Strange, absurd and surrealistic movies

[AndyC]

Can't think of much that hasn't already been mentioned.

I suppose there are a few fantasy kids' movies that are pretty surreal. The Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonka, Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang. All are based on literature, so the filmmakers can't really get all the credit for making them weird. One I rented recently was George Pal's 7 Faces of Dr. Lao, which appeared to be a showcase for the talents of Tony Randall. Weird movie, but cute.



Post Edited (03-24-04 09:01)

[Bernie]

For 30s absurdity, try "Million Dollar Legs" with Jack Oakie and W.C. Fields -- a surrealist hoot from start to finish -- Fields is the President of a country where all the men are named George and all the women are named Angela; the country's official love song is called "Woof Bloogle Jig" -- and everyone, including Fields, is an Olympics-class athlete!

Wheeler & Woolsey also did a couple of early-30s films that were very surreal - can't think of titles right now.

And of course, surreal and absurdist elements weave their ways in and out of the Marx Brothers' early-30s Paramount films (a strand discarded when they went to MGM).

[eeeee5]

.  .  .  .  Darren Aronofsky films are a bit odd.

[dean]

Bloody Mullholland Drive!  Half of the cinema studies people in my Uni course do nothing but b***h about that damn movie over and over again!

Waking Life, Fear and loathing in Las Vegas are two surreal favourites.

But when it comes to truly sick, wacky movies you need two words, five syllables:
Day-vid-Crone-En-Berg

Nuts in every sense of the word!

[AndyC]

Cronenberg, for sure.

Atom Egoyan would be another director I'd recommend. Check out The Adjuster for a movie that mixes the ordinary with the bizarre. A bit arty, but entertaining and funny, with a disturbing edge.

To other surreal films that came to mind: Cube is highly entertaining and very weird, and no list of the weird and surreal would be complete without the Japanese masterpiece, Tetsuo: The Iron Man.

[raj]

That sounds like a nightmare.

[JohnL]

Not quite in the same league, but I liked a movie called Paper House. A sick girl draws a picture of a house and when she sleeps/passes out, she dreams of the house. She ends up becoming obsessed with the house and with the boy she meets there.