Hidden gems
Great movies many viewers may have missed.
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15 titles
- DirectorPietro GermiStarsMarcello MastroianniDaniela RoccaStefania SandrelliA married Sicilian baron falls in love with his cousin and vows to wed her, but with divorce illegal he must concoct a crime of passion to do away with his wife.Black comedy set in Sicily. Vastly deserved Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsMaksim MunzukYuriy SolominMikhail BychkovThe Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.An Academy Award winner by one of history's greatest directors, so not exactly hidden... still, I rarely see it mentioned when people discuss Kurosawa's best works. Masterpiece.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsLaurence OlivierMichael CaineAlec CawthorneA man who loves games and theater invites his wife's lover to meet him, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results.Psychological duel between Lawrence Olivier and Michael Caine. Watch this and not the wretched remake.
- DirectorMario MonicelliStarsVittorio GassmanMarcello MastroianniRenato SalvatoriA motley quintet of inept small-time thieves attempt the burglary of a local pawnshop in this Italian farce.Hilarious parody of heist movies.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsGabriel ByrneAlbert FinneyJohn TurturroTom Reagan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties.It's a Coen brothers movies, so it's not *that* obscure... but still underrated, as this is one of their very best works, easily in their top 5.
- DirectorSergei BodrovStarsOleg MenshikovSergey BodrovSusanna MekhraliyevaTwo Russian soldiers, one battle-seasoned and the other barely into his boots and uniform, are taken prisoner by an anxious Islamic father from a remote village hoping to trade them for his captured son.Two Russian soldiers are taken prisoners by a group of rebels, and eventually bind with their captors.
- DirectorPietro GermiStarsSaro UrzìStefania SandrelliAldo PuglisiA desperate Sicilian man, whose 15-year-old daughter was seduced and impregnated by his older daughter's fiancé, tries to find a way to save the family's honor.Another fantastic black comedy set in southern Italy.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsHarrison FordHelen MirrenRiver PhoenixAn inventor spurns his city life and moves his family into the jungles of Central America to make a utopia.Peter Weir's movies are automatically worth watching; this one features one of Harrison Ford's best performances.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsAlberto SordiFranco FabriziFranco InterlenghiA character study of five young men at crucial turning points in their lives in a small town in Italy.One of Fellini's first movies, it's a bittersweet comedy about five friends stranded in a small town.
- DirectorChristian CarionStarsDiane KrugerBenno FürmannGuillaume CanetIn December 1914, an unofficial Christmas truce on the Western Front allows soldiers from opposing sides of the First World War to gain insight into each other's way of life.The moving story of a spontaneous truce during WWI. Academy Award nomination.
- DirectorPablo LarraínStarsGael García BernalAlfredo CastroAntonia ZegersAn advertising executive comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile's 1988 referendum.Political drama set in Chile. Academy Award nomination.
- DirectorMarc RothemundStarsJulia JentschFabian HinrichsAlexander HeldA dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.Academy Award nomination for the story of an anti-Nazi resistance group.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoKim Sang-kyungKim Roe-haIn a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.Perhaps best described as "The Korean Zodiac", it's an engrossing, memorable procedural.
- DirectorJoe DanteStarsTom HanksBruce DernCarrie FisherAn overstressed suburbanite and his neighbors are convinced that the new family on the block is part of a murderous Satanic cult.Underrated Joe Dante comedy with Tom Hanks.
- DirectorThom EberhardtStarsMichael CaineBen KingsleyJeffrey JonesA drunken Sherlock Holmes is really just a cover for the real detective, Dr. Watson.Clever, affectionate Sherlock Holmes spoof.