Everybody Knows (Todos lo saben) (2018)

Everybody Knows is Asghar Farhadi's Spanish-language debut. What made him decide to make this movie in Spanish, I don't know, as it isn't really a uniquely Spanish movie. It's a kidnapping drama about secrets in a small town. As the title suggests, everybody knows, everybody but the audience. But even the audience can deduce the secret constantly hinted at. I think the real twist is that knowing the secret doesn't solve the mystery. It doesn't answer who the kidnapper is. It sort of makes that central mystery inconsequential. And that's why though we get an answer at the end, the movie abruptly comes to a fade to white close. It's not about the kidnapper, but the secret.

Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes) (2014)

This Argentine comedy is an anthology, composed of six short unrelated films of increasing length.  We don't see too many anthologies, a novel idea, but this works extraordinarily well. These stories go together because they all share a theme of vengeance. Each story is brilliant and entertaining in its own right.  Each one cynical, slightly deranged, but so funny, even in a foreign language. Because there are six short stories, the movie holds your attention constantly with something new. My favorite short is the first one entitled "Pasternak" in which the people on board a flight discover that they all share something in common. Each short benefits from good camerawork, solid acting, and unpredictable writing.  This movie rightfully earned a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at last year's Oscar ceremony, and to be quite honest I thought it was better than Ida, the eventual winner from Poland.  Admittedly, they are two entirely different films, but Wild Tales (an accurate title) achieves a refreshing level of creative comic storytelling.