Who knows, that may have been a positive... 

Chop Shop (U.S./2007) - Apparently all you need nowadays is an enterprising young kid and some handheld camerawork in the streets to be compared to Italian neorealist masters of the past. 

Casa de Lava (Portugal-Fra-Ger/1994) - The mysteriously elusive anomaly of Pedro Costa's oeuvre so far. Works better on a pure visual level (one of the highlights, a Costa specialty, is a long tracking shot of Inês Medeiros walking alongside walls that would make Francis Bacon proud) than on a narrative one (at least upon first viewing).