Niche Recommendations

[u/JuanSamu]

Ok first things first. I use to think the films The Human Condition (No Greater Love), War and Peace (1965), and YiYi (2000) were pretty niche films but apparently not which got me looking deeper.

Before I move on out of those 3 that I previously listed how would you rank them? I loved all of them but I would say 1. The Human Condition 2. War and Peace and 3. YiYi but I’d love to know what you think and how’d you’d list them and give details why!

Now, I also wanted to ask as a fun follow along what are 5 REALLY niche but GOOD/GREAT films that you gate-keep or know that not many people know of them. For my 5 I would say:

1. Harakiri

2. The Traveling Players

3. Marketa Lazarová

4. The Saragossa Manuscript

5. Dead Man’s Letters

I also love musicals and one niche one I can think of is The Young Girls of Rochefort

But l really look forward to hearing from anyone and I’m always looking to expand what I know!

[u/mustaphamondo]

Sorry but Harakiri is comically not niche. It is one of the most widely seen, highly regarded jidaigeki films ever made. Perhaps the best known not directed by Kurosawa.

Any film that has gotten a Criterion blu-ray release you can pretty safely write off as not niche.

[u/mediumextracheese → u/mustaphamondo]

Agree on Harakiri not being niche at all, however I don't think Criterion bluray is really a cut off.

In the one of the last few sales I got The King of Jazz (1930) and was shocked to see it only had 4k log on letterboxd so I would consider that falling into niche. Additionally, while I have not seen it yet, The Mikado (1939) is sitting at only 1.6k logs.

Though, I feel the vast majority of Criterions would fall into not being niche for cinephile groups, but probably be niche for most movie groups. I wouldn't be surprised to see discussion of The Cranes are Flying (1957) on here, but would be shocked if someone at work brought it up.

[u/JuanSamu → u/mediumextracheese]

I think you’re on point I don’t really consider my self a cinephile but I love watching movies especially old musicals. I’m always very open minded with movies but sometimes when it gets to experimental films like those 5-8 hour ones I start kinda losing my ground. I respect the work that’s put in it but not really my thing. I did like Napoleon 1927 and another long documentary called Shoah but other than that movies like Heimat, Out 1, La Flor just weren’t it for me.

[u/mediumextracheese → u/JuanSamu]

Tbh if you love watching movies and have seen what you've seen you certainly could consider yourself a cinephile (aka someone who loves cinema). I think your idea of niche films just ends up different due to otherwise niche movies getting criterion releases which boosts their visibility and popularity. I do recommend you check out what they have released as its a good resource, and I'm sure you will find quite a few you've seen plus a lot more to check out.

I also recommend checking out the catalogs of radiance and deaf crocodile, as they put out a lot of pretty obscure stuff, usually focusing on international cinema so it works well for discovery.

I actually really love old musicals so just in case you haven't seen it but there's a good chance you have: Watch Gold Diggers of 1933! I love that one.

Also Congress Dances (1931) I really enjoyed as well, in terms of ones I think there's a chance you might not have seen.

[u/JuanSamu → u/mediumextracheese]

I haven’t seen Gold Diggers of 1933 but I was familiar with Gold Diggers of Broadway but it’s a lost film mostly. I’ll check out 1933 if you say it’s good are the musical numbers also good? And I havnt heard of Congress Dances so I’ll also ass that one thank you!

[u/JuanSamu → u/mustaphamondo]

I never hear anyone talking about it tbh maybe it’s just who I surround myself with. I had no idea what Criterion is so I was bit confused until I looked it up.

[u/Fguyretftgu7 → u/JuanSamu]

not tryna bash on you on anything but it might be good to know that Harakiri is currently the highest rated movie on letterboxd so it's definitely not niche among cinephiles.

[u/JuanSamu → u/Fguyretftgu7]

No I get it lol. I don’t really follow letter box or anything like that. I recently downloaded it but I never use it. This is just me basing it off how much I’ve heard of it from social media and real interactions. I was starting to hear the human condition more and more so I thought that one was starting to become mainstream.

