Obscure films discussion

Worztron

Hi.

This is continuing where this thread ended.

Please post your favorite obscure movies with a few words supporting your choice.

Cheers.

Ash.J.Williams

Worztron wrote: »

Hi.

This is continuing where this thread ended.

Please post your favorite obscure movies with a few words supporting your choice.

Cheers.

I saw Frank last night. Really enjoyed it. It got a mainstream release in Ireland but it's far from it.

Ash.J.Williams

Raid 2 is great too....(i obviously wouldn't call it obscure ...but it probably is)

brian67

Exit through the gift shop
It's an absolutely brilliant case study by Banksy and I really hope he does more movies.

Worztron

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Raid 2 is great too....(i obviously wouldn't call it obscure ...but it probably is)

This?

Worztron

brian67 wrote: »

Exit through the gift shop
It's an absolutely brilliant case study by Banksy and I really hope he does more movies.

Agreed, I saw it a few months back. The opening song is very catchy.

Ash.J.Williams

Worztron wrote: »

This?

that's the one!!

Ash.J.Williams

brian67 wrote: »

Exit through the gift shop
It's an absolutely brilliant case study by Banksy and I really hope he does more movies.

i love that movie....but (and this is a good thing) i found it to be a total mind f**k.....my head was melted after it....like it seems simple....but it's not...it throws out more questions than it answers....WHAT IS REAL???? What is art? Is art as good as what you pay for it??? Can you rope in a few celebs to buy your stuff..and then it's art??? WHAT???

Bipolar Joe

Raid 2 is hardly obscure, the first one was one of the biggest non-English language hits in recent years. I think if a thread like this is to exist (When the first one was locked, especially) there needs to be an outline for what "Obscure" is. Personally, I can see a lot of very well known films people don't think is within the purview of the forum users being in this thread. I seem to remember a similar thread, with well known films being listed, like Westworld (Likely not in the thread, just an example of that sort of film). Also, not making it a list thread will help.

Nothing (2003).

I might have talked about this in the "What Have You Watched Recently" thread, but here it is. Two guys accidentally wish away the Universe, and end up living alone together in their house in a never ending white void.

It's a pretty silly film, the acting is a bit rough some times, but I really enjoyed it. It can get quite tense in places. Obviously, it being a never ending white void, there's not a whole lot to look at, so you have to rely on the bizarre story. I don't want to give a much away, but I'd recommend it to someone who likes light movies or sci-fi who might enjoy seeing something a little different. 7 / 10.

Timeryder: The Adventure Of Lyle Swann (1982).

Featuring Fred Ward (Earl from Tremors) in the lead role. A motorcycle racer gets accidentally transported through time to the wild west. Hijinx ensue.

I love this movie. I love this movie so hard. It takes the subject matter (Time travel) and makes the characters react to it realistically. For the entire film, Lyle has no idea he's gone through time. The people there don't know he's from the future. There's no "Oh, hey, things are different, I must be in the past, I guess." The story is fairly tight, there's some good action sequences, the characters are written well, and it gets out with only one paradox, which for a time travel movie is an amazing feat. Recommended for someone who wants a tight, ninety minute movie, or people like me who love time travel films. 9 / 10.

PS: As an aside to Timerider, I prefer this to BTTF III.

Ash.J.Williams

as i clearly stated i do find RAID 2 obscure....but i saw it in an empty cinema and nobody in this building has seen it....and none of my mates have seen it.

Bipolar Joe

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

as i clearly stated i do find RAID 2 obscure....but i saw it in an empty cinema and nobody in this building has seen it....and none of my mates have seen it.

OK, here's the rub, and I hope this doesn't come off as mean, because it's not meant to at all. The film forum has a lot of users who watch a lot of films. If a film is in the cinema any where in the country, you can almost guarantee it's not obscure by the forum standard. If it didn't get a cinema release, but it played at Cannes, it's not obscure by the forum standard. The thread might be better suited to what the forum considers obscure (Like Street Wars) rather than it being obscure because none of your friends saw it. None of my friends have seen Equilibrium, which is hardly obscure, but many have seen Eri Eri Rema Sabakutani, so that's not a very good gauge for what is and isn't obscure.

