Nicolas Roeg fits the term underrated as well as anyone I can think of. Not many younger people would even recognize his name and it isn't usually included on the list of the greats from the era, but make no mistake, he is one of 'em.
I learned he worked on Lawrence of Arabia, but my first taste of his work was actually Witches, his dark children's movie made relatively later in his career. I didn't know it was him for a long time after I'd discovered Walkabout and Don't Look Now, some of his more famous work.
These films, and others like Bad Timing, Insignificance, and The Man Who Fell To Earth are the kinds of movies that must be experienced individually. They're difficult to explain. He moves from complex, unusual plots like the dreamlike story in Insignificance, which finds Marilyn Monroe talking physics with Albert Einstein to fairly simple plots like that of Walkabout, where two children must make their way through the Australian Outback with the help of an Aboriginal boy after their father brings them out there and proceeds to commit suicide.
And it's that presentation of harsh, brutal reality that, I think, categorizes Roeg's films. If you feel like everything seems pleasant and nice, don't get too comfortable because somethings about to go down. His overall style as JARRING. He cuts sporadically and inventively and fast. His films seem, at times, incoherent, yet they still carry some type of feeling and emotion. I highly recommend checking out any and all of his work.
Check out the wild, terrifying opening to Walkabout:
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