c/overlooked-movie-gems

That time a forum stranger made me rewatch a movie with subtitles on

I used to think subtitles were a crutch until some random user told me I was missing half of what makes foreign films great. They pointed out that I'd been watching dubbed versions of a French thriller and basically getting the cliff notes version. So I went back and watched it raw with subs, and the whole tone shifted, the pauses, the background chatter, everything mattered. Now I check the audio track before I even start anything from overseas. Anyone else had a viewing habit get flipped by a comment from a stranger?

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victor_carr54•6d ago

Vent: my favorite indie flick got a 4K release and I'm still mad about it

I spent three months tracking down a beat-up DVD of this 2009 film called The Station Agent's cousin, no wait, it was 'Lovely Still' from 2008. The disc skipped during the last 20 minutes and I just dealt with it. Then last Tuesday I saw it got a Blu-ray remaster out of nowhere, and it made me realize I'd built up this whole story about it being impossible to see. Now it's everywhere on streaming and I can't even pretend it's my secret gem anymore. Anyone else feel weird when a hidden movie you loved finally gets mainstream attention?

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lucas_price83•7d ago

Just realized I was watching movies wrong for 15 years

I used to only watch what was in theaters or trending on streaming, never digging past the front page. Last year I started a rule: one hidden gem per week from before 1980, and my whole idea of what makes a good film flipped. Has anyone else found that pre-80s stuff you'd never hear about hits harder than modern indie flicks?

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claire_campbell•9d ago

My favorite indie sci-fi movie broke on a scratched DVD last night

I was showing my buddy Time of the Wolf, this tiny 2003 French film about a family after a blackout, and the disc skipped right at the big reveal scene, 40 minutes in, in my old $20 DVD player. The scratch was from a used bin at a pawn shop in Portland, and neither of us had seen the ending before, so we just sat there in silence for a minute. Has anyone else had a great hidden gem ruined by a bad copy, and do you switch to streaming or hunt down a better disc?

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