From German Expressionism in the 1920’s to New German Cinema in the 1970’s and to great modern filmmakers like Tom Tykwer and Fatih Akin: Germany has an overwhelming amount of great films movies to offer. We picked our recent favorites.
- New German movies in 2018
- Best German movies of 2017
- 2010-2018: Must-watch German movies on Netflix or DVD
New German movies in 2018
Top movies up for release in 2018Caravan
DIRECTOR: Sebastian Schipper CAST: Fionn Whitehead Moritz Bleibtreu Claudia Trujillo
After the absolute stunner 'Victoria' (2015), German director Sebastian Schipper is back in 2018 with 'Caravan'. The movie deals with the contemporary European immigrant crisis in a playful way. The story evolves around a British lad who, after being bored for a long time, flees his parents Moroccan resorts and teams up with a Congolese refugee who's looking for a better life in Europe. Together they travel the continent. Read more
RATING: 90/100
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DIRECTOR: Christian Petzold CAST: Franz Rogowski Paula Beer Godehard Giese
The new movie by Christian Petzold, the acclaimed director behind modern classics like 'Phoenix' (2014) and 'Barabara' (2012). 'Transit' evolves around a young man who flees from nazi-Germany to France, using the identity of a deceased author. Read more
RATING: 86/100 Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates
Netflix 
Amazon Best German movies of 2017
Top rated 2017 German moviesAus dem Nichts
DIRECTOR: Fatih Akin CAST: Diane Kruger Denis Moschitto Numan Acar
Turkish-German director Fatih Akin ('Auf der Anderen Seite', 'Gegen die Wand') returns with a heartbreaking film about a young German mother who loses both her (Muslim) husband and son after a terrorist attack. When it seems like the terrorists are getting away with it, she decides to take matters in her own hands. Read more
RATING: 79/100
RELEASE DATE: January 23rd, 2017
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Der Junge Karl Marx
DIRECTOR: Raoul Peck CAST: August Diehl Stefan Konarske Vicky Krieps
A biographical film about the friendship between young Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the 'founders' of what came to be known as communism. 'Der Junge Karl Marx' is a well-crafted, yet somewhat predictable period drama about the formative years of two of Europe's most influential thinkers. Read more
RATING: 74/100
RELEASE DATE: March 2nd, 2017
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Axolotl Overkill
DIRECTOR: Helene Hegemann CAST: Jasna Fritzi Bauer Arly Jover Laura Tonke
A gripping coming of age film about Mifti, a sixteen year old girl from Berlin struggling with the death of her mother. When she falls for a older woman who happens to be a white-collar criminal, her life is completely turned upside down. Read more
RATING: 85/100
RELEASE DATE: June 29th, 2017
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Best German movies on Netflix or DVD in 2018
2010's best rated German movies out on DVD, Bluray or streaming on VOD (Netflix, Amazon).Die Andere Heimat: Chronik einer Sehnsucht
DIRECTOR: Edgar Reitz CAST: Jan Dieter Schneider Antonia Bill Maximilian Scheidt
A prequel to Reitz’ much acclaimed and utterly ambitious Heimat trilogy, which covers the lives of a few generations of the Simon family, while showing Germany’s tumultuous modern history along their paths. Chronik einer Sehnsucht takes place in 1842, at a time when a lot of Germans from the rural parts of the country emigrated and tried their luck in the America’s. The film’s main protagonist, Jakob Simon, dreams of leaving too. A beautiful and deeply melancholy film about having dreams and not being able to make those come true as people are often too deeply rooted in what they call their heimat. The film takes its time (nearly four hours) and often challenges the viewer, as it is not without flaws, but is extremely rewarding in the end. A stunning and highly authentic look into the lives of nineteenth-century common German villagers. Read more
RATING: 80/100
RELEASE DATE: September 11th, 2015
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Toni Erdmann
DIRECTOR: Maren Ade CAST: Sandra Hüller Peter Simonischek Michael Wittenborn
After the modest success of her low key relationship drama 'Alle Anderen', German director Maren Ade returns with one of the most unusual (and brilliant) films we've seen in the last couple of years. Mixing bizarre comedy with gripping drama, 'Toni Erdmann' tells the story of a rebellious old hippie trying to reconnect with his ambitious daughter. As he unexpectedly shows up during a business trip of hers, a very weird series of events is set into motion. Read more
RATING: 77/100
