Movies that require thought??

eagle eye

I was just thinking about this today. Great movies that you have to follow, in other words movies that you have to become totally engrossed in.

I think I've probably seen most of these but the odd one slips by and so I decided to start a thread to see what comes up.

I could start it off with a huge list but I don't think that would help, but just a few.

LA Story
American Beauty
The Usual Suspects
V for Vendetta
Silence of the Lambs
Vanilla Sky

there are loads but this thread is so I can actually find ones that I have not seen.

FionnMatthew

Syriana
Solaris (original)

Azhrei

Persepolis

rednik

If you haven't seen Memento give it a watch and try following it. Directed by Christopher Nolan of the latest Batman movies fame. Its a classic.

eagle eye

FionnMatthew wrote: »

Syriana
Solaris (original)

I've seen both of these but keep coming please.

rednik wrote: »

If you haven't seen Memento give it a watch and try following it. Directed by Christopher Nolan of the latest Batman movies fame. Its a classic.

This is the one movie I am missing at this present time that I am aware of.

Azhrei wrote: »

Persepolis

I have heard of this but from what I know its animation and I just am not a fan of cartoon movies. But keep coming if you have more good ones.

Renny

Donnie Darko
Fight Club

MagicMarker

American Psycho

hussey

Good Shepherd
Syriana
Michael Clayton

The Denouncer

Jacobs Ladder
Slaughterhouse Five

Otis Driftwood

Pi

chin_grin

Dark City - engrossing.

Mr E

Primer.... definitely a challenging movie, and you need to concentrate on whats going on.

Sean Quagmire

The Nines - had me thinking about it the whole next day 'til I fully got it...

The Bollox

Se7en
Deja Vu (not great, but made me think)

Neo#

Dark City is just insane. In a good way!:D LA Confidential is excellent and makes you think a little.

missingtime

La Haine

Earthhorse

Mulholland Drive and the already mentioned Primer.

Though I'm not sure thinking about them's going to help all that much.

Oh, and Total Recall. Seriously.

DeepBlue

Mr E wrote: »

Primer.... definitely a challenging movie, and you need to concentrate on whats going on.

Nah, you need to watch Primer half a dozen times, read up on it from wikipedia and similar sources, download that Primer timeline pdf that's available, google some more........................and you still won't know wtf was going on* .

*Ok, exaggerating slightly. Still anyone who says they understood that movie after one viewing is lying.

Highlander

Identity

SuperGrover

Pi, as mentioned above.

Donnie Darko.

Anything by David Lynch (except The Straight Story).

The Fountain.

johnny_ultimate

Stalker (anything by Andrei Tarkovsky really), There Will Be Blood, Weekend , My Winnipeg, the previously mentioned David Lynch (Inland Empire, Mullholland Drive or Eraserhead for the really intense ones), Persona, Aquirre The Wrath of God, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and If... are all films that I wouldn't watch if severely tired.

JP Liz

Mullholland Drive

topper75

Get a day job that requires thought.

Then - hey presto - you can go home in the evenings and choose from any one of the myriad of movies that require no thought.

dara28

oldboy - absoultely amazing film, definitely stays with you for a good wile after

otnomart

anything by David Mamet

Hugh_C

21 grams by Alejandro González Iñárritu

Non-linear timeline with cracking performances by the three principals, especially Sean Penn.

shrapnel222

loads of great ones there. also a few more that spring to mind

2001 a space odysee
Dune
city of lost children
clockwork orange

humanji

In fairness, the majority of films listed here don't require thought, they just require you to pay attention. When I saw the thread title I was expecting more films along the lines of Donnie Darko, Solaris, Primer, Memento, Stalker etc that some have listed above. You know, films that after you watch it you keep on thinking about the meaning of it.

I can usually judge how demanding one of these films is by the fact that I can't decide if I liked it or not and by how much of a headache I have. Southland Tales definietly fits into this pile. Even after reading the comics of it I was still confused.

D.S.

humanji wrote: »

In fairness, the majority of films listed here don't require thought, they just require you to pay attention. When I saw the thread title I was expecting more films along the lines of Donnie Darko, Solaris, Primer, Memento, Stalker etc that some have listed above. You know, films that after you watch it you keep on thinking about the meaning of it.

