Wait, there're more underrated films?

lily
Mar 20, 2019
9 min read

yep.

For the sake of keeping this post "short", I'm just gonna get straight to the point. Here is the second half of my 20 favorite underrated films. As always, please enjoy @ your own risk...

1. The Place Beyond the Pines (Dir. Derek Cinfrance, 2013)

I'm going to be nice and let you know right off the bat that Place Beyond the Pines is a 2 and a half hour long film. Though it is split into 3 parts, but it's really only three 45 segments, which seems pretty palatable to me. The first part focuses on Handsome Luke (an always handsome Ryan Gosling) who's a bank robber by day and stunt biker by night. He also happens to be the dad of Eva Mendes' kid (cinematic parallels amiright?) even though she's moved on to the lovely Kofi (Mahershalaaaaa!). The first part ends with a robbery gone wrong, with Luke leading a questionable Avery Cross (Jackson Maine) on a chase through a graveyard. I don't want to spoil the end of pt 1 because it shocked my gd socks off, so instead we'll get to part 2. The second part was probably my least favorite part. It's basically just Avery getting in bed with some bad cops and harassing Eva and Kofi, and that's all you need to know. Pt. 3 however is good as shit. It follows Luke and Averys' now teenage sons as they get to know each other. After Luke's son (Dane DeHaan, is he dreamy? idk) discovers he's friends with Avery's son all hell breaks loose, and we get one heck of an ending. If you are willing to devote 2.5 hours of your time to a movie, I'd suggest wasting them on Place Beyond the Pines. Now please enjoy the sideshow I have compiled of all the boys from this film, you're welcome.

2. Diary of a Teenage Girl (Dir. Marielle Heller, 2015)

This movie is an adaptation of Phoebe Gloeckner's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, and it most certainly does its source material justice. This is one of those movies I've recommended to all my friends/ any girl I came in contact with. Diary of a Teenage Girl is a coming of age film set in 70's San Francisco about a 15 year old Minnie who starts seeing her moms boyfriend Monroe, and it's pretty great. The movie is funny, awkward, and semi relatable. The only reason I say semi is due to the fact that I am sadly not a teenager in the 70's, I haven't had an affair with a 30 year old, and because I also haven't gotten around to doing meth yet. The film follows the novel pretty accurately, and also does a good job of adapting the 1st person diary entries and drawings into film form. Marielle smartly turned Minnie's written diary from the book into a recorded diary for the film. The movie also makes use of some weird ass animation, which is fitting since Minnie aspires to be a comic artist. the the casting is really great, Bel Powley (doing her best "I'm a UK girl doing an American accent"), Kristen Wigg being sort of serious and also faboo, and of course Mr. Alexsander Skarsgard just being handsome (and also very creepy/ predator-y). The costumes are amazing, in that I'd wear all of Minnie's bell bottoms and clogs. Also the set design is fucking amazing, Minnie has a fireplace in her room. In. Her. Room. I should add that Marielle also directed one of our 2018 favorites, Can You Ever Forgive Me? so you know she means business. I definitely recommend this movie to the girls out there/anyone who's interested, but be advised you may want to hit up the IMDB parents guide before watching this with your parents/ kids if you get my drift. And if you're too scared to watch with your kin then definitely check out the soundtrack for some offbeat 70's bops.

we might not support your decisions, but we support you Minnie

3. Mid90s (Dir. Jonah Hill, 2018)

Continuing with the coming of age theme, our next film is straight out of both the 90's and last year. I know that Mid90s might not seem super underrated right now because of how new it is, but I was pretty surprised with how little it was talked about and I feel like it will be a forgotten gem in a few years. I wasn't expecting to like this movie as much as I did, A) because A24 released it and I'm currently engaged in a love/hate relationship with them, and B) because I knew the only people that were gonna see it were going to be either pretentious skater kids, or asshole wannabe skaters, both groups that I don't exactly geehaw with. That being said, I really loved this movie. I like coming of age movies that focus on younger kids instead of the usual 15-16-17 year olds. Sunny Suljic is honestly the cutest thing ever, and was adorable as Stevie. I though all of the older boys were really great too, especially since I'm pretty sure none of them act. Between the orange juice and Clinton mask, Lucas Hedges' character was one of the weirdest characters of 2018, but it's Lucas so we loved it. I though Mid90s was cute and funny and sort of upsetting, and just all around good. My only ish with with this movie was the cinematography. Sometimes I really liked it and sometimes it felt a little low rent. Other than that, I liked this movie and so will you.\

4. Y Tu Mama Tambien (Dir. Alfonso Cuaron, 2001)

For our last coming of age film we'll be taking it to Mexico for this trip of a roadtrip film. So, Y Tu Mama Tambien is about two friends (Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna, the Matt and Ben of Mexico) who set off on a roadtrip with Diego's older cousin-in-law, Luisa. As you might have guessed, the two guys fall in love with Luisa, but guess what else? she has cancer, duh duh duh... It's hard to explain this film because most of the major plot points only show up at the end and I would hate to spoil it for you. The reason I love this film so much is because of its references to Mexican politics. Even though I don't understand the references, I still enjoy feeling like a cultured bitch. The film also reminded me a lot of Roma, not only because of Alfonso, but because they both have the same nostalgia and dreaminess. If you're down for a trip south of the border, then Y Tu Mama Tambien is your movie. Just beware because there is a lot of full frontal peen in it, you've been warned.

