Loved ‘Brick' on Netflix? Here's how to find global thrillers like it

San Francisco Chronicle​

11-07-2025

There's an effective German thriller streaming on Netflix called 'Brick,' about a couple that wakes up one morning to find that their windows and doors have been replaced by brick. They have no running water, no access to food, and their only possible means of escape is to team up with their neighbors in their apartment building, who are similarly trapped.
The movie is fascinating enough in its own right, but it gets even better once you realize its source of inspiration: the worldwide lockdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It's one of the first movies to deal poetically and imaginatively with the sense of panic that was everywhere in those days.
But 'Brick' is just one of many new international films that are easily streamable that you probably don't know about. That's OK — to a large extent, neither do I.
There's an understandable tendency to look back on the 1950s, '60s and '70s as the good old days for foreign cinema, when movies by directors such as François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luis Bunuel, Akira Kurosawa, Sergei Bondarchuk and Rainer Werner Fassbinder were not only seen but also highly influential.
Yet for the average viewer, were the old days really better?
Yes, those films got released, but only in major cities. They were influential only within a small circle. And once films played for a few weeks or a month, they disappeared, only to show up — occasionally — at repertory houses.
Basically, we've traded in one set of problems for a new set of problems. But I like our problems better. Today, there are thousands of films from around the globe available on streaming services, such as Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV+. Indeed, we are in a golden age of accessibility, and our only problem now is one of curation, which is barely a problem at all. With just a little effort, we can do our own curating.
This is how I do it (feel free to try this at home): Let's say I want to find out what's going on in Spanish cinema. I get on the internet and look up the Goya Awards, Spain's equivalent of the Oscars. I will write down which films won the award for either best actor, best actress or best picture. Then I look up the titles on justwatch.com, to see if any of the streaming services have them. They usually do.
It was in this way, I discovered ' The Fury of the Patient Man ' (2016), an amazing Spanish thriller that's only about 90 minutes long and is absolutely riveting. (It's now on Apple TV+.)
I follow the same process with regard to the Cesar Awards in France, the Donatello Awards in Italy, etc.
Another way to find movies worth watching is to follow a performer you might like. For example, I got interested in the French actress Virginie Efira after reviewing her in ' Benedetta ' (2021) and ' Sibyl ' (2019). So I went on justwatch.com and discovered more than a dozen of her films available for streaming, including 'Revoir Paris.' Available on Prime Video, among other streamers, it's a really good movie about a woman recovering from the terror of a mass shooting.
I made the same search for Sophie Marceau and found 'Anthony Zimmer' (2005), a brilliant thriller (on Apple TV+) that became the awful 2010 American remake, ' The Tourist.'
Or maybe there's a director you find interesting. Catherine Corsini has made a number of films I've liked (1999's ' The New Eve,' 2009's ' Leaving '), so I watched 'Summertime' (2015), which I've since shown to classes of students, who've loved it.
I did the same with Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, the maker of not only "Benedetta" but 'Elle' (2016), and got to see a terrific film called 'Tricked' (2012). It never gets played in theaters because it's only 55-minutes long, but it's available to stream on Apple TV+ and other platforms.
So, this is my instruction to you: Follow the trail of what you already like, and it will lead you to more things you'll like.
There are insights to be gained from watching movies from outside one's own culture that you just can't get from domestic products. Great movies are rare, in every country and in every language.
And you can start tonight.