6. eXistenZ (David Cronenberg, 1999)
This cult film from Cronenberg is essential in the cyberpunk culture. This film, among the other cyberpunk films, can get you questioning the existence of human beings. “eXistenZ” looks like it inspired a couple of episodes of “Black Mirror” and their lives in different places.
This makes you ask questions about the ethics of the characters in the different zones where they live, and how would someone behave in a different given situation. Cronenberg produced this in his style with weird stuff that makes you feel unpleasant. But apart from that, there is a deep story with great character development and stories that, if you dig deeper, can lead you to fall into an unending void of questions about the existence and life of human beings.
7. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006)
“The Fountain” is a movie from respected director Darren Aronofsky and, unusually, it didn’t get the expected attention. Aesthetically, it’s not the best thing we’ve seen, even from Aronofsky, but seen from a religious aspect it’s a very deep movie that is shown through a romantic story about being immortal.
The movie follows more than one thousand years in three parallel stories. The first is set in medieval times, which looks like searching for immortality in Christian times; the second is set in the present where science is looking for the cure of death; and the last is 500 years in the future, which is all connected to Mayan’s beliefs about where we go after we die, where Tommy (Hugh Jackman) lives in a bubble next to the tree of life. You can do some digging after this movie about the aforementioned religions and science, and you can find great ideas about the beliefs in the afterlife.
8. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)
Maybe this movie shouldn’t be on this list, because you don’t have to dig deeper; even just by watching it you’re already deep enough, and you can’t get out until the movie is over. It’s a story about a female character played by Scarlett Johansson, who is out on the streets of Scotland in search of prey.
There are a lot of silent moments in this movie that give you time to rethink the past scenes, and Jonathan Glazer succeeded in keeping the tension between the characters and even keeps you in deep thought all throughout the movie.
You’re confused until the last moment, while feeling all fed up from the minimalistic sceneries you get while watching. By the end of the film, you are still confused and maybe you should sleep it off, but even if you didn’t understand it, you will still be under the impression and inspired for deep thinking and making your own theories of what had happened.
9. Gomorrah (Matteo Garrone, 2008)
“Gomorrah” is a film about the modern-day crime families in Naples. Based on a book by Roberto Saviano and directed by Matteo Garrone, the movie shows the hard lives of the residents of Naples and the values the crime families had. Saviano has been living under police protection since the publishing of his book, and that’s how you can understand how big of a deal this is, and what it means to show the world the situation in Naples.
There is an Italian TV series that came out in 2014 inspired by the movie and the situation, which did not do as well as the movie. Nevertheless, it gives you a bigger perspective on what it’s like living near the most dangerous crime families in the world. The most intriguing thing to watch is the unpleasant things they do to young people in Naples, and how their worldview is shaped just by living in that area. The film makes you dig deeper the second after you’re finished watching.
10. Mulholland Drive (David Lynch, 2001)
This is maybe the most famous David Lynch movie, but the thing with this one is that it gets more exciting after you read all the fan theories and create some of your own. So the great thing is that it looks like this movie never ends. The plot as Lynch explains it is basically a story about a woman trying to become a star in Hollywood, and at the same time finding herself becoming a detective and possibly going into a dangerous world.
This is just a rough plot, but the movie itself is more than just that; when you start watching the movie, you get sucked in the surreal world of David Lynch, where you’re not even aware of what you’re watching and even that you exist in the real world.
This movie leaves a long-lasting impression on you after watching; you may even find yourself thinking about this movie in the deepest moments of your existence, like the deep thoughts everyone gets in the late night hours, or maybe by getting inspired by the full moon in the way Lynch thought. He decided to surprise us in 2001 with this deep mystery that continues his tradition in surrealism and gets us into deep thinking.