Smaller Ones with Big Points
by aniellepoww | created - 24 Sep 2017 | updated - 09 Oct 2022 | PublicIndependent or open minded films that make points larger than their budget.
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1. The Dish & the Spoon (2011)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Reeling from her husband's affair, Rose collides with a marooned teenager in a boarded-up Delaware beach town.
Director: Alison Bagnall | Stars: Greta Gerwig, Olly Alexander, Eleonore Hendricks, Amy Seimetz
Votes: 1,322
2. American Beauty (1999)
R | 122 min | Drama
A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Wes Bentley
Votes: 1,211,272 | Gross: $130.10M
3. Samson & Delilah (II) (2009)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Romance
A glue-sniffing boy and his girlfriend escape the government-controlled no-hope Aboriginal community they live in and go to the city, Alice Springs, looking for a better life.
Director: Warwick Thornton | Stars: Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson, Mitjili Napanangka Gibson, Scott Thornton
Votes: 3,765
4. Borat (2006)
R | 84 min | Comedy
Kazakh TV talking head Borat is dispatched to the United States to report on the greatest country in the world.
Director: Larry Charles | Stars: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian, Luenell, Chester
Votes: 442,258 | Gross: $128.51M
5. The End of the F***ing World (2017–2019)
TV-MA | 25 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
James is 17 and is pretty sure he is a psychopath. Alyssa, also 17, is the cool and moody new girl at school. The pair make a connection and she persuades him to embark on a road trip in search of her real father.
Stars: Jessica Barden, Alex Lawther, Steve Oram, Christine Bottomley
Votes: 220,132
6. Amélie (2001)
R | 122 min | Comedy, Romance
Despite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta
Votes: 794,406 | Gross: $33.23M
7. Memento (2000)
R | 113 min | Mystery, Thriller
A man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Junior
Votes: 1,323,315 | Gross: $25.54M
8. The Virgin Suicides (1999)
R | 97 min | Drama, Romance
A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid 1970s.
Director: Sofia Coppola | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, James Woods, Kathleen Turner
Votes: 169,273 | Gross: $4.86M
9. Donnie Darko (2001)
R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.
Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne
Votes: 850,313 | Gross: $1.48M
10. Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013)
NC-17 | 180 min | Drama, Romance
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire and to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adèle grows, seeks herself, loses herself, and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche | Stars: Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Aurélien Recoing
Votes: 163,104 | Gross: $2.20M
11. Annie Hall (1977)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Romance
Alvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane
Votes: 278,487 | Gross: $39.20M
12. What If (I) (2013)
PG-13 | 98 min | Comedy, Romance
Wallace, who is burned out from a string of failed relationships, forms an instant bond with Chantry, who lives with her longtime boyfriend. Together, they puzzle out what it means if your best friend is also the love of your life.
Director: Michael Dowse | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Megan Park, Adam Driver
Votes: 81,697 | Gross: $3.45M
13. Okja (2017)
TV-MA | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend - a fascinating beast named Okja.
Director: Bong Joon Ho | Stars: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Ahn Seo-hyun, Jake Gyllenhaal
Votes: 132,187
14. Spirited Away (2001)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiiragi
Votes: 849,847 | Gross: $10.06M
15. Maniac (2018)
TV-MA | 39 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Two strangers are drawn to a mysterious pharmaceutical trial for a drug that they're assured will, with no complications or side-effects whatsoever, permanently solve all of their problems. Things do not go as planned.
Stars: Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Sonoya Mizuno, Justin Theroux
Votes: 86,767
16. Submarine (2010)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: to lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.
Director: Richard Ayoade | Stars: Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor
Votes: 96,555 | Gross: $0.47M
17. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama
A washed-up superhero actor attempts to revive his fading career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Andrea Riseborough
Votes: 666,659 | Gross: $42.34M
18. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
PG-13 | 112 min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy
In a magically realistic version of Toronto, a young man must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes one by one in order to win her heart.
Director: Edgar Wright | Stars: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Anna Kendrick
Votes: 465,478 | Gross: $31.49M
19. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Gerry Robert Byrne
Votes: 1,078,347 | Gross: $34.40M
20. Swiss Army Man (2016)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A hopeless man stranded on a deserted island befriends a dead body, and together they go on a surreal journey to get home.
