I Stand Alone
Dead or Alive
Forbidden Zone
Thriller : A Cruel Picture
Noise
The Trap
Clean Shaven
Keane
Seconds
Night on The Galactic Railroad
Suicide Club
Noriko’s Dinner Table
Today I was thinking of a mockumentary I saw seven or eight years ago on IFC called Dadetown. I think it’s difficult to come by yet worth seeking out as I believe it’s the most well made I’ve seen in this genre.
Obscure? Try A Map Of The World, a 1999 film directed by Scott Elliott. It starred Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore and David Strahairn. Weaver played a school nurse in a small town who is unjustly accused of molesting a child. If this film had gotten any kind of decent theatrical release she probably would have gotten an Oscar nomination.
For older films check out God’s Little Acre and The Set-Up, both for Robert Ryan’s brilliant acting.
Maybe I know more than I thought, but there are a lot of films mentioned so far that I would never have labelled “obscure”.
I’ll try a few though: Survive Style 5+, The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob, What Is It?, Candy Mountain, Minotaur
If you’re a fan of Adrian Brody then ‘Restaurant’ is great and I think underseen and underappreciated. It deals with interracial relationships and aspiring artists of different stripes in New York City. Well written, well acted and the movie that convinced me that Brody was one of our finest young actors.
One of my favourite films of this decade: Peter Mettler’s doc GAMBLING, GODS AND LSD. -
Despite the release of a few of his films on dvd by KINO, it seems to me that too many are still unfamiliar with animator Jan Svankmajer. I myself still have a lot of catching up to do with him. But my favourite thus far is DIMENSIONS OF DIALOGUE.
“Suspiria”, “Grimm Love”, “Session 9”
How bout a little film called “The Stunt Man”? slickly made and a hoot to boot.
Postman Blues is so good but hardly available
As is Survive Style 5+, both amazing unknown japanese films
for something stupid, try Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter
Despite the release of a few of his films on dvd by KINO, it seems to me that too many are still unfamiliar with animator Jan Svankmajer. I myself still have a lot of catching up to do with him. But my favourite thus far is DIMENSIONS OF DIALOGUE.
If you’re multiregion, get the BFI’s Jan Svankmajer: The Complete Short Films – unlike the Kino set, it really is complete (even down to the alternative version of The Ossuary), the films come in superior transfers, and it has a full disc of extras including two hour-long documentaries. (Disclaimer: I produced it, so this is hardly a neutral recommendation, but it really is worth it!)
My great discovery of the last couple of years has been the Polish documentary movement – a quite phenomenal body of work whose best-known practitioners are people like Krzysztof Kieslowski and Andrzej Munk, but they’re just the tip of a very large iceberg, and there’s little to choose in terms of talent between them and people like Kazimierz Karabasz, Marcel Lozinski, Wojciech Wiszniewski, Maciej Drygas, Marek Piwowski and many others.
Kieslowski’s documentaries have been reasonably accessible for several years, usually as extras on the Kino/Criterion/Artificial Eye DVDs of his work – but in 2006 the Polish outfit PWA (Polish Audiovisual Publishers/Polskie Wydawnictwo Audiowizualne) started a series of 100% English-friendly two and three-disc explorations of Polish documentary history. And they’ve so impressed me that I now blind-buy automatically – the prices are absurdly low for what you get, and if it means stumbling across the work of people like Lozinski and Drygas, that’s a massive reward for very little outlay.
double post…..
Putney Swope.
Night of the Eagle (1962) – great supernatural thriller. Brilliantly shot and directed. Totally underrated. Stars Peter Wyngarde (The Innocents).
It Happened In Broad Daylight (1958) – very good Euro thriller. Re-made as The Pledge by Sean Penn years later. Special appearance by a James Bond villain. ‘Nuff said.
Seven Golden Men (1965) – fun, stylish caper film.
Raw Deal (1948) – tough Anthony Mann-directed noir.
Beach Red (1967) – existential war film, for wont of a better term. Reminded me a bit of Malick’s The Thin Red Line.
Secrets of a Soul (1926) – G.W. Pabst film on psychoanalysis. Freudian all the way.
I think this is more of “who has the longest list of obscurities” than “obscure recommendations”… This thread becomes utterly useless when it is just lengthy posts of titles. Way to blow it guys.
Oh, and I recommend the Anal Birth of Bert. The feature is just like it sounds. It’s an anal birth. Of Bert.
Ravenous (Bird)
Shivers (Cronenburg)
Matador (Almodovar)
Vagabond (Varda)
Body Song (Pummell)
Klute (Pakula)
Funny Ha-Ha (Bujalski)
Deep Red (Argento)
Mean Creek (2004)
-Brilliant screenplay and performances; some of the best drama I’ve ever seen
More lists. Great. Also, 1up on Mean Creek. Gotta love those Caulkins.
I’m starting a new topic, it’s called simply LISTS. Favourite films, vegetables, operas, fonts, crayons, power tools, alcoholic beverages and more. It’s gonna effin rule, I tell ya!
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!
I would recommend “Italian for Beginners”. It’s an early Dogme film, so probably would’ve appeared just after the manifesto. It kind of borders on romantic comedy, but it has far more layers of meaning. It really is a wonderful, entertaining film…and I don’t think you need to be a Dogme fan (or even a film geek) to enjoy it.
Here’s my short list of films that have been largely forgotten for no good reason, but are superb:
1000 Clowns
After the Fox
Daisies
Dead Again
Dead of Night
Desert Bloom
I Never Sang for My Father
Idiot’s Delight
King of Hearts – completely forgotten, but a delighful film
Legend of Suram Fortress
Man Who Could Work Miracles
Mishima
Nasty Girl
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors
The Southerner
The Twonkie – just thrown in to see if you are paying attention
Truly, Madly, Deeply
Poil de Carotte (Julien Duvivier)
Mazursky’s evocative Willie & Phil and Altman’s outrageously dreamy Brewster McCloud.
I’m not sure how many people have seen these, but ‘Decasia’ (Bill Morrison) & ‘Benjamin Smoke’ (Jem Cohen & Peter Sillen)
…thanks to Plexifilm.
well one person’s obscure film is well known to another, but these deserve more attention:
Abraham Valley (Oliveira)
Aniki Bobo (Oliveira)
Alice in the Cities (Wenders)
Ornamental Hairpin (Shimizu)
Spring in a Small Town (Fei Mu)
Tales of the Taira Clan (Mizoguchi)
The Wonderful Lie of Nina Petrowna (Schwarz)
Street of Crocodiles (Quay bros)
Salt for Svanetia (Kalatozov)
Innocence (Hadzihalilovic)
Yeelen (Cissé)
Silences of the Palace (Tlatli)
Maborosi (Koreeda)
Blissfully Yours (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
At the Height of Summer (Tran Anh-Hung)
Madchen in Uniform (Sagan)
Judex (Franju)
Marketa Lazarova (Vlacil)
Pakeezah (Amrohi)
Casque d’Or (Becker) and Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (Mizoguchi) i’ve seen in quite a few critics’ top 10s and they certainly are great
Red Riding Trilogy (or whats out so far of it)
not really obscure but highly recommended. Modern film noir at its finest. If your in the UK/Ireland, you can watch it free:
http://redriding.channel4.com/
Violence at Noon, T.R Baskin, The Ninth Configuration, The Sailor who fell from grace with the Sea, The King of Marvin Gardens, Images, Ship of Fools, The Lickerish Quartet, The Mephisto Waltz, The Asphyx
bookwibble
Swoon- quintessential queer cinema. So. Good.