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Boyan Atanaschev
I know what you're thinking. Barton Fink, right? Well, whereas that's one of my favorite Coen brothers movies (and if I were to rank their films, it would end up near the top) I don't think any movie that won the Palme d'Or could be considered "underrated." Mostly unwatched, sure. But underrated? Naw.
How about The Hudsucker Proxy? Well, while I do enjoy that picture, and feel that it's underappreciated, I wouldn't call it underrated, either. With a 60% Rotten Tomatoes critical score, I think it's perfectly rated.
That said, whenever I hear anybody talking about their filmography, I'll always hear the same movies brought up in conversation time and time again: Fargo, Raising Arizona, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Big Lebowski, and of course the Oscar-winning, No Country for Old Men, as people are still mulling over the ending to that one.
People will likely continue to discuss that last film, especially since it's probably the best Cormac McCarthy adaptation, but you know what movie people likely won't be discussing all that much in the future? Buster Scruggs, and I think that's a damn shame, because I'd definitely put it up there with their best work (and wish that others would, too). I mean, how can I not? It's like six Coen brothers movies in one!
That's right! For those who don't know or have been ignoring Tim Blake Nelson's Netflix singing cowboy film since 2018, it's an anthology western. Each segment shows a different side of the American west, and distinctly feels like its own separate movie.
But, the best performances probably come from "Meal Ticket," where Harry Melling plays a limbless actor, and Liam Neeson plays the person who brings him around to performances. In my mind, Melling definitely should have been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and it's a crime that he wasn't. It's some of the best acting that I've ever seen in my entire life!
Finally, I truly think Buster Scruggs is underrated for just how unique it is to the western genre in general. In my article on great westerns that aren't traditional at all, I went into it which, again, I think is superior to the Coens' more traditional western, True Grit.
Each vignette is centered around a bygone era, and each one showcases how treacherous, and dangerous the west was, but in Coen brothers style. For that reason alone, and with all the different stories we're getting here, I feel like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs should be much more beloved than it is. It's not just a good Coen brothers movie. It's a great one, and I think it deserves all the love in the world.
A few years ago, moviegoers would eagerly wait for weeks for the movie to premiere at the cinema, where they would be able to watch it with friends and family on the big screen. If for any reason they happened to miss the premiere of a film, they would have to wait for it to be available in rental stores or to be released on TV. Nowadays, many movies are still theatrically released, but technology has evolved and a large number of productions are now reaching audiences in a different way thanks to streaming platforms.
The massive selection of content available on streaming platforms makes it much easier to find a movie or show. However, it makes it nearly impossible to keep up with all the latest releases. There is simply so much content being uploaded per month that it can get overwhelming. Netflix, for one, is among the streaming platforms with the most movies and series released per year, many of which are actually originals. And while several of its titles enjoyed widespread acclaim and popularity, many others were either underrated or overshadowed by other releases. Netflix has a few hidden gems that deserve a bit more love from fans.
Updated on August 5th, 2023 by Federico Furzan: This article has been updated with additional content to keep the discussion fresh and relevant with even more information and new entries.
For her leading role in I Care A Lot, Rosamund Pike won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture. This 2020 film follows Marla, an unscrupulous woman who lives at other people's expense. For several years, she has been exploiting elderly people as their legal guardians, under the pretext that they are incapable of taking care of themselves.
Along with Fran, her life and business partner, they pick up a new victim to swindle, a lady named Jennifer Peterson. However, their job won't be as easy as they expect, because Jennifer is secretly connected to the criminal world, and that threatens to destroy Marla forever. Pike is joined in this production by Peter Dinklage, Dianne Wiest, Eiza Gonzalez, and Chris Messina.
Apostle is a film set in 1905 that follows Thomas, a British man who embarks on a trip to a distant island isolated from the outside world to rescue his sister Jennifer, who has been kidnapped by a religious cult. The young man attempts to reveal all of this organization's secrets in order to destroy it from the inside, but he ends up discovering things that are more horrifying than he thought.
