I just watched a beautiful Japanese film called "Twilight Samurai" which is NOT your usual samurai film, at all. It was really beautiful about a "petty" class samurai a widower who raises his two daughters alone, with a senile mother...a reluctant samurai who pushes back when society tries to make him do other than enjoy raising his daughters. It was REALLY good.

Another really excellent foreign language one, "The Widow of St. Pierre:"
Ariel Neel Auguste (Emir Kusturica) awaits execution for murder in 1849 on the French fishing island of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. Under the watchful eye of the captain of the island guard (Daniel Auteuil), who is waiting for a guillotine to arrive from the mainland, the convict becomes the pet project of the captain's wife (Juliette Binoche). As she guides him through rehabilitation, she tolerates criticism from the town's leadership.

There are lots of good suggestions in this THREAD.