10 Amazing Movies You Probably Haven't Seen (And Why)

Why You Probably Haven't Seen It: If you happened to be browsing Netflix and you came across the cover art for Hachi: A Dog's Tale, you likely assumed it was one of those cornball, vaguely uplifting family movies they show on the Hallmark Channel.

You just know that at some point in the film, Richard Gere and Joan Allen are going to dance around their living room with their life-affirming new dog to a Sly and the Family Stone song.

Why You Should: Even though Hachi initially sets itself up to jump headlong into the schmaltzy territory outlined above, it takes a meaty, truly heartrending swerve around the midway point that turns the story toward an emotional gut-punch that you probably didn't see coming.

Without giving too much away, the film deftly maneuvers away from Gere and Allen to focus the story on Hachi. And it's done in such a crafty - and somewhat tragic - way that you don't realize the story has really been about the dog the whole time.

The pacing of this movie is pitch-perfect and uncluttered, and the visuals are occasionally sublime, particularly in the film's moving final scene.