Some of my favourite movies have never been in mainstream cinemas. Not that they are weird, or artsy, but they just never hit the regular circuit because they just weren't blockbuster material. Others were locally successful but never got much play worldwide. Here's a couple to start with:

Beautiful People (UK, 1999)

The war in Bosnia and it's effect on people presented in an oddly humorous fashion with a subtle darkness underlying the entire film.The story of the heroin addicted football hooligan waking up in a war zone after accidentally falling asleep on a crate of humanitarian supplies is worthy of an Oscar alone.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159272/

Goodbye Lenin (Germany, 2003)

A dedicated communist party worker and single mother of two enters a coma after suffering a heart attack. In the months following, communism collapses in East Germany. When she awakes from her coma in a fragile state doctors warn her family that any shock may be fatal. Her son employs his aspiring film director friend to create fake newscasts while he tries to re-create the "old" East Germany within their home and a rapidly changing country around them keep him scrambling.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/

I took note of Goodbye Lenin when it came out but it passed me by.

This movie is one of my all time favorites, it was applauded in Australia but I don't think it got any coverage overseas.

Sunday Too Far Away is an Australian feature film which was directed by Ken Hannam and released in 1975. It belongs to the "Australian Film Renaissance" which occurred during that decade.

The film is set on a sheep station in the Australian outback in 1955 and its action concentrates on the shearers' reactions to a threat to their bonuses and the arrival of non-union labour.

Acclaimed for its understated realism of the work, camaraderie and general life of the shearer, Jack Thompson plays the knock-about Foley, a heavy drinking gun shearer (talented professional sheep shearer), and while he makes a play for the station owner's daughter Sheila (Lisa Peers), the film is a presentation of various aspects of Australian male culture and not a romance; the film's title itself is reputedly the lament of a shearer's wife, 'Friday night too tired; Saturday night too drunk; Sunday, too far away'.

Sunday Too Far Away won three 1975 Australian Film Institute awards: Best Film, Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

Wake in fright has been relocated and re-released - one scary film

The Last King of Scotland.

Sunday Too Far Away is an Australian feature film which was directed by Ken Hannam and released in 1975. It belongs to the "Australian Film Renaissance" which occurred during that decade.

<snip>

Acclaimed for its understated realism of the work, camaraderie and general life of the shearer, Jack Thompson plays the knock-about Foley, a heavy drinking gun shearer (talented professional sheep shearer),

Jack Thompson was able to do most of the shearing sequences himself because he had worked as a Jackaroo (station worker) for several years and learned how to shear and crutch sheep. He was a natural for the film and did very well out of it. His other claims to fame were posing naked in Playgirl magazine and being one of the very first full frontal nud_e models rather than hiding behind a strategically placed hat or bowl of fruit. He claimed they didn't have a big enough prop to hide his wedding tackle so didn't bother. Other claim to fame was his live in girlfriends who were sisters (twin?) He tried to marry both as a civil wedding but was refused permission.

CB

The Last King of Scotland.

Well, since it won best actor Oscar in 2007 it's not really a "Movie Nobody's seen".

I'd go for Mulholland Drive - David Lynch at his weirdest and his best.

The Last King of Scotland.

Well, since it won best actor Oscar in 2007 it's not really a "Movie Nobody's seen".

I'd go for Mulholland Drive - David Lynch at his weirdest and his best.

Quite a few movies have won awards but not exactly been a box office success, and being pedantic, a movie that no one had seen wouldn't be able to get a mention in here would it.

I haven't seen any of these movies. I feel I've missed out.

ps Good point Taddy. Although a thread title that read "Best movies that very few people have perhaps never seen" wouldn't work!

JCVD.

Fun little movie - very tongue in cheek.

There is a somewhat strange moment about half way through the movie where JCVD has a dramatic monologue that seems to me to be the man's very finest *if not First* moment of real genuine acting.

Funny thing is, it actually sounds and seems as if it is he himself really just pouring his heart out.

