Russian Arc- foreign film shot on digital, it’s like an hour and a half of a breathtaking single-shot. All filmed with no editing, I mean. Has the world record.
Thank you! I saw this on IFC about three years ago and loved it, but I immediately forgot the title, and have been wondering ever since.
Here are a few of the best foreign language films that I’ve seen recently:
City of God - Brazilian film about an aspiring photographer growing up in the midst of brutal gang warfare in Rio. This one got an 8.8 on IMDB and is #15 on their Top 250.
Oldboy - A South Korean man is locked in a room against his will for fifteen years, but has no idea why. Upon getting out, he must track down his captor.
Lilya 4-ever - Bleak? Check. Depressing? Check. Utterly and overwhelmingly hopeless? Check. It’s everything you could ever want in a Russian film! (Technically it’s Swedish, but most of it takes place in Russia) The DVD is not available for purchase, but you can rent it from Netflix.
The Way Home - A heartwarming Korean movie about a spoiled city boy sent to live with his mute grandmother in the country.
House of Fools - I’m bad at summaries, so here’s the one-liner from IMDB: “Psychiatric patients become entrenched in the Chechen War after the staff split to find them a safer hospital.” I’d be hard-pressed to find a film with a more effective mixture of comedy and drama than this one.
Someone already mentioned the excellent Equilibrium - The Boondock Saints is another excellent actionish movie.
Lost Skeleton of Cadavra is a hilarious rendition, tongue in cheek, of the old 50’s scifi films.
Because the most effective way to put down Nazism is by showing how small-minded, unimaginative and petty its adherents were. The fact that a man whom one would suppose to be as totally secure in his position as Hitler (having obtained almost absolute power, partly at least by way of the ballot box) gets all pissy when a disturbance causes him not to be able to deliver a joke effectively exemplifies this pettiness. That the joke was a) Polish (whom he despised and caused to be murdered in such numbers) and b) “good” (suggesting that he took a childish joy in ranking his cruel, ugly jokes, just as a schoolboy might take pleasure in pulling the wings off insects) makes it perfect as a put-down for me.
I forgot to post links to The Slaughter Rule and The Believer. Don’t let the bad descriptions keep you from renting these movies. The performances were fantastic; the stories, compelling.)
I also wanted to add The Power of One. A fantastic movie.
Fantastic, obscure choice. Been a very long time since I’ve seen this, but loved it. IIRC, you don’t know anything more (or much more) than the characters, so it’s quite confusing as you (and Hoskins) try to figure out how and why his move to go legit is unraveling so badly.
Also has the great Helen Mirren, and pay attention for the brief bit w/ a very young Pierce Brosnan in what must be one of his first movie roles.
If it’s obscure but great you want, I think The Train (1964) fits the bill pretty well. French resistance fights to stop a train load of stolen art from being taken back into Germany by the retreating nazis.
A couple of great John Frankenheimer flicks well worth it are Manchurian Candidate - OK, maybe not that obscure. Its my favourite film of all time - and Seconds - bizarre b/w film in which the protagonist (played by Rock Hudson) gets a face transplant and changes his identity.
A couple of lesser known Jack Nicholson films worth seeing are The Pledge and The Crossing Guard though these may not be as obscure as you’re hoping for.
Also, you MUST see Westworld if you haven’t already. It stars Yul Brynner as a robot cowboy at a futuristic Western-themed holiday resort.
Jesus, this thread is like pulling finger nails for film geeks. You get all excited to drop all the cool obscure movies you have seen and then you read through the thread and some of your favorites are already mentioned by some other film geek. Damn you other film geeks! Add to that some people (who will remain nameless) listing movies that are not even remotely old, obscure, or good…well thats mostly an issue because I am an asshole. On that note-
I think someone meant to mention Tampopo but spelled it wrong, in any case Tampopo is a great movie, and should be seen by all.
Sonny Boy is a great… uh, not sure what genre, but David Carradine playing a woman named Pearl should be enough to get you to rent it.
Someone had listed some Kurasowa, but i didn’t see Yojimbo which is funny and a good action movie, in the context of 1961 Japanese period samurai movies…I mean don’t expect Three Kings which is also a sometimes funny action movie, and if you haven’t seen it you should, but it is not obscure or old.
What about all those movies that have well known remakes, but the orignal is fantastic, do they count as obscure? - Ringu, Insomnia, Spoorloos, La Femme Nikita, etc.
