Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Michel Gondry,
2004
Former lovers restart their relationship in reverse after mutual memory erase through shady brain firm.
Her
Spike Jonze,
2013
Semi-depressed personal-card-as-a-service hipster Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with operating system entity.
Moon
★
Duncan Jones,
2009
Sam Rockwell battles severe loneliness and weak communications during solo mining mission on the Moon.
Ex Machina
Alex Garland,
2015
Gifted engineer invited by wealthy wizard executive to Turing test humanoid AI at forest tech monastery.
Upstream Color
Shane Carruth,
2013
Strange substance travels through larvae, orchids, pigs and people in poetic weave by the director of Primer.
District 9
Neill Blomkamp,
2009
Bureaucrat assigned relocation of alien outcasts from Johannesburg ghetto in smart xenophobia allegory.
Primer
Shane Carruth,
2004
Breakdown of spacetime and personal relations after serendipitous revelation in one of the most mind-bending movies ever.
Donnie Darko
★
Richard Kelly,
2001
Troubled teenager faces fate and flying jet engines and converses apocalyptic rabbit on the philosophy of time travel.
Melancholia
★
★
Lars von Trier,
2011
Spectacular cinematography of worn out Kirsten Dunst with doubts during own wedding as looming rogue planet nears Earth.
12 Monkeys
Terry Gilliam,
1995
Bruce Willis goes back in time to stop eco-terrorists from ruining Earth in brilliant expansion on still short La jetée.
Gattaca
Andrew Niccol,
1997
Natural born swimmer assumes stealth genotype in hope of going to space in brave new world of eugenics.
Frequencies
★
★
Darren Paul Fisher,
2013
Metaphysical love story and fate versus free will struggle in class society determined by frequencies.
Predestination
★
★
Michael and Peter Spierig,
2014
Ethan Hawke as bartending time traveler setting lives in motion while on final duty to track down elusive bomber.
Europa Report
★
Sebastián Cordero,
2013
Intimate space ship interiors from found footage of manned mission to Jupiter’s moons in search for extra-terrestrial life.
The Congress
★
★
Ari Folman,
2013
Multi-level metafilm/acid trip on society’s escalation of escapism, based on “The Futurological Congress” by Stanisław Lem.
Open Your Eyes
★
Alejandro Amenábar,
1997
Young man car-crashed into facial disfigurement by manic ex-lover ends up in dreamlike state of altered reality in levels.
Spring
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead,
2014
Young American adrift in southern Italy ends up in primordial romance with secretive lady of fine lineage.
Videodrome
★
David Cronenberg,
1983
One man’s gory pursuit of mastermind behind sensational snuff broadcast that turns out to be neurolinguistic programming.
Last Night
★
Don McKellar,
1998
Widower’s solitude interrupted by woman looking for lost suicide pact partner during Earth’s last few hours.
Strange Days
★
Kathryn Bigelow,
1995
Ex-cop uncovers plot around hard currency of illegal cortex recordings in unrestful Los Angeles at turn of the millennium.
Another Earth
★
Mike Cahill,
2011
Astronomer distracted by duplicate Earth encounter causes tragedy and misses MIT in favor of cleaning up aftermath.
Evolution
★
Lucile Hadžihalilović,
2015
Boys become experiment in wake of unknown sickness in strange seaside village inhabited solely by women.
Starship Troopers
★
Paul Verhoeven,
1997
Teens sent to wage interstellar war on arachnids in subtle and not-so-subtle satire on fascism and propaganda.
Embers
Claire Carré,
2015
Newfound lovers/strangers in desolation wander about on amnesic repeat caused by mysterious global disease.
The Man from Earth
Richard Schenkman,
2007
Professor claims to be ancient at impromptu farewell gathering with cross-disciplinary group of colleagues and disciples.
Timecrimes
★
Nacho Vigalondo,
2007
Peeping tom becomes own pawn when trapped in cycle of events at high-tech skunkworks lab up the hill.
Travelling Salesman
Timothy Lanzone,
2012
Mathematicians make computational complexity breakthrough in π-fi chamber play on the ethics of scientific progress.
Extracted
Nir Paniry,
2012
Scientist trips down unreliable memory lane of alleged murderer through mind extraction machinery of own invention.
The Quiet Hour
★
★
Stéphanie Joalland,
2014
Strong sister and blind brother keep up and out in expertly scored story of survival after alien invasion.
Sound of My Voice
★
Zal Batmanglij,
2011
Covert documentary maker couple infiltrate seclusive sect surrounding charismatic leader claiming to be from the future.
Under the Skin
★
Jonathan Glazer,
2013
Clever usage of hidden cameras as humanly disguised alien seductress picks up men around streets of Scotland.
Never Let Me Go
★
★
Mark Romanek,
2010
Trio coming of age at strangely isolated boarding school in alternate history where life extension happened.
eXistenZ
★
David Cronenberg,
1999
Biotech body horror in a future of increasingly immersive virtual reality where gamers versus realists battle it out.
A Scanner Darkly
Richard Linklater,
2006
Shapeshifting surveillance agent in undercover drug lord operation becomes addicted to Substance D in Philip K. Dick story.
Advantageous
★
Jennifer Phang,
2015
Single mother in a future of super-children and rapidly diminishing job count explores the prospects of body sacrifice.
Limitless
Neil Burger,
2011
Struggling author rids writer’s block with pilot nootropics and advances into finance while watched by the wrong people.
The Sticky Fingers of Time
★
Hilary Brougher,
1997
Pulp author covering hydrogen bomb test in the 1950’s gains time travel capabilities and meets present day spawn.
Chronicle
Josh Trank,
2012
High schoolers take largely different paths coming to terms with newfound superpowers from enigmatic object.
Robot Stories
★
Greg Pak,
2003
Makers and machine love in four-part anthology on the limits and possibilities of human-robot interaction.
Self/less
Tarsem Singh,
2015
Prosperous property developer attempts escape from elderness through supposedly safe mind uploading to younger body.
The Quiet Earth
★
Geoff Murphy,
1985
Energy science lab rat tries to trump despair and seek explanations after awakening to a world devoid of people.
Vanishing Waves
★
Kristina Buožytė,
2012
Surreal erotic encounters as one conscious test subject travels mind of comatose other under not-so-controlled conditions.
Uncanny
Matthew Leutwyler,
2015
Ex-engineer science writer spends week at solitary lab for interviews with prodigal inventor and the AI creation Adam.
Sleep Dealer
Alex Rivera,
2008
Drone strike surviving village teen hacker meets memory author in Tijuana when looking for fortune in telerobotics.