Directors: Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert | Stars: Paul Dano, Daniel Radcliffe, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Antonia Ribero
Votes: 133,635 | Gross: $4.21M
21. Her (2013)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Rooney Mara
Votes: 669,877 | Gross: $25.57M
22. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Mystery
During a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Rachel Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse
Votes: 41,055 | Gross: $0.23M
23. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
R | 99 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
A writer encounters the owner of an aging high-class hotel, who tells him of his early years serving as a lobby boy in the hotel's glorious years under an exceptional concierge.
Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody
Votes: 887,052 | Gross: $59.10M
24. Frances Ha (2012)
R | 86 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A New York woman apprentices for a dance company and throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as the possibility of realizing them dwindles.
Director: Noah Baumbach | Stars: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver, Michael Zegen
Votes: 94,329 | Gross: $4.06M
25. Circle (II) (2015)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Held captive and faced with their imminent executions, fifty strangers are forced to choose the one person among them who deserves to live.
Directors: Aaron Hann, Mario Miscione | Stars: Allegra Masters, Aimee McKay, Ashley Key, Autumn Federici
Votes: 66,137
26. Paterson (2016)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A quiet observation of the triumphs and defeats of daily life, along with the poetry evident in its smallest details.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Nellie, Rizwan Manji
Votes: 88,977 | Gross: $2.14M
27. Boy (I) (2010)
Not Rated | 87 min | Comedy, Drama
Boy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan who lives on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.
Director: Taika Waititi | Stars: James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone-Whitu, Taika Waititi, Moerangi Tihore
Votes: 29,545 | Gross: $0.26M
28. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
PG | 96 min | Comedy
A listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.
Director: Jared Hess | Stars: Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell
Votes: 237,847 | Gross: $44.54M
29. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
R | 122 min | Drama, Romance
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Director: Céline Sciamma | Stars: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luàna Bajrami, Valeria Golino
Votes: 109,664 | Gross: $3.76M
30. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 912,708 | Gross: $32.57M
31. The Lighthouse (I) (2019)
R | 109 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Two lighthouse keepers try to maintain their sanity while living on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
Director: Robert Eggers | Stars: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe, Valeriia Karaman, Logan Hawkes
Votes: 255,140 | Gross: $0.43M
32.
SparkShorts (2018–2024)
Episode:
Twenty Something
(2021)
PG | 7 min | Animation, Short, Comedy
Adulting can be hard. Some days you're nailing it, while other days, you're just a stack of kids hiding in a trench coat hoping no one notices.
Director: Aphton Corbin | Stars: Kaylin Price, Ariana Brown, Aliyah Taylor, Janelle Lasalle
Votes: 1,370
33. Holding the Man (2015)
Unrated | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History
The warm, funny and achingly sad story of the 15-year-long love affair between Timothy Conigrave and the boy he fell in love with at high school, John Caleo.
Director: Neil Armfield | Stars: Ryan Corr, Sarah Snook, Francesco Ferdinandi, Craig Stott
Votes: 13,388
34. Landscapers (2021)
TV-MA | 48 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A devoted and mild-mannered British couple become the focus of an extraordinary investigation when two dead bodies are discovered in the back garden of a house in England.
Stars: Olivia Colman, David Thewlis, Kate O'Flynn, Dipo Ola
Votes: 18,287
35. The Bisexual (2018)
TV-MA | 40 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Dramedy series examining the life of a woman who breaks off with her long term girlfriend and tries having a relationship with a man for a change.
Stars: Desiree Akhavan, Maxine Peake, Brian Gleeson, Saskia Chana
Votes: 1,409
36. Eagle vs Shark (2007)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Romance
The tale of two socially-awkward misfits and the strange ways they try to find love: through revenge on high-school bullies, burgers, and video games.
Director: Taika Waititi | Stars: Loren Taylor, Jemaine Clement, Craig Hall, Joel Tobeck
Votes: 26,264 | Gross: $0.22M
37. Shiva Baby (2020)
Not Rated | 77 min | Comedy, Drama
At a Jewish funeral service with her parents, a college student runs into her sugar daddy and ex girlfriend.
Director: Emma Seligman | Stars: Rachel Sennott, Danny Deferrari, Fred Melamed, Polly Draper
Votes: 33,283
38. The Worst Person in the World (2021)
R | 128 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The chronicles of four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is.
Director: Joachim Trier | Stars: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum, Hans Olav Brenner
Votes: 97,583
39. We Go Way Back (2006)
Not Rated | 80 min | Drama
A tragic-comic tale with surrealistic tendencies about a lost 23-year-old who is haunted by her disappointed 13-year-old self.
Director: Lynn Shelton | Stars: Amber Hubert, Maggie Brown, Aaron Blakely, Robert Hamilton Wright
Votes: 314
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