Weekly topic: overlooked film(s). (2010's)

What is something from the 2010's that you felt did not get enough appreciation? It can either be financial or critical.

A movie I think a lot about is 2012's The Comedy. It was probably destined to be small because of how specific it is (a critique of aging Brooklyn hipsters) but it is really beautiful in many areas with a poignant ending.

Another one is Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then. He releases so many movies that they tend to get lost in the shuffle, but its bifurcated structure shows the branching paths things can take in life.

 

mother! is a good movie

/thread

 

Per Letterboxd and sorting by popularity:
Louder Than a Bomb (2011)
The Nobodies (2018)
Tchoupitoulas (2012)
The American Scream (2012)
The Bad Kids (2016)

Most of the 30 for 30s are very good and appear to be under-seen by the LB crowd. I don't know if Edge of Seventeen gets the love it deserves. The Final Girls has a lower average rating than it should.

 

I don't quite know about overlooked, but some films I like a lot that perhaps would do well if played to a bigger audience.

Beauty and the Dogs (Kaouther Ben Hania, 2016): A highly stressful film from Tunisia about a young woman, assaulted after a party, trying and failing to find help and justice.

Dead Sushi (Noboru Iguchi, 2012): A proper silly and ludicrous horror (ish...) film about killer sushi.

Still Human (Oliver Siu Kuen Chan, 2018): A touching and quite charming film about a disabled man and a Filipino carer looking after him. Some may say this veers on a bit saccharine, but I found it quite affecting.

Missbehaviour (Pang Ho-cheung, 2019): A goofy and quick paced ensemble comedy, about the hunt for a missing bottle of breast milk, and the variety of people who cross paths with it.

Coming Home (Zhang Yimou, 2014): A tragic love story, about a couple split by the Cultural Revolution, and then re-united in a form years later.

So Long, My Son (Wang Xiaoshuai, 2019): A history of a family, losing a son, and simultaneously a tale of modernising China, from the 80s to the present day. Completely absorbing.

The World of Us (Yoon Ga-eun, 2016): Story of a friendship between a couple of 12 year old girls, full of little bits of joy, and then little moments of sadness. Brilliant performance and depiction of children at that age.

Under the Tree (Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson, 2017): A dry and dark Icelandic comedy, two stories running in parallel and then intersecting.

Good Vibrations (Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn, 2012): A charming and joyful film about the early days of punk in Belfast.

37 Seconds (Hikari, 2019): A touching story about a young woman with cerebral palsy, who wants to be a Manga artist. Has some surprisingly blunt and frank scenes that are deliberately uncomfortable to watch, but ultimately ends happily.

 

Poetry by Lee Chang-dong is maybe my favourite film of the 2010's that I think more people should see. Just beautifully written.

The Nightingale by Jennifer Kent was a huge step up from The Babadook in my opinion but didn't seem to get anywhere near the same level of attention.

Jodorowsky's The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry were two of the most interesting and enjoyable "biographical" films I've ever seen. I'm so happy he made them. I'd recommend them to anyone who enjoys his more popular films.

Kotoko by Shinya Tsukamoto is an intense watch but probably my favourite film he's ever made.

 

Edge of Seventeen is one of the reasons I tend to avoid trailers now. I went in fully expecting a movie about the two best friends and had a hard time adjusting to what the movie is actually focused on. I always intended to go back to it but I don’t think I can watch 2 hours of Blake Jenner

 

Lee is one of the best directors working right now. Poetry, Secret Sunshine, and Burning are all incredible.

 

The “forgiveness” scene in Secret Sunshine is remarkable, a hugely powerful moment.

 

Edge of Seventeen absolutely rules.

 

I think Secret Sunshine is the only Lee film I’ve seen, but that one also absolutely rules. Need to revisit it, but I think it’d hit harder for me this time so idk.

 

I don't know what really constitutes overlooked, a few of these were relatively popular, but here are a few I feel like didn't get the shine they deserved

 

I thought about I Saw the Devil and Wild Tales too. Both are amazing!

 

I found the level of violence and sadism in “I Saw the Devil” too unpleasant when I saw it a decade or whatever ago. I know that’s the point, about how violence begets violence etc etc, but I found it pretty hard to stomach.

Maybe it’s due a revisit, but it was a pretty grim experience for me.

 

It's not something I'd want to rewatch. Definitely an extreme film but very well done. Martyrs is similar in that way.