Jeunet/Caro is tops in my book. I'm a big fan of the surrealism, colours & ambiguous timeframe/setting (you know, the whole retro-future thing). But I can't seem to find many other films that are like this. Any suggestions?
The ones I've found so far:
City of Lost Children
Brazil
Shimotsuma monogatari [Kamikaze Girls]
The Crow
Yeah the Jeunet Caro team is tops in my book as well. I got a chance to see The City of Lost Children on the big screen and it was a tremendous experience. They also usually pick Darius Khondji to do their cinematography and as a cinematography major, I have to say this guy is super talented. Anyway If your looking for this type of look along with surrealism/weirdness etc. Here are my favorites:
1. Cronenberg's "Videodrome" (a must see)
2. Tarkovsky's "Mirror" (very slow but Tarkovsky is a genius)
3. Tsukamoto's "Tetsuo: The Iron Man" (really weird)
4. Lynch's "Eraserhead" (highly recommended)
5. Lynch's "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" (creepy, but good)
6. Proyas's "Dark City" (Guy who made The Crow. Good stuff. Matrix ripped this movie off somewhat)
7. Guillermo Del Toro's "Devil's Backbone" (The Spanish version of the Sixth Sense some would say but its not a story about ghosts just a story with a ghost in it. Not really scary but has the look your searching for. Awesome movie!)
Thats all I can think of for now. I am a big fan of surrealism too and I must say all the ones I mentioned are constantly in my viewing rotation. Hope it helps!
Thanks dgold! I haven't seen any of those, so I load up next time I'm at the video store. Yah, the weirder the better. But as long as it's not "pointlessly weird", yaknow like Moulin Rouge...I think that director was trying too hard to be weird.
Hey, I also thought of another one that goes in the Jeunet/Caro genre. Underground by Emir Kusturica definitely fits the bill, even though he can be downright annoying at times. The surrealism & black comedy is thick tho.
hotel splendide,
shareI felt retared when watching Naked Lunch. Even though I understood the superfiscial plot and enjoyed it, I was still very confused at the end. Still, it feels like there are hidden subtexts, and I'm just too stupid to understand them!
"There I was...
Mother of God! There I am!"
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
yah i heard Matrix ripped off dark city, The Crow was and is a lost masterpiece. Never quite seen a film with so much atmosphere. It almost reaches the sensational nihilism of blade runner.
shareWell the general consensus is: that if you watch Dark City you can see how the main character is very similair to neo as far as being the "one" who is different and changes things and is able to save his people. They don't flat out rip off Dark City but you can see subtle similarities and connections and there are a hell of a lot of them. Also it is definitely a fact that the Wachowskis took a lot of the material from comics that were basically like the matrix. As we can see they don't do a very good job...they butchered V for Vendetta. For god's sake hollywood is even trying to make The Watchmen. The first Matrix was dope I hope we can all agree on that. 2 was decent, but 3 was god-awfull. We need new talented blood for sure.
share
Try "Tuvalu" by Helmer. It looks like it's another story from the Delicatessen universe.
I'm a little teapot.
Great suggestion, funky_chicken. I just finished watching Tuvalu. It's SOOOO Jeunet/Caro that I had to double check to make sure that they weren't somehow involved in the production. Good stuff.
But I'll just forewarn the J/C fans, Tuvalu is much like their old, experimental work ("Le Bunker de la dernière rafale"). No dialogue, exaggerated tints, and weeeeeeird.
i recommend the coen brothers movie Barton Fink. it's a very strange, surreal movie and it is just great.
shareI can't believe or you Lynch fans haven't mentioned Lost Highway. I agree with most of the others as I have seen them but there are now some intriguing films listed here I haven't seen but now want to. City of the Lost Children is great I love the tear drop scene. Brazil was made well before it's time. Time Bandits is another I think you could put on this list? and another coen film - the Big Lebowski is superb.
Great thread.
I like the universe of Blade Runner too.
-= You only live once so Enjoy ! =-
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Obviously you might enjoy Amelie, which was also done by Jeunet (but it's on a much happier, lighter side). A Very Long Engagement, also by Jeunet, would be even closer to Delicatessen.
shareYou should also watch "Le Dernier Combat" by Luc Besson (1983), the director's debut, for the sake of "ambiguous timeframe/setting".
Copying-pasting from wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_dernier_combat):
"Le Dernier Combat (English title: The Last Battle) is a 1983 French film. It was the first film made by Luc Besson. The film is a dark vision of post-apocalyptic survival.
It is filmed in black and white and has received cult status for having virtually no dialogue, with barely two minutes of music.
Despite (or perhaps because of) these absences, the film explores the devastation of civilisation and issues of brutality, hostility and isolation."
"Le Dernier Combat" is certainly a masterpiece of cinematography - so is Lynch's "Eraserhead." But imho, "Lost Highway" by Lynch should be regarded to be set on a distinct realm. Actually Lynch has nothing to do with post-apocalyptic universes. Rather -except "Straight Story" and probably "Elephant Man" (I haven't seen this movie)- Lynch seems to be solely concerned with the divergence and convergence of dreams, phantasies and what is taken to be "real" by the individual: Handling "Le Dernier Combat" by (Lacanian) psychoanalysis is a luxury; but it is a must for a generic Lynch film.
Looking for films set in a detailed post-apocalyptic universe (which inhere a genuine cinematographical value), one should not forget to check the second and the third episodes of the "Mad Max" trilogy, and the film "12 Monkeys" as well.