• canthidium@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It’s probably my favorite scifi movie that made me really feel something. I think you can find a lot to relate to, grief, depression, loss. I really think the main theme is self destruction, specifically resulting from some kind of trauma. Everyone had their own issues and they were all basically destroying themselves and finding solace in the shimmer.

      • Uranium 🟩@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Quite literally self ‘Annihilation’, I think the shimmer itself is more analogous to cancer (continuously expanding, with random distorted outcomes, most of which are agressive towards anything untainted by the shimmer), but fundamentally each of the characters are there for their own different reasons for self-destruction with the hopes that it benefits others, as they effectively know it’s a suicide mission).

        The bit that I cannot recall if it was explained is why did the special ops guy go if he had a loving wife at home; what was his reason for self destruction?

        • canthidium@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The bit that I cannot recall if it was explained is why did the special ops guy go if he had a loving wife at home; what was his reason for self destruction?

          I don’t remember an explanation for it aside from it was just his mission as part of being in the military. But he didn’t really have a “loving” wife at home. She cheated on him. Maybe he knew and volunteered for the mission because his marriage was over.

    • Frater Mus@lemmy.sdf.org
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      1 year ago

      The book is better IMO (other than no Portman :-) and one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever read. Highly recommended.

        • Frater Mus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          1 year ago

          Yes, I read them all the same week (bad weather kept me inside). Yesterday I read the Silo Stories (3?) in his Machine Learning anthology. I liked the first book and the short stories the best.

    • cloudless@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      The movie was about cancer? Where did you read that?! The movie is the closest movie approximation of the book Alex Garland could make, considering how dense and intertwined the whole Southern Reach Trilogy is.

        • cloudless@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          Sorry if my question sounded like an attack 😬 Vandermeer’s writing style deliberately opens his work to different interpretations and it’s rather interesting to see the same happening with this movie adaptation. Another interesting angle I’ve read is environmental: either in a way that Area X is return to nature (purification) or it’s the opposite (our own destruction of the planet) Getting ready to re-read the whole trilogy, will definitely include this guy’s cancer perspective as I am going through to see how it fits.

  • ProfessorScience@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I just watched Neon Genesis Evangellion. WTF at the end of the series. Then saw there was a later movie with the “real” end. Which was also WTF.

    • canthidium@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I absolutely love Yorgos Lanthimos’ movies. Killing of a Sacred Deer is probably my favorite. His movies just have this uneasyness that really makes you feel…off watching them.

    • lps2@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Really anything by David Lynch including the old PlayStation commercials

  • FollyDolly@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Zardoz. The gaint floating head with the crazy man inside shouting “the gun is good, the penis is bad,” Sean Connery in a WAY too revealing outfit, the bizarre, apathetic, immortal poeple, and wierd pyramid magic.

    It was hands down the most strange, unfathomable film I’ve ever seen, and I’ve watched The Dancing Outlaw.

    • ProfezzorDarke@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      You know, Sean Connery took that role and produced that movie (yeah, he fully embraced it) because he wanted to do something original. But I mean, as weird as it is, and as original it is as that, it is some serious Sci-Fi movie full of social commentary.

    • StarkillerX42@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Every time I hear or think about Zardoz, I think “this will probably be the last time I think about Zardoz.” It’s been almost a decade since I first had that thought.

  • Chahk@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    Primer. I needed to re-watch it at least 3 times to even begin understanding WTF was happening. Even the wiki sites that try to explain it are incomprehensible at first.

  • ugh@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Donnie Darko leaves more questions than answers

    • Squirrel@thelemmy.club
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      1 year ago

      That’s one that really only makes sense after watching it multiple times. The excerpts from the book(?) tell you the “what” and “why” of the events of the movie. Okay, they tell you enough that it makes some sense…

      • ugh@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I’m pretty sure only the director’s cut has the excerpts from the book. It still takes at least two watches and some pausing.

  • HikerAdam@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Mulholland Drive.

    Trust me on this…just put all technology away when you watch this and give it your 100% attention. One of the craziest movies I’ve ever seen.

    • ZC3rr0r@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      David Lynch made a lot more stuff that falls into this category - Check out Lost Highway too some time.

    • captain_samuel_brady@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Mulholland Drive has some kind of plot that can be deciphered. Watch Inland Empire if you want to watch a David Lynch movie that makes Mulholland Drive look normal.