2017 Non-Blockbuster Films You Should Watch Before You're in 2018
by ugisup | created - 03 Nov 2017 | updated - 06 Nov 2017 | PublicHere some recommended 2017 films that probably you've never heard / watched before. If you're tired of some hype films or what they called blockbuster, these films maybe for you to watch.
NB: There may some films that show as 2016 films as IMDb data notes. It supposed to be their first shows in festival films, not released via conventional theaters/VOD.
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1. The Student (2016)
Unrated | 118 min | Drama
Contemporary Russia. A high school student becomes convinced that the world has been lost to evil, and begins to challenge the morals and beliefs of the adults around him.
Director: Kirill Serebrennikov | Stars: Pyotr Skvortsov, Viktoriya Isakova, Yuliya Aug, Aleksandr Gorchilin
Votes: 6,075 | Gross: $0.00M
This Russian drama film is surprisingly eerie, damn relevant, and somewhat intriguing character study of a teenager who's fanatic for religion. It may or may not rise some debate for what it shows, but I must say, this film is too bad to be missed.
2. The Teacher (2016)
Unrated | 102 min | Comedy, Drama
The arrival of Maria Drazdechova, associated with the Communist party, to a school in Bratislava in 1983 worries parents, students, and colleagues.
Director: Jan Hrebejk | Stars: Zuzana Mauréry, Zuzana Konecná, Csongor Kassai, Tamara Fischer
Votes: 3,814 | Gross: $0.06M
Again, This Slovak-Czech drama films shows how terrifying school can be when a manipulative teacher runs a class. Thank to Zuzana Maurery's performance who makes Miss Maria so slick and eerie.
3. The Lure (2015)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
In Warsaw, a pair of mermaid sisters are adopted into a cabaret. While one seeks love with humans the other hungers to dine on the human population of the city.
Director: Agnieszka Smoczynska | Stars: Marta Mazurek, Michalina Olszanska, Kinga Preis, Andrzej Konopka
Votes: 9,798 | Gross: $0.10M
This horror, bloody "Little Mermaid" tales (and don't forget, musical thing in it) is weird yet fantastic, funny yet terrifying.
4. A Ghost Story (2017)
R | 92 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
In this singular exploration of legacy, love, loss, and the enormity of existence, a recently deceased, white-sheeted ghost returns to his suburban home to try to reconnect with his bereft wife.
Director: David Lowery | Stars: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, McColm Cephas Jr., Kenneisha Thompson
Votes: 79,665 | Gross: $1.60M
This films is sure slow and artsy as an independent film can be, but it serves deep study in multi-layer context: afterlife, love and loss, and existence.
5. The Son of Joseph (2016)
113 min | Drama
A discontented Parisian teenager in search of a father with (Mathieu Amalric) and (Fabrizio Rongione) as his, respectively, callous and gentle alternative paternal options, and (Natacha Régnier) as his single mother.
Director: Eugène Green | Stars: Victor Ezenfis, Natacha Régnier, Fabrizio Rongione, Mathieu Amalric
Votes: 899 | Gross: $0.03M
It's one of comedy films that seems hard for laughing stock but funny to watch, weird in every performance and line, and artsy in every camera movement. Oh, you just easily can find it in some French movies like this.
6. Raw (2016)
R | 99 min | Drama, Horror
A young woman, studying to be a vet, develops a craving for human flesh.
Director: Julia Ducournau | Stars: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella, Laurent Lucas
Votes: 89,156 | Gross: $0.51M
Cannibalism's never been so good as Raw is.
7. Gerald's Game (2017)
TV-MA | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A couple tries to spice up their marriage in a remote lake house. After the husband dies unexpectedly, the wife is left handcuffed to their bed frame and must fight to survive and break free.
Director: Mike Flanagan | Stars: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Chiara Aurelia, Carel Struycken
Votes: 127,394
Forget It, this is the best Stephen King's adaptation of the year.
8. Heartstone (2016)
Unrated | 129 min | Drama, Romance
In a fishing village in Iceland, a boy develops feelings for his best friend as his best friend pursues his affections for a girl.
Director: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson | Stars: Baldur Einarsson, Blær Hinriksson, Diljá Valsdóttir, Katla Njálsdóttir
Votes: 6,178
Oh Iceland...
9. The Void (I) (2016)
Not Rated | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Shortly after delivering a patient to an understaffed hospital, a police officer experiences strange and violent occurrences seemingly linked to a group of mysterious hooded figures.
Directors: Jeremy Gillespie, Steven Kostanski | Stars: Aaron Poole, Kenneth Welsh, Ellen Wong, Kathleen Munroe
Votes: 41,686 | Gross: $0.15M
The Void is a near-perfect tribute for those who love John Carpenter's film or more else, 80s sci-fi horror films.
10. My Friend Dahmer (2017)
R | 107 min | Biography, Drama, Horror
A young Jeffrey Dahmer struggles to belong in high school.
Director: Marc Meyers | Stars: Ross Lynch, Alex Wolff, Anne Heche, Vincent Kartheiser
Votes: 23,646 | Gross: $1.36M
11. The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
R | 121 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Steven, a charismatic surgeon, is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice after his life starts to fall apart, when the behavior of a teenage boy he has taken under his wing turns sinister.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars: Barry G. Bernson, Herb Caillouet, Bill Camp, Raffey Cassidy
Votes: 187,457 | Gross: $2.29M
12. Loveless (2017)
R | 127 min | Drama
A couple going through a divorce must team up to find their son who has disappeared during one of their bitter arguments.
Director: Andrey Zvyagintsev | Stars: Maryana Spivak, Aleksey Rozin, Matvey Novikov, Marina Vasileva
Votes: 35,566 | Gross: $0.57M
13. American Fable (2016)
Not Rated | 96 min | Thriller
After 11-year-old Gitty discovers a man who can grant wishes hiding in her family's silo, she is forced to choose between saving the man's life and protecting her family.