Worztron

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

OK, here's the rub, and I hope this doesn't come off as mean, because it's not meant to at all. The film forum has a lot of users who watch a lot of films. If a film is in the cinema any where in the country, you can almost guarantee it's not obscure by the forum standard. If it didn't get a cinema release, but it played at Cannes, it's not obscure by the forum standard. The thread might be better suited to what the forum considers obscure (Like Street Wars) rather than it being obscure because none of your friends saw it. None of my friends have seen Equilibrium, which is hardly obscure, but many have seen Eri Eri Rema Sabakutani, so that's not a very good gauge for what is and isn't obscure.

Also if a film has let's say 10000+ votes on IMDb then it's certainly not obscure. For example, you mentioned Equilibrium (2002) -- it got 214013 votes.

Ash.J.Williams

is gummo obscure?

Worztron

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

is gummo obscure?

I used the 10000 figure as an example. I guess there will always be grey areas as to whether a film is obscure or not. I've watched a lot of films but never heard of Gummo.

LuckyFinigan

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

is gummo obscure?

I'd describe gummo is obscure, very strange and disturbing film.

gugleguy

Moon with Sam Rockwell. Kevin Spacey does the voice of the robot. There is discussion of Moon 2 on the DVD but I'be nvere heard of it.

Bipolar Joe

Again, it's not exactly obscure. It has two very big named actors, and nearly 200,000 votes on IMDb.

e_e

Syndromes and a Century

Thai drama/comedy/surrealist hybrid set in 2 different hospitals (one modern and one rural). Enchanting, funny, heartfelt, thought-provoking and truly (I don't use this word lightly) innovative. One of my favorite films of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I11KCob7CMQ

Joe's other features and shorts are well worth checking out too.

e_e

Also I mentioned this in the other thread but if you want a really terrific catalog of previously obscure movies then check out the DVDs that Second Run releases. They've brought out 2 of Weerasethakul's (above) movies too.

Liam McPoyle

Clean, Shaven.
Criminally underseen portrayal of mental ilness and a fantastic central performance from Peter Greene.

Cutting Moments.
Very nasty short dealing with the aftermath of child abuse revelations. Harsh stuff.

Goodbye Uncle Tom.

"Shockumentary" from Italian film makers Jacopetti & Prosperi using actual and dramatised footage of the slave trade. These are the same guys behind Mondo Cane and are cited as been a big influence on anything from Cannibal Holocaust to The Blair Witch Project, Goodbye Uncle Tom is them at their most exploitative.

Leave your morals at the door and wade in.

IrishAlice

The Ramen Girl.

I'll probably get shot for that but I really enjoyed it!

Maphisto

A couple I enjoy

Johnny Got His Gun - Dalton Trumbo
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067277/?ref_=nv_sr_1


Fortress of War or "Brestskaya krepost"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343703/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Worztron

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

Again, it's not exactly obscure. It has two very big named actors, and nearly 200,000 votes on IMDb.

Also, I thought it was very overrated.

Seedy Arling

Bad Boy Bubby is one of my favourite movies that i discovered in the last few years. I think i got the recommendation from someone in here.

It's a darkly comic tale of 'mothering' that has gone too far.

It starts off very, very grim but develops into a very nice story by the end of it. Nicholas Hope excellently plays the lead role as Bubby in a great performance. He looks a bit like Nick Cave after getting a massive electric shock.

From wiki in relation to the unique audio and visual aspects of it:

Director de Heer describes the film as one large experiment, especially in the method used to record the dialogue: binaural microphones were sewn into the wig worn by leading actor Nicholas Hope, one above each ear. This method gave the sound track a unique sound that closely resembled what the character would actually be hearing. The film also used 31 individual directors of photography to shoot different scenes.

Bipolar Joe

Worztron wrote: »

Also, I thought it was very overrated.

That's beside the point, but OK then.

Hell (2011).