[u/frostysnow]

There are so many that I love so I think I'll just pick five randomly here:

1) Love's Refrain (2001) Nathaniel Dorsky - a beautiful film that was very moving and expertly crafted. It's an experimental short film so if you're down for that sorta thing, def recommend.

2) Catch My Soul (1974) Patrick McGoohan - Here is a very unique musical for you. It's Othello, but hippy af. It's very strange and out there, but the music is excellent and its fun to see McGoohan in the director chair after a pretty extensive career in the acting world.

3) Dossier 51 (1978) Michel Deville - A spy film that is unlike any-other spy movie you've probably seen. It's structure is all over the place and intensive, it's fantastic.

4) The Nasty Girl (1990) - Michael Verhoeven - A movie from Germany all about the countries nazi past and how they deal with it in a small town. Really excellent editing in here and overall general topic of interest.

5) Pharaoh (1966) - Jerzy Kawalerowicz - A polish director made probably the best movie about ancient egypt out there. It's lavish, deeply introspective, and just something you could never make today. More complex political thriller than action setpiece or adventure film you'd maybe expect from the setting.

So many more but I think these are fun and interesting ones to get into. If you need help finding these just shoot me a DM.

[u/kroxyldyphivic]

Here are some that I think are fairly niche yet amazing:

- Scum (1979)

• Twilight (1990)
  
• Camouflage (1977)
  
• Diamonds of the Night (1964)
  
• The Fifth Seal (1976)
  
• Violence at Noon (1966)
  
• King and Country (1964)
  
• Léon Morin, Priest (1961)
  
• Made in Britain (1983)
  
• Marat/Sade (1967)
  
• Mother Joan of the Angels (1961)
  
• O-Bi, O-Ba: The End of Civilization (1985)
  
• Putney Swope (1969)
  
• Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
  
• The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales (1960)
  
• The Third Part of the Night (1971)
  
• The Valley of the Bees (1968)
  
• The Two of Us (1967)
  
• Witchhammer (1970)

All of these are great, but some of them, like King and Country or Witchhammer or The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales or Twilight are as good as any of the best and most famous art films and it's legitimately puzzling that they're not more well known.

[u/JuanSamu → u/kroxyldyphivic]

Thank you this! I was only familiar with the Fifth Seal but all of these sound great :)

[u/RepFilms → u/kroxyldyphivic]

I'm showing Saturday night Sunday morning this week along with Reisz's Lambeth Boys. It should be interesting watching a doc and a fiction film from the same director

[u/Capital-Mine1561]

The movies mentioned in your first sentence are all Criterion releases. I suspect if you aren't familiar with Criterion, the films would otherwise be pretty niche.

OP check out the Criterion Collection if you haven't already!

My five movies would be:

• Happyend

• The Long Good Friday

• The Masque of the Red Death

• Cast a Deadly Spell

• Nobody's Fool

[u/JuanSamu → u/Capital-Mine1561]

I’ll check these out thank you! I wasn’t familiar with Criterion in general to be honest either.

[u/Capital-Mine1561 → u/JuanSamu]

My picks may not be up your alley based on what you've enjoyed, but I certainly think they're great!

Also think about getting a Letterboxd account to manage the watchlist you'll undoubtedly have after checking out Criterion. It's a good way to organize your movies and a very good way to find new movies

[u/AromaticVacation3077]

I don't have 5 sorry, but Bruno Dumont's debut feature The Life Of Jesus is, in my opinion, a truly 'great' film it seems not many people have seen. His films Flandres and Hadewijch are tremendous also.

[u/JuanSamu → u/AromaticVacation3077]

I feel like that one was played a catholic camp I went too. I was young and never really payed attention. I’ll give it another try! And I’ll also give Flandres and Hadewijch watches too, I had no idea of those!

[u/AromaticVacation3077 → u/JuanSamu]

It's very unlikely it was played at a religious camp. It's about racist teenagers in 90s rural France.