Director: Anne Hamilton | Stars: Peyton Kennedy, Richard Schiff, Kip Pardue, Marci Miller
Votes: 4,672
14. Detour (I) (2016)
R | 97 min | Action, Thriller
A young law student blindly enters into a pact with a hoodlum who offers to kill his stepfather--a man he feels is responsible for the accident that put his mother in a coma.
Director: Christopher Smith | Stars: Tye Sheridan, Emory Cohen, Bel Powley, Stephen Moyer
Votes: 6,570 | Gross: $0.00M
15. Frantz (2016)
PG-13 | 113 min | Drama, History, Romance
In the aftermath of WWI, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France meets a mysterious Frenchman who visits the fiancé's grave to lay flowers.
Director: François Ozon | Stars: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer, Ernst Stötzner, Marie Gruber
Votes: 17,451 | Gross: $0.88M
16. Maudie (2016)
PG-13 | 115 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
An arthritic Nova Scotia woman works as a housekeeper while she hones her skills as an artist and eventually becomes a beloved figure in the community.
Director: Aisling Walsh | Stars: Sally Hawkins, Ethan Hawke, Zachary Bennett, Gabrielle Rose
Votes: 21,571 | Gross: $6.17M
17. Free Fire (2016)
R | 91 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Set in Boston in 1978, a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two gangs turns into a shoot-out and a game of survival.
Director: Ben Wheatley | Stars: Sharlto Copley, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy
Votes: 50,724 | Gross: $1.80M
18. Berlin Syndrome (2017)
R | 116 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A passionate holiday romance leads to an obsessive relationship, when an Australian photojournalist wakes one morning in a Berlin apartment and is unable to leave.
Director: Cate Shortland | Stars: Teresa Palmer, Max Riemelt, Matthias Habich, Emma Bading
Votes: 27,641 | Gross: $0.03M
19. Lady Macbeth (2016)
R | 89 min | Drama, Romance
In 19th-century rural England, a young bride who has been sold into marriage discovers an unstoppable desire within herself as she enters into an affair with a worker on her estate.
Director: William Oldroyd | Stars: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis, Paul Hilton, Naomi Ackie
Votes: 27,288 | Gross: $1.13M
20. The Untamed (2016)
Not Rated | 98 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A couple in a troubled marriage locate a meteorite, initiating an encounter with a mysterious creature. Their lives are turned upside down by the discovery of the creature, which is a source of both pleasure and destruction.
Director: Amat Escalante | Stars: Ruth Ramos, Simone Bucio, Jesús Meza, Eden Villavicencio
Votes: 6,616 | Gross: $0.03M
21. Good Time (2017)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After a botched bank robbery lands his younger brother in prison, Connie Nikas embarks on a twisted odyssey through New York City's underworld to get his brother Nick out of jail.
Directors: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie | Stars: Robert Pattinson, Benny Safdie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Buddy Duress
Votes: 140,340 | Gross: $2.03M
22. Brad's Status (2017)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A father takes his son to tour colleges on the East Coast and meets up with an old friend who makes him feel inferior about his life's choices.
Director: Mike White | Stars: Ben Stiller, Austin Abrams, Jenna Fischer, Michael Sheen
Votes: 19,117 | Gross: $2.13M
23. Super Dark Times (2017)
Not Rated | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Teenagers Zach and Josh have been best friends their whole lives, but when a gruesome accident leads to a cover-up, the secret drives a wedge between them and propels them down a rabbit hole of escalating paranoia and violence.
Director: Kevin Phillips | Stars: Owen Campbell, Charlie Tahan, Elizabeth Cappuccino, Amy Hargreaves
Votes: 25,633 | Gross: $0.03M
24. Human Flow (2017)
PG-13 | 140 min | Documentary
Human Flow is director and artist Ai Weiwei's detailed and heartbreaking exploration into the global refugee crisis.
Director: Ai Weiwei | Stars: Israa Abboud, Hiba Abed, Rami Abu Sondos, Fadi Abou Akleh
Votes: 2,799 | Gross: $0.53M
25. Wonderstruck (2017)
PG | 116 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
Tells the tale of two children separated by fifty years. In 1927, Rose searches for the actress whose life she chronicles in her scrapbook; in 1977, Ben runs away from home to find his father.
Director: Todd Haynes | Stars: Oakes Fegley, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, Millicent Simmonds
Votes: 11,080 | Gross: $1.03M
26. Better Watch Out (II) (2016)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Horror, Thriller
On a quiet suburban street, a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from intruders, only to discover it's far from a normal home invasion.
Director: Chris Peckover | Stars: Olivia DeJonge, Levi Miller, Ed Oxenbould, Aleks Mikic
Votes: 46,260 | Gross: $0.02M
27. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
R | 115 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A mother personally challenges the local authorities to solve her daughter's murder when they fail to catch the culprit.
Director: Martin McDonagh | Stars: Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones
Votes: 555,177 | Gross: $54.51M
28. Darkest Hour (2017)
PG-13 | 125 min | Drama, War
In May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler, or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire.
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Gary Oldman, Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn
Votes: 220,834 | Gross: $56.47M
29. The Shape of Water (2017)
R | 123 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
At a top secret research facility in the 1960s, a lonely janitor forms a unique relationship with an amphibious creature that is being held in captivity.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Doug Jones
Votes: 447,743 | Gross: $63.86M
30. I, Tonya (2017)
R | 119 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the activity is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.
Director: Craig Gillespie | Stars: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, Allison Janney, Julianne Nicholson
Votes: 242,820 | Gross: $30.01M
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