-con tries to prove his innocence in the type of midsize action movie that used to fill theaters before tentpole pictures took over.

3. “Rogue City” (France): The police saga features bloody shootouts and bad cops in an organized crime unit. In France, where the movie is set, its title is “Bronx.”

4. “#Alive” (South Korea): A gamer quarantines himself and tries not to get killed by zombies in Seoul after a highly contagious infection makes him the lone survivor.

5. “Ip Man 4: The Finale” (Hong Kong): The martial arts series is based loosely around the story of a Wing Chun master who became Bruce Lee’s teacher.

6. “Kidnapping Stella” (Germany): The daughter of a wealthy businessman fights her captors, one of whom is an ex-boyfriend who finds out she is pregnant.

7. “Cuties” (France): A drama about an 11-year-old Senegalese immigrant in Paris who joins a girls’ dance crew. The film sparked controversy over its treatment of their sexuality.

8. “The Crew” (France): Gunfire, sex and drugs fill this action movie about skilled Parisian robbers who make a rare misstep after stealing blank passports.

9. “The Paramedic” (Spain): A man confined to a wheelchair after an ambulance accident turns on his former girlfriend, becoming vengeful and psychotic.

10. “Freaks: You’re One of Us” (Germany): A woman realizes she has superpowers and joins with others like her to investigate a government conspiracy.

Top 10 TV series

1. “Barbarians” (Germany): The historical drama involves a conflicted Roman officer and the battle between Germanic warriors and the advancing Roman Empire.

2. “The Rain” (Denmark): A girl and her brother emerge after years in a bunker and try to survive after a deadly virus carried by rain wipes out most of Scandinavia.

3. “Dark” (Germany): Two children disappear from a small German town and four families embark on a search for answers in this time-traveling sci-fi drama.

4. “Money Heist” (Spain): Robbers take hostages inside Spain’s royal mint as a criminal mastermind manipulates the police to carry out his plan.

5. “Dark Desire” (Mexico): In the telenovela-style thriller, a woman has an affair with a stranger in a nightclub and the fallout includes a dead body in a bathtub.

6. “Ragnarok” (Norway): Inspired by the legend of Thor, the series follows a modern superhero in the form of a teenage boy trying to save the environment.

7. “Always a Witch” (Colombia): A young 17th-century witch travels to the future to save the man she loves, but must first adjust to present-day Cartagena.

8. “To the Lake” (Russia): The end of civilization looms as a ragtag group of strangers bands together to stay alive after a mysterious virus ravages Moscow.

9. “The Seven Deadly Sins: Imperial Wrath of the Gods” (Japan): This anime show is the third season in an adaptation of a manga series about a deposed princess.

10. “The Protector” (Turkey): A shopkeeper discovers his ties to a secret ancient order and must defend Istanbul from an immortal threat in this fantasy series.

Movies 2,3, and 8 look appealing to me, as do TV series 2,4, and 8.

Each title is a link to its trailer.

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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44 thoughts on “The Top 10 Foreign Films and Series Being Watched By Americans on Netflix”

  2. As usual, I’m about 15-20 years behind most of the rest of the world. I just started watching Netflix the last year. In true Springer form, I decided that I should start getting caught up on all of these od TV series that I’ve heard everyone talking about for years. I’ve gone through Madam President, West Wing, and now I just started House of Cards. Binge-watching for me is two episodes in one day.

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  3. I have watched The Platform, #alive, The Rain, and am familiar with the Seven Deadly Sins anime. It’s interesting to see these titles being watched by Americans. Thanks for sharing this!

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  5. most seem very dark, i’m looking for a little light fun – a hallmark weekend. perhaps? )

    just finished watched ‘queen’s gambit’ – a limited series, not light but extremely well done.

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  6. One of the saving graces for Netflix, beyond their original programming, is the access to these foreign films and series. I have watched all the Ip Man series of films and enjoyed most. I guess it is no surprise that many of these offerings have an underlying theme around a virus and pandemic. Maybe art really does reflect life. You have plenty to keep you entertained over the holidays, my friend. Just remember, everything in moderation. Great post, Jim! I am sure many will now find their way to these theatrical gems.

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  7. Thanks for the recommendations, but as I don’t have Netflix I’m afraid I’m going to have to pass. I enjoy quite a few movies and tv series in other languages, but I’ve not heard of any of these!

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      1. That’s one more than I’d heard of! Loads of tv series I could recommend, if I could remember their names. Off the top of my head the Montalbano series is great: set in Sicily, gentle crime with a lot of humour. Highly recommended. Also several French series: Braquo comes to mind, and Spiral is superb – we’ve had 7 series here and they’ve just shown the 8th in France. The Belgian made Salamander is good. Loads of Scandi noir too: you can do a lot worse than the original series of The Killing (3 of them) and The Bridge (4), both of which are in my view far superior to the American remakes.

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      3. I tend to watch a lot of police and crime series! Hopefully you can find it Montalbano. The series are only a few episodes each, as they make them into TV movies, up to two hours long.

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  8. Thanks for this! I haven’t heard of any of them. We watched a few Spanish movies recently and really enjoyed them, so I might give those a try first. Actually, I reread the list and we did watch the Hong Kong movie. The hostages made us since they are obsessed with martial arts movies.

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  9. The only one of those I’ve seen is Cuties, and only because someone on TV warned people not to watch it. That appealed to my rebellious streak. I think it was an okay movie, but not memorable or great. In my view it wasn’t sexploitation. But I guess there are others who disagree.

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  12. We watch shows and movies after they been out awhile! LOL! This is why we are still watching Gray’s Anatomy and The Office.
    Haven’t seen any of these and the only one that I have heard about so much is Cuties which I had no interest in.

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      1. Yes! Definitely the reason for their success.
        We have 2 seasons to go yet before Netflix takes it off the end of the month! Obviously Netflix didn’t ask us what shows they shoud take off.

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