While You Were Sleeping: 10 Great Films You May Have Missed

With the slew of craptastic movies that are released every year, it's easy to overlook some of the good ones. Tucked between the blood-and-guts gorefests and mindless, soulless shtick displays, there are many quality films that didn't find their proper audience, yet remain truly well-done works of art. I've assembled a list (hurray, another list!) of ten movies you may have missed the first time around.

10. Afterglow (1997). This is the only entry on my list that could honestly be called a shitty film. So why, you are asking, does it deserve a spot here? Well, two words: Julie Christie. Christie takes this Alan Parker-written and -directed snooze-o-rama and lifts it to the realm of magic by the sheer force of her performance alone. I've never encountered a film so transformed by a single actor's work. Christie makes watchable this silly tale of two couples who unknowingly swap spouses. Yet there's something more at work here: a tour-de-force presence that dominates the entire landscape of the movie with deftness and style. While everything else about this film may be a great heaping pile of ash, Christie is the magnificently glowing ember keeping it all afloat.

9. The Sweet Hereafter (1997). Though it was a critic's darling, "The Sweet Hereafter" seemed to fall by the wayside of the general moviegoing public. It's the brave, smart, devastatingly sad character study of the denizens of a small Canadian town in the aftermath of a tragic school bus accident. Fueled by inspired writing and direction (by Atom Egoyan) and dynamite performances, this is one of those rare films that gets under your skin and stays there. "The Sweet Hereafter" implores us to study our own ideas of grief and forgiveness, and, as a result, reminds us how everything can change in an instant: a poetic call to better embrace each and every moment.

8. Now, Voyager (1942). This may be the great Bette Davis's finest hour. Though "Now, Voyager" is rightfully regarded as a classic, I'm shocked by the number of people who've never even heard of it. In an age of overblown melodramas, it stands out as a sincere, restrained mapping of one woman's emotional transformation from ugly duckling to gilded swan. Davis shines as Charlotte Vale, making each step of her voyage a thrilling, brave lesson in discovering our own unique nature. The legendary final scene alone is worth taking the journey: Paul Henreid, lighting two cigarettes, hands one to a radiant, teary-eyed Davis, beneath the glittering stars.

7. 8 Women/8 Femmes (2002). A musical like you've never seen before. Director/adapter Francois Ozon adds a delicious twist on the classic murder mystery with catchy songs and a brilliant all-female cast consisting of some of the greatest actresses in French cinema. Headed by the insanely sexy Catherine Deneuve, "8 Women" has a ball with its old-hat whodunit: Who killed Daddy?...with rollicking, contagious song-and-dance numbers! And trust me, even though it's in French, you'll be humming these songs long after the mystery is solved.

6. Eve's Bayou (1997). Virtually ignored at the box office, "Eve's Bayou" is a startlingly unique story of love, redemption, and black magic in the Deep South of the early 1960s. Writer/director Kasi Lemmons turns her lens on the turbulent world of a well-to-do African-American family in rural Louisiana, examining the complex web of relationships surrounding the family patriarch, Dr. Louis Batiste (Samuel L. Jackson). The story unfolds through the eyes of the middle Batiste child, the precocious Eve (a brilliant Jurnee Smollett). The film holds its finest moments, however, when focused on Louis's sister Mozelle, played with electric ferocity and emotional nakedness by Debbi Morgan. Morgan's performance is nothing short of astounding and aids in further elevating "Eve's Bayou" to the realm of a modern film classic.

5. "Mourning Becomes Electra" (1947). The central family in this story may well be the most dysfunctional in the history of motion pictures. Based on Eugene O'Neill's 1931 play, "Mourning Becomes Electra" is the emotionally complex and psychologically fascinating story of the Mannon family, a post-Civil War, well-to-do New England clan. The plot is an updating of the classic Greek myth "The Oresteia", so it's not without its fair share of murder, mayhem, greed, incest, adultery, vengeance, and, of course, fate. But damn: it's oh-so-much-fun! Rosalind Russell is riveting as daughter Lavinia, Michael Redgrave is graceful and sexy as brother Orin, and Katina Paxinou is divinely bitchy as matriarch Christine. If you see it for no other reason than to feel better about your own messed-up kin, it's time well spent.

4. "The Turning Point" (1977). Two aging dancers, one still hoofing it onstage every night (Anne Bancroft), the other now a homemaker (Shirley MacLaine), meet up after a lengthy separation and all the triumphs, recriminations, and turbulence of their former friendship are reignited. Sound like the latest Lifetime Movie-of-the-Week? Well, it ain't. Thanks to flawless performances from MacLaine and Bancroft, the soap operatic elements of "The Turning Point" are turned into scene after scene of intense emotion and painful, palpable regret. Their catfight scene alone is worth a viewing: no two actresses could've turned such a Dynasty-esque moment into something so raw, so explosive, and so real.

3. "One True Thing" (1998). Despite the mega-wattage of Meryl Streep, William Hurt, and Ms. Squinty Face herself, Renee Zellweger, "One True Thing" failed to find it's niche among audiences. And that's sort of understandable, since it ranks in a class of its own: an intelligent, sincere tearjerker that manages to neither pander to our tear ducts, or fall into the traps of insincere melodrama. In fact, that's what makes "One True Thing" so affecting: it is utterly, completely honest. Zellweger's Ellen is asked to care for her terminally ill mother, the once-vivacious Kate (Streep), who is a Homemaker with a capital "h" and puts Martha Stewart to shame. The women's relationship has always been strained at best, Ellen much preferring the company of her professor father (the wonderful Hurt). But Ellen slowly learns that not only are things not always what they seem, especially in Happy Family Life, but that sometimes your One True Thing is that person, place, or thing you'd least expect. And this is simply one of my favorite Meryl performances. I defy anyone to make it through the "Silent Night" scene without at least one emotional breakdown.

2. "Fearless" (1993). Peter Weir's brilliant "Fearless" is one of those movies that I want to tell everyone to see. It must be experienced to be fully understood. The film revolves around Max (a masterful Jeff Bridges), a plane crash survivor, and his relationship with his family and fellow survivors -- one in particular, Carla (Rosie Perez). Bridges work here is among the best ever captured on film, and Perez matches him step by step with her devastating, genius performance. It's one of those movies that reaffirms life, all the while staring into the face of darkness and death. I guess you can say it's a metaphor to what each and every one of us experience every day of our lives: the will to go on, to heal, to fear.

1. "Dogville" (2003) & "Manderlay" (2005). Leave it to my favorite director, Lars Von Trier, to craft two entire films without sets (they are both filmed in big, black-painted warehouses), without fanfare (minimal music, no fancy camera work or special effects), and without fear ("Dogville" deals with a woman's ostracization by her society; "Manderlay" profiles a Southern plantation where slavery is still in fashion -- in the 1930s; oh, and they're both mesmerizing allegories of contemporary American politics). Both of these movies are extraordinarily original and possess a boldness not seen in modern film. Relying on subtle lighting changes and the talent of the actors at hand, Von Trier creates two masterpieces that can be held up (along with most of his other movies), as stunning examples of what defines great filmmaking.