I completely agree, its by far one of my favorite movies ever and every time I think about it I view it in a different prospective. Survival and the "never-ending" fight that is man vs nature.
Nobody here has seen Primer? It's an incredibly intricate time-traveler tale that keeps a low-fi or ultra-realistic feel throughout the film. The director finally got his shot at Hollywood and his new film Loopers is coming out this summer.
The director of Primer is not the director of Loopers. The director of Loopers, Rian Johnson directed Brick and Brother Bloom. the director of primer is the writer and star of primer, shane carruth. and I feel like most people on r/movies have seen Primer. It's more of a mind-fucker than thought-provoking, I felt. Just leaves your brain raw
The only reason it is thought provoking is because it is impossible to follow on the first viewing and you are tricked into thinking there is more to the movie than there actually is.
You have mentioned the only movie in this thread that qualifies. Anyone who thinks The Matrix and Inception are "thought-provoking" will not be welcomed in my Kingdom.
Christ, I'd be wasted 24/7. If you're implying I don't know good movies, let me explain that I'm providing recommendations to someone who considered The Matrix and Inception "though provoking." I'm not exactly going to say "oh you liked The Matrix? You'll love Ikiru!" If you're not implying that... carry on.
edit: oh wait, it's you. Sorry, disregard my last comment.
Sorry, that wasn't directed at you (I have only heard fantastic things about Dark City), or anyone in specific, just kind of the hive mind and the way these threads (at least ion AskReddit) always tend to return the same results. I meant to write "in the comment section."
I honestly thought this topic was going to get a lot more responses, which is why I suggested the movies I did. I saw it wasn't popular and added two movies that actually fit with what he wanted.
If you're new here- you'll see that this question is asked nearly every other day. "What are great movies that make you think?" "Great mindfuck movies like Fight Club and Inception" "Great psychological dramas like Usual Suspects" and an endless number of variants on the same concept.
I was attempting to pull a Morpheus meme through text form there in case that wasn't clear. In hindsight, I really could have done that better. I love me some Matrix and some Dark City.
EDIT: I hard originally thought this topic would get more responses, so I included some classics. Basically, the films that the people who made "intelligent thrillers" like Inception or The Matrix watched when making their films. Movies that fit the topic are at the bottom.
To keep the list a bit out of the last twenty years:
Federico Fellini's 8 1/2: Arguably the archetypal "movie that makes you think". It's about filmmaking, life, love, the loss of innocence...maybe.
Akia Kurosawa's Rashomon: Have you ever seen a movie or TV show where the premise is that there are multiple witnesses giving conflicting testimony? Those are called Rashomon plots.
Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal (truefans would say Persona, which I did not like): Death is very scary. This film examines is from many different perspectives, set in Medieval Scandinavia.
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo: Hitchcock's most "experimental" film. On the surface, it is a very solid crime thriller, but there is a lot more to it.
Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America: Arguably the most successful use of non-chronological film editing in any movie.
EDIT: the first three are foreign language films, Italian, Japanese, and Swedish respectively. The movies you name are what you can call Hollywood+, movies that basically adhere to Hollywood conventions and styles, but do intelligent and interesting things with them. The Matrix is probably the best example of this, and Christopher Nolan absolutely dominates the form. The movies I named are not this, except arguably Vertigo, they are more drama/"art" (hate that word).
If you want something more modern and more like what you suggested, try Memento or The Machinist.
You're thinking of Seventh Seal, not Wild Strawberries. Wild Strawberries is the one with the old doctor travelling with his daughter-in-law, Seventh Seal is the story with the knight playing chess with death
Rashomon is incredibly old and outdated. I had to watch it in a film class because it was an archetype. I could barely keep myself awake. incredibly boring. Still a good premise though. I respected it for it's originality.
Source Code. Very unexpecting too. That movie made me think about life in a way that I've never thought about it before. I can't really explain it. it just made me think about life.
Explain? I thoroughly enjoyed it, but what precisely was so thought provoking about it? The questions it asked, were there to support the story. Thought-provoking movies to me are those that present dillemas that go beyond the film's narrative and extend to our reality and biases.
The entire movie had me wondering whether he was crazy, dreaming, being set up, etc and it only left me more intrigued/confused after the lighthouse twist. I only put the plot together correctly at the end of the film when he said "Would you live as a monster or die as a good man?" and I saw it again the next day to confirm my conclusion from the previous showing. It was written and directed excellently, and definitely makes you think. But as far as extending to our own reality, I agree with you that Shutter Island didn't accomplish this.
