Hi,

Just wanted to see what everybody's favorite philosophical movies or movies that make you think about our place in the universe, origins of the universe, etc. are. I love movies that try to get to the root of the human psyche, how ourselves and particularly our memories function which always seem to have philosophical elements to them. I have heard recently that "The Future" and "Certified Copy" are good examples, but have neither seen or know much about either. Here are some of my favorites:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Waking Life
Wings of Desire
Synecdoche New York
Contact
The Tree of Life
8 1/2
Wild Strawberries
Thin Red Line (almost anything Mallick)
Baraka
Gerry

A.I. Artificial Intelligenc (one of my favorites, although pretty heavily criticized, but has a few of these "deeper" themes)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (similar to A.I., has the themes, but not a huge part of the film)


Thank you!

Solaris
Stalker
Nostalghia
The Mirror
The Sacrifice

Blade Runner

The Man from Earth

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/

K-PAX

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0272152/

Great suggestions so far, thanks guys. Can't believe I forgot Blade Runner. Anybody know if Slaughterhouse Five is worth a blind buy??

Imo, no. It's a decent film for what it is but with the money you'd use for a blind buy I'd just go and buy the paperback instead.

Groundhog Day
Pickpocket

My tastes are nothing if not eclectic...

You should watch more anime. PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997) would be a good start. But the one that's most devoted to the themes you're looking for would be the 2004 TV series "Phoenix" (Hi no Tori), based on Osamu Tezuka's epic manga. The last two episodes, based on the Phoenix volume entitled "A Tale of the Future," are truly mind-boggling and take place over the course of billions of years! That series came out in a DVD box set. Here's the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Phoenix-Comple...7612398&sr=1-1

Also, to some extent, the following anime features would match your criteria:
AKIRA (1988)
GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995)
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE (2004)
TENCHI FOREVER (1999)

Melancholia
Another Earth

The Matrix.

Woody Allen's Love And Death

Diary of a Country Priest
Winter Light
Crimes and Misdemeanors
The Fountain

Off the top of my head, as others have referenced, Bergman and Tarkovsky are always good for philosophical movies. Another director is Krzysztof Zanussi, who has made some interesting movies such as Camouflage, The Structure of Crystals, and Illumination.
One of my favourite ponderable movies is Woman in the Dunes.

Walkabout
The Seventh Seal

How come nobody has mentioned the biggest mind-fuck of all time



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How come you can't spoiler that thing?

I knew I was forgetting something in my anime list, but Neon Genesis Evangelion?

Remembered another:


But this might've been a dream

'Man on the Train' - 'L'homme du train' - 2002 (One of my favorite films)
'On the Beach'
'The Thin Red Line'
'The Razor's Edge' - 1984, flawed, but it has some strong points
'Waking Life' - Tries a little too hard, but worth seeing.
'Gattaca'
'Mindwalk'
'It's a Wonderful Life'
'The Quiet Earth'

With some fantastic movies being mentioned here, I would like to go with a couple that are a bit more banal and simplistic, though still carry philosophical meanings about being human:

Joe vs The Volcano and Defending Your Life.
I know, I know not the greatest movies, but as I become older, i find symmetry to various phases of my life and certainly recognize fear as a deterrent to happiness.

The Legend of Bagger Vance
Hell everyone needs a Guru