obscure MUST SEE movies

[MicroBob]

1% might be a bit low but you have a point.
Although it should be noted that he said it LIKELY is not obscure.

FWIW - I've seen M.

It's mostly coming down to a semantics debate as to what qualifies as 'obscure'.

Take another movie on that list like Dog Day Afternoon (another one of my all-time faves, a young Al Pacino in a botched bank-robbery attempt).
I really don't think it should be counted as 'obscure' but I also suspect there are many people on this forum who have never seen or heard of it.

[Stagger_Lee]

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I really don't think it should be counted as 'obscure' but I also suspect there are many people on this forum who have never seen or heard of it.

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So in the context of this forum it counts as obscure.

[KDawg]

wow, there are some obscenely unobscure films in this thread, lets get this back on track

if you like crime films and are used to watching foriegn films, then try out Le Cercle Rouge

for another recent american indie film that deserves wider recognition, check out mean creek

[cero_z]

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Ghost Dog was horrible, unwatchable. I am a jim jarmusch fan, but I wouldn't say any of his movies are MUST SEE, since not everyone really enjoys them at all.

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--some guy. Many layers of stupid here, but the definition of MUST SEE is the cherry on top.

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Brazil, The Killing, Persona, M, Rope, Fail Safe

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--some dudes who think obscurity is automatically attached to any movie made more than 10 years ago, even if it was directed by one of the most famous directors in the world or was extremely famous in its time.

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Permanent Midnight was an excellent movie. It's the only Ben Stiller movie I have ever liked. --slothinator


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--some dude who either hasn't seen Flirting With Disaster or The Royal Tenenbaums, or who has and is an idiot.

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Bob Roberts

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--2461Badugi. Could not agree more.

[wdcbooks]

Here is a nice little movie that I think escaped most people.

Midnight Clear - Stars Ethan Hawke, Kevin Dillon, John McGinley among others. It is a war film that without battle scenes. It isn't perfect, but it is damned interesting. It is set late in 1944 in an undescribed forest in Germany. I have often wondered how interested I would be in killing the enemy if I knew we were looking at a matter of months until the war is over. Neither side in this remote corner of the war really wants to kill the other, but they also can't be sure of their enemy's intentions.

Citizen X - I am going to engage it what seems like hyperbole. There are three great serial killer movies that have ever been made. M, Silence of the Lambs and Citizen X. This is a made for HBO movie that never entered theaters. Stars Stephen Rea and Donald Sutherland. I was so entranced in this movie I actually started it again as soon as it was over. I love Stephen Rea, and he is perfect here.

The film is set in the Soviet Union as Communism is crumbling. It is based on a real case with Rea playing a police detective trying to capture a serial killer operating over several years and killing dozens of victims. Everything about this movie is fascinating, from the look at Soviet obstruction of the investigation, to the police work, to the killer himself. I am amazed that this was never shown in theaters. It really is a testament to the quality of HBO films.

[MicroBob]

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I really don't think it should be counted as 'obscure' but I also suspect there are many people on this forum who have never seen or heard of it.

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So in the context of this forum it counts as obscure.

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I'm not sure.
I don't think that's the kind of context that was intended for 'obscure' because then we get dangerously close to practically every movie that isn't the Godfather, Shawkshank, Star Wars or LOTR series.

I think most of the films mentioned qualify decently as 'obscure'.

[sledghammer]

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Ghost Dog was horrible, unwatchable. I am a jim jarmusch fan, but I wouldn't say any of his movies are MUST SEE, since not everyone really enjoys them at all.

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--some guy. Many layers of stupid here, but the definition of MUST SEE is the cherry on top.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't consider a movie 'must see' if most people won't like it. Most people don't like Jarmusch movies, and it isn't just because they aren't as smart as you. If someone tells me I have to see movie x, and movie x is lame, I'm not going to trust them in the future. The only redeeming quality of that movie was gza's soundtrack. Other than that it was a boring hodgepodge of trendy asian philosophies, stilted dialogue, and whittaker making that face of his.

I do agree though that this thread needs a better definition of obscure. A lot of us youngsters have barely heard of the older movies, and if they really are must see, then they belong here.

[Hoya]

Two I haven't seen mentioned are:

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser - a Herzog film based on a true story about a guy that had been raised in a dungeon his entire life and was suddenly dropped in Nuremburg with nothing but an obscure letter.

Twilight Samurai - a poor samurai trying to raise his kids by himself end up being forced to fight. Slow paced, but very good.

[slothinator]

Quote:
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Permanent Midnight was an excellent movie. It's the only Ben Stiller movie I have ever liked. --slothinator



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--some dude who either hasn't seen Flirting With Disaster or The Royal Tenenbaums, or who has and is an idiot.

I did see Royal Tenenbaums. I thought it was slow and boring. I've tried watching it on two occasions since the first time, and turned it off both times. Not sure how that qualifies me as an "idiot", but whatever. You are probably one of those people who latches on to bad movies and calls people "idiots" when "they just don't get the movie". When in reality, the movie just sucks and you need something to prop up your self-esteem. You would probably be a great movie critic.

[KOTLP]

The most overlooked sci-fi film of the 1970s:

Colossus: The Forbin Project

Think 2001 meets Wargames. Most 1970s sci-fi is laughingly bad, which is kinda strange because the 1950s and 1960s produced some awesome sci-fi, and the 1980s is IMO the best decade for sci-fi ever. Colossus is a rarely mentioned gem, and easily one of the best of the genre for the decade.