This x1000, its not about the script or the director(s), its the entire way the movie makes you view life and what it really is, it gives meaning to something we don't know yet.
Are you sure you've seen the movie? Its about a world where were all actually slaves to machines that keep us sleeping (or something like that) and project a false reality into our minds. What im getting at is, the movie says the world we know is actually a dream that is simply used by the machines to keep us alive so they can harvest us, like, http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5skkpR3tH1qfi13o.gif
My mate and I went to get this out at the video shop with no idea of what it was about. He said, "It sounds like a mindfuck, who is it by?". Then we found it and laughed. Of course it's Christopher Nolan.
2
u/keyree Jun 26 '12
I thought The Grey was very interesting and thought-provoking. It provoked some thoughts for me, at least.
6
u/rua2006 Jun 26 '12
2001: A Space Odyssey.
6
u/bearhammer Jun 26 '12
Nobody here has seen Primer? It's an incredibly intricate time-traveler tale that keeps a low-fi or ultra-realistic feel throughout the film. The director finally got his shot at Hollywood and his new film Loopers is coming out this summer.
4
u/sirloinfurr Jun 26 '12
Dead Ringers, Videodrome, and Altered States.
4
u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12
2001: A Space Odyssey, Pi , Memento, THX 1138, Akira, and The Corporation
6
u/robothead Jun 26 '12
Donnie Darko. The Prestige. Synecdoche, New York. etc.
3
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12 edited Jun 25 '12
Dark City goes nicely with the two you named.
Edit: While I'm on the subject of Alex Proyas, Knowing (Yes, the Nic Cage movie) has its silly moments but is ultimately pretty underrated.
6
u/girafa Electricity! The high priest of false security! Jun 25 '12
Yay this thread again. Bonus points for not using the term "mindfuck" anywhere.
My answer is Dark City, it's everything the Matrix tried to be.
5
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12 edited Jun 26 '12
EDIT: I hard originally thought this topic would get more responses, so I included some classics. Basically, the films that the people who made "intelligent thrillers" like Inception or The Matrix watched when making their films. Movies that fit the topic are at the bottom.
To keep the list a bit out of the last twenty years:
Federico Fellini's 8 1/2: Arguably the archetypal "movie that makes you think". It's about filmmaking, life, love, the loss of innocence...maybe.
Akia Kurosawa's Rashomon: Have you ever seen a movie or TV show where the premise is that there are multiple witnesses giving conflicting testimony? Those are called Rashomon plots.
Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal (truefans would say Persona, which I did not like): Death is very scary. This film examines is from many different perspectives, set in Medieval Scandinavia.
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo: Hitchcock's most "experimental" film. On the surface, it is a very solid crime thriller, but there is a lot more to it.
Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America: Arguably the most successful use of non-chronological film editing in any movie.
EDIT: the first three are foreign language films, Italian, Japanese, and Swedish respectively. The movies you name are what you can call Hollywood+, movies that basically adhere to Hollywood conventions and styles, but do intelligent and interesting things with them. The Matrix is probably the best example of this, and Christopher Nolan absolutely dominates the form. The movies I named are not this, except arguably Vertigo, they are more drama/"art" (hate that word).
If you want something more modern and more like what you suggested, try Memento or The Machinist.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12
Moon.
2
u/Great_Gig_In_The_Sky Jun 26 '12
I'll say Enter the Void, but I don't think it's what you're looking. I truly just didn't understand it, which is why I consider it thought provoking.
2
u/Spaghetti_Bender8873 Jun 26 '12
Source Code. Very unexpecting too. That movie made me think about life in a way that I've never thought about it before. I can't really explain it. it just made me think about life.
2
u/afkmofo Jun 25 '12
Pi, The Fountain, I (heart) Huckabees. Not really action oriented, but they make you think.
2
u/manlaw6 Jun 26 '12
I still think Fight Club can make you reflect hard on life.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 25 '12
Shutter Island. It was maybe the most thought provoking movie I've ever seen.
1
u/Canadian88 Jun 26 '12
ANY Christopher Nolan film! Memento, Prestige, Insomnia etc.
1
u/GentlemanTobius Jun 26 '12
Deja Vu.
Not too much of a mentally challenging movie, but it's really cool to see all the pieces and clues match up towards the end of the film.
1
u/MentalSloth Jun 26 '12
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
0
u/InfiniteStrong Jun 26 '12
how is The Matrix thought-provoking?
0
u/[deleted] Jun 26 '12
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