Some others
The Battle of Algiers documentary style french/algierian terrorist classic
The Haunting the old one
Gaslight
Ôdishon Unless you think you can handle Ichi the Killer or Visitor Q, but maybe they would go in the bottom section…
12 Angry Men for liberals only
Monsieur Hire frenchy french
Suicide Club opening scene is one of the best of all time
Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India all Indian movis should be this accessable to Americans (Kidding!)
The Night of the Hunter robert michum is a fucking freak
The Killer Chow and Woo before we got sick of them both
Dead Alive strong stomach needed
Bandit Queen
Cyrano de Bergerac
I could go on forever, those are just what came to mind
Movies that one should see, even if they are not “good”
Pink Flamingos
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE Meet the Feebles
Polyester
Zardoz Sean Connery in red suede mini skirt, hot hot hot (those were ironical hots)
They Live
Also could go on forever, but really is anyone even reading my post at this point?
just a last FYI - Do not see Cannibal Holocaust no matter what happens
If you liked Noises Off, you may enjoy another film about staging a play, Alan Ayckbourn’s A Chorus of Disapproval. As you may pick up from the reviews, it’s rather fashionable to pooh-pooh anything directed by Michael Winner, but there are nice performances by Jeremy Irons and Prunella Scales, and a memorable turn from Anthony Hopkins, notable for being one of the few performances where he actually plays a Welshman.
Look again, I listed both Yojimbo and Sanjuro. Apparently Sanjuro was originally an unrelated script, but after the success of Yojimbo it was reworked into a sequel. Here’s a page I found about Kurosawa’s films.
You intrigue me. I think The Last of Sheila is a pretty bad movie, but every single time I run across it on late night TV, I find myself watching it again. And What’s Up, Doc? is probably the only Streisand movie I ever liked.
I love movies like Fresh, where I go in with no expectations and just flat out love it.
I used to be a movie freak. I don’t like moldy period dramas but I tend to love crime movies and movies with clever dialogue. I’m not big on movies that are pretty to look at. I’ve seen lots of obscure movies but they usually aren’t as good as people claim, so my movies aren’t indies.
Any fan of movies must see:
The Maltese Falcon
Night of the Hunter (but see it in a theater)
Rear Window
Laura (a little overrated)
The Killers
Double Indemnity
Rio Bravo
The Sting
Blood Simple is the Coens’ first and best movie
I have a soft spot for more modern movies that resemble The Last Seduction, and there are a lot of them, but I’m having a brain freeze.
Sorry for the random thoughts.
I’m not a movie buff by any means, but I as well as my movie slave brother LOVE Eat Drink Man Woman. It’s a Chinese movie about family and love. It’s a great indie film (I think) to watch if you’re interested in watching a movie that shows lots of Chinese cuisine. Settle down with some take-out and pop this baby in 'cause you’re gonna love it!
So you did…well this makes me both an obnoxious film dork AND an unobservant moron…if I could just grow some back hair I could be the total package…form an orderly queue ladies:)
It is taking all of my self control not to list more movies.
The Great Train Robbery is a lot of fun, and gets many of the seamier details of Victorian England down pat.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend The Rocketeer, which is wonderful pulp action fun, done right. Sank like a stone at the box office, but for the life of me I can’t see why. Over-marketed, perhaps.
If you like crime thrillers, they don’t come much better than Charley Varrick (1973).
I could have written this post. One exception is my favorite Sayles movie is “Matewan”.
Local Hero is practically perfect, for my tastes. I’ve loved Stella for years now. My mouth waters when I think of Trudy with a little white wine.
:smack: That would be Caprese’s post, #54.
I was very pleasantly surprised by “The Station Agent” and “Incident at Loch Ness.” I wrote up reviews on both of them in what is basically my Netflix rental blog.
Started the reviews last summer, and at the end of 2005, did a quick and dirty summary of the movies that rose to the top. Check 'em out in case there is anything that piques your interest…lots of mainstream, but some obscure ones, too.
I was crying from laughing so hard the first time I saw this movie. Haven’t seen it for a few years now, think I’m gonna toss it in my queue again…or maybe I’ll just head to Amazon and buy it.
The hubby and I recently watched and enjoyed Control Room, a documentary about the history of the Al-Jazeera Arabian news network. Some very interesting stuff, definitely worth a viewing, imo.