If you like Shaolin Soccer, then ya gotta see Kung Fu Hustle. Not as obscure as Soccer, but just as good in my opinion.

I also recently watched a Chinese Action/Drama called Hit Team. The stroy was well written, and reminded me a little of Heat. Some good action scenes round out a surprisingly good flick.

I watched Kun Fu Hustle with my wife and mother-in-law last year. They both HATED it. I think that you need some experience with kung fu films to appreciate it.

Or ... it's just that undefinable factor that makes some people like the Three Stooges and others despise them.

As a matter of fact I watched Kung Fu Hustle with my mom. She said it was silly and a stupid movie - for the record, she was laughing throughout the film ... and laughing tearfully through some of it. Even when I reminded her of some of the gags she would start laughing again. Maybe she didn't want to admit she was laughing at "lowbrow" humor.

I thought that it was a unique movie. It was more than just "lowbrow" humor.

Another obscure movie recommendation: Happiness of the Katakuris
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P...2.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

It's a Japanese B-movie. It answers the question: Can a movie be so bad that it leaps to the other end of the spectrum and becomes good?

Another film by the same director (Miike), which Im not sure I really recommend, but is definitely obscure, and not for the faint of heart, is Visitor Q. I would describe it as the most horrifying coming together of a family ever filmed, not necessarily in a scary sense, more in a disturbing, "WTF?", sense. See it at your own risk.

Before the Rain

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110882/

I was looking through my old subscriptions folder and found another TFP thread that has similar recommendations on there as well - http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?t=76907

I'd just like to include in here since others may have forgotten about it or not seen it before.

Most of the movies I've seen over the past couple months haven't actually been that great [or they were great and well-known, the secret window] , but here's a couple that I do recommend (both of which may be more well known)

Brick - 2006 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393109/ - a film-noir whose backdrop is actually a contemporary high school and with suburb teenage acting.

Brazil - 1985 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/ - Similar themes of government corruption and Big Brother, a futuristic film about a govt worker being sought out by the govt.

cya,
keyshawn

Seven Beauties by the Italian Director who did Cast Away (a movie about survival in a concentration camp)

Cookers, actually not a bad horror flick

Angels and Insects from the writer of Captain Correlli's Mandolin

mi'ike is the shit, in the parlance of our times.

czech new wave faves:

daisies
veronica and her week of wonders
fruits of paradise
closely watched trains
send my love to the swallows
pearls of the deep (there are some cool segments which make the other stuff worth watching)

i am obsessed with toru takemitsu and have made is my mission to see every film he did music for. so far, all these are great:

kwaidan
samurai rebellion
hara kiri
woman in the dunes
gaudi

everything my john cassavetes, particularly with gena rowlands. great stuff. no-one goes insane as well as gena rowlands.

monsieur hulot movies:
mr. hulot's vacation (one of the great stoner films ever, from what i have read about such things)
mon oncle
playtime

jacques tati was a genius. monsieur hulot is tati's character. therefore mr. hulot is genius.

so was pee wee's playhouse, but that is another matter.

david holzman's diary. just see it. trust me.

will success spoil rock hunter?
so great. words fail.

Two of my favorites were already mentioned, but are worth repeating:
"The Emerald Forest" with E. Powers Booth. Haunting story, beutifully filmed.
"The Red Violin" with Samuel L Jackson - You don't have to love classical music to like this movie, but you might just develop an appreciation for it.

Don't recall seeing this one:
"Paris Texas" with Nastassja Kinski, Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell. Never met anyone else who has seen it, much less liked it enough to talk about it. Compelling story, amazing acting, and unbelievable cinematography. I did not really know what cinematography really was until seeing this movie. I'd be really curious to hear what other people say about this movie.

Good for a laugh:
"They Call Me Trinity" with Terrance Hill

I've seen Paris Texas, don't remember much about it, just Harry Dean Stanton walking out of the desert. The Emerald Forest was excellent.

"Paris, Texas" was a great lyrical film. The whole film is driven by it's depiction of solitude and loss. The screenplay is minimal and the plot can fit on a single sheet of paper ... It's all about the mood. I liked it. But I can understand if someone else might regard it as pretentious or slow.

"Badlands" is another film that you either like for the mood or hate for the pace.