Movies You Love That Most People Have Never Heard Of

[Jordan Catalano]

I was just watching MY LIFE WITHOUT ME and I don't know anyone else who's ever heard of it. I love this film though, as depressing as it is. But I was wondering what movies you guys like that you're sure most people have never heard of.

[Wynbish]

The Fall

Bright Star

[thetinymagic2]

The Laughing POliceman. Crime drama. Seedy San Francisco, graphic violence, great storytelling, and Matthau as you've never seen him before.

[Mister Matt]

A Tale of Two Sisters
Songs From the Second Floor
Too Many Crooks (the original from which Ruthless People was adapted)
Love Me If You Dare
Tesis
The Mouse and His Child (never made it to DVD)
La Comunidad
Swimming Pool

And thought it's considered a classic among cinephiles and historians, it's rare I meet anyone who has seen it:

The Exterminating Angel

I tried to watch Bright Star three times and fell asleep every time, so I gave up.

[strummergirl]

Hausu- Awesomely deranged, kitschy Japanese horror film

Chop Shop- Very gritty, realistic film about the Willets Point area through the eyes of a child

The Killer/Hard Boiled- Two of the greatest action films made in the last 25 years.

Wild Zero- Another kitschy, (albeit far less) deranged Japanese film. Like a mix of Return of the Living Dead and Rock N Roll High School.

This Is England- Skinhead culture clashing with what it ultimately becoming re-appropriated by White Supremacy while a whole nation deals with Thatcherism. The television series specials have mostly just dealt with the latter and it is great television as well, but watch the film first.

The Host- Great South Korean monster movie that balances post-9/11 allegory and 50s B-movie horror.

[CarlosAlberto]

The Grasshopper starring Jacqueline Bisset

[EricMontreal22]

I love a number of these films.

JC--My Life Without Me was a fairly big deal here (it won several Genies--the Canadian film Oscars), due to being a Canadian film (or a Canadian co-production anyway). It is pretty great, but I found it so depressing I've never re-watched it.

Strummer--I've still not seen The Host, but it is being remade for the US (...yaye...). But I LOVE Hausu, and it pops up as one of the Friday Night Cult Films on TCM regularly--I just recorded it actually a few weeks back. Killer pianos!

I admit I've not heard of half these films--but I'm a huge fan of Swimming Pool, which I thought was a minor arthouse hit. But I love all of Ozon's films--even if I think some of his earlier short films are still his best (OK that one about the baby, Ricky, or whatever was not so great, and his big budget English language period film Angel, with Charlotte Rampling and Michael Fassbender is a bit heavy handed, but Sitcom, 8 Women, Criminal Lovers, etc, are brilliant features. Plus he's my top gay director crush, for what it's worth).

I also love Tesis--Open Your Eyes is almost as good, and got more attention (maybe because it was remade a Vanilla Sky), and then the director went on to Hollywood and The Others, but it's still his scariest movie.

The Fall seems to be getting more attention now. Like everything Tarsem Singh directs the story didn't really work for me personally, but it has to be one of the most gorgeous movies ever.

My choice would be a nostalgic favorite that I became obsessed with as a kid when we watched it in grade 2 (I went to a french school), Jacques Demy's Peau D'Ane/Donkey Skin. The third in his trilogy of musicals done with Michel Legrand music and starring Catherine Deneuve, it's kinda a slightly campy homage to Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast--he even cast as the king that film's star, and Cocteau's boyfriend, Jean Marais. I think one reason it never became a hit in the US unlike the previous Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Young Girls of Rochefort is due to how odd, and very French it is in tone, and that people who didn't grow up with the fairy tale (involving father/daughter incest, and a donkey that s*its gold), just find the whole thing, well, odd. But it has a gorgeous score, amazing production designs, great cast (Delphine Seyrig as the bitchy, glamorous fairy godmother, and Rochefort's rather dreamy Jacques Perrin as the Prince), and is one of those movies that I think really works well, on different levels, for adults as well as kids. (And it's on DVD here--though it took a long time...)

[EricMontreal22]

Two brilliant songs from it :P


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9dQysBGyPw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw7sCNtYOd0

[Mister Matt]

I really enjoyed The Host! Hausu is one of the silliest films I've ever seen. The "Kung Fu" moments were a riot.

Wasn't sure whether to list Swimming Pool, but shortly after its original release, it seemed to disappear into obscurity. Ozon is DREAMY, but I find his films hit-or-miss. Loved Swimming Pool and 8 Women, but hated Criminal Lovers and was bored by Water Drops on Burning Rocks.

Oh, and did anyone else see Angel-A by Besson? I found it so unconventionally charming.

[EricMontreal22]

Thanks--I actually wanted to see Angel-A after reading about it, but completely forgot. Will check it out.

Ozon can be a bit hit or miss--like I mentioned I found Ricky intollerable. I really liked Criminal Lovers but I think it divides even his strongest fans--Water Drops was a bit boring... I may have thought Swimming Pool made more of an impression than it did, because I remember my dad, who pays little attention to movies, was very excited to see it (maybe it was the female nudity...) Like I said, I think many of his greatest pieces are his short films: See the Sea, La Petite Mort (which is amazing), Victor, etc. I think many of them are available to see online for free.