German post apocalypse movie. The Sun has reached almost critical mass, and water is scarce. We follow a small group of people making their way through the world.

Quite well acted, and a decent script. There's a couple of niggling character moments, but over all a decent film, and quite grim. There's a constant, slowly growing sense of dread, where around each new corner is something worse than before. Lots of "Damn, something moved in the background, there." moments, which I enjoy a lot. It's a little bit all over the place with what's going on, over all, but not enough to annoy. Recommended to viewers who enjoy slow-moving post apocalypse movies. 7 / 10.

Summer Time Machine Blues (2005).

The Sci-Fi Club and Photography Club of a Japanese High School meet a time traveller from the future on one of the hottest days of the year, also a member of the Sci-Fi Club!

I love this film, and in my opinion, is the greatest time travel movie of all time. The fact that the time line is so convoluted is made because of something so stupid, a broken remote control for an air conditioner, is the kicker. It's like if Primer happened because someone lost their keys. I watch a lot of time travel movies, and this is the only one which has a completely logical approach. There's millions of little background moments, so it's well worth repeated viewings (I watched it for the eighth time a few weeks ago). Such a great movie, dangerously close to perfect. 9 / 10.

e_e

L'Eclisse

Can't describe what makes this film so powerful, so I'll let Martin Scorsese do it for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d0eFv1vHxo

e_e

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

Hell (2011).

For a second there I thought you were referring to Heli, a really absorbing and intense film I saw at the IFI a few weeks back. Kind of a journey to hell and back with this one Mexican family who accidentally have a run in with a cartel. Very grim but compelling film that I think can be eligible for this thread since it's kind of been overlooked, has echoes of No Country for Old Men too.

catallus

Would Swimming With Sharks count? Anytime I mention it to anyone they say they've never seen it, which I find odd.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114594/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Ape Lincoln

Swimming With Sharks might count as obscure to some aye. I saw it on DVD about 10 years ago when DVD had taken off and films like that appeaered on shelves. Empire had done a review of it. I've talked to people who have seen it and I think it might have been on RTE one late night.

Birneybau

Anything by Tom DiCillo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_DiCillo

Or, Hal Ashby:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Ashby

I'm sure they are not strangers to regular users of this forum but I'd hardly call them or their films well known, maybe with the exception of "Harold and Maude".

Birneybau

Worztron wrote: »

Agreed, I saw it a few months back. The opening song is very catchy.

'Tonight, the streets are ours' by Richard Hawley.

old hippy

This one from Thailand; it's a "western" complete with a few musical numbers and delivered in a kitschy technicolor style of cinematography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_of_the_Black_Tiger

biko

"Together", about the hippie communes in 1970's Sweden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD7Wv1q-S18

Maphisto

biko wrote: »

"Together", about the hippie communes in 1970's Sweden.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD7Wv1q-S18

The trailer reminded me of Lars von's The Idiots

I always think it's hard to find a truly obscure film that other people actually want to watch, most films are obscure for a reason. They simply aren't any good, there are literally thousands of cheap and not so cheap films that few people would ever want to watch.

One great little gem that few people seem to have heard of, let alone seen is Nackt unter Wölfen or to give it it's English title, Naked Among Wolves. Set in a concentration camp it;s the story of Polish prisoners in Buchenwald who hide a four year old boy from their Nazi captors. It's an incredibly powerful film and was the first film about the Holocaust to be made in Germany after the war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZC3_Tv3glw

Bozo Skeleton

Kwaidan Japan, 1964

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwaidan_(film)

Bozo Skeleton

A Touch Of Zen, Taiwan 1971

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Touch_of_Zen

This is amazing. Long before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the many other films that use wire for incredible fight scenes. It's over 3 hours long, nothing happens action wise for about 45 minutes, but when it does, woah. Apart from the greatly choreographed fight scenes, it's just a great movie.

Bozo Skeleton

I don't know if Harold And Maude is "obscure", but it's one of my favourite movies of all time.



