The best "dark horse" little film I saw years ago, after avoiding it, was Trip to Bountiful. It's not about Mormons or Utah or anything beyond trying to go home again. I told my mother she should watch this film and she put it off for ages, and when she finally saw it she called to tell me how much she loved it. Horton Foote turned his teleplay into a Broadway play and then into a film script. He was the playwright on such films as To Kill A Mockingbird, Hurry Sundown, and Tender Mercies.