This production was written and directed by Gareth Evans and starred Dan Stevens, Lucy Boynton, Mark Lewis Jones, Michael Sheen, Bill Milner, Paul Higgins, and Kristine Froseth. Apostle premiered in September 2018 at Fantastic Fest and just a few weeks later had its second premiere on Netflix.
The 2018 film The Perfection is a terrific combination of horror, crime thriller, and black comedy, and it's one of those productions that you don't quite figure out until the very end of it. It was directed by Richard Shepard and starred Allison Williams and Logan Browning alongside Steven Weber, Alaina Huffman, Mark Kandborg, Graeme Duffy, and Eileen Tian.
The Perfection explores the human obsession with achieving perfection and follows Charlotte, a prodigious cellist who had to give up her career to take care of her mother. After a decade, she finally comes back to the conservatory where she was trained, only to discover that her spot has been taken by a young up-and-coming star named Elizabeth. These two women strike up a romance that will lead them down a dark and winding path with dire consequences.
The Call is one of the many movies whose theatrical release was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why it ended up premiering on Netflix in November 2020. Directed by Lee Chung-hyun, this South Korean thriller is based on the 2011 film The Caller, and stars Park Shin-hye and Jeon Jong-seo, whose performance earned her a few nominations and a Director's Cut Award.
The Call follows Seo-yeon and Young-sook, two women who connect through a phone call and find out that they are living in different eras: one in 1999 and the other in 2019. Following this call, they start to help each other solve some difficult personal situations, dramatically changing each other's lives. But not all that glitters is gold, as changing things from the past can lead to very, very dangerous consequences for everyone involved.
The Platform is a Spanish movie that premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness. It is set in a dystopian future and presents a tower made up of many levels with two inmates living on each floor, rotating randomly.
Right in the center of this building lies a hole through which descends a platform overflowing with food, provided under one condition: the prisoners on each floor are to eat what the ones on the previous floor have left over, and so on until the platform reaches the final floor. Naturally, this system creates conflicts among the inmates, who are willing to do absolutely anything in order to satiate their hunger. This production stars Ivn Massagu, Zorion Eguileor, Antonia San Juan, Emilio Buale Coka, and Alexandra Masangkay.
Two years before he directed the Oscar-winning film Parasite, Bong Joon-ho helmed Okja, a co-production between South Korea and the United States that competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It stars Ahn Seo-hyun alongside both South Korean and Hollywood stars such as Byun Hee-bong, Yoon Je-moon, Choi Woo-shik, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Steven Yeun, Daniel Henshall, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Giancarlo Esposito.
Okja follows Mija, a young girl who lives in South Korea with her grandfather and a super pig called Okja that has been genetically modified by a corporation. The girl and the animal are great friends and spend their days going on adventures. Eventually, the corporation recaptures Okja and transports her to New York City, where she faces a fateful destiny. Without hesitation, Mija embarks on a rescue mission to bring her friend back, and she will meet several allies that will help her on this journey.
Ben is a writer who quit his job following an accident that took the life of his young son and ended his marriage. Trying to give a new meaning to his life, he enrolls in a course to become a registered caregiver and is hired by Elsa to take care of Trevor, a young teenager suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
Trevor is fond of roadside attractions so, with his mother's permission, he embarks on a cross-country road trip with his caregiver that will transform their growing bond into a friendship. In the midst of it, they meet Dot, a teenager who is trying to run away from her past and who will join them on the journey, as they search for new reasons to embrace life. The Fundamentals of Caring is a 2016 film written and directed by Rob Burnett based on the novel The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison. It starred Paul Rudd, Craig Roberts, and Selena Gomez.
Private Life is a 2018 film that revolves around the lives of a couple in the pursuit of conceiving a child. This comedy-drama was written and directed by Tamara Jenkins and featured starring performances by Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn alongside Kayli Carter, Molly Shannon, John Carroll Lynch, and Denis O'Hare.
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