Can you recommend any quirky,interesting or thought-provoking films to watch?

Question

My favourites are: Ghost World, The assassination of Richard Nixon, Night Must Fall, Melinda & Melinda and Sweet & Lowdown.

Yeah, I also have Donnie Darko, great - a bit over-rated though.

Foreign film ideas good also! :D

Answer 1

These are my personal favourites for being intellegent cinema, some of them need to watched several times to really get the layers of meaning and symbolism.

Roshomon (1950) by Akira Kurosawa
Synopsis- Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, Rashomon is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of justice. Through an ingenious use of camera and flashbacks, Kurosawa reveals the complexities of human nature as four people recount different versions of the story of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife. Toshiro Mifune gives another commanding performance in the eloquent masterwork that revolutionized film language and introduced Japanese cinema to the world.
http://criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=138
http://criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=138&eid=212§ion=essay
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042876/

Early Summer (1951) by Yasujiro Ozu
Synopsis - The Mamiya family is seeking a husband for their daughter, Noriko, but she has ideas of her own. Played by the extraordinary Setsuko Hara, Noriko impulsively chooses her childhood friend, at once fulfilling her family's desires while tearing them apart. A seemingly simple story, Early Summer is one of Yasujiro Ozu's most complex works—a nuanced examination of life's changes across three generations. The Criterion Collection is proud to present one of the director's most enduring classics.
http://criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=240
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043313/

Ikiru (1952) by Akira Kurosawa
Synopsis - Considered by some to be Akira Kurosawa’s greatest achievement, Ikiru presents the director at his most compassionate—affirming life through an exploration of a man’s death. Takashi Shimura portrays Kanji Watanabe, an aging bureaucrat with stomach cancer forced to strip the veneer off his existence and find meaning in his final days. Told in two parts, Ikiru offers Watanabe’s quest in the present, and then through a series of flashbacks. The result is a multifaceted look at a life through a prism of perspectives, resulting in a full portrait of a man who lacked understanding from others in life.
http://criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=221
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044741/

The 400 Blows (1959) by Francois Truffant
Synopsis - François Truffaut’s first feature, The 400 Blows (Les Quatre cents coups), is also his most personal. Told through the eyes of Truffaut’s life-long cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), The 400 Blows sensitively recreates the trials of Truffaut’s own difficult childhood, unsentimentally portraying aloof parents, oppressive teachers, petty crime, and a friendship that would last a lifetime. The film marks Truffaut’s passage from leading critic of the French New Wave to his emergence as one of Europe’s most brilliant auteurs.
http://criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=5
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053198/

Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) by Alain Resnais
Synopsis - A cornerstone film of the French New Wave, Alain Resnais’ first feature is one of the most influential films of all time. A French actress (Emmanuelle Riva) and a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada) engage in a brief, intense affair in postwar Hiroshima, their consuming fascination impelling them to exorcise their own scarred memories of love and suffering. Utilizing an innovative flashback structure and an Academy Award-nominated® screenplay by novelist Marguerite Duras, Resnais delicately weaves past and present, personal pain and public anguish, in this moody masterwork.
http://criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=196
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052893/

The Silence (1963) by Ingmar Bergman
Synopsis - Two sisters—the sickly, intellectual Ester (Ingrid Thulin) and the sensual, pragmatic Anna (Gunnel Lindblom)—travel by train with Anna’s young son Johan (Jorgen Lindstrom) to a foreign country seemingly on the brink of war. Attempting to cope with their alien surroundings, the sisters resort to their personal vices while vying for Johan’s affection, and in so doing sabotage any hope for a future together. Regarded as one of the most sexually provocative films of its day, Ingmar Bergman’s The Silence offers a brilliant, disturbing vision of emotional isolation in a suffocating spiritual void.
http://criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=211
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057611/

Contempt (1963) by Jean Luc Godard
Synopsis - Jean-Luc Godard’s subversive foray into commercial filmmaking is a star-studded Cinemascope epic. Contempt (Le Mépris) stars Michel Piccoli as a screenwriter torn between the demands of a proud European director (played by legendary director Fritz Lang), a crude and arrogant American producer (Jack Palance), and his disillusioned wife, Camille (Brigitte Bardot) as he attempts to doctor the script for a new film version of The Odyssey. The Criterion Collection is proud to present this brilliant study of marital breakdown, artistic compromise, and the cinematic process in a new special edition.
http://criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=171
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057345/

