# Most UNIQUE Movie You've Seen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [March 5, 2021, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211 "2021-03-05T00:38:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/161 "2021-04-12T02:35:25Z")
Some other opinions, many listed above: > **[Best strangest, most unique movies - IMDb](https://m.imdb.com/list/ls000044610/)** > > Best strangest, most unique movies ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/162 "2021-04-12T11:59:59Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > it is a documentary without much comment It’s got NO comment-- no narration whatsoever. Everything stands on its own. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/163 "2021-04-12T12:40:33Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > t’s got NO comment-- no narration whatsoever. Everything stands on its own. Agreed, but what I love about the film is the way that their choices of film clips and the juxtapositions they choose give their intended comment without the need for explicit narration. Like when they cut from the animated explanatory film that says that alpha and beta radiation can’t enter your body except through cuts or if you ingest or inhale it, which then cuts to a reporter interviewing one of the soldiers at one of the “war games” tests “So did you keep your head down or did you get a mouthful of dirt [after the bomb went off]?” “I got a mouthful of dirt!” And one clip that had absolutely nothing to do with atomic bombs, but I think they found it and HAD to throw it in. “Richard Nixon helps ring the bell for Mental Health, saying mental health is one of our country’s leading problems” ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/164 "2021-04-12T13:19:11Z")
Interesting list, but more strange than unique - like Barton Fink. I misinterpreted the OP to address ‘unique entertainment’. Barton Fink is fortunately unique, but not entertaining. Perhaps all bad movies are uniquely bad. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/165 "2021-04-12T15:49:54Z")
Though it was surprising to see VP Nixon call mental health America’s biggest problem, I think the clip was relevant since it was in the middle of discussions of fallout shelters, duck and cover maneuvers and general Cold War anxiety. A powerful documentary without any comment. So that’s pretty unique. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/166 "2021-04-12T16:25:45Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I think the clip was relevant since it was in the middle of discussions of fallout shelters, duck and cover maneuvers and general Cold War anxiety. Nope – check it again. The section with Richard Nixon and “ringing the bell for mental health” has absolutely nothing to do with fallout shelters or “duck and cover”. It could have been excised without touching those points. In that sense, it was completely gratuitous – but irresistible if you’re not a fan of Nixon. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/167 "2021-04-12T17:06:58Z")
Because there is no commentary, the viewer is left to their own devices to interpret the content and order (far from chronological) of the archival footage. It is highly unique. An important movie. If it is a movie. (I deem it so.) Each clip is its own thing. I agree the surprising Nixon clip by itself makes no comment on nuclear power or the Cold War. However, I did not conclude it as out of context due to the obvious anxieties associated with overall topic. You may disagree with that, but we still agree the clip was too irresistible not to use in any case. The clip I found most jarring was the removal of the friendly natives from the Bikini Atoll. Their reaction to a translation of (words to the effect of) “We’re going to be doing an important experiment for the betterment of mankind” and complete trust in those greatly indifferent to their situation. I actually support nuclear power and can understand why it was used in WW2. However, the industry remains in an uphill battle to restore faith in policies and procedures. Like the Silicon Valley ethos of “do it anyway”, it has consequences that will affect generations in unknown and unsettling ways. That is one reason this film deserves to be better known. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/168 "2021-04-12T17:47:34Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > The clip I found most jarring was the removal of the friendly natives from the Bikini Atoll. Their reaction to a translation of (words to the effect of) “We’re going to be doing an important experiment for the betterment of mankind” and complete trust in those greatly indifferent to their situation. You might want to have a look at the documentary **Half-Life: a parable for the nuclear age** > **[Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Life:_A_Parable_for_the_Nuclear_Age)** > > Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age is a 1985 Australian documentary film directed by Dennis O'Rourke, concerning the American Castle Bravo nuclear testing at the Marshall Islands in 1954. > The film features interviews with residents of the nearby Rongelap and Utirik Atolls who were affected by nuclear fallout from the tests. Unlike in previous nuclear tests and despite the considerably more powerful nuclear explosion involved, these residents were not relocated to a safer location. Declas... > [@](#): > > _ **Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age** _ is a 1985 [Australian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia) [documentary film](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_film) directed by [Dennis O’Rourke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_O%27Rourke), concerning the American [Castle Bravo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo) nuclear testing at the [Marshall Islands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands) in 1954. > > The film features interviews with residents of the nearby [Rongelap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rongelap_Atoll) and [Utirik Atolls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utirik_Atoll) who were affected by [nuclear fallout](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fallout) from the tests. Unlike in previous nuclear tests and despite the considerably more powerful nuclear explosion involved, these residents were not relocated to a safer location. Declassified American military footage is included in the production.