18 Great Noughties Movies You May Have Missed

Lesser spotted, but equally deserving...

By Mark PowellDec 11th 2009
14

The Brown Bunny (2004)

In A Nutshell: Colossally navel-gazing, semi-autobiographical arthouse ramble from wildly hit-and-miss polymath Vincent Gallo, wedged inside the mirror-kissing head of haunted motorbike racer Bud Clay.

Why You May Have Missed It: We all heard about Gallo’s Cannes-booed vanity project, but for entirely the wrong reasons - how many of us actually saw it?

Why Missing It Is Mad: The Brown Bunny was immediately portrayed as some kind of physical ‘Now Leaving...’ sign on the furthest borders of what critics felt an auteur had the right to attempt.

Destined for cult status the minute those brutally dismissive reviews started trickling in, it is in fact nothing like as offensive as it was made out to be.

It lacks focus, sure, and it’s jaw-droppingly self-regarding, but to suggest it's devoid of any merit whatsoever really smacks of toys being thrown from the collective critical pram.

Sod it - let’s go the whole hog (ha!) and say that several chunks of it are actually highly intriguing. Failing that, watch it just so you can say you have.

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Comments

    • Hadouken76

      Dec 11th 2009, 15:39

      id like to add that zatoichi, twilight samurai, dirty pretty things, in search of a midnight kiss, dead mans shoes to that list and even though it came out in 1998 i still think legend of 1900 is an underated gem

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    • sjsmith88

      Dec 11th 2009, 18:28

      I didn't miss You and Me and Everyone We Know, I caught it. Wish I hadn't. Following your 4-star review I had it in my head that I was in for a pleasant little indie. Instead it was your run-of-the-mill pretentious art-house rubbish. Dreadful.

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    • skinjob

      Dec 12th 2009, 8:38

      I'd like to add taxidermy - not a pleasant film to watch by any stretch of a twisted imagination but worth watching for the second and third acts on its own and the climactic scene is one that will stay wih me for a long time! if swallowed - do not induce vomiting!!

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    • namedropper

      Dec 13th 2009, 14:24

      We call them Neds and not Chavs up our way and I thought Sweet Sixteen was mainly set in Greenock and not the Port! Anyway I'd like to add Dear Frankie as a movie also set in the same area. Cracking performances from all concerned but especially the child playing Frankie. Will bring a tear to your eyes! Still hoping that Gerard Butler and Emily Mortimer will get together at some point!

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    • domduck

      Dec 14th 2009, 11:21

      The Year of the Dog should be in here - and Waitress. The perfect hangover double-bill.

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