# Name a little-known movie that deserves more recognition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 18, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922 "2022-08-18T23:52:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/221 "2022-08-24T02:18:32Z")
That’s definitely at least a cult film. It was based on a book by Neil (Sandman, Stardust, half of Good Omens) Gaiman. ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/222 "2022-08-24T02:28:37Z")
The Book of Life is a really gorgeous movie with an impressive pedigree: [The Book of Life (2014) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2262227/) Also, Paranorman [ParaNorman (2012) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1623288/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/223 "2022-08-24T03:41:59Z")
I’m fond of this Hal Hartley film [The Book of Life (1998) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167059/) which is nothing like the one **Tarataratara** mentioned ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/224 "2022-08-24T03:52:29Z")
I first saw _Mrs. Miniver_ (1942) when I watched it as part of a four-pack that I got with _Casablanca_. It’s exquisite. It made me want to go out and buy war bonds, eighty years after World War II ended. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/225 "2022-08-24T04:37:20Z")
There is no such thing as a precise definition of the term “little-known movie”. How well known a movie happens to be is obviously a spectrum, and it’s impossible to define where on that continuous spectrum you go from little-known to reasonably well-known. For that matter, there is nothing that definitively measures how well known a movie is. There is no website which gives the precise value of how well known a film is. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/226 "2022-08-24T04:49:01Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Of course “little known” is relative. Here, it could refer to older movies, non mainstream ones, foreign films or whatever you want. This is how the thread begins. Not with a harangue, but with a simper. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/227 "2022-08-24T04:53:13Z")
The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) - Directed by Yimou Zhang. A peasant woman in a Chinese viilage seeks justice against the village chief who assaulted her husband. The Chinese justice system never quite gives her what she wants, and she finds herself out of her element as she appeals her complaint to higher and higher levels of authority. House of Games (1987) - Direction and story by David Mamet. A psychiatrist who is bored with her life comes to the aid of a compulsive gambler and finds herself drawn into the world of a group of con artists. Persepolis (2007) - Written and directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi. Animated. The story of a young Iranian girl during the time of the revolution and the war with Iraq. Based on the graphic novel of the same name by Satrapi. Proof (1991) - Directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse. Psychological study. Stars Hugo Weaving as a blind man who has problems trusting people. He carries a camera with him and uses pictures he’s taken to verify whether people are telling him the truth. Co-stars Russell Crowe in an early role before he became well-known in the U.S. NOTE: This movie has no connection with the one of the same name from 2005 that stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins. The Sweet Hereafter (1997) - Directed by Atom Egoyan. A lawyer (Ian Holm) comes to a small town where a school bus accident has killed most of the community’s children. He wants to pursue a lawsuit, but encounters resistance from many of the townspeople. An Angel at My Table (1990) - Directed by Jane Campion. Biography of Janet Frame, an acclaimed New Zealand writer who overcame poverty, emotional problems, and a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/228 "2022-08-24T04:55:05Z")
_The Diving Bell and the Butterfly_. A French man is driving down the street when he suffers a sudden massive brain hemorrhage that causes him to end up with locked-in syndrome. We find out about the hell he’s going through, as the doctors find a way to communicate with him because he can still blink one eye, and he writes a book about his experience, one letter at a time. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/229 "2022-08-24T05:30:52Z")
uh Oxido, Keenan’s last name is Wayans, not Thompson ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/230 "2022-08-24T08:53:14Z")
You left out Kate Fisher (as she was known then). The scene with her, Elle and Portia topless in the spa was better than viagra. I’ve never seen “local Hero”, is that the movie Mark Knopfler did the theme for? Love that song. [Mark Knopfler - Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero (A Night In London | Official Live Video) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfXUyQsmXRk) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/231 "2022-08-24T10:00:22Z")
> [@stui\_magpie](#): > > I’ve never seen “local Hero”, is that the movie Mark Knopfler did the theme for? Love that song. [Mark Knopfler - Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero (A Night In London | Official Live Video) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfXUyQsmXRk) The 1983 film _Local Hero_, directed by Bill Forsyth, starring Burt Lancaster and Peter Riegert, did indeed include the song by Mark Knopfler, as you can see in the IMDb entry if you click on Soundtracks down about halfway in that entry: > **[Local Hero (1983) - Soundtracks - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085859/soundtrack/?ref_=tt_trv_snd)** > > Local Hero (1983) - Movies, TV, Celebs, and more... ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/232 "2022-08-24T10:17:21Z")
Ta for that, looks like he did the whole soundtrack for the movie. I’ll have to watch it one day. ---
