I don’t think Rashomon qualifies. As I recall it there’s doubt about which of the various recollections of what happened in the grove is correct but no doubt that in reality the samurai is now dead. So I’d say *Rashomon *is more about the imperfections of perception and memory than whether reality itself exists.
Naked Lunch - does anyone know what the hell that was about?
The Game
Mysterious Skin
Oldboy
Repulsion
Vampire’s Kiss
Would Eraserhead fit into this category?
Seemed pretty unreal at most points in the film to me.
It was about 115 minutes.
Pan’s Labyrinth. I thought the magic world was made up. Apparently the director thought he made it plain that the fantasy world was true.
You mention Return to Oz, but not the Wizard of Oz? The whole thing is presented as if Dorothy may have just bumped her head and had a coma fantasy.
See also most other Terry Gilliam movies (esp. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen) but in his case it’s more of questioning (you could say ‘not caring’) what reality is than assuming it has a fixed and certain identity and the movie may or may not take place in it.
John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness qualifies, I think.
Shutter Island did this well and is highly underrated IMO.
That’s not how I remember it…
So as to not hijack the thread, I’ll agree to disagree.
Also want to mention Lost Highway.
I was going to say that a lot of ‘crazy protagonist’ movies do that, but now that I try to list them, I don’t think they’re as common as I first thought. The only one[del]s[/del] I can actually think of that [del]haven’t[/del]hasn’t been mentioned are Perfect Blue [del] and Angel Heart.[/del] (and upon more careful reading, Angel Heart has been metioned)
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And I not sure that Angel Heart even counts. There was never any doubt that what happened on screen was happening, we were just given the edited version the first time.
I dunno, but I can think of at least two things wrong with that title…
Joe
Yea sorry about that, I meant to list it:smack:
Good catch on Pan’s Labyrinth and American Psycho, originally I was only going to list movies where even at the end of the film there is no real resolution to the doubt. But hey I’m loving the discussion 
There was a real obscure B-movie where the end reveals several nested layers of virtual reality, I think it had Bruce Campbell but I’m not sure. It was clear the audience was supposed to wonder if we had really seen the top layer.
Gotta say no way. Reality is never in doubt in Oldboy. It’s a mystery as to what’s going on, but reality itself is never called into question.
A bunch of great films have already been listed, but I’ll try and add a few:
Identity
Videodrome
Altered States
The Lathe Of Heaven
π (Pi)
Solaris
Ink
How To Get Ahead In Advertising
Frailty
Santa Sangre
And one documentary that I think qualifies: Capturing The Friedmans
So you believe that The Devil is real?
Yup - especially Brazil - as it’s possible that we don’t all have the same experience of the story (two different versions have been released, with different endings)
It’s been ages since I’ve seen the movie, and I might be wrong, but I seem to recall The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey as having questionable reality. Guess I’d better watch it again; I know I loved it when it came out. It’s the kind of movie where the ending changes the meaning of everything that came before it.
I would like to think My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away were real for the characters, if only because I enjoyed the charming stories so much.
I won’t listen to any evidence that says otherwise.
Besides, there’s corn and the headband. Case closed.
And, by extension, a significant fraction of everything ever on television.
