Hou Hsiao-hsien is a Taiwanese director who's generally exalted by critics but hasn't achieved any kind of popular success anywhere. He's only had one film get an actual theatrical distribution in the US, and that was 2005's Three Times, released by IFC last year. His films are slow, with long takes, no closeups and not a whole lot in the way of plot. If you like Ozu or Tarkovsky or Jarmusch, you'd probably like Hou.
I've only seen his most recent films, because they're the only ones available on decent DVD editions in the US (though there's an Asian boxset of 4 of his 1980s films I've got my eye on). They're all outstanding.
Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996) - a gangster movie about an aging gangster and his young screw up of a partner. The plot is similar to a lot of films in the genre (most notably Mean Streets), but the style is unique.
Flowers Of Shanghai (1998) - Life and infighting among early 20th century prostitutes. They scheme and undermine each other, try to trick guys into marrying them, and get used up and thrown out by their rich clientele. An homage to the many acclaimed films about geishas directed by Kenji Mizoguchi (The Life Of Oharu, Street Of Shame), I think Hou's is better.
Millenium Mambo (2001) - A young girl does drugs, tries and fails and tries again to leave her rat of a boyfriend and ends up at a film festival in Hokkaido, Japan. The greatest of the urban alienation series of films from the first part of this decade that people seem to think was invented by Sofia Coppola.
Café Lumière (2003) - A tribute film made for the 100th birthday of Yasujiro Ozu, again Hou follows some alienated young people around an urban landscape. But this time he throws in the inability of parents and children to communicate. Also, there's no camera movement, in imitation of Ozu's style, whereas in Hou's other films the camera floats around a tableaux-like frame.
Three Times (2005) - A three part film with the same two actors playing lovers in three different periods of Taiwanese history. The first section is set in the 60s, and is reminiscent of the period films of Wong Kar-wai (Days of Being Wild, In The Mood For Love, 2046). The second section is set a brothel in the teens, and is silent (with a musical score) complete with intertitles (it is in color though). The third part is set in the present, with a bisexual singer and a photographer cheating on their girlfriends. It was the best film released in the US last year.
I'd start with Millenium Mambo. It's my favorite Hou, and one of my favorite films this century. Three Times would be a good place to start as well, or even Café Lumière, if you dig Ozu more than Wong.