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| Unfairly Neglected Gems |
vargus Your predictions: |
Are there any movies out there that you think are unjustly neglected? I'll start the ball rolling with some of my top choices: Cutter's Way (1981), a great film-noir about America's post-Vietnam malaise and post-Watergate paranoia, with an amazing performance by John Heard (a great actor Hollywood seems to have little use for) as an angry, one-legged, one-armed, one-eyed Vietnam vet trying to blackmail a business tycoon. Jeff Bridges is perfect as his buddy, a sail bum and gigolo who gets sucked into his friend's insane scheme. I'm told it's a cult classic, but I've never seen it playing at my local art-house movie theater and it hasn't been on cable TV in ages. Little Dieter Needs To Fly (1997), a fascinating, unforgettable documentary by Werner Herzog about one man's obsession with flying and the horrors he suffered (notably in Vietnam) to achieve his ambition of becoming a pilot. Los Olvidados (1950), Bunuel's gritty, surreal story of no-hope juvenile criminals in Mexico City. Inspiration for many later films, such as Pixote and City of God. A hard-to-find classic. The Vanishing (1988), the original Dutch thriller, not the lame American remake. Genuinely creepy. Though I haven't seen it in years, I can still recall almost every scene vividly. Heavenly Creatures (1994), Peter Jackson's pre-LOTR masterpiece about a notorious murder in 1950s New Zealand. Riveting performances by Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet as two lonely schoolgirls sinking into a deadly folie-a-deux. One of the very few movies that make murder look like the squalid, stupid business it really is. The Wrong Box (1966), a who's who of great British actors and comedians (Michael Caine, Ralph Richardson, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Peter Sellers in a touching cameo) in a goofy story set in Victorian times. How 'bout you peeps? Any buried treasure you'd care to disclose so the rest of us can dig it up? |
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Sumytra1 Your predictions: |
I'm so glad you asked! Legend of 1900 with a score by Ennio Morriconi and an outstandingly silent acting job by Tim Roth. I Am David about a child prisoner of war based on a book by Anne Holm. Smoke Signals a coming of age in an American Indian community based on the book "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie. A Price Above Rubies with Renee Zellweger about an ambitious woman in an Hasidic community. Paradise Road a true story about the conditions in a women's Japanese prison camp with Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, and Cate Blanchett. Little Voice with the British actress, Jane Horrocks, based on a play written to showcase her uncanny ability to imitate famous songstresses. Unstrung Heros directed by Diane Keaton with John Turturro, Michael Richards, and Maury Chaykin as eccentric brothers. Infinity directed and acted by Matthew Broderick with Patricia Arquette about the very personal story of Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize winning physicist. |
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vargus Your predictions: |
Thanks, Sumytra1. Jane Horrocks was indeed amazing in Little Voice. She's another very fine actress who doesn't get enough roles. If you like A Price Above Rubies, you might also like Boaz Yakin's previous movie, Fresh (1994). It's an ingenious and affecting adaptation of Yojimbo set in Brooklyn's black ghetto, with Sean Nelson as a kid who turns the tables on the local drug lords who are destroying his community. (The scenario sounds corny and totally unbelievable, but it's not.) |
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PolarisDiB |
What's sad about this thread to me is that I know there are gems I'd love to add to the discussion... but I've forgotten which ones... Heh... --PolarisDiB |
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vargus |
Not a problem, Polaris. Whenever one occurs to you, hop back on this thread and lay it down for us. |
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Ellipsis Your predictions: |
The first one that comes to mind is Rabbit-Proof Fence. I watched that twice, back to back it was so good. The making of was great too--how they located the child actresses was a neat story. Another is a film that you can, ironically, find listed in the "Worst movies EVER" thread--Bringing Out The Dead. I think this is easily Nick Cage's best performance and it really moved me. Watching this movie is like being on drugs, the way he floats through the night-shift scenes in a detached way. Next I nominate A Bronx Tale. A very touching look at trying to live an honest life in a neighborhood full of crime. De Nero is great--much better (in my opinion) than what he's sunk to lately in the Analyze This/That and Meet The Parents/Fockers movies. Immortal