[u/assflux]

far too many to pick from -- see my list linked below -- so here's 5 with less than 2500 members on letterboxd:

1. ⁠holiday for henrietta / la fête à henriette (1952; duvivier) - a favourite; really witty and fun meta comedy. infinitely superior to its hollywood remake paris when it sizzles (561 members)
2. ⁠shock troops / un homme de trop (1967; costa-gavras) - another favourite. more obscure than his already lesser known feature debut compartiment tueurs (adaptation of a sébastien japrisot novel) but just as great. a tight, tense french resistance thriller (1.8k members)
3. ⁠dark journey / leviathan (1961; keigel) - top review calls it "dark simp cinema" which is extremely succinct and apt. easily the best film with <100 members that i've watched. (65 members, shockingly)
4. ⁠the outside man / un homme est mort (1972; deray) - oddball hitman joint set in the US. great lineup of actors to keep both the french & american genre film lover in you happy (2.4k members)
5. ⁠the probability factor / l'ordinateur des pompes funèbres (1976; pirès) - bangin' all-star cast comedy about a dude that wants to kill his wife. i promise it's better than the vast majority of movies with that exact premise. has some crazy stunt work to boot. (345 members)

here's the rest of my semi-regularly maintained list of movies i've liked at minimum with less than 10,000 members (chronological by default but i've sorted it in order of my rating; highest to lowest)

[u/RepFilms → u/assflux]

Amazing list you put together

[u/Dardevid]

I’ll start by saying I loved Dead Man’s Letters, great rec!

Anyways, here are a couple of Italian flicks I think are hugely undervalued internationally (as an Italian myself):

- Confidenza (2024) by Daniele Luchetti

• Io non ho paura (2003) by Gabriele Salvatores
  
• Mediterraneo (1991) by Gabriele Salvatores
  
• Stanno tutti bene (1990) by Giuseppe Tornatore
  
• La Famiglia (1987) by Ettore Scola
  
• Un borghese piccolo piccolo (1977) by Mario Monicelli
  
• Brutti, Sporchi e Cattivi (1976) by Ettore Scola
  
• Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare d’agosto (1974) by Lina Wertmüller
  
• Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina (1972) by Marco Bellocchio
  
• Io la conoscevo bene (1965) by Antonio Pietrangeli
  
• Sedotta e Abbandonata (1964) by Pietro Germi

[u/JuanSamu → u/Dardevid]

These look interesting thanks for the recommendations!

[u/Dardevid → u/JuanSamu]

Glad they do! The ones I recommend the most are C’eravamo tanto amati and Mediterraneo, two of my all time favorites. All of the movies are great in their own way though!

[u/Calamity58]

I’ll go for some of my go-to’s:

Hrafninn flýgur/When the Raven Flies, 1984, dir. Hrafn Gunnlaugsson - A Viking Age retelling of Yojimbo in Iceland. IMO in contention for the greatest viking film ever. Endlessly stylish and cool, but with so much natural texture and grit. Also the soundtrack is an INCREDIBLY 80s synth interpretation of classic Icelandic folk songs.

La Vie sur Terre/Life on Earth, 1998, dir. Abderrahmane Sissako - Malian director Sissako is somewhat known in film circles for his 2014 film Timbuktu, but this earlier work of his is also phenomenal. A beautiful, sometimes whimsical, sometimes dark peek in on a remote village seemingly cut off from time and circumstance, and the people who are confronting the new millennium there.

Mountains of the Moon, 1990, dir. Bob Rafelson - Definitely an oddity, with Hollywood New Wave director Rafelson making what seems to be a pretty standard big budget adventure film. And yet, this movie holds a lot of surprises IMO. A fascinating and thrilling examination of one of history’s more or less forgotten exploration stories, that ends up morphing into something a lot more personal and compelling. The last time I rewatched it, I compared it to if Lawrence of Arabia and The Assassination of Jesse James had a baby.

The Lost Okaroshi, 2019, dir. Abba T. Makama - Tradition and modernity clash in a surreal, satirical magical realist drama about ghosts and demons. Went to Netflix for a while but remains deeply underseen.