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We find ourselves halfway through what has been a wonderful year of movies. So far, this year features a wide catalog of diverse conversation starters, group chats filled with debates about \u201cThe Drama,<\/a>\u201d your mom asking if you\u2019ve seen \u201cObsession<\/a>\u201d yet and our collective impending quarter-life crisis when a talented 20-year-old directs a terrifying blockbuster<\/a>. We may have suffered through some slogs like \u201cWuthering Heights<\/a>,\u201d but the success up to this midpoint shows movie culture is continuing to grow. This is further evident when the films not at the top of the popularity iceberg are just as good, if not better.\u00a0<\/p>\n The following list is a collection of films released this year that you might not have seen or heard of. They all have fewer than 150,000 viewers on Letterboxd, but each is great in its own way and deserves to be in the cultural conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cBlue Heron\u201d by Sophy Romvari<\/strong><\/p>\n Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari\u2019s debut feature film, \u201cBlue Heron,\u201d is an unmatched depiction of adolescence. The film follows the life of the youngest sibling in a family of Hungarian immigrants, Sasha (Eylul Guven), as she witnesses the mental unraveling of her older brother, Jeremy (Edik Beddoes), but won\u2019t quite understand it until she\u2019s much older. The feeling of recontextualizing one\u2019s childhood memories as an adult is so particular yet universal. \u201cBlue Heron\u201d gives the viewer space to map their own childhood experiences onto the film and decide its meaning for themselves. It\u2019s a devastating film that leaves you in an intense, melancholic state. It\u2019s ability to evoke such a visceral experience is why it should be considered in this year\u2019s conversation. <\/p>\n