[ > **[Half Life (1986) ⭐ 8.2 | Documentary](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089247/)** > > 1h 27m ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/169 "2021-04-12T19:27:50Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > My suggestion – **Prospero’s Books**. Absolutely. I came in her to post Greenaway’s _Drowning by Numbers_. > **[Drowning by Numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drowning_by_Numbers)** > > Drowning by Numbers is a 1988 British-Dutch film directed by Peter Greenaway. It won the award for Best Artistic Contribution at the Cannes Film Festival of 1988. > The film's plot centres on three married women — a grandmother, her daughter, and her niece — each named Cissie Colpitts. As the story progresses, each woman successively drowns her husband. The three Cissie Colpittses are played by Joan Plowright, Juliet Stevenson and Joely Richardson, while Bernard Hill plays the coroner, Madgett,... But _Prospero’s Books_ will do just fine. > **[Prospero's Books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prospero%27s_Books)** > > Prospero's Books is a 1991 British avant-garde film adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Tempest, written and directed by Peter Greenaway. Sir John Gielgud plays Prospero, the protagonist who provides the off-screen narration and the voices to the other story characters. As noted by Peter Conrad in The New York Times on 17 November 1991, Greenaway intended the film “as an homage to the actor and to his 'mastery of illusion.' In the film, Prospero is Shakespeare, and having rehearsed the ac... As will _The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover_. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2021, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/170 "2021-04-12T23:55:33Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > However, I did not conclude it as out of context due to the obvious anxieties associated with overall topic. I saw the film when it was new, which was, like, 1983, so my memory may be a little fuzzy, but first, you have to remember that it was the Reagan administration, and Reagan was famous for simply ignoring anything that he couldn’t answer. He never said “AIDS” once during his time in office. Nixon calling _anything else_ our biggest problem was sort of his version of never saying “AIDS.” Also, the film was pretty much about nuclear war, IIRC, not so much about nuclear power. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/171 "2021-04-13T00:06:27Z")
I’d agree with what you say. You clearly have a good memory and an extensive knowledge of film. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/172 "2021-04-13T00:09:29Z")
I found all these movies, which some of my friends loved, very pretentious and nearly unwatchable. Still, I have to say they were unique. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/173 "2021-04-13T02:45:45Z")
I’m Interested in this documentary but I’m also a coward. How graphic is it? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/174 "2021-04-13T03:16:16Z")
_The Atomic Cafe_? There are some shots of victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but aside from those, not very graphic at all. _Judgment at Nuremberg_ is much more graphic. --Unless you consider the shots of bombs exploding that don’t show any living things being hurt, in and of themselves graphic, then, no it’s not for you. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/175 "2021-04-13T03:48:14Z")
Thanks. Sounds like I’ll be able to handle it. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/176 "2021-04-13T04:03:30Z")
Most of the images are images that have been released before, albeit, a few may not have had a US release, It’s the juxtaposition, and the relentlessness that make the movie. It’s hard to recreate seeing it during the actual era of nuclear proliferation. But just bearing that in mind goes a long way. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/177 "2021-04-13T16:40:12Z")
The remarks on _Atomic Cafe_ made me think of another unique movie (albeit only 32 minutes, so it might not qualify). _Night and Fog_ (_Nuit et Brouillard_ (1956) in the original French), which documented Nazi atrocities with shots of Auschwitz only a few years after the evil there. Unique in that once it has been seen, anything else dealing with the Holocaust, no matter how well done, will always be compared to the real things seen in this movie. Oh, another one I haven’t seen mentioned; _Fantastic Planet_ (1973), which used very primitive (even for the time) art in stop motion to tell a rather…well, fantastical Science Fiction tale which, as far as I can tell, has never been repeated, at least in animation circles. IMHO as always. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/178 "2021-04-13T16:53:33Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Oh, another one I haven’t seen mentioned; _Fantastic Planet_ (1973), which used very primitive (even for the time) art in stop motion to tell a rather…well, fantastical Science Fiction tale which, as far as I can tell, has never been repeated, at least in animation circles. the animation wasn’t that unusual. I’ve seen lots of examples like it, and many even less smooth. In any event, the film isn’t completely unique. The director, Rene Laloux, made another animated science fiction film in 1987 – **Gandahar**. Isaac Asimov wrote the English-language script for it, and Christopher Plummer, Glenn Glose, Penn and Teller (yes! Teller speaks!) and Bridget Fonda did some of the voices. It was released as _Light Years_ in the US > **[Gandahar (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandahar_(film))** > > Gandahar is a 1987 French animated science fantasy film written and directed by René Laloux, based on Jean-Pierre Andrevon's 1969 novel Les Hommes-machines contre Gandahar (The Machine-Men versus Gandahar). > The peaceful people of Gandahar are suddenly attacked by an army of automata known as the Men of Metal, that march through the villages and kidnap their victims by turning them to stone. The resulting statues are collected and then transferred to their base. At the capital city of Jasper, the... > **[Review of Gandahar (Light Years)](http://www.filmwalrus.com/2008/06/review-of-gandahar-light-years.html)** > > Working on the last two science-fiction projects ( Stealing Oscars Robin Hood Style and Ranking Sci-Fi by Year ) has rejuvenated my intere... ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/179 "2021-04-14T09:52:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Penn and Teller (yes! Teller speaks!) Teller speaks a lot in public now, including his several-episode appearance as Amy’s father on TBBT, but throughout the 80s and 90s, he maintained a very guarded public silence. When I was in college (late 80s), I babysat for a family, the mother of which was a first cousin of Teller’s, who told me that that family had been asked please not to tell anyone (the press especially, but anyone) whether he was even _capable_ of oral speech. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2021, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211/180 "2021-04-14T11:45:15Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > When I was in college (late 80s), I babysat for a family, the mother of which was a first cousin of Teller’s, who told me that that family had been asked please not to tell anyone (the press especially, but anyone) whether he was even _capable_ of oral speech. That seems a bit weird. Teller speaks in the 1989 movie **Penn and Teller get Killed**. I’ve actually heard Teller speak quite a few times in different places, but it’s still vastly outnumbered by the times he doesn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unique-movie-youve-seen/937211.md?page=10)