RELEASE DATE: July 14th, 2016
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DIRECTOR: Anne Zohra Berrached CAST: Julia Jentsch Bjarne Mädel Johanna Gastdorf
A powerful and unsentimental German drama about a young, happy couple expecting a child. After a few months of pregnancy, the soon-to-be parents discover that their child will be severely disabled, both mentally and psychically. They are now faced with a horrible dilemma. Read more
RATING: 75/100
RELEASE DATE: September 22nd, 2016
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Kreuzweg
DIRECTOR: Dietrich Brüggemann CAST: Lea van Acken Franziska Weisz Florian Stetter
Stations of the Cross tells the story of the radically devote Catholic fourteen year old girl Maria who wants to become a saint. Through fourteen separate chapters (parallel to the fourteen stations Jesus had to pass on his way to Golgotha),we’re witnessing her journey. In line with the austerity of the plot ( in so far there is one), director Brüggeman shot the entire film with a stationary camera. This doesn’t make Stations of the Cross an easy watch per se, but it encourages the audience to contemplate on the film’s thought evoking theme. Read more
RATING: 75/100
RELEASE DATE: July 10th, 2015
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Oh Boy
DIRECTOR: Jan Ole Gerster CAST: Tom Schilling Katharina Schüttler Justus von Dohnányi
Jan Ole Gerster’s debut feature film won about every award there is to win in Germany last year. Whether it received a little bit too much praise or not is debatable, but yet it’s hard to deny that Oh Boy is refreshing debut. In my local cinema it was released in the same week as Noah Baumbach’s excellent Frances Ha. And indeed these two films would make a nice double bill. Both films, shot in black and white and clearly paying homage to Woody Allen’s Manhattan, deal with restless, self-centered twentysomethings who seem to drown in modern day’s first world problems. Read more
RATING: 74/100
RELEASE DATE: June 13th, 2014
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Zwei Leben
DIRECTOR: Georg Maas, Judith Kaufmann CAST: Juliane Köhler Liv Ullmann Sven Nordin
Katrine, in her fifties and happily married, lives in Norway after she managed to escape the GDR’s iron grip in the late sixties. When the Berlin Wall falls in ’89 however, information about her past is about to be released and it becomes clear some things are not quite what they seem. Films like these can be pretty hard to judge on its actual cinematic qualities, since the actual historical happenings are so interesting the film will grasp you attention anyway. Let’s put it this way: the choice to select this film as the German entry for the Best Foreign Film at the Oscars last February was a pretty safe one. Read more
RATING: 71/100
RELEASE DATE: June 5th, 2013
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Lore
DIRECTOR: Cate Shortland CAST: Saskia Rosendahl Kai-Peter Malina Nele Trebs
You don’t see that many World War two films from a German’s point of few, which makes this German youth film all the more interesting. The story takes off when the war is over. Lore, fourteen year old, is the daughter of an established Nazi officer who sees herself and her infant siblings forced to flee as her parents become outlaws all of a sudden. As she travels the country by foot, she finds out what exactly was going on the last five years, which makes her question her firm beliefs in the Nazi ideology. An honest and nuanced film with some stunning photography as well. Read more
RATING: 71/100
RELEASE DATE: October 5th, 2012
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates The Strange Little Cat
DIRECTOR: Ramon Zürcher CAST: Leon Alan Beiersdorf Matthias Dittmer Lea Draeger
The Strange Little Cat is what you call a slow burner. It screened at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2013, but it wasn’t until a couple of months ago before the blogosphere started to pick it up. In this remarkable little gem in the veins of Jacques Tati’s observational humorist films, we follow a middle class German family from dusk till dawn. Nothing much happens and the camera barely leaves the apartment but first time director Zürcher succeeds in showing the mundane in such a way that it becomes absurd. Read more
RATING: 67/100
RELEASE DATE: May 1st, 2013
Netflix | Amazon | All Release dates Feuchtgebiete
DIRECTOR: David Wnendt CAST: Carla Juri Christoph Letkowski Marlen Kruse
The story highlights the adventures of a young daughter of a divorced couple, who has a very eccentric view of sexuality and an unusual attitude towards hygiene. Read more
RATING: 58/100
RELEASE DATE: January 18th, 2014
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