I can usually judge how demanding one of these films is by the fact that I can't decide if I liked it or not and by how much of a headache I have. Southland Tales definietly fits into this pile. Even after reading the comics of it I was still confused.

Maybe not a brain bender as the above but Id add In the Valley of Elah.., Great flick, and multiple levels to the film.., left me thinking quite a bit after if it finished...

faceman

Sean Quagmire wrote: »

The Nines - had me thinking about it the whole next day 'til I fully got it...

I still dont get it!!!

My suggestions would be:
Donnie Darko
12 Monkeys

Bodhidharma

I'd go for The Fountain. Fantastic film. One of those ones that i kept thinking about for days after i saw it. I got the soundtrack too. So much going on in it. So yeah that's one that comes to mind. I've seen it a good few times at this stage and everytime i watch it i notice something which i will think about after.

It is a very rare thing to have a movie require you to think, and not just sit and look at explosions.

humanji

Then I fully recomend Southland Tales. It requires you to think AND it's got explosions! Who could ask for more?

Earthhorse

Donnie Darko and Southland Tales are kinda cheats because you need to refer to material outside of the movies in order to "get" them.

hottstuff

faceman wrote: »

I still dont get it!!!

My suggestions would be:
Donnie Darko
12 Monkeys

Agreed.
I'd also add One Hour Photo with Robin Williams.
Heavy movie.:cool:

SoupyNorman

Naked Lunch.

DapperGent

No Country for Old Men
Lost Highway

shrapnel222

actually, most of kronenberg films would fit into this type, and almsot all of them are absolutely brilliant!!!

View Profile

The bit at the end of the Matrix 2 when the "architect" sh1tes on for half an hour....:D

Mark Hamill

IMO, "Meet the Spartans" requires at least twice as much thought as any other film... i.e., you really should think twice before seeing it .

Seriously though, I would suggest Pans Labyrinth, Momento and Frailty as being quite thoughtful, amongst others.

kraggy

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Stalker (anything by Andrei Tarkovsky really), There Will Be Blood, Weekend , My Winnipeg, the previously mentioned David Lynch (Inland Empire, Mullholland Drive or Eraserhead for the really intense ones), Persona, Aquirre The Wrath of God, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and If... are all films that I wouldn't watch if severely tired.

What was it about 4m2w3d that you think would require a lot of thought or you wouldn't watch it when tired?

Frankie Lee

I can't believe Millers Crossing hasen't been mentioned yet.

faceman

shrapnel222 wrote: »

actually, most of kronenberg films would fit into this type, and almsot all of them are absolutely brilliant!!!

Thats with a C dude, mad for the beer are we?
Good point tho, Existenz was mental. Crap movie, but mental none the less!

Dont forget pretty much all of David Lynch's movies too!

johnny_ultimate

kraggy wrote: »

What was it about 4m2w3d that you think would require a lot of thought or you wouldn't watch it when tired?

Well its one that left me thinking afterwards, trying to interpret the moral standpoint taken by the film (which for all the grimness is still quite an ambigious piece of work). Definitely left me reflecting on the film for a while afterwards. Maybe more thought provoking, but definitely a movie that gave me a lot to think about.

shrapnel222

faceman wrote: »

Thats with a C dude, mad for the beer are we?
Good point tho, Existenz was mental. Crap movie, but mental none the less!

Dont forget pretty much all of David Lynch's movies too!

was dying of thirst this afternoon. it took over my thought process:)

Bijoux

Hmm....the Matrix (it doesn't confuse me, but it seems to confuse a lot of other people)

The Departed...cos if you dont pay attention for five minutes, you're not gonna have a clue whats going on...

Also Eyes Wide Shut....especially the ending....

Frankie Lee

I always found The Departed easy enought to follow but I suppose I've seen it about 20 times.
Fargo would be another one.

Ronan|Raven

Step up 2 the street 2.

bluto63

Waking Life, although it is just streams of philosophy one after the other, not really any story line. Still thought it was worth the mention!

Shacklebolt

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

Step up 2 the street 2.

Im detecting a disturbing lack of sarcasm in this post....

Phototoxin

Dial M for Murder

c0rk3r

The Man from Earth.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/