Overlooked Films--Great films (most of) the world missed

[jayiijay]

DAVE:

"Hope and Glory" is a wonderful movie.  It's Best Picture and other Oscar nominations were not a surprise because it won the Los Angeles Film Critics' Awards for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay, was the runner-up at the National Society of Film Critics (with Boorman again winning director & screenplay, plus the film took cinematography), and it won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (musical/comedy) over Moonstruck and Broadcast News.  Plus it was in the National Board of Review top 10, got a Writers Guild nomination, etc.  But despite the awards, you are right, nobody saw it, so I think it's a great choice.

Steve Zaillian is a talented guy, he did both Searching for Bobby Fischer and Schindler's List the same year.  I remember preferring the former since the screenplay was so smart, but I don't remember it that well, hope to eventually see it again.

[jpq716]

Is John Boorman still at work? I still remember Excalibur, The Emerald Forest and, of course, Hope and Glory.

[jayiijay]

JPQ716:

Boorman did Tailor of Panama a couple of years ago, and In My Country, which I didn't see.  His upcoming films are Memoirs of Hadrian and A Tiger's Tale.  Go to www.imdb.com for all the info you could ever want about him or anybody else who is ever been involved in a movie in anyway, LOL - but I'm not kidding - if you don't know the site, it's amazing.

Maybe I missed it, but has anybody mentioned "Deliverance"?  I had never seen the movie as a kid, then read it in college in a gut course nicknamed "Shit Lit".  Thought it was terrific, then saw the movie.  Boorman did a great job, Reynolds & Beatty were excellent, but I'm just not a fan of Jon Voight.

[TomS]

Dave, Apartment Zero is excellent:  suspenseful and erotic.  I have the video; is it out yet on DVD?

jayiijay mentioned Ballad of a Soldier.  Great choice!  Have you also tried The Cranes are Flying?

Harold and Maude had a cult following years ago.  Has it been forgotten?

[jayiijay]

TOMS:

Love The Cranes Are Flying!  But Ballad of a Soldier made me weep profusely.  Only other movies that ever did that were Make Way for Tomorrow, Brokeback Mountain and (dare I say it) Million Dollar Baby.

[Boppity]

Dave, Apartment Zero is excellent:  suspenseful and erotic.  I have the video; is it out yet on DVD?

Looks like it -
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008G8N6/qid=1144889876/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/103-7827252-8885404?n=130

Not sure what I think of it.  Too much like Psycho at the end I think (and I hate Psycho), but it is very homo-erotic for me.

[jayiijay]

Robert Bresson is considered one of the world's greatest filmmakers but he is not that well known in the U.S. by non-movie buffs, so I am going to to list "Au Hasard Balthzar" and "A Man Escaped".

The former is a parable ostensibly about the life of a tormented donkey, but by the time the film is over, you can't help but be devastated (I believe Jean-Luc Godard called it the greatest film ever made - it was virtually unavailable here, even in a movie town like NYC, until about 5 years ago).  The latter is a basic story of an imprisoned soldier who spends virtually the entire 90 minute film devising ways to escape, with a payoff that is remarkable.  Both films are simple, austere tear-jerkers, que them up on your netflix lists!

[annabel]

"The Trip to Bountiful"  It's kind of slow moving, but very poignant and lovely,and when the old woman finally finds her childhood home in Bountiful, Texas, it kind of reminds me of Jack's parent's house.

[jayiijay]

Black Narcissus, from 1947, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.  I just noticed it was on Turner Classic Movies last night.  Deborah Kerr, Flora Robson, Jean Simmons, with some of the most beautiful cinematography ever filmed.  It is moving and wonderful, here is two synopses from www.imdb.com:

"Anglican nuns, led by the stern Sister Clodagh, attempt to establish a religious community in the Himalayas, and must battle not only suspicious locals and the elements, but their own demons as well."

"Five young British nuns are invited to move to a windy "palace", former house of the concubines of an old general, in the top of a mountain in Mopu, Himalaya, to raise the convent of Saint Faith Order, a school for children and girls, and an infirmary for the local dwellers. Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) is assigned as the superior sister, and her liaison with civilization is the rude government agent Mr. Dean (David Farrar). The lonely and exotic place and the presence of Mr. `Dean awake the innermost desires in the flesh of the sisters, and Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron) becomes mad with the temptation."

[Desecra]

One film which made a huge impression on me at the time was 'Breaking the Waves' [1996], directed by Lars von Trier.  I was a wreck after seeing it and was haunted by it for a long time afterwards.  I don't know if I could bear to watch it again, but it's worth seeing. 

Briefly, it's about a child-like woman in a remote Scottish village who marries an oil rig worker.  When he's injured in an accident and unable to have sex, he urges her to have sex with other men and tell him about it. 

[jayiijay]

DESECRA:

Couldn't agree more re: Breaking the Waves, without question it was one of my 5 favorite films of the 90s (maybe the best).  However, many agree, it is already considered a great film by critics, so I'm pleased to say it is not being overlooked - although it's box office is hardly Harry Potter, LOL.  Did extremely well in Europe.

[Desecra]

Thank you jayiijay - I don't know anyone else who has seen it, so I'm glad you have!  I seemed to remember mixed reviews at the time, but maybe it was just that the film made such an impression that the reviews didn't seem to praise it enough .  I am glad it is well thought of.

[jayiijay]

DESCRA:

Most of the reviews were fantastic.  It won all sorts of awards in Europe (the FELIX, etc.), and in the U.S., the National Society of Film Critics, runner-up at the New York Film Critics, a Golden Globe nominee for Best Picture, etc.  It was not expected to be an Oscar Best Picture nominee because everyone knows how pedestrian the Academy is (this is not post-Brokeback loss sour grapes talking, it has always been true, spoken as an ex-avid-Oscars-fan), and even Emily Watson was considered to be an iffy Best Actress nominee in '96.  Check out the March issue of Premiere mag - Emily Watson's performance is listed as the 18th greatest ever captured on film, and the 4th best ever by a woman, behind only Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice, Bette Davis in All About Eve and Katharine Hepburn in Lion in Winter (good but a bit overrated, imo - stagey).  The performance should have made the top 10, some of the men placed above her were ridiculous, but #18 ever by anybody ain't bad!  Also, in polls of the best films of the 90s, Waves is regularly in the top 10.  Internationally it does even better.  I am confident that when the next Sight & Sound world cinema poll comes out in 2012, Waves will make the 100 and its placement among films of the '90s will be top 3.  It's an amazing film.

[LondonJakeFan]

Agree Memento is an awesome film that was overlooked.

One I have always loved that most people arent familar with is The Right Stuff-about the race to get an American in space. It's based on an equally great book by Tom Wolfe.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086197/

[annabel]

One film which made a huge impression on me at the time was 'Breaking the Waves' [1996], directed by Lars von Trier.  I was a wreck after seeing it and was haunted by it for a long time afterwards.  I don't know if I could bear to watch it again, but it's worth seeing. 

Briefly, it's about a child-like woman in a remote Scottish village who marries an oil rig worker.  When he's injured in an accident and unable to have sex, he urges her to have sex with other men and tell him about it.