# Movies with unique style **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513 "2014-05-28T23:14:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/41 "2014-05-29T17:06:57Z")
Dark Passage, which started out in first-person perspective (for something like half an hour). Also, the star’s face wasn’t shown for the first hour of the movie, which was some concern to the owner of the studio, as he felt people wouldn’t go to the movie if they couldn’t look at the actor’s face. The star: Humphrey Bogart. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/42 "2014-05-29T17:12:42Z")
_Toy Story_ doesn’t seem like a unique movie now because so many other movies have followed it. But when it came out back in 1995, making an entire feature movie with computer animation was revolutionary. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/43 "2014-05-29T17:58:50Z")
_To Be Or Not To Be_ (1942), the Jack Benny, Carole Lombarde film directed by Ernst Lubitsch looks like just another screwball comedy to us, but when you remember that is was made before anyone knew how WWII would turn out, it’s very black, and black comedy was new then. It’s considered a great film now, but it got panned in 1942. The Paramount \*Alice in Wonderland \*also got panned (and lost so much money, that it’s the reason MGM was hesitant to make _The Wizard of Oz_), but it’s quite surreal, and in a style that wouldn’t be revisited for decades. Again, it looks kind of ordinary if you have seen a lot of surrealist movies, like Brazil and 12 Monkeys, but you have to consider it in terms of 1933, when it was the first attempt to bring the feeling of surrealist paintings to life, and also the only “Alice” that was true to the darker aspects of Lewis Carroll’s mind until Tim Burton tried it. A really bizarre movie that as far as I’m concerned, hasn’t been touched by any of the other films listed was a 1988 film called _Tales from the Gimli Hospital_. In 1971, George Lucas made a full film out of his student film, _THX 1138_. It’s more style than substance, IMO, but it sounds like what you are asking for. So does the 1965\* Alphaville\*. Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders films are highly stylized, and generally very good. So are the films of Jim Jarmusch, although the earlier the better. His full-length _Stranger than Paradise_ (1984) is brilliant, but it’s brilliant in the way it tells a story of fairly ordinary people. If you are looking for things like _The Matrix_, _Stranger than Paradise_ isn’t for you-- but if you are serious just looking for stylized films, regardless of plot, then check it out. I love this film. If you like silent movies, but haven’t seen \*The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari \*or _Metropolis_, you should. If you haven’t seen _Metropolis_ in a long time, see the version Netflix is streaming, because a few years ago, an unknown print was discovered in Argentina that was in bad shape, but had lots of scenes that were not in any other extant print. The version on Netflix incorporates these new scenes, restored as much as was possible, so it’s the most complete print that has been available to the public since about 1932. Based on a script that still exists, it’s about 95% complete. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/44 "2014-05-29T18:12:19Z")
> [@PurpleClogs](#): > > I thought of that one too at first, but there were actually lots of previous [live/animated movies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Films_with_live_action_and_animation) like Mary Poppins, Incredible Mr Limpet, Xanadu, and many others. True, the technique had been used before but was generally limited to only a few scenes in each movie. As the article itself says: > [@](#): > > Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) from Disney and Amblin Entertainment broke new ground with its advanced special effects and “realistic” portrayal of the interaction of animated characters and live actors. The extent to which the actors and the animated characters interacted was unprecedented. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/45 "2014-05-29T18:17:22Z")
Wizard of Oz ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/46 "2014-05-29T18:19:36Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [Immortal](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314063/?ref_=nv_sr_3), a film by renowned artist/storyteller Enki Bilal. I had a bit of a Digital Backlot binge a while back… Started with Immortel (which is a damn good movie, and varies enough from Bilal’s original comic to remain interesting), then followed up with Kiriya Kazuaki’s Casshern and Goemon. Goemon’s the better movie, but Casshern did the most with the digital backlot for the sake of visuals. Confusing as hell (mostly due to the translation being badly botched\*), but absolutely gorgeous. - 20 minutes were cut from the movie for the international release. In what was left large parts of the dialogue were left untranslated, or translated strangely, meaning key concepts never actually came across. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/47 "2014-05-29T18:23:51Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I had a bit of a Digital Backlot binge a while back… Started with Immortel (which is a damn good movie, and varies enough from Bilal’s original comic to remain interesting), then followed up with Kiriya Kazuaki’s Casshern and Goemon. Goemon’s the better movie, but Casshern did the most with the digital backlot for the sake of visuals. Confusing as hell (mostly due to the translation being badly botched\*), but absolutely gorgeous. > > - 20 minutes were cut from the movie for the international release. In what was left large parts of the dialogue were left untranslated, or translated strangely, meaning key concepts never actually came across. Aye _Goemon_ is a cool flick. Kinda stupid stereotypical story, but cool visuals and a better-than-usual script give it a lot of loft. If you like that kind of thing and are down with the DB, I highly recommend another film I mentioned, _Bunraku_. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/48 "2014-05-29T18:25:59Z")
