Good "surreal" movies

Dap · Post by **Dap** » Tue May 24, 2011 2:14 pm

what are some of the better fantasy/surreal movies out there? the type of films i'm thinking of transport you to a completely different realm through the visuals.

a few that come to mind:

the holy mountain
what dreams may come true
alice in wonderland
the fall
the cell
sunshine

i love watching this shit while stoned and i'd love to check out a few of the better ones. anything pre 1990 in this genre i've probably never checked out

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue May 24, 2011 2:22 pm

if you're listing Holy Mountain then El Topo is a must

you're kinda conflating surrealism and just straight up fantasy here, these aren't exactly the same thing although they do often cross over

would something like Pan's Labyrinth fit the bill?

Dap · Post by **Dap** » Tue May 24, 2011 2:31 pm

drizzle wrote:if you're listing Holy Mountain then El Topo is a must

you're kinda conflating surrealism and just straight up fantasy here, these aren't exactly the same thing although they do often cross over

would something like Pan's Labyrinth fit the bill?

yeah i'm not even really sure of the difference between the two tbh. i'm not a movie buff by any stretch of the imagination.

to answer your question, i'd def say it fits the bill for what i'm looking for.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Tue May 24, 2011 2:35 pm

Louis Malles' Black Moon. That was definitely a bizarre film.

Money Daniels · Post by **Money Daniels** » Tue May 24, 2011 2:58 pm

One of my all-time favorites...

No homo.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue May 24, 2011 3:02 pm

Dap wrote:
drizzle wrote:if you're listing Holy Mountain then El Topo is a must

you're kinda conflating surrealism and just straight up fantasy here, these aren't exactly the same thing although they do often cross over

would something like Pan's Labyrinth fit the bill?
yeah i'm not even really sure of the difference between the two tbh. i'm not a movie buff by any stretch of the imagination.

to answer your question, i'd def say it fits the bill for what i'm looking for.

it's a hard split when talking specifically about movies, best way i can think to explain it would be something like: Surrealism twists/subverts reality (like a nightmare or an acid trip) in ways that are generally illogical, often as a manifestation of the subconsious. Straight up fantasy just seeds reality with supernatural elements. For example, LOTR is pure fantasy, it's just medieval adventures with dragons and wizards thrown in. In surrealism strange illogical things usually happen without the presense of 'overt' fantastic devices. Fantasy also generally tends to conform to laws of cause and effect, surrealism doesn't.

Based on the movies you listed you're looking for things that either mix both or lean a bit more toward teh fantasy side. Have you tried watching David Lynch's stuff?

Mercuthio · Post by **Mercuthio** » Tue May 24, 2011 3:31 pm

drizzle wrote:Have you tried watching David Lynch's stuff?

or some Luis Bu

Dap · Post by **Dap** » Tue May 24, 2011 4:38 pm

only thing i've seen from either of them is mulholland drive. any specific titles i should be looking for?

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue May 24, 2011 4:51 pm

for lynch: def twin peaks. for features, these fit what you're looking for: wild at heart, eraser head, lost highway, blue velvet. elephant man and straight story are also great but are more on the realistic side.

bunuel is tricky to recommend here... his early stuff is literally the beginning of surrealism in film but it's very abstract and artsy. the later work is far more accessible and watchable, but the surrealism is more conceptual than visual (he does a lot of absurdist satires of society, etc)

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue May 24, 2011 5:01 pm

this is a good one in line with the titles int he first post

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue May 24, 2011 5:07 pm

and

both by guilliam

Time Bandits, also by Guilliam, kinda fits too but it's firmly more in the adventure fantasy side of things.

AWAE · Post by **AWAE** » Tue May 24, 2011 5:43 pm

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Tue May 24, 2011 6:30 pm

Yeah Society is a good choice.

My picks would be:

You might want to check out Dogtooth as it's madder than a box of frogs. I personally loathed it.

