The Hidden Gem

I love a good movie. I love a good film.GI Joe is not considered a good movie in my eyes. Nor is Transformers 2. They are barely called movies, let alone films. A good movie to me is something with a plot, character development, deeper meaning, a quality story and something worth reflecting on.

I love finding the hidden gems on the rental store shelves or the depths of the iTunes store. They are tricky to find. They are so tricky to find that sometimes you get ones that stink. I mean they barely even qualify as STV's in my books (Straight to Video is most often classified as less than a B Movie to me).

One Week was/is a hidden gem. Hardly had a presence on the video rental store shelves but was a great movie. This past weekend I rented what I was hoping would be a hidden gem: Is Anybody There? It stars Micheal Caine and Bill Milner (the kid from Son of Rambow - which is another Hidden Gem). I figured with Caine, how could you go wrong? The movie was slow paced and uninspiring. Don't get me wrong, I love dark movies that look into shadows of our souls, but as long as there is some resolve, some hope, some sort of development. Nope, not with "Is Anybody There?" I wonder if the crew of this movie asked that same question of their cast? I know I would have.

With finding Hidden Gems, I've learned a couple things: 1. You rarely know you have a hidden gem unless told by a trustworthy movie watcher, even then they could be off. 2. They are difficult to find on the shelves between the money grabbing Sandra Bullock love stories, GI Joe and CG lame movies. 3. It's always a chance by watching something unknown. Hidden Gem movies rarely get marketed because they aren't huge money grabbers (unlike any sort of Michael Bay movie). 4. Often, but not always, have a lot of film festival notes on the cover or back. 5. They often have a message of hope and fulfillment in the end (at least for me).

What's a hidden gem movie/film you've watched lately?

Cheers, Matthew A. Hawkins