5. The Wrestler (Dir. Darren Aronofsky, 2008)

Now it's time to get into dome downer-y shit. And that shit is The Wrestler, the criminally underrated depressing and gory film from Darren (still trying to forgive you for dating Jennifer Lawrence). I haven't seen this movie in a few years, but it was oh so memorable, for both good and bad reasons. The good, The acting was amazing. I haven't seen Milk yet, but I can assure you that Mickey Rourke's performance was better than Sean Penn's (AKA Mickey was robbed of an Oscar). Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood were also really great and heartbreaking. Also the story was great. It was sort of an anti-Rocky in that Mickey played a washed up wrestler trying to get back into the ring and earn the love and attention he deserves. As for the bad stuff, it's not so much bad as it's just gory and violent. I'm talking guys staple gunning each other, lassoing with barbed wire, and Mickey jaming his hand into a meat grinder. Other than that it's a really great film. I don't usually talk to the screen when I'm watching movies, but I remember straight up pleading with Mickey's character for the entire last 10 minutes of the movie. Also that ending... guys. I'm a you-know-what for ambiguity and that last shot is the definition of ab-fab. The Wrestler is low key hell on Earth, but it's also amazing, so like what do you have to lose?

6. The Master (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)

Y'all knew this movie was gonna have to show up at some point. The Master is honestly that movie, like, PTA really did that. As with all PTA movies, there is some patience required with watching his stuff. This movie is waaayyyyy better than There Will Be Blood in terms of interest factor, but it's still a long ass movie. I feel like you really watch this movie for the acting. The Master has my dream cast, Joaquin, Amy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman...?! I think I've mentioned this before but I really feel like no one could have played Freddie Quell like Joaquin did, and he deserved every single award he was nominated for. Phillip played a fictionalized version of our Lord and Savior, L Ron Hubbard, and he played him well. Amy played his terrifying wife, which was basically just a warm up for her role as Mrs. Cheney. Plot wise The Master is a loose adaptation of the history of Scientology. It's got cults, weird mind reading confessional shit, and a boat. Also the cinematography is amazing and beautiful. That being said, let us now enjoy a slideshow of the art that was this movie. But first, great work PTA, ygg!

7. The Drop (Dir. Michael Roskam, 2014)

I discovered this movie in my Warrior induced, Tom Hardy craze of 2015. The Drop is about Tom Hardy and his cousin, Tony Soprano, who run a bar that does deals with the Chechen mob. While that sounds like it should be the main plot of the movie, surprise! it's actually not. The main plot focuses on Tom finding a puppy in Noomi Rapace's (the og Lisbeth Salander) trashcan. He eventually adopts the dog and strikes up a lil romance with Noomi, but not without her ex man coming around to harass Tom. The ex-bf (my Flemish boyfriend, Matthias Schoenaerts) claims to have murdered one of Tom and Tonys' former patrons, but Tom knows better than to fall for that shit. I'll spare you the details because the twist is definitely a twist. If anything, you should watch it because A) Tom Hardy, B) I'm pretty sure this was Gandolfini's last role and I liked seeing him go out as a gangster, and C) that puppy is cute as fuck. I couldn't find a good still to use, so here're some pics of Tom hanging out with the dog.

8. Other People (Dir. Chris Kelly, 2016)

So I know I said The Master might have my dream cast, but Other People might just top that. The film stars Jesse Plemmons (love), Bradley Whitford (looove), and Molly Fucking Shannon (I Love her, I Love her, I Love her). Other People is both cute and funny while also being kind of devastating. The plot revolves around Jesse's character who comes home to help take care of his mom who's dying from cancer. There's also the equally as heartbreaking subplot that deals with Bradley's character not wanting to accept the fact that Jesse has a boyfriend, so that's great. This movie is a quintessential indie, in that it's got the funny stuff, it's got the cast, it's got the good plot, and it's just an all around great movie. The ending is so heartbreaking and almost makes me like "Drops of Jupiter". What's more heartbreaking, watching Molly Shannon die or finding yourself in support of a film using a Train song? you decide. I really don't think Molly gets enough credit for her more serious roles, because I really can't express how fantastic she was in this role. I would honestly recomend this movie to anyone and everyone, which means you. So please pretty pls watch it, Now!!!

9. Stoker (Dir. Park Chan-wook, 2013)

I'm going to keep this short because there's no way in hell I can effectively describe this movie. Long story short, Stoker is about India who forms a relationship with her creep-ass uncle after her dad's death. If I'm being honest the main reason I watched this was because of good ol' Matthew Goode and also Dermot Mulroney, who was tragically only on screen for like 5 minutes, but whatever. The best way to describe Stoker would probably be Tim Burton meets Hitchcock, but maybe weirder. It's definitely not for everyone, but I loved it enough to watch it twice in a week (which is probably too many times but who cares).

he might be crazy but he's still a hottie

10. God's Own Country (Dir. Francis Lee, 2017)

God's Own Country is basically just British Brokeback, which means that I am 100% here for it. This movie was kind of like Weekend, in that it totally flew under the radar, and also because it is very very sad. Luckily unlike Brokeback, it at least has a happy ending. I think the reason I liked this film so much was because it was everything Call Me By Your Name wasn't. The relationship aspect was a lot more interesting, and the characters weren't as pretentious. People also praised CMBYN for having this amazing father-son conversation, but I don't remember getting anything out of that scene. God's Own Country on the other hand, had a really great scene between Josh O'Conner's character and his dad, which I definitely remeber making me cry like a b. My only thing was that the movie had some graphic depictions of animals being born and also skinned to make a coat for other animals. Which like, I get that it's set on a farm, but that doesn't mean I need to get a close up of cow vj pushing out a calf. I'm so sorry for the imagery created from reading that last line, but it needed to be said.