Recommend me Surrealist Movies

Originally posted by wonhunlo
reply to post by SaulGoodman

 

"Human Centipede 2". B+W. Have a couple of chile cheeze dogs before you watch it to get your money's worth.--

Ummmmmmmm, I hate to ask, but is that the movie I heard about where someone gets their lips sewed...ummm *cough*....?

Originally posted by Qumulys

Originally posted by wonhunlo
reply to post by SaulGoodman

 

"Human Centipede 2". B+W. Have a couple of chile cheeze dogs before you watch it to get your money's worth.--

Ummmmmmmm, I hate to ask, but is that the movie I heard about where someone gets their lips sewed...ummm *cough*....?

Great casting for the bad guy. Epic horror trash. And surrealistic. He is a fan of the original movie. But has no real surgical equipment. ---------------------

not exactly movies but really surreal stuff borderline macabre

reply to post by SaulGoodman


I've never seen any of these that you've seen. Which one would you recommend as the best?

Requiem for a Dream

Triangle

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Dark City

Originally posted by MrAndy
reply to post by SaulGoodman

 

I've never seen any of these that you've seen. Which one would you recommend as the best?

That's hard to say.

Eraserhead was the first one I saw and that blew my mind. It's an incredible film, the first by David Lynch. It's very unsettling and left me shaken the first time I saw it. It's wall-to-wall strange, but in a kind of sparse way where there's not something new and crazy every minute.

If you want to experience the craziest stuff first, go for El Topo or Holy Mountain. They're both by Alejandro Jodorowsky, a man who is walks that line between genius and madman. El Topo is more structured, with an obvious plot. Holy Mountain is almost two hours of bizarre imagery. Nearly every second has something you've never seen before in a movie happening. Almost all of it revolves around mysticism, religion, philosophy, sex (there's a lot of nudity in Holy Mountain and quite a bit in El Topo). It's a movie that makes you tired because your mind is having trouble processing it. Watch Holy Mountain and whenever people say something is weird, you'll scoff and think, "Man, they don't know weird."

Movies like Videodrome, Brazil and Santa Sangre (which is hard to call surrealist, but it could qualify and it's by Alejandro Jodorowskys) are traditional movies with plots and fleshed out characters. So, if you just want to dip your toe in they'd be good choices. Videodrome is intense, Brazil is funny, but dark and Santa Sangre is a strange and beautiful horror movie.

Depending on what you're looking for, those are the best.

Just for the pedantic record, most post war Italian films by directors such as Fellini, De Sica, Visconti, etc, are considered 'neorealist' not 'surrealist' ... surreal as they may be.

Some good ones:

- Ladri di biciclette
- Umberto D
- Roma, città aperta

But the whole genre is my favorite of all.

reply to post by SaulGoodman


I got one for ya...

"In the mouth of madness"

One of my favorite movies...

Check out the movie “Ink”, it’s not exactly a box office hit and the special effects are extremely bad lol, but the story line is pretty awesome and very surreal. Maybe it will be re-made into a Hollywood movie in the future…


- JC

Fantastic Planet- (Surrealistic animation concept)

200 Motels-Frank Zappa (and the Mothers of Invention)

Fantastic Planet- (Surrealistic animation concept)

200 Motels-Frank Zappa (and the Mothers of Invention)

reply to post by SaulGoodman


Light:
The Time Bandits Funny and ok for kids.

Medium to Dark:
Twelve Monkeys, with Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt
Blade Runner, with Harrison Ford

Dark:
A Clockwork Orange

Have you seen existenz? It's one of the best and i can always watch it without getting bored time after time!



But i warn you, most of it only made sense after watching it for the 3rd time...

- A Bad Day To Go Fishing
- Finnisterrae
- Funky Forest
- 10 Nights Of Dreams
- Rubber
- Wojna Polska-Ruska
- Goodbye 20th Century

reply to post by xXxinfidelxXx


Wristcutters

reply to post by Reignite


Existenz...one of my favs. You are right, every time I watch it, I see something I missed before. Mesmerizing is the only one-word description I can think of.

Des

Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep them coming. I've picked up a few of the ones mentioned and I'll watch them soon.

I have a recommendation. The movie isn't that good, but it is interesting. "Greaser's Palace" is an early '70s movie by Robert Downey Sr. It's basically "El Topo" but not as ambitious or compelling. It's about a zoot-suited Jesus analog named Jesse coming into a town run by a tyrannical man. Jesse wants to be a song-and-dance man. There are a couple musical numbers in the movie and a lot of weird goings-on. The best part of the movie is probably the bitter Holy Ghost.

Not great and it's so obviously a rip-off of El Topo, but I'm still glad I watched it.

reply to post by SaulGoodman




I heart Huckabees
Lost highway
Tideland

A very interesting more recent surreal cult film is Dan Zukovic's "DARK ARC",
a challenging sort of hybrid of Noir, Art Film, Mystery Thriller and Black Comedy,
with some amazing surrealist imagery. Here's the trailer:

www.youtube.com...