Decent films of a philosophical nature?

Being someone who has an active and visual mind, a selectively strong memory (I can remember licence plate numbers of junior school teachers) and experiences vivid (and occasionally lucid) dreams, I find myself being drawn to movies which deal with these and related issues - existence, reality, dreams, memory and the like - that is, themes which are philosophical in nature (or at least I assume are philosophical in nature, not being a student or aficionado of the field).

Generally, I prefer the pairing of philosophy with technology (e.g. virtual reality games) and/or science (e.g. time travel, Many Worlds theory etc.), so anything that’s more spiritually oriented or in a a non-modern setting is less likely to appeal, although I would welcome suggestions.

In particular I am fascinated by the notion of chaos theory/the butterfly effect as well as parallel universes. I’m greatly intrigued by the idea that by choosing one popsicle flavour over another when I was four years old I would effect large changes to my later life (e.g. if I had chose strawberry I would have been run over and killed by a car aged 11).

The films I have already seen and the categories in which I personally define them are as follows:

Layered/Virtual/Mock Reality or “How did we get here?”

eXistenZ
The Matrix series
The Thirteenth Floor
The Lawnmower Man
The Truman Show
Dark City
The Cube series

(Lucid) Dreams/Memories

Memento
Mulholland Drive
Vanilla Sky/Abre Los Ojos
Eternal Sunshine

Butterfly Effect / Parallel Universes

The Butterfly Effect (duh)
Lola Rennt - “Run Lola Run”
Donnie Darko
Mr. Destiny
Sliding Doors

Other/Mixed/Misc.

The Game
I Heart Huckabees
Swimming Pool
Fight Club
Minority Report
Groundhog Day - I love the concept of a time loop.
Clockstoppers - Ditto for time freezing.
Anything involving time travel, of which there are far too many movies to list.

I’ve probably forgotten to include some really obvious titles (damn you, fickle memory!) but I think that paints a picture of what I’m after.

So I put it to you, fellow Dopers, to suggest movies that are suited to the (somewhat broad) spectrum given above. I’m not averse to anything low-budget, cult or foreign, so bring 'em on.

Basically, anything that makes you think, makes you wonder, makes you question reality, makes you think of places in your memory that you’re sure don’t exist, makes you remember dreams, sights, smells and tastes, or makes you shout ‘THAT IS FREAKING COOL!’.

I’m not sure that it falls within your classifications, but Pleasantville is one of my favorites. The symbolism and allegory is sometimes so blatant as to be ham-fisted, but the satire is great (“We’re safe for now. Thank God we’re in a bowling alley,”) and the performances are outstanding, particularly Jeff Daniels as the diner owner and Joan Allen is the June Cleaver-esque mother who discovers what all the kids are doing up on Lover’s Lane.

“Where’s my dinner?”

Stranger

Stay is an excellent film that belongs in one of those categories. (Won’t spoil it.)

Waking Life goes in the “lucid dream” box.

Bernt Amadeus Capra’s Mindwalk is definitely of a philosophical nature, but you might or might not like it. It’s three intellectuals discussing philosophy while touring Mont St. Michel. It’s not about that, it is that. All talking heads, no real story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindwalk

Rashomon

IMO, there’s only so much you can do with, “Are we out of the game yet, or is this another layer of VR?” And every bit of it has already been done, more than once.

Ooh! Ooh! Anything by Andrei Tarkovsky, especially *Stalker *(alternate universe) and *The Sacrifice *(alternate reality). Plus loads of juicey philosophical talk. Loads. Come to think of it, you get all that and more in Tarkovsky’s *Solaris *too.

A couple of films that haven’t been mentioned so far

The Stunt Man and Roasencratz and Gildernstern are Dead

both fall into the “is this a film or is this real life” type genre.

My Dinner with Andre. A two-hour philosophical discussion – and you keep wanting to join in.

Definitely Solaris. I admit to not having seen the 1972 Solyaris, but the 2002 version with George Clooney rocked my socks far more than I was expecting.

While I agree that the concept you describe has been well-visited, I’d say that it’s presumptuous to write off a genre completely; you never know when a film that takes an overdone premise and offers a novel and innovative twist may slip through the cracks. I’d imagine that the ‘is this reality the real reality?’ theme wasn’t helped a great deal by the arrival of at least three very similar films (The Matrix, eXistenZ, and The Thirteenth Floor) within a very small time-frame at the end of the 90s.

