Movies are a medium of entertainment. That’s how we originally thought them to be. New age film-makers now use it as a means to convey a variety of messages. Some of them are so depressing we would rather punch a wall than watch them again.
Jacob’s Ladder
The first entry in this list is an absolute classic. Jacob’s Ladder came in 1990. It is still relevant today. A lowly postal worker is haunted by flashbacks of an earlier marriage. To make matters worse, nightmares from his days in the Vietnam War and his now deceased son slowly start unraveling his psyche to the point there’s nothing but insanity left.
Into The Wild
Will you be ever able to renounce everything and go on a cross country tour, not knowing what comes next? Into The Wild is based on a true story. Emile Hirsch plays Christopher McCandless, a hitchhiker who has renounced all his earthly possessions and is traveling across America. On his way, he encounters many people and situations that change him permanently as an individual.
The Road
Do not even dare to watch this 2009 movie by John Hillcoat alone! It is so savage and raw at times you might throw up. The story is about a father and a son journeying to the south in a post-apocalyptic world. A group of cannibals have got their eyes on him. There’s a particular scene where the father robs the man who tries to rob him, stripping him of all clothes. It’s visceral and cruel.
The Truman Show
Is all life a TV show? Are we all characters playing our part in a grand play? Ask Truman Burbank, whose entire life was broadcast as a show for hungry eyes to feast on. Sometimes we feel like we are being watched, that our actions aren’t ours but we are somehow controlled. Truman escaped in the end. Will you?
The Matrix
Just like The Truman Show, The Matrix asks one vital question about life – What if everything you see was never real to begin with? The movie’s premise was so strong the release of the movie led to a string of murders. The killers claimed they were ‘liberating’ the victims from the Matrix.
My Dinner With Andre
This is a movie that relies solely on the power of dialogues to drive you utterly crazy. Wally Shawn and Andre Gregory are two people with entirely different values and ideals. When the two strike up a conversation, it leads to earth-shattering revelations about human viewpoint and fragility of social values we all hold so close to the heart.
Anomalisa
People claim this movie gave them a food for thought they mentally chewed upon for months. David Thewlis is a wonderful actor and here he plays Michael Stone. Stone is tired of his ordinary life and wants more from it. A chance encounter with an absolutely intriguing stranger changes everything he ever thought he knew about life.
Melancholia
The world is about to end. Justine and Claire’s lives are forever changed when they realize Earth will soon collide with a planet called Melancholia. The movie will run you into a bout of depression and leave you with an existential crisis unlike anything you have ever seen.
Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
This movie is living proof that one should never take anything for granted. Even the most mundane and ordinary moments you spend with your loves ones matter and you may not even realize it. Joel and Clementine prove that a hasty decision can flip entire lives upside down.
End Of Evangelion
This 1997 psychological sci fi thriller movie is based on the Evangelion anime series. NERV faces the Eighteenth Angel, which turns out to be humanity itself. But what happens to the world will be decided by the choices made by Shinji. It has an ending you would NOT like.
Synecdoche, New York
One of late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s greatest performances, the story is as twisted and convoluted as it gets. Hoffman plays Caden Cotard, whose body is shutting down due to a strange disease. With his life falling apart, he gathers a bunch of actors in new York where he instructs them to live their lives within a city’s mock up constructs.
Requiem For A Dream
The movie was supposedly created to appeal to the viewers’ subconscious belonging to connect with other people. The film gets so primal and overwhelming at times you would gladly pause it. Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly’s magnificent performances are icing on the cake.