Brick, in style and content was new a drug dealer murder mystery noir moive set in high school… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/49 "2014-05-29T18:28:31Z")
Here’s an animated film with a unique style, made entirely on a single computer using a video game. [The Time Travellers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCvktXDi6Z8&list=PL59E0795D729857E3&index=7) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/50 "2014-05-29T18:51:09Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > If you like that kind of thing and are down with the DB, I highly recommend another film I mentioned, _Bunraku_. Thanks, I’ll check it out. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/51 "2014-05-29T20:15:33Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > Brick, in style and content was new > a drug dealer murder mystery noir moive set in high school… I’d forgotten about _Brick_. Cool take on a noir film. I’ll mention Woody Allen’s _Interiors_ from his Euro-derivative phase. In it, the sets and costumes gradually reflect the emotional decline of the characters. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/52 "2014-05-29T20:30:38Z")
_Rashomon_ ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/53 "2014-05-29T20:33:22Z")
Along the lines of “unique ideas which should have remained ideas,” I’ll say the style of 2008’s _Speed Racer_ was quite interesting in a flashy, hypnagogic sense – at least for the first 15 to 20 minutes, after which I yanked out the DVD and sent it back to Netflix. (God, what an awful movie!) ---
**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:** [May 29, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/54 "2014-05-29T21:23:12Z")
I wanted to mention a few more, by some controversial directors, and some films that are controversial themselves for sex & violence content. I don’t want to derail the thread into a debate, so please, start a new thread if you want to talk about whether it’s OK to watch Roman Polanski films. Anyway: Zelig The Tenant Blue Velvet Eraserhead The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/55 "2014-05-29T22:18:25Z")
One somewhat off-the-wall suggestion: _The Raid_ (also known as _The Raid: Redemption_). It’s an action movie, which is a common enough genre. But the makers of this movie decided to strip it down of everything except the action. It’s 101 minutes long and I think there are less than two minutes of non-action scenes. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/56 "2014-05-29T22:29:05Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > _Rashomon_ This has been much-copied, but it was extraordinary when is came out in 1950. Try to hold that in mind when you watch it-- and you should, if you haven’t. It’s a great film. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/57 "2014-05-29T23:36:18Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders films are highly stylized, and generally very good. Herzog is one of my favorite directors. I’m in the middle of a personal Herzog film fest on NetFlix to see some of his more obscure films. His better-known films are strange enough, but some of the others are downright bizarre. _Even Dwarfs Started Small_ features an all-dwarf cast in a story of rebellion set on a desolate volcanic island. In _Heart of Glass_, Herzog hypnotized almost all of the cast members so they act as if they are dreamwalking. _Every Man for Himself and God Against All_ and _Stroszek_ feature Bruno S., an actor who grew up mostly in mental institutions, playing alienated characters. The end of _Stroszek_ features an extended take of a [dancing chicken](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcoqeNdMAfA&feature=kp) in an arcade. In _The Wild Blue Yonder_, Herzog combined footage taken below the ice in Antarctica with some of a space shuttle crew, and added scenes with Brad Dourif playing an alien, in order to put together a strange science fiction tale. I think some of these films are more interesting as concepts than to actually watch, but they certainly are unique. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/58 "2014-05-30T00:24:54Z")
It isn’t unique exactly but the movie Far from Heaven was set in the 50s and filmed to look like it was made in the 50s but tackles more modern issues (Interracial relationships and homosexuality). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/59 "2014-05-30T00:46:01Z")
\*Eraserhead \*has already been mentioned, but I’ll add another one that kinda sorta is unique, in a similar but different way: _Pi_. Both make great use of intense black & white photography, but while the first one is deliberately painfully slow, the other is deliberately painfully frenetic. Oh, also, Warren Beatty’s _Dick Tracy_. Live action, but deliberately made to look like a newspaper cartoon by using nothing but primary colors. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2014, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513/60 "2014-05-30T00:55:18Z")
> [@PurpleClogs](#): > > Momento… Good one! > > No, not Polar Express. I’m looking through photos trying to find it. I never actually saw anything but clips. I remember a female and it was sci fi ish, maybe superhero type thing. [Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0173840/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-unique-style/689513.md?page=4)