Beloved shows off just how versatile an actor Gary Oldman can be. Who knew that the corrupt, coke-sniffing, murdering cop from The Professional (another gem) could emote so well as Beethoven? Many people slam Leonardo DiCaprio's acting ability, but I challenge them to see What's Eating Gilbert Grape and then make the same claim. Harold and Maude is a gem from the early 70's that is both wonderful dark humor and poignant social commentary. Watch as those around Harold ignore his attempts at communication while condemning his love and advocating his going to war. Maude, meanwhile, is a great role model for those at the other end of the age spectrum. Dangerous Beauty provides wonderful insight into the forgotten (to us) life of courtisans. Notice how our current society may not be the most sexually explicit yet simultaneously repressive in history. My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle are a duet of heartfelt reminiscences of childhood. You'll find yourself re-examining your youth after these, seeking similarly romantic ways of reclassifying events that shaped who you are. -Kurt |
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PolarisDiB Your predictions: |
Aha, I've thought of one! Waking Ned Devine. I was reminded of it from the mention of Harold and Maude, which I agree with. Anyways, Waking Ned Devine is probably the brightest dark humour there is out there. Everyone I know who's seen it has been like, "Wow, that movie should not have been funny, but I could not stop laughing." Kind of like Harold and Maude, and for the same reasons. --PolarisDiB |
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vargus Your predictions: |
Nice picks. Okay, I'm gonna mention some really hard-to-find ones. Fans of Rabbit-Proof Fence might want to check out The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), directed by Fred Schepisi. Set in Australia around 1900, it's a bleak drama based on the true story of a nation-wide manhunt for a half-white Aborigine who killed his employers. Stark, eerie stuff. I hear it's supposed to be released on DVD sometime in the next 12 months. And if you want to go for something really exotic and obscure, try to find a copy of Guelwaar (1992), an interesting look at tribal politics in modern-day Senegal. Guelwaar, a legendary activist, denounces government corruption and is assassinated by thugs. There's a mix-up at the morgue and his body is accidentally buried in a Muslim cemetary. His Catholic relatives want to reclaim the body, but some troublemakers in the Muslim village try to exploit the situation for their own gain. Tensions mount as the local priest, the local imam, the local policeman, and Guelwaar's estranged, French-educated son frantically try to stop bloody tribal war from breaking out. A strangely beautiful and very relevant film. Sometimes video stores that specialize in off-beat and foreign movies have old VHS tapes of these two excellent films on their shelves. Good luck. |
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Goober Your predictions: |
Harold and Maude most definitely. It's one of the greatest films ever made and yet, no one knows about it. Welcome to the Dollhouse is another great film. One of the funniest films I've ever seen, equally unknown. Whether they are known about or not, Psycho Beach Party and Die, Mommie, Die! are satires that are so incredibly cheesy they are just extremely funny. |
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vargus Your predictions: |
Less obscure ones. You should be able to find these in most video stores: Tampopo (1987), translates as "Dandelion," perhaps because the story scatters in a hundred directions. A goofy, charming spoof of various genres--spaghetti westerns, martial-arts movies, romances. It's about the quest for the perfect bowl of ramen. A chivalrous truck driver pulls into Tokyo and gets involved with a shy young widow and her picked-on son who run a failing ramen restaurant. He decides to help her learn the mysterious art of making perfect ramen. Interspersed with wacky vignettes about the sensual arts of fine dining and love-making. Shall We Dansu? (1996), much better and more touching than the recent American remake. Suffused throughout with mono-no-aware, the sense of wistful melancholy that pervades much of Japanese art. Depressed, repressed middle-aged salary-man renews his spirit after falling in love, first with a beautiful dance instructor, then with the art of dance itself. Stray Dog (1949), a great early Kurosawa movie, a film-noir about a Tokyo cop whose gun is stolen and used in a series of increasingly violent crimes by a yakuza thug. It's a fascinating look at Japan shortly after the war, when everyone was still putting things back together. A young Toshiro Mifune plays the cop, whose background is uncomfortably similar to the desperate criminal he's chasing. |
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