There's nothing I like more than seeing an actor be true to himself, and his audience.

"During Van Damme’s six-minute, one-take monologue, he references past drug problems. In truth, Van Damme had troubles with cocaine during 1995, entering a month-long rehab program in 1996 but leaving it only after a week.

In the film, Van Damme has a daughter, who chooses her mother’s custody. Actually, this scenario was played out with Van Damme’s real-life son, but they had to change his child in the movie to a daughter for legal reasons"

SPEAKING TO THE CAMERA, THE AUDIENCE:

This movie is for me. There we are, you and me. Why did you do that? Or why did I do that?

You made my dream come true. I asked for it. I promised you something in return and I haven't delivered yet. You win, I lose. Unless... the path you've set for me is full of hurdles where the answer comes before the question. Yeah I do that. Now I know why. It's the cure, from what I've seen here. It all makes sense. It makes sense to those who understand.

So... America, poverty, stealing to eat... stalking producers, actors, 'movie stars', going to clubs hoping to see a star, with my pictures, karate magazines. It's all I had. I didn't speak English. But I did 20 years of karate. 'Cause before I wasn't like that

[points to flexed bicep]

This... this is me today.

I used to be small and scrawny. And I took up karate. Hence the Dojo, hence respect, thou shall believe people who say, "Oss!" It's Samurai code. It's honour, no lies.

So this guy in the US, it's not the same thing. No one says "Oss" to you. Sometimes people in show business say, "We're gonna' fuc_k em'". I believed in people, in the Dojo.

I was blessed and had a lot of 'wives'. I always believed in love. It's hard for a woman with three kids to say, "Which one do I love more?" A mother... If you have 5, 6, 7, or 10 wives in a lifetime, they've all got something special, but no one cares about that in the so-called media.

What about drugs? When you got it all, you travel the world. When you've been in all the hotels, you're the prima donna of the penthouse. And in all hotels the world over, travelling, you want something more. And because of a woman... well, because of love, I tried something and I got hooked. Van-Damme, the beast, the tiger in a cage, the "Bloodsport" man got hooked. I was wasted mentally and physically. To the point that I got out of it.

I got out of it.

But... it's all there. It's all there. It was really tough. I saw people worse off than me. I went from poor to rich and thought, why aren't we all like me, why all the privileges? I'm just a regular guy. It makes me sick to see people... who don't have what I've got. Knowing that they have qualities, too. Much more than I do! It's not my fault if I was cut out to be a star. I asked for it. I asked for it, really believed in it. When you're 13, you believe in your dream. Well it came true for me.

But I still ask myself today what I've done on this Earth. Nothing! I've done nothing! And I might just die in this post office, hoping to start all over here in Belgium, in my country, where my roots are. Start all over with my parents and get my health back, pick up again. So I really hope... nobody's gonna' pull a trigger in this post office... It's so stupid to kill people. They're so beautiful!

So, today, I pray to God. I truly believe it's not a movie. It's real life. Real life. I've seen so many things. I was born in Belgium, but I'm a citizen of the world. I've travelled a lot. It's hard for me to judge people and it's hard for them... not to judge me. Easier to blame me. Yeah, something like that.

also a rather amusing little detail:

"The Gaumont title sequence has been altered for this film. The normal sequence has a silhouetted boy pulling a daisy from the ground, which floats to space to become the company logo. In this film, the boy is confronted by a silhouetted Van Damme, who attempts to take the daisy from him. When the boy resists, Van Damme does a roundhouse kick on him and kicks the daisy upwards, where it becomes the company logo."

The Gods must be crazy.

Quest for fire

Long Good Friday

Regards.

Gangster Number One.

British gangster movie that tells the story of gangster from when he was young to the present, spanning 30years.

If you are the sensitive type this movie isnt for you. The missus hates it, especially the language...

