13 Overlooked Films From Famous Directors

Paul Thomas Anderson is younger than most of the still-living directors on this list, yet he's still established himself as one of America' best independent filmmakers. He's mostly an overlooked director so luckily cinephiles are used to him being underrated. Even so, that failed to prepare for the shock of how unjustly ignored Inherent Vice was.

A delightfully weird stoner murder mystery, Inherent Vice combines Anderson's insightful story-telling and mesmerizing cinematic style to beautiful effect. It's a surprisingly soulful and enormously endearing work that is also genuinely hysterical and consistently compelling. As for the criticism of it being indulgent... when a film is this well-acted, superbly directed and beautifully scripted, who cares?

The other common complaint is that it's extremely confusing and once again this really isn't that much of a problem. The plot is convoluted, but the atmosphere and vibes within the film are more than enough to make it a truly delightful movie and it's also not nearly as complicated as people claim it is. This is just as interesting as There Will Be Blood, Magnolia and Boogie Nights and it shouldn't have been dismissed just because it was convoluted.