Recommend a movie not a lot of people have seen

Cafe Society
101

•No Highway in the Sky—touching Jimmy Stewart drama about aircraft metal fatigue. A nice movie for a rainy afternoon, if you’re a geek.

•Taproot Theatre’s stage production of The Island of Dr. Moreau, on VHS. Not a strict retelling of Wells’ story, but a lot better than most or all of the other versions that’ve been made over the last century (okay, that’s not saying much. But still…it’s fun). Plus, the fellow hamming it up as Moreau is a dead sound-alike for Rex Harrison. Kind of hard to find, though.

•The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. 'Nuff said.

102

And contains the most amazing, totally silent, emotionally intense, long, long, long single take scene I have ever seen. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll know which one I mean.

These films are make me so nostalgic and I feel the pain of the lead character so badly I can barely stand to watch them.

103

Stir of echoes - a fantastic supernatural chiller movie. It came out at the same time as Sixth Sense and was in a similar vein so it got ignored by most of the viewing public, but everyone I’ve shown this film to has really enjoyed it and it has some great visual scenes (the cinema/hypnotism scene being my favourite). And, last but not least, Kevin Bacon acting well - enjoy this rare sight.

The wind that shakes the barley - set during the Irish civil war at the start of the 20th century, stars Cillian Murphy in a touching yet brutal depiction of life for the Irish in that difficult time, including the difficulty in establishing quite who were “them” and “us”.

Breakfast on pluto - another one with Cillian Murphy (I think he’s great), a slightly surreal drama/comedy about an Irish transvestite seeking his mother in London. Hugely moving and funny, took it along to a film night with some friends before xmas and they all loved it. Stars a very impressive Liam Neeson too (but then when isn’t he brilliant?).

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They might be more well-known than I think, but two more I rarely hear mentioned are Memento (a guy with no short-term memory trying to find a killer) and The Machinist (titled El Maquinista on IMDB [I think it war originally a Spanish movie]), about a guy who hasn’t slept in a year and begins to lose his mind. Christian Bale lost a scary amount of weight for the role. He’s unrecognizable!

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I was thinking about this movie this morning, and entered this thread to mention it. Fantastic film that is more or less unknown in the US.

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I think most people have heard of Memento, haven’t they?

I forgot the Mahcinist, yes it’s great and yes Christian Bale barely looks like himself in it. Apparently he permanently damaged his metabolism by going from 120lb Machinst to 220lb muscley Batman Begins. Still, for what he gets paid I’m sure it was worth it.

107

Everyone’s seen it, but no one remembers having done so. :wink:

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I have two very obscure films. One a 1970’s TV movie “The Disappearance of Flight 412”. This was a UFO film that scared the pants off of me when I was 10 years old. The early seventies were the height of a UFO craze and I was terrified of being “close encountered”. The movie is very low key you don’t see any aliens or spaceships just blips on a radar screen but it is done in documentary style that was very effective for a ten year old. I asked my dad if the movie was real because it seemed based upon a true story.

The second, “The Race for the Double Helix” The story of Watson and Crick and their discovery of the DNA structure. What I like about this film is the leading role of Dr. Rosalind Franklin and her very important work in establishing the structure of the DNA molecule. Sadly her place in history is largely forgotten, she died a few years before Watson & Crick were awarded their Nobel Prizes.

109

Romero. (since I don’t know how to do the cool linky-thing; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098219/ ) Raul Julia in an incredible performance about a member of the Catholic church whose sole positive attribute (in the eyes of the heirarchy) is that he doesn’t rock the boat. As he gets higher in the church, however, things begin to hit home. The scene in the jail, and the aftermath thereof, are just amazing.

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I know exactly what you mean. That’s why I keep mentioning them every time one of these threads comes up. The first film is especially powerful.

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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a French musical from 1964 in which all the dialogue is sung. It seems it was pretty popular back when it was released (it was nominated for something like 5 Oscars), but I’ve rarely heard it mentioned nowadays.

It’s a bittersweet romance story that touches on some important issues of the time (such as the Algerian War), that has some really nice shots/filmwork. And it’s got great music. What more could you want? :slight_smile:

(Trivia note for Futurama fans: The song that’s played over the montage of Seymour waiting for Fry in Jurassic Bark is from this movie. Though the version the show used was an English translation sung by Connie Francis, rather than the original French version.)

112

Devi. An older Indian movie about a young married woman whose father-in-law becomes ill/delirious and thinks that she has become a goddess, and the tribulations she faces as a result. It’s fairly hard to find, unfortunately.

113

I was going to say “One, Two, Three” a wonderful comedy, but its been mentioned.

So I say “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” a beautifully shot film set in Eastern Europe. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965) - IMDb

114

Closet Land with Alan Rickman as an interrogator in an anonymous totalitarian country. It also stars Madeleine Stowe. Great film.

