Yeah, we have all those. I’ve been eyeing them. Thanks!
You may have already seen it, but try Dot the I. It’s a little over-the-top, but hey, it’s the guy’s first feature-length film, and the story is truly captivating. His future work should be even better, once he reins in the gimmicks a little. It’s kind of like a British/Spanish Memento without the amnesia or the “lone warrior” aspect.
Hah! My cousin’s in Leaving Normal; saw the rough cut, seen it many many times. Will check out Mr. Frost.
The first one (which was inferior to Oldboy, fwiw) did not. Not sure about the third.
Notes on a Scandal was really good. I don’t know too many people who’ve seen it, but it is a top-notch movie.
I thought it was well done all around, but I’m just *so *tired of watching people destroy each other out of self-loathing. For entertainment.
Here are two others that may or may not be obscure. They are both pretty creepy.
Damage and Boxing Helena.
Some more films that I like reasonably well:
A Little Romance (1979, U.S., dir. George Roy Hill)
A New Leaf (1971, U.S., dir. Elaine May)
Night on Earth (1991, U.S., dir. Jim Jarmusch)
Notting Hill (1999, U.K./U.S., dir. Roger Michell)
Obsession (1976, U.S., dir. Brian De Palma)
Penn & Teller Get Killed (1989, U.S., dir. Arthur Penn)
The Rapture (1991, U.S., dir. Michael Tolkin)
Real Genius (1985, U.S., dir. Martha Coolidge)
Repo Man (1984, U.S., dir. Alex Cox)
Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980, U.S., dir. John Sayles)
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979, U.S., dir. Jeff Margolis)
Rob Roy (1995, U.S., dir. Michael Caton-Jones)
The Seduction of Mimi (1972, Italy, dir. Lina Wertmuller)
Solaris (1972, Soviet Union, dir. Andrei Tarkovsky)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983, U.S., dir. Jack Clayton)
Streets of Fire (1984, U.S., dir. Walter Hill)
Sweet and Lowdown (1999, U.S., dir. Woody Allen)
Trouble in Mind (1985, U.S., dir. Alan Rudolph)
True Identity (1991, U.S., dir. Charles Lane)
Unmade Beds (1997, U.S., dir. Nicholas Barker)
Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography (1992, U.S., dir. Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, Stuart Samuels)
The Warriors (1979, U.S., dir. Walter Hill)
When We Were Kings (1996, U.S., dir. Leon Gast)
Who Am I This Time? (a.k.a. American Playhouse: Who Am I This Time?) (1982, U.S., dir. Jonathan Demme)
The Wizard of Speed and Time (the 95-minute version) (1988, U.S., dir. Mike Jittlov)
Zelig (1983, U.S., dir. Woody Allen)
And some more from my list of 100 favorites that you might conceivably not have seen:
American Splendor (2003, U.S., dir. Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini)
Being John Malkovich (1999, U.S., dir. Spike Jonze)
Camille (1937, U.S., dir. George Cukor)
Forbidden Planet (1956, U.S., dir. Fred McLeod Wilcox)
Freaks (1932, U.S., dir. Tod Browning)
When Harry Met Sally (1989, U.S., dir. Rob Reiner)
Point of order. A lot of the films mentioned in this thread are not readily available for rent at the present time. I guess if money is no object, you could track down and purchase some of the out-of-print or never-in-print titles.
Just sayin’s all.
Really? Could you name some of the films that aren’t currently available? It doesn’t appear to me to be that many.
Have you seen this German movie called Ali: Fear Eats the Soul by Rainer Fassbinder? I really like it.
Also, 7:35am is a really neat short movie. (That’s not an IMDB link, it’s a link to the movie.)
I agree that Dersu Uzala is Kurosawa’s best (that I’ve seen). Regarding your criticism: I did get to see a few on the big screen, and they are really pretty films. Isn’t that part of what makes movies like Lawrence of Arabia or Dark City great?
You’ve seen a lot of Werner Herzog, right? He has a newish one, Incident at Loch Ness, which it is absolutely imperative that you watch the director’s commentary after watching the regular movie (though it’s not a bad idea with most of his movies.) Have you seen Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe ? Apropriately enough, that was the first Herzog movie I saw.
Tokyo Story(1953) by Yasujiro Ozu?
Land Without Bread(1933) by Bunuel?
Raskolnikow (1923)? (Great example of German Expressionism)
Hungarian Movies:
Anything by Istvan Szabo
Régi idök focija (1973) (“Old-time football”)
Kontroll (2003)
I have a friend like you who watches a lot of movies (used to be about 3 a day, with 5 a day not being unusual.). I get a lot of education/recommendations from him. I also used to live next to doc films, which was an education all to itself. I would suggest moving there.
I have a question. Don’t you hate the movie Pi? Why do people think its good?
Oh, if you’re going to watch
Régi idök focija (1973) (“Old-time football”)
you should have someone explain a bit about the Hungarian national identity first. Especially during communism
You’re right. I should have said “some” of the films are not readily available. Not via Netflix, anyway, which is the service I use to rent movies.
If you have a good internet connection, you can check out UbuWeb Film & Video, which has a lot of classic avant-garde films.
Damage is not my favorite Malle, but worth seeing. Boxing Helena is a terrible, terrible movie that everyone should see at least twice.
[nitpick] The film’s about Herzog, but the film is by Les Blank (as is the amazing documentary Burden of Dreams, also starring Herzog). [/nitpick]
Thanks, WW, there are a couple in there I haven’t seen. And a couple that have already been mentioned this thread. 
I appreciate your enthusiasm.
Yes, I’ve been exploring it, thanks to Panurge’s mention above.
Yes, I have a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG list of unavailable movies that I put a lot of effort into tracking down. When a title spends a long time at the top of that list, sometimes I’m forced to overcome my better instincts and purchase a copy of, um, shall we say uncertain provenance. Like Titicut Follies. (Let’s just say that *everything *shows up on eBay sooner or later. And everything is “available” in Hong Kong.)
Yes, I own it, along with it’s companion pieces, Sirk’s* All That Heaven Will Allow* and Hayne’s Far from Heaven.
Will check out. Thanks.
No, it’s part of what makes them good; greatness happens below the surface image. (To vastly oversimplify.)
Neither of these are Herzog films; he just appears in them. In any case, they’re both a hoot. *Shoe *is available on youtube.
In my lifetime top ten.
Seen a lot of Bunuel, but not that one. Thanks.
Will seek out. Thanks.
Yes! I love his stuff.
Will seek out. Thanks.
Watched the other night, coincidentally. Good, not great.
I used to live near Facets. Now I live not too far from Scarecrow. Both worth moving to be closer to.
I think it’s effective. It gets extra points for being a directorial debut; if it had been his fourth or fifth it might have been seen as a let down. I benefits greatly from knowing that it was accomplished by a firsttime filmmaker with little or no budget.