The Believer with Ryan Gosling as a Jewish Nazi makes American History X look like a trite after-school special. Also features Billy Zane, Summer Phoenix and Garret Dillahunt (one of the best screen psychos ever) in one of his first roles. Ryan Gosling, as always, steals the show. The acting is unbelievable. Please, please watch this movie, it’s one of the most interesting I’ve seen.
The next film you watch should be Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.
The Woodsman - Kevin Bacon does an amazing job. I never really thought much of him as an actor before this.
Lone Star (1996, John Sayles)
The Ice Storm
Vertigo
The Spanish Prisoner
another vote for The Station Agent
another vote for Closer
and, while not in the same league, I see some themes in The American and The International that are similar to themes in some films in the o-post
Definitely. It was all I could talk about for a week after I first watched it. Excellent.
Two years later…I’m still trying to figure out what the hell happened.
Gran Torino - I’m floored nobody has mentioned this yet.
Four Lions - Story about four inept British terrorists. Still not sure what to think of it.
You have failed, dopers. Only now, post #66, has perhaps one of the most “intelligent and thought provoking” movies been mentioned:
2001: A Space Odyssey
You’re welcome.
I’ll second this recommendation. I found the whole thing thought provoking.
A few more recommendations:
Really, the possibilities are endless!
Life is Beautiful - If you don’t mind subtitles or if you understand Italian, you cannot go wrong with this one. I cannot remember the last time a film touched me like this one.
Pulp Fiction - This one falls in the Crime, Drama, Thriller, Dark Comedy category. It is a must see for any film lover. In my opinion, though it may not seem “serious” on the surface, it satisfies your requirement of “a film that actually cares about presentation of it’s content in an artistic and sensitive fashion”. Quentin Tarantino always delivers in that way.
Moon - I liked this one so much, I had to watch it twice in a row. Beware, my wife hated it. So it may take a certain kind of person to get it.
And Last, but not least:
The Man From Earth - IMDB Storyline: An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he is an immortal who has walked the earth for 14,000 years.
This is certainly a thought-provoking movie. It is also one of my favorites.
Also, I realize your extra week of time off has since come and gone, but I thought I would add these anyway for those who haven’t ever seen or heard of them.
The White Ribbon is one of my favorites of the last few years. The film takes place in a German town during the years preceding WWI.
Hunger. It’s about Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands. The conversation with the priest is fantastic. Also it was the breakout role for Michael Fassbender who will be enjoyed next week in X-Men.
Another Year is Mike Leigh’s latest entry.
Antichrist by the now infamous Lars von Trier is the definition of thought provoking. It’s a bit disturbing, but I quite liked it.
Incendies may not be out in video stores (although it may, have’t checked). A mother sends her two children on a quest to help them better understand her. It might have been my favorite 2010 movie.
Those are all recent movies but they were the first five that popped into my head (Aside from Meek’s Cutoff, but I was pretty sure you’d have to go to a theatre for that one).
Blade Runner
InFeast of Love, Charles Baxter’s story is beautifully illustrated in this film, and Morgan Freeman is the perfect Greco-Roman god narrator fallen to earth.
Okay, that was a bit melodramatic. This is a gritty, dirty, sexy film with many plot twists, an angel to fall in love with, a heartbreaking loss, and a hard won payoff. But as a film student and lifelong connoisseur of film: this is my number 3. I promise your heart will grow with this one.
**Cinema Paradiso
Schindler’s List
High Noon
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Chill
Bloody Sunday
Boyz in the Hood
Bamboozled
Breaker Morant
Gallipoli
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Caine Mutiny
The Conversation
Apocalypse Now
Cool Hand Luke
Full Metal Jacket
Gandhi
Groundhog Day
Empire of the Sun
The Day of the Jackal
The French Connection
The Fortune Cookie
The China Syndrome
Goodfellas
Henry V
How Green Was My Valley
In Cold Blood
Judgement at Nuremburg
La Confidential
**
When you’re done with these, let me know. I got more.
Another vote from me for “The Lives of Others”.
One of the few films I have sat through where the audience stood and clapped at the end.
I must all those that have provided their well thought out recommendations. I hope others have also benefited from this public offering of favorites.
~ Mattprole
Wings of Desire (Not the American remake, City of Angels. Just…not)
A Dry White Season
Time of the Gypsies
When Father was Away on Business
Come and See
Ah, again I am too slow.
How about this one:
It’s the first movie I noticed Michael Rapaport in and now I’m seeing him in other stuff. Good acting and a very interesting movie. Seems like Science Fiction, but it’s not.