Why can't we make films like this in the US?

Like many foreign films, we didn't see it when it was released in 2009, but thank goodness for Netflix (in our case) where foreign films are more available than ever. We watched Revanche, from Austria, last night. I can't recommend it more highly for its balance of tension and layered subtlety. It's a thriller that moves in a kind of slow motion that builds almost imperceptibly in intensity. It's also filmed with an art house sensitivity to symbolism and a refined aesthetic rarely achieved in Hollywood (American Beauty comes to mind, but this is at once more subtle and suspenseful). Of course it did poorly at the box office in the US, but our favorite website for reviews, Rottentomatoes.com, backs us up. They give it a 95% approval rating, one of the highest I've seen.