"Calling me a c_nt? You calling me a c_nt? You c_nt. I'll f_cking kick you. I'll kick &lt;removed&gt; out of ya. I'll kick you to- &lt;removed&gt; you. F... &lt;removed&gt; you!"

ps Good point Taddy. Although a thread title that read "Best movies that very few people have perhaps never seen" wouldn't work!

It would work for me, but the devil is in the detail

"From Dusk To Dawn" popped up on Fox last night.

My TGF couldn't believe how the second half of the film evolved.

Incredible cast: George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Quentin Tarantino, Selma Hayek, Juliette Lewis, Cheech Marin.

Gangster Number One.

British gangster movie that tells the story of gangster from when he was young to the present, spanning 30years.

If you are the sensitive type this movie isnt for you. The missus hates it, especially the language...

"Calling me a c_nt? You calling me a c_nt? You c_nt. I'll f_cking kick you. I'll kick &lt;removed&gt; out of ya. I'll kick you to- &lt;removed&gt; you. F... &lt;removed&gt; you!"

Sounds like 'Sexy Beast' wiv Big Ray

Oh yes, Gandhi was very good in Sexy Beast.

'The Road Home' by Zhang Yimou.

'Free Jimmy' is a great little movie that few people seem to know about.

A hidden little gem that I'd recommend to anyone.

'The Road Home' by Zhang Yimou.

Yes, along with "Not One Less" and "Raise the Red Lantern" are his best films to date.

I haven't seen Not One Less, thanks for the tip.

Agree Raise the Red Lantern is a masterpiece too, but it didn't touch me in the same way as The Road Home, plus it is more well-known, I think.

"From Dusk To Dawn" popped up on Fox last night.

My TGF couldn't believe how the second half of the film evolved.

Incredible cast: George Clooney, Harvey Keitel, Quentin Tarantino, Selma Hayek, Juliette Lewis, Cheech Marin.

Love Tarentino movies!

Local Hero

Not only great music, but a good, no great film to boot.

Recently "In Bruges". great acting and black comedy at it's finest.

Dolores Claiborne, with Cathy Bates and the Fonda girl, deep relationship stuff.

Not forgetting Rush, which should be shown to all teenagers before they turn to powder for excitement.

Local hero was fab. The line: "I wonder what all the poor people are doing" was a classic.

Gangster Number One.

British gangster movie that tells the story of gangster from when he was young to the present, spanning 30years.

If you are the sensitive type this movie isnt for you. The missus hates it, especially the language...

"Calling me a c_nt? You calling me a c_nt? You c_nt. I'll f_cking kick you. I'll kick &lt;removed&gt; out of ya. I'll kick you to- &lt;removed&gt; you. F... &lt;removed&gt; you!"

Excellent movie, Paul Bettany at his best.

Dead Calm.

Sam Neill, Billy Zane and a young Nicole Kidman.

As a sailor it sends a chill up my spine to this day.

Bringing Out the Dead (USA, 1999)

Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore. Directed by Martin Scorsese.

When I went to see this I was sharing a cinema with four other people. A shame as it was one of the best films I had seen in ages. Superbly directed, with a very talented cast. If you wern't one of the four who saw it on the big screen you absolutely must rent it. This is one of those films that should be watched with the volume up. The soundtrack is excellent.

Wow... I love Goodbye Lenin. The Edukators is great too which also stars Daniel Bruhl.

My suggestions would be London To Brighton, Running Scared, Dead End, The Machinist & Mysterious Skin. I think the film I've seen at the pics with the least viewers was Veronica Guerin, but it was really early on a Sunday morning so maybe that's why...

Thanks for the tip on The Edukators, got it on order

I consider quite rare and an amazing social insight into our recent past, the 1932 movie Freaks.

..or slightly more main stream, Play Dirty, great ending - "Don't do it again!".

How about these two? Similar in a gothic, noir sort of way.

If you can find it " A Private Function " is a great film about trying to kill a pig. Very funny indeed.