For many families, the TV is the hearth we gather around after holiday meals. But if the onslaught of distinctly American Hallmark, Lifetime, and Netflix movies inspire eye rolls in your guests, impress them with some farther flung holiday films they likely have not seen.
From zombie Santas to the famous Christmas Day truce of World War I, here are some holiday movies to watch from around the world that are sure to bring new flavors to those festive year-end gatherings.
Tokyo Godfathers
Christmas in Japan looks a bit different than it does in the U.S.—it’s considered a secular holiday where couples celebrate their romance and KFC is one of the go-to dinners. Then there’s this version of a Japanese Christmas movie, the captivating animated film Tokyo Godfathers, from acclaimed anime director Satoshi Kon. Set on Christmas Eve, it centers around family, and more importantly, a chosen family. Three homeless folks—a middle-aged alcoholic, a transgender woman, and a runaway teenager named Miyuki–are digging through a dumpster in search of a holiday meal when they are surprised to come across a newborn baby. The trio spends the rest of the night combing the backstreets of Tokyo for clues to her identity. It’s an uplifting tale that’s in the spirit of many holiday films, but with a heartwarming story that is unlike any you’ve seen before.
Watch it on: Apple TV and Hoopla
Khabi Khushi Kabhie Gham
The major holiday in India isn’t Christmas, it’s Diwali. Known as the five-day Festival of Lights, Diwali is a celebration of new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil, and its best captured in the 2001 Hindi-language classic Khabi Khushi Kabhie Gham. K3G (as it’s known among Indian cinema fans) follows a family that squabbles after a wealthy father disowns his adopted eldest son for marrying a woman of lower status.. The entire saga starts at an extravagant Diwali party with Bollywood-style singing and dancing, and the melodrama unfolds over the holiday. Big-name Bollywood stars and now-iconic songs have helped to contribute to its lasting popularity in India. If you’re looking to expand horizons with a new version of a family music drama (PG-14 friendly), pull up K3G.
Watch it on: Netflix and Prime Video
Joyeux Noel
In case you don’t know the true story that serves as the basis for this film, on Christmas Day in 1914, during the height of World War I, French, British, and German soldiers laid down their arms and crossed trenches to exchange seasonal gifts and food with each other. This spontaneous celebration, known as the Christmas truce, is the premise of the French war drama Joyeux Noel (which translates to “Happy Christmas”). The film itself includes a number of fictionalized characters (who were most likely based on real people) as the soldiers from various infantries leave behind their nationalistic forces and choose to celebrate peace. Despite having a dark ending (in the spirit of its anti-war message), Joyeux Noel is uplifting and serves as a reminder that even in times of bloodshed, we can still be there for one another.
Watch it on: Apple TV
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
In the tradition of so-bad-they’re-good Christmas horror movies, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale weaves the scares with the dark comedy to offer an antidote to all of the Elf-on-repeat holiday viewing traditions. This Finnish flick from 2010 begins with a team of archaeologists in Lapland trying to dig up Joulupukki, a pagan figure considered an early form of our modern Santa Claus (the name literally means “Yule goat”). When one boy unintentionally traps a strange, naked old man and the village children start to go missing, it’s pretty clear they’ve unleashed an ancient force somehow connected to the legend of Santa, but with a much darker purpose. What follows is wild mix of zombie elves, zombie reindeer, and a very unexpected take on the classic talhue of Kris Kringle.
Watch it on: Hulu, Tubi
2046
An international venture between Hong Kong, France, Italy, China, and Germany (talk about the spirit of peace and goodwill), 2046 centers around the complexities of relationships, love, and time. The non-linear story follows sci-fi novelist Chow (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) through different periods of his life as he writes a fictional story about a train that takes passengers to a mysterious room — numbered 2046. In reality, Chow lives in room 2047, and has a series of affairs with the various women who occupy the room next door. As time goes on, he begins to blur reality with fiction. Much of the film unfolds during Christmas time, though the holiday is not central to the plot. Don’t expect a warm ending—this is not a film interested in sentimentality.
Watch it on: Prime Video ($3.59)
The Infidel
While not technically a holiday film, The Infidel tackles the clash of two different religions and the complexity of identity—topics that tend to turn up around the holidays. Set in London, it follows Mahmud, who is not exactly the most devout Muslim, but still loves his family. When his son wants to marry, the couple needs the approval of her very devout Muslim father, so Mahmud tries to become more devout for the sake of appearances. When he later cleans out his deceased mom’s house, Mahmud discovers that he was actually adopted…and that his birth parents were Jewish. As Mahmud decides to learn about Judaism, various mishaps ensue. The film is often hilarious, but it focuses on how religion can divide us and awakens us to the realization that with a bit more understanding, we can all learn to become friends. The success of The Infidel led to its adaptation into a London musical in 2014.
The Tower
If your family or friends start up the traditional argument about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, you can always change the subject by showing them the South Korean version, the 2012 action film The Tower. Although it might actually have more in common with The Towering Inferno, it does take place on Christmas Eve inside a luxury skyscraper, so it fits the holiday bill. The residents of Tower Sky are full of merriment at a fancy-pants Christmas party until two helicopters crash into the building. Then it’s up to a team of firefighters, plus a few brave hotel workers and guests, to save the day. The film doesn’t have as many iconic lines as Die Hard, but there are just as many explosions and a considerably higher body count. Don’t expect this film to go easy on its victims, Christmas or no.
Watch it on: Apple TV and Prime Video
And if you’re the sort who enjoys a good horror movie at Christmas (we know you’re out there), we also have some international picks from Halloween to tide you over.
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