And yes, I’ve seen Pi.
I like disturbing movies. I like to come away from a movie saying “Blimey. That was intense.”
What would you recommend?
The Princess and the Warrior (German, by the same director as Run Lola Run)
Trainspotting
Well, Last House on the Left is certainly intense and disturbing, so it meets those criteria. Problem is, it’s also “the worst in rape, violence, and the ugliness man can do”, which means you’ll feel like you need a shower after watching it. View at your own risk.
Julian Donkey-Boy. If by ‘intense’ you mean ‘disturbing’ then this is your movie !
I thought Requium was disturbing. And then a friend lent us this and said “Now this, this is disturbing.”
He was right. I am still disturbed by images of this movie in my head. And I only saw half of it.
(But the freestyling black albino from Alabama was pretty cool.)
Mulholland Drive, though you probably have already seen it, would likely fit your criteria.
Magnolia, and Memento, too.
I’m sure there are also movies that don’t start with an M which would apply, but I can’t think of any just now.
If you think Julien was bad get Gummo.
Elvira Madigan, a (very differently) stylized tale of doomed lovers, and based on a true story from Victorian-era Sweden. The social forces that threaten and coerce these lovers are as velvet-gloved as the menaces were obvious and brutal in Requiem.
Training Day was very intense, and was a really good movie. You might also check out The Limey, which was slightly less intense but very entertaining.
I thought May was pretty disturbing.
Ravenous was interesting.
Someone’s already mentioned Mulholland Drive and, of course, Blue Velvet fits the bill as well.
Seven and Jacob’s Ladder also come to mind.
Yes. Get Gummo. Please see Gummo. Just the fact that BurnMeUp has seen Gummo encourages me that the 95 minutes I spent watching that movie actually did happen, and I didn’t lose my mind and thought I had seen a movie called Gummo.
If what you’re truly after is that disturbed, shaken post-screening feeling, go out and see Elephant. The entire audience I saw it with just crawled out of there, looking sad, all silent. My friend and I barely knew what to say to each other. I loved Requiem, btw, though I don’t think I was as disturbed by it as many people seem to be.
And what’s with Mozart and tragedy?
I highly recommend this director for the intensity of his movies, especially Audition and Visitor Q. They walk that line of being disturbing,intense and darkly funny. Great stuff.
I liked about one second of Requiem, that second being the second you’d get if you spliced all the shots of Jennifer Connelly doing the lesbian double dildo scene together. The rest of it … yech.
If you’re wanting disturbing, try Eraserhead. I didn’t like ANY of it.
Have you seen KIDS yet?
It’s definately on my top ten list of movies…one of my favorites, actually…but, I’ve only seen it once, and that was enough for me.
Very, very disturbing to me.
12 Monkeys/Donnie Darko/Memento aren’t immediately disturbing… But as you leave the theatre/chair/couch and walk past/turn off/switch the channel the/your/on your box office/computer/television, your mind will stop functioning for a short while as you consider it. In shorter, these movies will throw you for a fucking loop. I recommend them in reverse order of appearance, though all are excellent.
Ravenous is an awesome one - extremely intense, and it deserves a lot more recognition than it gets. Robert Carlyle is a god.
Add to that Ichi the Killer (Happiness of the Katakuris is skippable).
Irreversible is ridiculously intense.
Please do warn him about the rape scene that made me almost physically ill.
Donkey-Boy and Gummo folks: I’ve never heard of these movies. Could you tell me a little about them?
raises eyebrow I can understand not liking the film, but I admit to some surprise that you could possibly receive any titillation from watching what was essentially the complete degradation and enslavement of a human life. Sure, Jennifer Connelly is hot, but that scene horrified me at least as much any of the other character denouements. It was (and still remains) one of the most jarring depictments of dehumanization I have ever seen. I have long considered that scene an amazing piece of work because, despite featuring the gyrating naked bodies of two very attractive women, I’ve never known any heterosexual men who found it sexually exciting to watch (until now, anyway).
Gummo was disturbing for disturbing’s sake. Once you realize that, there is nothing left to save the film.
I find it weird that Magnolia popped up on this list. It wasn’t disturbing unless you really, really hated it.