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Tue May 24, 2011 6:40 pm

Spartan · Post by **Spartan** » Tue May 24, 2011 6:51 pm

^ Other than The Sect which I still haven't seen, Dellamorte Dellamore might be Soavi's best movie, I do really love Stage Fright though.

Forgot this one.

malpractice · Post by **malpractice** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:19 pm

i kinda have a crush on drizzle based on his movie preferences/knowledge.

Positive A · Post by **Positive A** » Tue May 24, 2011 8:21 pm

malpractice wrote:i kinda have a crush on drizzle based on his movie preferences/knowledge.

I'm not gonna lie. I do too. I just don't want things to get weird...

Dap · Post by **Dap** » Tue May 24, 2011 9:23 pm

big thanks to everyone for the suggestions so far. any foreign flicks are welcome too

Mercuthio · Post by **Mercuthio** » Wed May 25, 2011 4:35 am

Spartan wrote:You might want to check out Dogtooth as it's madder than a box of frogs. I personally loathed it.

oh shit.

yeah, saw Dogtooth a while ago. Wouldn't say I hated it, but... goddamn.

just goddamn. It's pretty fucked up, to say the least.

Andvil · Post by **Andvil** » Wed May 25, 2011 5:50 am

Tommy Bunz · Post by **Tommy Bunz** » Wed May 25, 2011 7:28 am

If you like The Fall and Pan's Labyrinth, definitely check out Paperhouse, very similar movies. No US dvd release but I'm sure you can find it on the internet pretty easily. Awesome movie.

Tweak Da Leak · Post by **Tweak Da Leak** » Wed May 25, 2011 12:45 pm

Bartleby

Funky Butler · Post by **Funky Butler** » Wed May 25, 2011 3:07 pm

dependin on how fartsy you want to go, blood of a poet and last year at marienbad are what's up. blood of a poet moreso visually

the cabinet of dr caligari is preeminent

guy maddin has a cool style, brand upon brain and my winnipeg particularly

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Wed May 25, 2011 3:24 pm

Funky Butler wrote:the cabinet of dr caligari is preeminent

oh yeah big time, can't believe i forgot that one

Tweak Da Leak · Post by **Tweak Da Leak** » Wed May 25, 2011 5:06 pm

some of these have no 'surreal' quality to them at all much less a 'surreal' movie.

Thun · Post by **Thun** » Wed May 25, 2011 5:33 pm

It's a pretty broad term at this point in history, though. Are we going by dictionary definition or a meaning that corresponds with the tents of the philosophical movement?

Can't wait for the postmodern and existential movie threads.

christopher walken · Post by **christopher walken** » Wed May 25, 2011 5:41 pm

Would 'Moon' qualify? Some fantastic surreal mindfuckery goin' on there.

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drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Wed May 25, 2011 5:51 pm

moon is a very good movie but it's pretty straight forward scifi, but doesn't really apply here at all imo. very little surreal going on no matter how you twist the definition

Tarkovsky's version of Solaris, if you can sit through it, might be a better fit along similar lines but still a stretch

drizzle · Post by **drizzle** » Wed May 25, 2011 5:54 pm

Thun wrote:Can't wait for the postmodern and existential movie threads.

we had some existentialist talk back in the day for Le Samourai

as far as postmodern, i'm sure somebody would bring up tarantino instantly but Black Dynamite is the real best answer. Although Black Dynamite is actually the real answer to pretty much everything anyway.

christopher walken · Post by **christopher walken** » Wed May 25, 2011 6:16 pm

drizzle wrote:moon is a very good movie but it's pretty straight forward scifi, but doesn't really apply here at all imo. very little surreal going on no matter how you twist the definition

Tarkovsky's version of Solaris, if you can sit through it, might be a better fit along similar lines but still a stretch

yeah, i've only got a lone santa monica college history of film class under my belt, so you'd surely take me to task here. i guess i'm confusing surreal films with some surreal components in films. though i'm sure sam rockwell's character would have told you that shit was pretty fucking surreal.