Hidden Gems: The Ten Films at The Loft Film Fest You Might not Think You Need to See (But You Do)

We're super excited about this year's Loft Film Fest lineup, and while you might know about some of the bigger films in the festival (Melancholia, We Need to Talk About Kevin, the 10th Anniversary screening of Donnie Darko with writer/director Richard Kelly in person), we're hoping you don't overlook some of the other great films that might otherwise fly under the radar.  Here they are in alphabetical order:

MISSING REEL: The Rambling Guitarist

MISSING REEL: FILMS FORGOTTEN BY CINEMA'S CANON

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Cinema’s canon is well known. If I were to say, “We’ll always have Paris,” or, “No, I am your father,” you’d know exactly what films I was talking about. Not every film that deserves to be alongside those makes it up there, though. Some have even been nearly forgotten, passed over, or practically erased from movie history. This is a column about those films, the ones that exist on dubbed-over VHS tapes and pirated PAL laserdiscs. They are the missing reels from cinema’s history, the empty spaces in its canon.
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THE RAMBLING GUITARIST (1959) 

directed by BUICHI SAITO

To many, Japan has only one director, and his name is Akira Kurosawa. It’s not their fault that they think that, though. He is regularly the only Japanese filmmaker mentioned on any “best of” list that has to do with film, the director with the most films released by the Criterion Collection, and has inspired countless films, from Star Wars to A Bug’s Life (that is a theory that is backed up by nothing, by the way. But seriously, watch it again; it’s Seven Samurai with a caterpillar). However, looking at only Kurosawa would be like looking only at Steven Spielberg in the realm of American films: they are the biggest names out there. And, you know, Spielberg doesn’t do much for me and Kurosawa isn’t my favorite Japanese director. He’d crack my top ten, though (Ikiru is a pretty perfect film, so just based on that he makes it).