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"?