What are your fav “Off Hollywood” films

Great suggestions here from Blkadr and Audiofeil, and others.

Blkadr - enjoyed Wild at Heart and didn't take to Inland Empire at all. I liked Lost Highway as well, and even was a big fan of Eraserhead back in the 80's. There's a good documentary about Lynch called Pretty as a Picture: The Art of David Lynch that's well worth seeing. In the realm of the child-actor theme and bouncing off of "To Kill a Mockingbird" (yes, the kids were great in that) - Also check out Robert Mitchum in "The Night of the Hunter" - kind of hokey dialogue, but outstanding sets, lighting and cinemaphotography...just beautiful visual style. I believe it was Charles Laughton's only directorial effort.

Audiofeil - Nice group of suggestions; I loved many of those films. I'd add "Best in Show" for another hilarious Christopher Guest effort. I also love Atom Egoyan's other films way back to "Speaking Parts" and "Family Viewing".

There are films that come out of Hollywood that defy the typical dreck you may come to expect from that meat grinder. Here are a few that come to mind:
In the Bedroom
Magnolia
3:10 to Yuma (that reminds me - check out Bale in "The Machinist")
...oh, and another really brilliant actor: Ryan Gosling - check him out in, "The Believer" for shades of over-the-top Oldman and early Ed Norton ala "American History X". I also enjoyed Gosling in "United States of Leland"
Love the earlier stuff by Jarmusch - check out Benigni and Tom Waits in "Down by Law"

OK, gotta get some work done. Albert, I can't argue with you there, she belongs in "Perfect Systems" for sure!

Big Lebowski

It figures that many audiophiles are also film buffs. I love to see a director as brilliant and underrated as Atom Egoyan getting his props here. "The Sweet Hereafter" is stunning. I think "Exotica" is just as good, and perhaps more challenging. As for Lynch, although I love him, I couldn't get into "Inland Empire" either. On the other hand, I like "Mulholland Drive" as much as any movie I've seen in the last twenty years. Just a mind blowing movie.

How about a couple of great older "out of Hollywood" films? "Night of the Hunter" and "Out of the Past," both starring the great Robert Mitchum, turned out to be very influential, but still were far from typical Hollywood fare in their day. "Night of the Hunter" is especially original, and maintains its eerie surrealism fifty years later.

And then, just to keep the list going, here are a handful of nominations chosen absolutely at random.

Picnic At Hanging Rock
You Can Count On Me
Five Easy Pieces
Half Nelson
Away From Her
Red Rock West
Music Of Chance
Happiness
Heavenly Creatures
The Whale and the Squid
In The Company Of Men
My Dinner With Andre
House Of Games
Election

By the way, now that the Coens have won Oscars for best director, screenplay, and picture, can they still be considered "outside of Hollywood"?

Walter - Some brilliant pics in there that I hadn't thought of and unusual to boot. I'm going to have to check out the very few that I have not seen (I think there are only two: Election and Away from Her) - Man, I didn't think anyone else bothered with "Music of Chance" which I thought was just brilliant and thought provoking in an Egoyan (read slow and quiet) kind of way. I loved that film...how could I have forgotten!

If you liked Whale and Squid, check out "The Savages" recently released on DVD - another all-time favorite actor in that one; Phillip Seymore Hoffman!!! For more great diverse rolls with him check out "Punch Drunk Love" (small roll - but so brilliantly played - worth it for that one single scene in the matress store), "Flawless" with Deniro, and "Boogie Nights". "Capote" of course, but there's Hollywood written all over that. And back to Whale and Squid - the same director did "Margot at the Wedding" with Jack Black, not as good as W&S, but worth watching if you liked the first.