**Author:** ![Fortyfold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7c8e57/32.png) [@Fortyfold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fortyfold)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/233 "2022-08-24T11:11:56Z")
There’s a little known 1988 war movie called _The Beast of War_ (aka ‘The Beast’) which deserves more attention. Set during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PxS3CL-IewY/hqdefault.jpg "The Beast of War - trailer") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxS3CL-IewY) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/234 "2022-08-24T11:47:19Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > everyone should watch Breaker Morant Good one. This made a real impact on me when I was about fifteen. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/235 "2022-08-24T13:29:34Z")
I really enjoyed **[Sweet Land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Land)**: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/QjY9lLehj4Y/maxresdefault.jpg "Sweet Land (2005) Official Trailer #1 - Drama Movie HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjY9lLehj4Y) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/236 "2022-08-24T14:31:46Z")
Cool! ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/237 "2022-08-24T14:36:24Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > An Angel at My Table (1990) - Directed by Jane Campion. Biography of Janet Frame, an acclaimed New Zealand writer who overcame poverty, emotional problems, and a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. Love this. Exquisite. And Kerry Fox was amazing. I’ve read one of her books that was very near autobiographical. Highly recommended > [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I really enjoyed **[Sweet Land](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Land)**: Another good one! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/238 "2022-08-24T14:49:36Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > _The Diving Bell and the Butterfly_. Hardly a little known movie. Check out the awards [list](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401383/awards/?ref_=tt_awd). Nominated for four Oscars. Won a BAFTA, two Cannes Film Festival wins, etc. It [goes on and on.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diving_Bell_and_the_Butterfly_(film)) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/239 "2022-08-24T15:04:31Z")
A few science fiction films **Android** (1982) – > [@](#): > > In 2036, an [android](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(robot)) named Max 404, and his creator, Dr. Daniel, reside aboard a remote [space station](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_station). Although Max is a machine, he has a growing interest in all things human, especially sex. After Daniel starts to notice Max’s character is changing, Max [eavesdrops](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eavesdropping) on the doctor’s report that Max’s growing [insubordinate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insubordination) behavior could lead to a revolt similar to an incident back on Earth known as the “Munich Rebellion”, after which androids were outlawed. However, Daniel is illegally working on another android, Cassandra One, intended to be a superior machine and which has the form of a human female. > **[Android (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(film))** > > Android is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Aaron Lipstadt and starring Don Keith Opper and Klaus Kinski. The film tells the story of a scientist and his assistant who are working on an illegal android program in their laboratory on a space station in deep space. > The film was voted Best Science Fiction Film in 1983 by The Age, but received a mixed reaction from critics and viewers. > In 2036, an android named Max 404, and his creator, Dr. Daniel, reside aboard a remote space stati... **Creation of the Humanoids** (1962) – really basic sets and some incredibly wooden acting, but interesting ideas > [@](#): > > In a [post-nuclear-war society](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction), blue-skinned, silver-eyed [human-like robots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanoid_robot) have become a common sight as the surviving population suffers from a decreasing [birth rate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_rate) and has grown dependent on their assistance. A fanatical organization tries to prevent the robots from becoming too human, fearing that they will take over. Meanwhile, a scientist experiments with creating human replicas that have genuine emotions and memories. > **[The Creation of the Humanoids](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Creation_of_the_Humanoids)** > > The Creation of the Humanoids is a 1962 American science fiction film release, directed by Wesley Barry and starring Don Megowan, Erica Elliot, Frances McCann, Don Doolittle, and Dudley Manlove. The film is not based on the plot of Jack Williamson's novel The Humanoids, to which it bears little resemblance, but on an original story and screenplay written by Jay Simms. > In a post-nuclear-war society, blue-skinned, silver-eyed human-like robots have become a common sight as the surviving population... **The Ugly Little Boy** (1977, made for Canadian TV) – based on the Isaac Asimov short story. Possibly the most faithful adaptation of an Asimov story made. And, as long as I brought TV into it **The Day of the Triffids** (1981 BBC) – Not the 1961 movie or the awful 2009 version, this one is pretty low budget, but very faithful to John Wyndham’s novel, with believable-looking triffids. Worth digging up a copy of. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922/240 "2022-08-24T17:36:28Z")
I only left her out because she doesn’t have a lot of recognition in the US, not like the rest but yeah, gotta have the brunette to match out the redhead and the blonde! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-a-little-known-movie-that-deserves-more-recognition/969922.md?page=13)