The Golden Globes received a total of 58 Foreign Language film submissions from 48 countries. 2014 was an exceptionally strong year for foreign and independent film. These films tell universal stories, made even more vibrant and poignant because they are so unique to the cultures they originate from, defying borders, language and cultural divides. Here are the 5 Nominees with reviews and their movie trailers. They are all an absolute must see and all equally deserve to win the award for Best Foreign Film. They were all featured at TIFF The Toronto International Film Festival. The countries represented are Iran, France, Italy, Japan and Denmark . Based on current awards profiles, Italy’s The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza), may be the frontrunner although each one of these films brings seasoned filmmaking expertise to the competition that is unrivalled and we are the richer for this.

Iran
The Past: Asghar Farhadi
Iran director and co-writer with Massoumeh Lahidji Award winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, delivers another sensitive expose of failed relationships. Farhadi’s ‘A Separation’, winner of the Golden Globe, Spirit Award and Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, focused on marital strife, the separation and subsequent divorce between a husband and wife. “Farhadi’s camera lays bare in a matter of fact style the nuances of what he calls these “smaller problems”, ones we often fail to see until they irreparably disrupt our lives.” In ‘The Past’, Farhadi shifts his focus along the timeline of a failed marriage, examining the complications of couple’s relationship five years after their separation. The film begins 5 years after Marie (Bérénice Bejo) and Ahmad’s (Ali Mosaffa) separation, at a point where they must come together to finalize their divorce so that one of them can remarry. Read full review of The Past here.

See more on The Separation here.

France
Blue Is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d’Adéle, Chapitres 1 et 2) Abdellatif Kechiche
Winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, Blue is the Warmest Colour is a story of young love, self-discovery, and passion. Based on the French graphic novel Le Bleu Est Une Couleur Chaude by Julie Maroh, the film is an uncompromising and sincere look inside one young woman’s first relationship with another woman. Raw emotion, explicit sex scenes, and high caliber acting have catapulted this film into international spotlight winning Seydoux and Exarchopoulos both Best Actress awards at Cannes.

Read full review of Blue is the Warmest Colour here.