Tired of all the mainstream movie formulas? Sick of yet another superhero film or predictable romantic comedy? So are lots of people, but at the same time, you’re probably not keen to jump in at the other extreme and indulge in experimental arthouse movies.
So I thought, as someone who also struggles with the inscrutable film-festival darlings (love you, Mr. Lynch), I would put together a list of films that don’t aim for mainstream audiences, but also don’t require a beret and a liberal arts degree to enjoy.
I know some of these will be contentious as “art films”, but in essence it’s a type of film that prioritizes artistic expression and creative vision over commercial success or mainstream appeal. Some people think these films should be independent, but personally, I don’t think that has any bearing on the artistic merit of the content.
Here I’ve picked films that are, in my opinion, art films at their core, but have enough narrative coherence so that just about anyone can appreciate them.This is not a ranked list.
2019
Runtime
2 hours 12 minutes
Parasiteis a remarkable, surreal film with heavy commentary on capitalism, inequality and class structure. The actual plot is pretty bonkers, and shows how a low-income family infiltrates the home of a wealthy family using fraud and deception. While the rich family is on vacation, they enjoy the luxuries of their home, but then a string of disturbing revelations and events weave a story unlike anything else captured on film.
For non-Korean viewers, there’s another layer of cultural mystery here too, but you don’t need to understand the finer details of Korean society to pick up what this movie is putting down. It’s enjoyable on every level, so don’t worry too much about analyzing it the first time you watch it.
Parasite
A surreal, social commentary horror film from South Korea that’s unlike anything you’ve seen.
2001
2 hours 3 minutes
Amélieis the film that launched a million quirky romcom girls, but those movies seem to miss the point for the most part. Amélie has a different perspective than most people, and she takes joy in the simple things in life, which makes her seem strange to normies.
The film itself is visually interesting, and the cast of characters are pretty much all eccentric in their own way. It’s just that (understandably) Amélie has a viewpoint that doesn’t jibe with the values of the rest of the world. It’s definitely a movie that can give you mixed feelings, but Amélie herself is nothing but a delight.
Amélie
A surreal and whimsical romantic comedy with a quirky protagonit searching for happeniness in tragedy, not just for herself, but for others.
2 hours 5 minutes
The first time I sawSpirited Awaywas in a cinema, which was a big deal because, in my country, anime had never been shown in theaters up to that point. Why am I putting this on an “art film” list? Aren’t Studio Ghibli films pretty mainstream? I think that’s debatable, and the films themselves vary in terms of how mainstream-friendly they are. Certainly,Spirited Awayis further from the art film definition thanThe Boy and the Heron, but much closer thanPrincess Mononoke.
Either way, when it comes to the works of Hayao Miyazaki I don’t think anyone can argue he cares about pleasing mainstream audiences at the cost of his art!
The film itself is a masterpiece, from its visual presentation, to the surreal series of events, and the core coming-of-age story for the protagonist, Chihiro. If you’ve somehow never watchedSpirited Away, it’s never too late to rectify that.
Spirited Away
The surreal story of a girl trapped in the world of spirits as she desperately tries to save her parents from a curse.
2014
1 hour 39 minutes
Really, you could put just about any Wes Anderson film on this list, but in my opinion,The Grand Budapest Hotelis the most entertaining and most accessible one.
Set in a fictional Eastern-European country during wartime, it tells the story of a colorful hotel concierge and his lobby boy friend and the wacky adventures they have. As with Anderson’s other works, it’s visually iconic, and edited with a razor-sharp vision. It’s also funny, andeveryactor is just nailing it from start to finish.
It’s also not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you just give it a chance, I promise you, you’ll have a good time.
The Grand Budapest Hotel
A stylish rollercoaster of a story recounting the wartime adventures of a hotelier and his hapless concierge. Wes Anderson is in top form here,
1958
1 hour 36 minutes
Ingmar Bergman’sThe Seventh Sealis a little like Milton’sParadise Lostin my opinion, in the sense that it had a pretty big cultural impact and changed the way people think of and see some Christian mythology.
Specifically, the image of Death, and the idea of playing chess with its embodiment are part of the Zeitgeist. Cultural impact aside, this is a wonderful, haunting film with a (mostly) coherent plot, but it’s largely the symbolism of the various little vignettes that tie up into something more than the whole of its parts.
If nothing else, this is required viewing to fully enjoyBill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.
The Seventh Seal
This highly influential Swedish film explores the meaning of life, and whether anything is meaningful. It’s filled with iconic scenes and imagery, strung together almost like a fever dream, but it all makes a strange sort of sense.
2004
1 hour 48 minutes
This is another film that really shouldn’t have had much mainstream success on paper, but in spite of a pretty high-concept plot it broke through and turned more than a decent profit.
Eternal Sunshinetells the story of a man and a woman who have their memories of each other erased using the latest technology after an ugly breakup. The man is in the middle of the procedure for most of the film, and it’s through his memories that most of the story is told. The technicians doing the work are, shall we say, less than professional, but in the end they get it done. However, some people are just fated to cross paths again.
Eternal Sunshineis a visual masterpiece with some truly mind-bending tricks on screen, but it also has a lot to say if you pay attention beyond the surface level.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Are some people fated to cross paths, even when they literally wipe their memories of each other? Are we the same people when our memories change?
2018
2 hours 1 minutes
Mandyis one of my favorite movies of all time, and the first time you watch it I highly recommend just letting the movie wash over you as an experience more than a story. The use of color, sound, pacing, and just pure filmcraft is worth experiencing before you try to untangle the plot, such as it is.
It presents itself as an action revenge film, but transcends that premise pretty quickly. What’s great about Mandy is that you can simply look at it as an aesthetic masterpiece, or you can let it provoke you in myriad ways. This is one worth getting on Blu-ray and watching on an OLED.
Mandy
A surreal tale of revenge that uses colors, imagery, and sounds in mind-bending ways to create intense feelings of sadness, tension, and catharsis.
2006
1 hour 40 minutes
The stories of Philip K. Dick are weird and fascinating, which might be one big reason they keep getting great film adaptations, butA Scanner Darklyis probably the least mainstream of the lot.
A twisted story about drug addiction, corporate crime and greed, and state surveillance that pushes far beyond ethical limits, this movie might have been great, but fairly unremarkable.
However, the entire film is painstakingly animated using rotoscoping and this changes everything from a visual perspective. Especially when the rotoscoping is used as a way to show us how the perceptions of the characters are twisted by the drug they’re taking,
A Scanner Darkly
As trippy to watch as the characters are experiencing, it’s a future where America has lost the war on drugs, and government spying in its population is just par for the course.
If you know anything about artsy movies, you probably expected to see at least one Darren Aranofsky film on this list.The Fountainis a visually arresting, mind-bending film with three concurrent stories all featuring the same actors in different time periods.
This is heavy stuff on an emotional level, so if you aren’t in the right mood to deal with the realities of your own mortality, then perhaps give this one a skip for the time being. However, if you want to see the beauty of life and death, and have your noodle cooked a little in the process, this should be on your movie bucket list.
The Fountain
It can be a little hard to keep track of the multilple time periods playing in parallel and intertwining, butThe Fountainis a rewarding film when you finally “get” it.
Although these movies are (in my opinion) pretty accessible to every level and type of viewer, I wouldn’t watch them all back to back. Maybe throw in a Marvel movie here and there, just to take the edge off.
