The Man from Earth; low budget sci-fi mostly just people talking in a living room. I like how it plays with expectations about knowledge of history and explores different epistemologies of the supporting characters in their line of questions or how they engage with the core concept.
Not a movie but a limited series, Devs. You won’t know what’s going on for a while, but damn, I still think about it. Same guy who made Ex Machina and Annihilation. Great sound track.
why would it be surprising that a favorite movie could also be provoking?
Probably Arrival. If you knew how your life will play out from start to finish, would you change it knowing you will never experience everything the same from the point that you change it, thus not only avoiding bad/regrettable events, but also your most cherished ones.
Thanks for this thread, got a bunch of great suggestions!
Watched Black Klansman today, just made me think more about racism even though I think about it a lot anyways. Really great movie.
I heard good things about this movie. Have it on my movie list.
Magnolia is such an honest depiction of human fallibility. Almost unrivaled in its verisimilitude to modern life (or modern as of it’s release date). Incredible movie. Good shout.
‘Rambo’ Laugh, if you want, but that flick made me realize how awfully governments treat Veterans. Non-Military guy here. Saw it in the nineties, must have been 11 or 12 or something like that.
Then ‘Philadelphia’ was pretty intense and made me realize reality holds more truths, than the narrow minded household I grew up in.
‘Milk’ was pretty eye opening, too.
Man from earth (2007)
A low-money dvd production movie about a man telling his friends he has survived since the origins of humanity. Very though provoking.
Man what a throwback! I really liked this one too.
Yeah, I love that movie!
I’m a big fan of Day of the Dead (1985)
On the surface, it’s a bunker zombie movie. But like truly good zombie movies, it’s not about the zombies. It’s more about humanity’s response to existential dread and how groups can fail to cooperate with each other.
The movie’s been remade a few times, but imo the original is the most thought provoking.
The Great Happiness Space. Its ostensibly about a male host club in Japan but shows how everyone is looking for, and selling happiness to others. Gals pour money into hosts to get their fake love and some will then turn around and work at soaplands themselves. Depressing really.
*thought
The Seventh Seal [Ingmar Bergman, 1957]
As the plague ravages Scandinavia, a Swedish crusader returning home is greeted at the shore of his homeland by Death. To buy enough time to make it back to see his wife he challenges Death to a game of chess.
A film about different human reactions to the inevitability of death. One of Bergman’s masterworks.
Soul. It’s not ground breaking revelation of a question but it really made me think deeply about how I’m spending my limited time on this planet and what am I looking for in this world.
This movie was really upsetting for me. I enjoyed it a lot but it’s hard to separate it from the reality of the princess and the frog problem.
Why can’t Disney make a movie about black people without turning them non-human?
8½ is a pretty surreal. Considered on of the most influential films of all time. One of the earliest examples of post-modernism in film.
Every scene in Ex Machina is basically a dialogue covering different arguments in the philosophy of AI. Plus a surreal dance scene.
I was blown away by Mother when I first saw it. But looking back on it, the allegory wasn’t exactly subtle.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a meta-modern masterpiece.
Tropic Thunder, as a meta commentary on comedy, is actually really good. Aside from the great comedy itself.
you mean “mother!”?
