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though it was done in the past 14 months, very few people have heard of
The three burials of melquiades estrada. This is Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut and really hits home and is well worth watching.
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This movie is amazing. Written by same guy that wrote Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel.
Also, somewhat recent, but not seen or hyped enough is
The Proposition. Nick Cave wrote this. Here's the plot outline from IMDB:
"Rural Australia in the late nineteenth century: Capt. Stanley and his men capture two of the four Burns brothers, Charlie and Mike. Their gang is held responsible for attacking the Hopkins farm, raping pregnant Mrs. Hopkins and murdering the whole family. Arthur Burns, the eldest brother and the gang's mastermind, remains at large has and has retreated to a mountain hideout. Capt. Stanley's proposition to Charlie is to gain pardon and - more importantly - save his beloved younger brother Mike from the gallows by finding and killing Arthur within nine days."
Both those movies are pretty heavy material, so I'd like to also suggest
Schizopolis. Written, Directed, and Starring Steven Soderbergh it is absurd and hilarious. I'd give a plot outline, but I'm not 100% sure what the plot is.