[Playbilly]

Too many to name! Depends on how old you are, and how much you know about older films as to whether "you've never heard of" them.

Start with

Le Chiene, Despair, The Loved One, The Fourth Man, The Best Man (French film from 80s)

[EricMontreal22]

The Fourth Man--Verhoeven';s Masterpiece! *love* (Which he oddly claims was somewhat remade by him as Basic Instinct...)

[Wynbish]

Not saying I love it, because I do not, but has anyone seen Carnival of Souls? The original?

[EricMontreal22]

As a teenager it was shown late around Halloween on PBS a couple of times--so I saw it at least once (I believe for some reason it's in the public domain sois a popular choice for cheap tv)

[best12bars]

I live in the town where it was filmed, Wynbish. The director/star (Herk Harvey) was my dad's best friend.

But no, I've never heard of it.

I think it's silly to think that "nobody" has heard of a film but you, unless you made it yourself and didn't ever release it.

An obscure one I've loved and thought was pretty insane since I was a kid is "Jack Frost," later retitled "Father Frost," a Russian fairy tale musical (the songs are unbelievable) with bizarre characters and an even crazier plot. The witch, in particular (played by a man) is a hoot! They used to show it once a year as a "movie matinee" on the weekend when I was a kid.




Father Frost

[Jordan Catalano]

Besty, I didn't mean that NOBODY would have heard of, just movies you've never heard anyone you know talk about or known about. Obscure ones, you know what I mean. lol

And there are some great suggestions on here. I've seen quite a few but I'll have a busy month catching up on some of these others!

Eric - I'm really happy that you like MY LIFE WITHOUT ME. I really don't know anyone who's ever seen it or heard of it. The last 3 minutes is so devastating but I watch it all the time. It's so poetic and in a way, sums up life and the acceptance of death. Sarah Polley should be in everything.

[best12bars]

One movie I loved from my childhood that doesn't seem to show up anymore is "Run Wild, Run Free." Great cast and a haunting plot and setting.


Run Wild, Run Free

[Wynbish]

best, could you look at the carousel the same way again? Herk was my favorite part of it, the right amount of mysterious and sinister.

[best12bars]

And he was the nicest, funniest, warmest guy in real life. Like a kindly uncle with a laid-back outlook on life.

I only grew to appreciate his performance in it (and the movie itself) years later. As a young kid, all I could think about when I saw it was this nice guy trying to be scary.

[best12bars]

By the way, it's not as obscure as you might think. It's considered a "cult classic" as one of the precursors to the modern horror film, and it has received a 2-disc special edition DVD release (taken from the original negatives) by Criterion.

Many people have claimed to be influenced by it, most notably George Romero for Night of the Living Dead and M. Night Shyamalan for The Sixth Sense.

And yes, the movie fell into public domain very early (due to a bad contract loophole), so it shows up on TV a lot and has had many home video releases.

[Wynbish]

I had never heard of it until I read an article about it last year. So, I saw it for a late night Halloween movie. Classic black and white scary movies are more frightening to me. The twist was not so much of a surprise (I mean, she was underwater for three hours? really?), but it was definitely creepy at many moments.

A month later, I visited family in Santa Monica and was unnerved when I realized that the Santa Monica pier had a carousel, just like how the carousel in the movie was near the beach.

There are several full-length videos of it on that video site.

[GavestonPS]

THE STUNT MAN

[EricMontreal22]

Besty, Father Frost randomly came up on the Sondheim forum a few years back, and our two major Scandinavian members on there both said it's played on tv annually (they live in Sweden and Finland, respectively) sorta the way Wizard of Oz is here, along with another, similar Soviet fairy tale musical. I think I managed to find most of it online around that time, and yeah it really is... something.

JC, I agree with you. Canadians are used to our films getting largely ignored (except for the odd Quebecois film--and franklythat's partly because Quebec has a much healthier film culture), but Sarah Polly must have 3 or 4 Genie awards now--I believe that was her first (at least for movies, she may have won a youth TV one for Road to Avonlea...)

Carnival of Souls is pretty minor as a movie, I was a little disappointed as I had read about it in so many horror books as a sorta underground classic--but it definitely *is* creepy. I never bothered with the remake (which I think ended up straight to video).

Gaveston--I've definitely heard of The Stunt Man, probably when looking at O'Toole movies, but never have seen it. But I just googled it and LOVE its poster...

[After Eight]

Benjamin
The Anniversary
La Ronde
Boccacio 70

[Mister Matt]

Calvin, jerby and I all studied with Carnival of Souls star, Sidney Berger. When I started taking his class, he just finished filming a cameo in the remake.

[strummergirl]

Speaking of Carnival of Souls, is the Criterion disc worth seeking out? Thinking of blind-buying it for the 50% off sale.