Little Known Flicks We Should See?

[DoctorJones24]

How bout a thread where we each propose a single film that most of us have probably not seen, and explain why the rest of us should find it.

I'll start:

JINNAH (1998)
For those of you who liked "Gandhi," this would be a great one to watch alongside. It retells the story of Indian Indepence and subsequent partition from the perspective of the "father of Pakistan," Muhammed Al Jinnah. Again, a white Englishman plays the role of the title Indian; this time it's Christopher Lee (Saruman from LOTR) who is fantastic as the complex and divided leader of Muslim India. The form of the film is also more playful and experimental than Attenborough's "I'm making an EPIC!" style. This one opens with Jinnah's death, and the film involves an examination of his "case" for admittance to heaven (think "Defending Your Life"). Shashi Kapoor, probably the biggest Bollywood star of his generation plays Jinnah's judge and jury. Specifically, the film investigates Jinnah's blame for the partition massacres that followed independence, which left about 1 million people dead--truly one of the great atrocities in world history. Attenborough's film of course absolves "Gandhi" entirely, putting the blame squarely on the Muslim leader's shoulders. So this film is kind of an answer to "Gandhi." The point is worth noting that while Gandhi preached religious tolerance and diversity, his whole philosophy of satyaghra (sp?) comes down from Hindu teachings, and suggested pretty clearly to India's Muslim minority that India would be a Hindu nation. Anyway, a tough one to find, but worth the effort.

[Doctor Stamen]

24/7. It's a film about a guy (Bob Hoskins) starting up a boxing club in Nottingham. It starts with Bob as a drunken tramp with nothing, and then it goes back to show you how he got into that state.

It's really low budget, but it's great.

[GringoTex]

"Superstar" - Todd Haynes' debut film.

The low budget 16 mm feature that tells the life of Karen Carpenter using Barbie dolls rather than human actors. I'm not talking about animation - it's all live action on miniature sets with dolls. No special effects, blue screens, etc.

I know what you're thinking: must be some black comedy/satire. WRONG. It's 100% to-be-taken-seriously melodrama. And it works. Leaves you in tears.

Unfortunately, a court order was issued banning the film from any kind of distribution. Haynes used Carpenters recordings in the film and, of course, the Carpenter estate refused to grant him clearance rights. I was lucky enough to see a 16 mm print of the film, but you'll have to do with bootleg videos. Many independent arthouse video stores have a copy but don't display it. So if you live next to one, go in and make a "special request" of the manager/owner.

[Dolemite]

"The Forgotten Zone"
this is a very hard to find film. needless to say it's crazy. it's about how the midget from fantasy island is the king of the sixth dimension who wants to keep a french girl after she accidentley falls into the sixth dimension. the film is in black and white, i believe it was made around 1980, and there are lots of very weird musical numbers. very very strange

[Daniel from Montréal]

"Married Life" which is a Canadian mockumentary where a team follows a newlywed couple and in which the director influences the couple to get ratings. Some truly hilarious scenes. Originally a 5 part miniseries. I saw it on Showcase, a Canadian channel.

Up there with Best in Show.

[oman]

Android. Not really little known, however.

[Michael K.]

<b>Forgotten Silver</b>

Another ace mockumentary, this one from none other than Peter Jackson. I saw it as the first part of a double bill with '100 years of Polish Cinema' a few years ago and thought it was absolutely fantastic, and yet I never heard neither hide nor hair of it again. Until now...

<b>'For Peter Jackson's fifth film he collaborated with Costa Botes to make this mocumentary on the supposed founder of the New Zealand film industry, Colin McKenzie. In the documentary, the man was shown to have experimented with colour, developed sound, and also constructed the mobile camera, when it was all just an elaborate.

It is a hilarious look at the film industry in a documentary style that has many reputable people like Sam Neill, Harvey Weinstien, Leonard Maltin. It even has Peter Jackson himself, supported the evidence.

When it was screened in New Zealand, it managed to fool half the population, thus being one of Jackson's favourite triumphs.'</b>

http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/f/forgotten.html

[Dante]

Boondock Saints

One of the best movies never to hit the big screen.

[phats_away]

american movie

a documentary on this guy making a low budget horror movie called craven

[Smiley321]

Videodrome is a great surreal movie starring James Woods and Debbie Harry (of Blondie).

[otterulz]

I'm not a big movie buff like most of you guys so I don't know if you know this one but it's called "Sneakers". Robert Redford, the late River Phoenix, Dan Akroyd, Sidney Poitier. Basically, they're kind of a rag tag group of experts who specialize in testing security systems. Then they're involved in trying to find a top secret black box that can crack into any system like the FBI and other important files. It's a comedy with some cool gadgets considering this film is from '92 and is a pretty fun film.

