Of course “little known” is relative. Here, it could refer to older movies, non mainstream ones, foreign films or whatever you want.
So I nominate the great film “Local Hero”. If you want to quibble about how well this is known, please see above.
I love “Local Hero,” great cast and very quirky. Mine is “Sirens” with Sam Neill, Tara Fitzgerald, Portia diRossi, Elle McPherson and unfortunately Hugh Grant but in a role he doesn’t completely suck in. It’s beautiful and funny and sexy in a very wholesome way, never fails to put a smile on my face and get me into a better mood.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World is a good one. An asteroid is coming to end all life on Earth. The last-gasp attempt to divert its path or destroy it has failed. The end is coming. This talks about what people will do in their final days.
Safety Not Guaranteed is another sci-fi movie. A woman meets and falls in love with someone who claims to be creating a time machine. But is he nuts, or is this for real?
12 is an excellent modern-day Russian interpretation of the classic 12 Angry Men. In this case, the defendant is a young Chechen accused of murdering his stepfather, who was an officer in the Russian military.
And even though it’s a recent Disney animated film, Raya and the Last Dragon deserves another look-see from most. It was released the same year as Encanto, which overshadowed it and became a pop-cultural sensation.
My favorite film of all time was a box office bomb.
Miss Nobody is one of the best black comedies I’ve seen.
Whiplash is unforgettable due to J. K. Simmons’ fantastic acting.
The Loved Ones is one of my favorite horror films.
Black Robe is my favorite movie about Native Americans. (Indigenous Canadians might be a better term.) I’ve probably watched it a dozen times.
LOVED Dark City!
There was a group of horror remakes of AWFUL old films. Most of these remakes were legitimately good/great films.
Sewell stars in She Creature- a great, atmospheric, sexy horror film about mermaids.
Earth VS The Spider- What if the spider bit Peter Parker and things went horribly and tragically wrong?
How To Make A Monster- a fun monster movie
The remake of I Was A Teenage Caveman sucked though.
Night Breed- marketed as a slasher film it’s actually a fairy tale for adults. A broken misfit finds belonging and becomes a hero. It’s my favorite movie.
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka is hilarious.
Seek out The Station Agent, a small movie starring Peter Dinklage as a train lover who buys an abandoned railroad station to live in. He wants mostly to be left alone, but ends up connecting with a few locals who have their own quirks.
A wonderful movie.
mmm
Bicentenial Man- It was marketed as a wacky comedy for kids. It’s very much not. The one line that best sums up the movie is “It’s not fair that you can cry and I can’t.” It’s a wonderful exploration of what it means to be human. Stars Robin Williams.
Cronos- I read the description in the tv guide and expected a cheezy vampire flick I just had to see. Instead, Cronos is a sophisticated film that asks ‘would you really want to live forever? and how much would you be willing to pay?’ Ron Perlman plays a henchman. The film is in Spanish with English subtitles
Adventures Of Mark Twain- A claymation masterpiece! Twain, Huck, Tom and Sally ride an airship to rendevous with the comet. Some parts are very dark indeed. The soundtrack is awe inspiring as well.
I came to this thread to do the same.
Curiously, this was one of the (many dozens of) movies available on a recent flight from Europe to the US.
Bicentennial Man is a wonderful movie.
One of my favorite films, but getting old enough that maybe two generations have never heard of it:
I’ve always liked “You’ll Find Out!”, starring Kay Kyser, Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre.
How’s this for obscure (but well deserving of recognition):
From a quick browse, it’s out of print in North America, and available only from the UK in PAL and Region 2 format, which is generally useless with most DVD players on this side of the pond.
But it’s well written and beautifully acted by all, including the little girl. Very powerful ending. I wish I could say more about it but I don’t want to spoiler it. You might be able to catch it streaming somewhere.
Waking Ned Devine (or Waking Ned outside of North America) is a funny and quirky Irish film from 1998. In the U.S., it was only in limited release in theaters; I only saw it a couple of years later on home video. I gather that it might be a bit better-known in Ireland and England than it is here.
Good one. Literally the first DVD I ever rented through Netflix, circa 2005.
I’ll submit You Can Count on Me, which has a similar vibe in some ways. Also The Straight Story.
A Lesson Before Dying. A young, unintelligent Black man is found guilty of a murder he didn’t commit in the early 20th century in the Deep South. His former schoolteacher, played by Don Cheadle, is basically extorted into giving him some dignity before his death.