As far as Virtual Reality itself is concerned, the field has greatly suffered due to being over-hyped in a period where the technology was nowhere near capable enough to offer a feasible projection of a reality. Ask people about VR now and most would still cringe and think of idiots prancing around in bulky headsets in some 80s shopping mall. Still, the gamer in me yearns for a virtual reality revival, and I’ll watch any movies on the subject with enthusiasm.

Thanks for the recommendations so far, folks. I’ve added what I can to my DVD rental queue, although a good few of them are either unavailable or Coming ‘Soon’, which is annoying. :mad:

Here’s a few devices that I would like to see implemented in a film in some shape or form:

[ul]
[li]A secret organisation with some sort of ‘look-ahead’ ability exploits the butterfly effect in their favour: e.g. by killing a postal worker in Ohio they can install a dictator in an African state. Could be as part of some Illuminati-esque conspiracy.[/li]
[li]The central character recalls childhood memories which are displayed on screen through the eyes of a child - the sense of scale is all off, everything’s in ‘hypercolour’, people are caricatures etc. I believe there’s a Dylan Thomas poem referencing this idea - a child sees blades of grass in a field as towering giants. Eternal Sunshine dabbled in this briefly and sparingly in the kitchen scene, and I suppose Big Fish draws upon this idea of creative licence and grandeur.[/li]
[li]A character needs to recall dreams for some important purpose but, as time goes by, the memories of the dream deteriorate and details change - people’s faces are literally blank (like in Eternal Sunshine), text written on posters is unintelligible etc. Might work better with lucid dreaming - the character might have to ‘return’ to the dream world and use the lucidity to change details. But can he do it in time? Can he find out what was in that toy chest? Nobody knows but him and his subconscious! :wink: [/li]
[li]Sleep paralysis, or ‘The Hag’, plays an important part somehow. Would be suited to a horror film, I’d expect. I know that thinking of the episodes I’ve personally experienced brings shivers to my spine…[/li][/ul]

Love and death woody allen film

A few to add to this category:

The I Inside
Jacob’s Ladder
Identity
The Jacket

Also, some miscellaneous “maybes”:

Sixth Sense
The Others
What Dreams May Come
The Village
Pi
Solaris
(Haven’t seen the original, but I dig the remake with Clooney)

Waking Life
2001, A Space Odessey

I’m not sure if this counts, but The Man Who Wasn’t There offers a very interesting look at the Uncertainty Principle all while paying homage to the noir genre. A very satisfying film in all aspects, and one of my favorites from the Coen Brothers.

heh, I missed this when I posted my lists. That’s two genuine recommendations, as opposed to an “I second that.”

I’m posting again because I forgot to mention 12 Monkeys, but that leads me to Terry Gilliam. While 12 Monkeys is most like what you’re looking for, his other movies are at least in the ballpark. (Brazil, Time Bandits, Baron Von Munchausen.)

As far as virtual reality, some “oldies” not mentioned yet, roughly ordered from best to worst:

Strange Days
Virtuosity
Videodrome
Johnnie Mnemonic
The Lawnmower Man

In the interest of completeness, the godawful S1m0ne is a recent movie about virtual reality.

Besides Waking Life, try out some of Linklater’s other stuff, especially Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. The guy is as much a philosopher as a writer/director.

Don’t overlook Woody Allen. Crimes and Misdemeanors is a fantastic, existential meditation on moral relativism. Match Point falls into the same basic category.

Primer Is an excellent movie about the possibiliities of realistic time travel.

Moral relativism? I don’t see it. If you have to hang an “-ism” on it, I’d go with nihilism – but I think that even more than that it’s just that young fella blurred the lines a little bit between opera and real life.

As for Richard Linklater – I agree completely. This is in large part why I’m so chuffed that Linklater has made A Scanner Darkly. Finally, an adaptation of one of Dick’s major works by someone who has a vague clue.

“Let’s hear it for the vague clue!”

Yep, that was my first thought on seeing the thread title. I havent’ seen Match Point yet, but C&M is definitely my favorite from Woody Allen, and it’s a great existentialist flick.