Dead Man (1995) by Jim Jarmusch *ing Johnny Depp
Synopsis - Dead Man is the story of a young man's journey, both physically and spiritually, into very unfamiliar terrain. William Blake travels to the extreme western frontiers of America sometime in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Lost and badly wounded, he encounters a very odd, outcast Native American, named "Nobody," who believes Blake is actually the dead English poet of the same name. The story, with Nobody's help, leads William Blake through situations that are in turn comical and violent. Contrary to his nature, circumstances transform Blake into a hunted outlaw, a killer, and a man whose physical existence is slowly slipping away. Thrown into a world that is cruel and chaotic, his eyes are opened to the fragility that defines the realm of the living. It is as though he passes through the surface of a mirror, and emerges into a previously-unknown world that exists on the other side.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/plotsummary
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/01/14/dead_man.html

Nixon (1995) by Oliver Stone with Anthony Hopkins as Nixon
The story of Richard M. Nixon, former president of the United States whose presidency ended in disgrace. The only US president ever to resign his office to avoid being impeached. The film begins with the Watergate burglary which began his downfall and jumps around in time a great deal. Filmed in a wide variety of film stock, including color and black and white photography, the film tends to resemble Orson Welles' Citizen Kane in it's time frame and flashback sequences.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_%28film%29
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1995/12/20/DD21970.DTL
http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/cult_movies/nixon.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113987/

Some of my favorite filmmakers, among others (I would recommend thier work)

1. Akira Kurosawa
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/kurosawa.html
http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/kurosawa.html

2. Stanley Kubrick
http://www.indelibleinc.com/kubrick/
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/kubrick.html

3. Jean luc Godard
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/godard.html

4 Abbas Kiarostami
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/kiarostami.html
http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/kiarostami.html

5. Satyajit Ray
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/ray.html

6. Ingmar Bergman
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/bergman.html

Answer 2

Buffalo 66 I agree with. Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, Being John Malcovitch, anything by Wes Anderson (Royal Tenembaums, Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, The Life Aquatic), Amalie, Le Diner De Cons (The Dinner Game). Try typing your favourite films into Amazon and you usually get suggestions of similar films.

Answer 3

Hi,

A quirky one, have you tried 'Lost in Translation' ? Nothing really happens for 2 hours, but its a really good film, all about where the line of friendship and love is drawn. Worth a shot if your bored!

A few others:

Stigmata,
The Others,
Donnie Darko, but ya already said that one.
Forgotten.

Answer 4

Great movies!
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Everything is Illuminated
The Squid & the Whale
Junebug
Crash
Broken Flowers
Imagine Me & You
Butcher Boy
Trees Lounge
Welcome to the Dollhouse
Virgin Suicuides
Igby Goes Down
Donnie Darko
Requiem for a Dream
Trainspotting
Snatch
Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels
Spun
Fargo
So many more...

Answer 5

The Matrix (all three of them) (1999) (2003) (2003)
Awakenings (1990)
Inside Man (definitely this one) (2006)
King Kong (2005)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Stay (2005)
Crash (2005)
The Pianist (2002)
Road to Perdition (2002)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Finding Neverland (2004)
Big Fish (2003) This movie has nothing to do with fish
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Identity (2003)
Antwone Fisher (2002)
John Q (2002)
Ali (2001)
Seabiscuit (2003)
Both Pirates of the Carribean (2003) (2006)
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Mindhunters (2004)
Demolition Man (1993)
Constantine (2005)
Changing Lanes (2003)
The Last Samurai (2003)
Catch Me If you Can (2002)
The Pink Panther (2006)

Answer 6

Have a go at The Station Agent. It won three awards at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, and a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. This is a real favourite of mine and we seem to have similar tastes.

Here's a quick look:

Fin McBride (Dinklage), a loner with a passion for trains, inherits an abandoned train station in the middle of nowhere - a place that suits him just fine because all he wants is to be alone. Soon after moving in, he discovers his isolated depot is more like Grand Central Station! There's Olivia (Clarkson), a distracted and troubled artist, and Joe (Cannavale), a friendly Cuban with an insatiable hunger for conversation. With absolutely nothing in common, they find their isolated lives coming together in a friendship none of them could foresee...

Actors: Peter Dinklage ; Patricia Clarkson ; Bobby Cannavale ; Michelle Williams ; Jayce Bartok ; Paul Benjamin

Answer 7

Donnie Darko, Amelie, Dogma, Fight Club, Monty Python & The Holy Grail, Life Of Brian... etc... Monty Python movies are extremely quirky.

Answer 8

JFK - The Movie
The Green Mile
The Pianist
Independence Day ( what about Hangar 51)
Ingmar Bergman Films


All of the above are thought provoking

Answer 9

The Constant Gardener

Answer 10

Heres a contraversial choice - Natural Born Killers. Forget all the hype it had at the time, just enjoy it for the interaction between the characters.

Also, there is a film, I think its called 'There goes my baby'. Its about a group of college students in America in the mid to late 60's and just tells their individual stories.

Answer 11

Lost In Translation