MovieChat Forums > Youth Without Youth (2007) Discussion > List top metaphysical films like YWY

List top metaphysical films like YWY

posted 16 years ago by fork23
34 replies | jump to latest

Ok, YWY is not for everyone, but people into new-age, metaphysics, symbolic films and directors like David Lynch, please list other films in this genera.

here are some off the top of my head. Please add more.

The Fountain
Pi
The Nines (best this year, a must see)
Momento
Lost Highway
Mulholland Dr.
Inland Empire
Primer
Femme Fatale (De Palma)
The Matrix
What the Bleep
Wings of Desire
Santa Sangre
Holly Mountain
Venus in Furs
Videodrome
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Science of Sleep
Being John Malkovich
Paprika (anime)
Dark City
Naked Lunch
Solaris (original)
Stalker
The Game
Fight Club
The Jacket

any others you can think of please add and turn me on to more films like this.

[–] pshareck 16 years ago

Thanks for the list.

There are some that I hadn't heard of (a few that I saw and didn't care for- that's the nature of these things).

I will look at those that I haven't seen and revisit some of the others.

Here is my list- off the top of my head.

Fearless
Rescue Dawn
Batman Begins
Magnolia
Like Water for Chocolate
History of Violence (Eastern Promises not so much)
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Crash (the second one- I know a lot of people hate this one. I don't believe that it is about racism as much as the duality of lives fully experienced- evil's shadow and good's light that is carried around within each of us)

Do you have favorite websites/blogs for discussing these sorts of films?

Thanks again.

[–] ttboy80 16 years ago

meta? no.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] snoogans24 16 years ago

You do realize we all have real eyes? Please, enlighten us the heavy words of your intellect.

[–] jfman 16 years ago

you forgot the best one of all, Donnie Darko.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] snoogans24 16 years ago

Youth Without Youth was great, by the way. Here's some of my favourite "Metaphysical" films...whatever that means:

Persona - Ingmar Bermgan
Eyes Wide Shut - Stanley Kubrick
Eraserhead - David Lynch
I'm Not There - Todd Haynes
Dreams - Akira Kurosawa
Waking Life - Richard Linklater
The Fly - David Cronenberg
El Topo - Alejandro Jodorowsky
L'Argent - Robert Bresson

[–] rleesloan 15 years ago

My Own Private Idaho
The Fisher King
I Heart Huckabees
Prospero's Books
The Satyricon
The Seventh Seal
Orlando

Perhaps they're not all metaphysical...maybe "trippy" is more accurate.

[–] LizardKing84 16 years ago

No one seems to have mentioned

Altered States

which the whole regression idea made me think of.

[–] omniron 16 years ago

2001

[–] cbgiant 16 years ago

You guys are forgetting a whole lot more..........

Akira
The Cell
THX 1138
Silent Hill
2001 - A Space Odyssey
Baraka
Secret Window
Lawnmower Man
White Noise
Groundhog Day (sort of)
The Secret
The Mothman Prophecies
Total Recall (sort of)
eXistenZ
The Invisible Man
The Sixth Sense
The Manchurian Candidate
The Shining (if you think about it)
Stranger Than Fiction (sort of)
Mirror Mask

Aren't we forgetting time travel/oriented films ????!!!!???!!!!

Sphere
Frequency
Back To The Future (1st sequel mainly)
12 Monkeys
Time Bandits
Donnie Darko
A.I.

[–] Marius1344 16 years ago

how about:
Stay(2005)or
Hard Candy

Farewell, Heath! We'll miss you!
In the history of own goals one man stands above all... Frank Sinclair...

[–] giaou13 16 years ago

For God's sake!Noone has mentioned Ingmar Bergman's work!

THE WORLD IS YOURS

[–] secrettruth 16 years ago

I was going to mention 'Waking Life' but it has been mentioned, but ‘A Scanner Darkly’ is just as internal. ‘Vanilla Sky’, and its original form, ‘Abros Los Ojos’ (sp?) are very challenging as well. I find ‘Apocalypse Now’ very metaphysical as well, although some may disagree. ‘Being John Malkovich’ is another, as is ‘The Jacket’.

It depends on what you mean by metaphysical, if we mean anything that challenges the physical reality in a way to contemplate our life in a philosophical way, then these films do fit the bill. If you mean more esoteric exploration, then YWY and ‘The Fountain’ & ‘Pi’ seem to be some of the very few films to do so.

If we mean to challenge the limits of the physical realm, and to question our own physical nature, then a film like ‘The 13th Floor’ definitely does this, as does ‘the Matrix’ (Although only the first film, the others delve more in historic mythology and analogies of said mythology).

Regardless, I’ll try to think of more.

[–] jwb114 16 years ago

Persona was listed.

I would like to add Woody Allens stardust Memories. In my opionion a vary underated work of his.

[–] rodrigocald 16 years ago

i dont understand how come you liked the nines... i absolutely hated it.. it was like a metaphysical wannabe "movie".
even though all of the other films you listed are incredible (the ones ive seen, that is). i would also add sodenberg's solaris, a personal favorite.

some others:
the machinist
jacobs ladder
blue velvet
someone else mentioned, but not on your list: persona (ingmar bergman)

[–] kelacb6 16 years ago

Anything by SATOHI KAN:

Perfect Blue
Paranoia Agent
Paprika

http://littlepetersellers.blogspot.com