If you haven't seen it, just watch it. Fill your heart with gladness.

e_e

Bozo Skeleton wrote: »

I don't know if Harold And Maude is "obscure", but it's one of my favourite movies of all time.



If you haven't seen it, just watch it. Fill your heart with gladness.

It's playing in the IFI for free this coming Saturday too.

goose2005

Dead Ringers is incredible. Basically Jeremy Irons as identical twin gynaecologists who slowly go mad. Kind of the anti-Frasier.

old hippy

goose2005 wrote: »

Dead Ringers is incredible. Basically Jeremy Irons as identical twin gynaecologists who slowly go mad. Kind of the anti-Frasier.

A great film but is it obscure, I always thought it to be one of Cronenberg's more accessible ones...

Bozo Skeleton

e_e wrote: »

It's playing in the IFI for free this coming Saturday too.

Ah cool. I actually saw it in the IFI a few years ago, they put on a one off showing of it. I won't make it to this one, I'll be working, but it's a rare chance to see this cult classic on the big screen if any of you haven't seen it, or just want to watch it again.

Worztron

Seedy Arling wrote: »

Bad Boy Bubby is one of my favourite movies that i discovered in the last few years. I think i got the recommendation from someone in here.

It's a darkly comic tale of 'mothering' that has gone too far.

It starts off very, very grim but develops into a very nice story by the end of it. Nicholas Hope excellently plays the lead role as Bubby in a great performance. He looks a bit like Nick Cave after getting a massive electric shock.

From wiki in relation to the unique audio and visual aspects of it:

I stopped watching after the appalling animal cruelty at the start. The poor cat is abused - locked in a cage and poked with a stick, tied to a chair and roared at, wrapped tightly in plastic and clearly very distressed. :mad:

shazzerman

Worztron wrote: »

I stopped watching after the appalling animal cruelty at the start. The poor cat is abused - locked in a cage and poked with a stick, tied to a chair and roared at, wrapped tightly in plastic and clearly very distressed. :mad:

Best keep off the Tarr, then.

smokedeels

Vi är bäst! / We Are the Best!

not sure if it's obscure... it's emm... Swedish, so...

I loved it. Funny and charming with fantastic performances.

Worztron

shazzerman wrote: »

Best keep off the Tarr, then.

What are you on about?

Read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Boy_Bubby#Release

"In the UK, it was cut for cruelty to a cat."

Seedy Arling

Worztron wrote: »

What are you on about?

Read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Boy_Bubby#Release

"In the UK, it was cut for cruelty to a cat."

'The cat scenes were carefully filmed, with a veterinarian and animal cruelty inspector on set. Nicholas Hope, in an on-stage interview included on the dvd of the film, says there were two cats, one of which became a pet of a crew member.'

http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/bad-boy-bubby/notes/


Are you going to boycott every film that portrays violence to humans as well or is it just cats you are rooting for?

badger57

District 13

French thriller with cool parkour stunts

Skerries

badger57 wrote: »

District 13

French thriller with cool parkour stunts

which was remade with Paul Walker in it
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430612/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_2

Decuc500

Seedy Arling wrote: »

Are you going to boycott every film that portrays violence to humans as well or is it just cats you are rooting for?

In fairness there's a bit of a difference between an actor acting out a violent scene and an animal being abused for a film. I haven't seen Bad Boy Bubby so I can't comment on that particular scene but I don't agree with animals being hurt or killed for art.

Worztron

Seedy Arling wrote: »

'The cat scenes were carefully filmed, with a veterinarian and animal cruelty inspector on set. Nicholas Hope, in an on-stage interview included on the dvd of the film, says there were two cats, one of which became a pet of a crew member.'

http://aso.gov.au/titles/features/bad-boy-bubby/notes/


Are you going to boycott every film that portrays violence to humans as well or is it just cats you are rooting for?

Carefully filmed? Those cats were very distressed - it was bad enough to abuse one but why another? The vet and the animal cruelty inspector (do you mean anti animal cruelty inspector or maybe the former title suits the person better) should be ashamed of themselves.

Like Decuc500 said, the violence to humans is acting.