[Dolemite]

Originally posted by otterulz
I'm not a big movie buff like most of you guys so I don't know if you know this one but it's called "Sneakers". Robert Redford, the late River Phoenix, Dan Akroyd, Sidney Poitier. Basically, they're kind of a rag tag group of experts who specialize in testing security systems. Then they're involved in trying to find a top secret black box that can crack into any system like the FBI and other important files. It's a comedy with some cool gadgets considering this film is from '92 and is a pretty fun film.

saw it...... awhile ago, and it doesn't stand out in my mind........ at least not for a thread like this.

[phats_away]

Originally posted by phats_away
american movie

a documentary on this guy making a low budget horror movie called craven

damnit, i can't edit...

it's coven not craven

[Alberto]

Matador by Pedro Almovodar
Kinky and weird film by Woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown's director about two matador's one a real matador and the other a black widow.

Drugstore Cowboy by Gus Van Sant
The best film on the drug culture. No preaching no sentimentality and a great performance by Dillon.

Woman in the Dunes by Hiroshi Teshigahara
Visual treat in B/W.

[Metro]

Originally posted by Dolemite
"The Forgotten Zone"
this is a very hard to find film. needless to say it's crazy. it's about how the midget from fantasy island is the king of the sixth dimension who wants to keep a french girl after she accidentley falls into the sixth dimension. the film is in black and white, i believe it was made around 1980, and there are lots of very weird musical numbers. very very strange

This sounds familiar. Might you be referring to "Forbidden Zone?" This was made by Richard Elfman sometime in the 80's. Richard Elfman brother to Danny Elfman who wrote some of the music in this music and performed with his band at the time Oingo Boingo. It is very strange but highly entertaining. You just have to see it. You can get a copy from the filmaker at http://www.richardelfman.com for about $30.

[Daksims]

Swingers - Vince Vaughn & Jon Favreau

American History X - Edward Norton

SLC Punk - Matthew Lillard

[ruudboy]

American Pimp-american, from the Brothas that did Menace to Society.
Human Traffic-Welsh

[nicodemus]

Originally posted by DoctorJones24
How bout a thread where we each propose a single film that most of us have probably not seen, and explain why the rest of us should find it.

I'll start:

JINNAH (1998)
For those of you who liked "Gandhi," this would be a great one to watch alongside. It retells the story of Indian Indepence and subsequent partition from the perspective of the "father of Pakistan," Muhammed Al Jinnah. Again, a white Englishman plays the role of the title Indian; this time it's Christopher Lee (Saruman from LOTR) who is fantastic as the complex and divided leader of Muslim India. The form of the film is also more playful and experimental than Attenborough's "I'm making an EPIC!" style. This one opens with Jinnah's death, and the film involves an examination of his "case" for admittance to heaven (think "Defending Your Life"). Shashi Kapoor, probably the biggest Bollywood star of his generation plays Jinnah's judge and jury. Specifically, the film investigates Jinnah's blame for the partition massacres that followed independence, which left about 1 million people dead--truly one of the great atrocities in world history. Attenborough's film of course absolves "Gandhi" entirely, putting the blame squarely on the Muslim leader's shoulders. So this film is kind of an answer to "Gandhi." The point is worth noting that while Gandhi preached religious tolerance and diversity, his whole philosophy of satyaghra (sp?) comes down from Hindu teachings, and suggested pretty clearly to India's Muslim minority that India would be a Hindu nation. Anyway, a tough one to find, but worth the effort.

I have wanted to see this movie so freaking bad since it came out. I did a good portion of my undergraduate work on Jinnah, but haven't been able to find this film yet. If you have any suggestions of places to look for it, I'd love to know. Additionally, the superbabe Indira Varma plays Jinnah's wife Ruti I've heard.

The movie I would add to this thread would be Vertical Ray of the Sun. It is one of the most beautifully shot movies ever.

Another great little known movie is Shower. It pits modernity against traditional ways. Its a Chinese movie. Very funny, but very serious too.

The impossible to find movie I would suggest would be Music in Their Bones a great documentary about bluegrass in rural Alabama.

[DoctorJones24]

Originally posted by nicodemus


I have wanted to see this movie so freaking bad since it came out. I did a good portion of my undergraduate work on Jinnah, but haven't been able to find this film yet. If you have any suggestions of places to look for it, I'd love to know. Additionally, the superbabe Indira Varma plays Jinnah's wife Ruti I've heard.



Bummer, nicodemus. I just checked too, and neither Amazon.uk nor Netflix have it, so I'm at a loss. I remember when I saw the screening of it (part of a film series at UMich called "Bollywood and Beyond") that one of the producers was there, and he mentioned they had been having trouble getting a distributor. That was almost a year ago though, and I thought they would have secured something by now. I guess it's just a waiting game until it is finally released. Once that happens, I've found Netflix to be very useful in getting hard to find foreign films.

[DoctorJones24]

Originally posted by Daksims
Swingers - Vince Vaughn & Jon Favreau

American History X - Edward Norton



Not to be a crank, but in what universe are these "little known flicks?"
(They are both excellent, no doubt)