Films that Break the Mold

[cheezMcNASTY]

I'm going to come right out and say it, I am dead tired of cliché and mundane cinema. A new superhero movie comes out every year, another war movie, another suspense film; it seems like each one is just a reboot of the last one and VERY few manage to actually break the mold and become fantastic in their own right. It's the mold-breakers that I'm thirsting for.

You all know the movies I'm talking about: the cult hits and the instant classics. The movies that are masterpieces where after watching them you sit back and you realize that there is no decipherable source you could pick out that led to its creation.

Ladies and germs, I want more movies like those. Name some films that break the mold (not the kind that scar you for life, I watched A Serbian Film and am now immune to such things). The less likely people are to have heard of it, the better. Though keep in mind that a dated film is harder to have your mind blown by since there have been plenty of films between its release and now to have repeated its high points until they are meaningless.

In return, I offer you one such film that you haven't (I'm hoping) heard of before: Paprika.

What is it?
Words can not describe what the anime Paprika movie is about. All I can say is it has some things in common with Spirited Away, Inception, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind. It's amazingly fantastical, and the imagery is something you will NEVER forget.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NclRSeV4pBA

Alright Project Ego, I've done my part. Give me some movies I may not have seen now that I will never forget later.

 

[queenofdisco]

Cube basically it was the grandfather to the **** we know as Saw, that was a brilliant film when it came out. I love Mirrormask, Pan's Labyrinth, Gabriel is quite good fairly new its an aussie film bouts angels and demons very cheap B-movie but really cool.

Serenity is a fav cult hit of mine, Mr Brooks is bit unknown but awesome.

I've yet to see spirited away & serbian film but I love ghost in the shell 2.0 and grave of the fireflies.

 

[Tsuyu]

Paprika is hot. I'd do her. Favourite sequence of mine is when all **** breaks lose with the clowns and toys and stuff.

 

[Quistrix]

Recently I watched Veronika Decides To Die. As morbid as the title sounds the whole tone of the film reminds me very much of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you should check it out.

Some foreign films I've noticed to be 'fresh'(if you don't mind subtitles) are Barfuss and Run Lola Run(At first this movie might make you go "WTF?"). Both German films.

All of these films have pretty much stuck with me, so they may have the same effect on you.

Also I'd just like to say: I've never been much of a hardcore fan of anime really, but Spirited Away blew me away.

See what I did there?

 

[Firis]

Eraserhead

 

[Cain]

A serbian film? I feel sorry for you Cheez

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

A serbian film? I feel sorry for you Cheez

indeed. i was prepared, though. i had no engagements for the next few days and was armed with a liter of whiskey. it was pretty rough, but immunity comes with a price.

 

[Tyloric]

I actually got done watching Paprika. I didn't have trouble following the plot at all. >_>

Though a lot of imagination is necessary for it to actually make sense. I'm sure some people watched it and were like "wtf is this?"

 

[D3m190d]

I actually got done watching Paprika. I didn't have trouble following the plot at all. >_>

Though a lot of imagination is necessary for it to actually make sense. I'm sure some people watched it and were like "wtf is this?"

Really? I wanna see that.

 

[TRA Rotid]

Cube basically it was the grandfather to the s*** we know as Saw, that was a brilliant film when it came out.

:thumbsup:

There's a fairly easy way out from your situation.
Most movies suggested by others are not American... I'll let you figure out the rest.

Admittedly, European cinema can be horrendously "slow" for someone used to Hollywood and they tend to be overly complex - something American movies rarely suffer from.

Generally, Russian movies are good (Russians are superb actors) so I'm going to suggest two:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079944/
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl is based on the same concept.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318034/
Russian Ark
If nothing else, I'll quote the one thing that 100% breaks the mold with this one: "It was filmed using a single 96-minute Steadicam sequence shot."

 

[cheezMcNASTY]

Eraserhead

+like for David Lynch

Recently I watched Veronika Decides To Die. As morbid as the title sounds the whole tone of the film reminds me very much of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you should check it out.

Some foreign films I've noticed to be 'fresh'(if you don't mind subtitles) are Barfuss and Run Lola Run(At first this movie might make you go "WTF?"). Both German films.

Haven't seen any of those except for Run Lola Run (which is AWESOME by the way). I re-watched it about a year ago in a film class, we were studying films that use fast-cuts and establish simultaneous action well.

i'll have to look around more for Barfuss and Veronika. I watched trailers for both and am interested. They're looking pretty scarce in the states, but i'm known to be somewhat....resourceful

I actually got done watching Paprika. I didn't have trouble following the plot at all. >_>

Though a lot of imagination is necessary for it to actually make sense. I'm sure some people watched it and were like "wtf is this?"

more or less, there are only 2 types of negative feedback that i've seen for the movie:

1) It's animation style doesn't sit well with them or they just plain don't like anime (why watch it then?)

2) They didn't manage to understand the plot.

I can understand the second reason somewhat... it presents its self like a movie that will just take you along for the ride, and has a fantastic dream-like device it uses for storytelling where it'll insert important images to the plot later on so that you get an eerie deja vu when it is shown again and hinted as significant. If you aren't paying attention enough to notice parts like those, it could easily pass you by.

 

[Tsuyu]

Two words.

Blade

Runner

 

[queenofdisco]

I only starting watching blade runner recently, its so awesome it feels like it doesn't even come from any era of history.

 

[TRA Rotid]

I recently watched Blade Runner and I just couldn't get into it at all. Probably wasn't in the right mood for it though.

 

[Tsuyu]

Cloverfield.

Because the US needed it's own giant monster. The cinematographic abortion that is the '98 Godzilla doesn't count.

 

[Purple Nurple]

+like for David Lynch

If you like David Lynch, try and watch Blue Velvet. I overlooked it when I first visited this thread, but it is a very good film especially if you like noir-surrealist films.

And Blade Runner is fantastic, I also hear Brazil is good in a similar vein to Blade Runner. Haven't seen it myself yet though.

 

[Tyloric]

Cloverfield.

Because the US needed it's own giant monster. The cinematographic abortion that is the '98 Godzilla doesn't count.

I enjoyed Godzilla more than I did Cloverfield.

Cloverfield was... pretty damn awful.

"Guys... I don't feel so good T_T... BBGGRRBRRLLLL *boom*"

 

[TRA Rotid]

I liked Cloverfield. It'a a movie that fits into the "hate it or love it" mold.

 

[queenofdisco]

And Blade Runner is fantastic, I also hear Brazil is good in a similar vein to Blade Runner. Haven't seen it myself yet though.

Been wanting to catch Brazil and City Of God for years now.

 

[Tsuyu]

I enjoyed Godzilla more than I did Cloverfield.

Cloverfield was... pretty damn awful.

"Guys... I don't feel so good T_T... BBGGRRBRRLLLL *boom*"

To us real Godzilla fans (read: the Japanese flicks) the '98 US version was blasphemy.