Left Luggage is story that about conflicting cultures and and generations.

Ed and His Dead Mother a comedy starting Steve Buscemi and it is about what the title says. Offbeat and quirky.

115

The Right Stuff Everyone I know has heard of this movie, but few have seen it. It chronicles the early days of the American space program. Strip away all the panic and propaganda, the worshipful profiles in Life magazine, and there are real people who were braver and smarter than anybody gave them credit for. It’s not 100% accurate, but if the past wasn’t like this, it should have been.

L.A. Story Written by Steve Martin, and starring him and his then-wife Victoria Tennant. Bad movie romances try to make the characters as generically appealing as possible, hoping the audience will fall for them. This movie has two misfits who are right for each other. Funny moments as he’s trying to win her heart. And if you can’t trust a freeway traffic sign, who can you trust? Brush up your Shakespeare before watching.

…and in case those aren’t obscure enough…

Le Trou A 1960’s, black-and-white, French, prison-break movie. There are the typical big themes of classism, and desperate men thrown together by circumstances, but it’s the tension and intricacies of the escape that are absolutely brilliant.

116

No accounting for taste, I guess. I had never heard of this until it showed up on cable a few months back. I watched it the whole way through, even though I could almost feel my brain cells being killed, one by one. I’d have to rank it as one of the ten or so stupidest, least funny, biggest waste of time movies I’ve ever seen.

117

Everything is Illuminated: A young man of Jewish/Russian decent goes to Russia to research his family’s story. Lovely, humorous, and dark.

On a Clear Day: British film about a man forced into retirement who decides to swim the English Channel.

Children of Heaven: sweet movie from Iran.

(I’m sorry if these movies are better known. I tend not to pay much attention to what’s popular and what’s not.)

118

Pi

You might think that a thriller about math is impossible. Please let’s forget about that Nashian “A Beautiful Mind” mediocrity.

Pi is absolutely genius. Won a few awards. Aronofsky’s first film, I believe.

119

It’s sick how many of these movies I’ve seen…

I have yet to meet anyone who’s seen Barry McKenzie Holds His Own which is funny as hell and the movie I pull out any time anyone waxes lyrical over Bruce Beresford’s intellectualism. Not that it happens often, mind you.

Sirens is the title I bring up in these threads because not enough people have seen it and it has Elle McPherson, Portia de Rossi, Tara Fitzgerald and Kate Fischer very, VERY naked. It’s also clever, beautifully filmed, has Sam Neill in it and is the only movie I can name offhand that has Hugh Grant in which he doesn’t cause the whole thing to suck ass.

How To Get Ahead In Advertising is a screamingly funny movie starring Richard E. Grant in the role he was born to play–and I’ve seen Withnail and I so I know whereof I speak. Withnail is a damned good movie, too, but not terribly unknown in these parts.

Just saw Fido this weekend and enjoyed the hell out of it–sort of Dawn of the Dead meets Mad Men. Carrie Ann Moss, Billy Connely as a zombie, impeccable '50s drag, just a weird and amusing movie.

Interstate 60 is apparently completely unknown and unfairly so. Funny, sweet, one hell of a cast–makes me smile every time I watch it.

The Magic Christian has never gotten the recognition it deserves–Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr acting a script by Terry Southern from his book. Funny, funny stuff.

Urbania is a poignant movie with some nice little twists and turns.

Sleeping Dogs Lie is screamingly funny, but I bet a lot of people never make it past the first ten minutes–just a hunch.

From the Wayback Machine comes The Madwoman of Chaillot which nobody I know has ever seen but I love it just a whole bunch.

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A second vote for THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN, which I have yet to see now that I’m grown up & have read the book. (My family saw it at the drive-in when I was a kid & then it went into heavy rotation as a late-nite TV movie.)

Not so for MADWOMAN- my first semester at college, I was the Baron in the theatre production- a few months later, the movie shows up on TV, so we all get together to watch it. Unanimous disdain.

Hmmmm- my suggestions- Roger Corman’s FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND- from the Brian Aldiss novel, John Hurt travels to 1818 to meet the Shelley-Byron band AND
the personae of FRANKENSTEIN (Raul Julia is Victor).

Ken Russell’s GOTHIC - about the Lake Geneva Shelley-Byron summer that produced FRANKENSTEIN

THE ADDICTION- Abel Ferrara B&W vampire film that it philosophical, erotic & theological.

JESUS OF MONTREAL- French Canadian film about a bohemian theatrical troupe’s unorthodox Passion Play & it’s star getting a bit too into his role.

BOOK OF LIFE- Hal Hartley film in which Jesus returns w/ Magdalena (PJ Harvey) to race the Devil for the Computer NoteBook of Life that will bring about the End, but JC doesn’t want to go through with it.