Dystopian/Orwellian Films

martomcg

There's nothing I love more than a good Dystopian/Orwellian/Post-Apocalyptic film.

Watched "The book of Eli" for the 2nd time last night and actually enjoyed it more than the 1st time.

I think

learning he's blind at the end of the film and then watching it again knowing he's blind really enhances some of the scenes. A lot of his behaviour that you shrug off is actually due to blindness. Also the sound effects are fantastic, like when he walks into the town and creates a map based on the different noises he hears i.e. the saloon door, wind chimes, etc

So my question is what are peoples favourites of these type of films and why? and also recommendations as must watch titles?

Mickeroo

I haaaaated Book of Eli but anyway....

My favourite of this type of movie at the moment is probably Children of Men, I think its one of the best sci-fi movies of the last 20 years. It's believable(to an extent), moving and really brilliantly shot.

The Road Warrior would be another of course, it's pretty short on social commentary but it's still bloody awesome.

kitakyushu

For Dystopian/Orwellian : Gattaca and THX1138 would be mine.

I find most people I recommend them to end up hating them, so by the law of averages you will like them.

(also "Threads", whilst technically not a movie, is my favourite post-apoc effort).

Mickeroo

kitakyushu wrote: »

For Dystopian/Orwellian : Gattaca and THX1138 would be mine.

I find most people I recommend them to end up hating them, so by the law of averages you will like them.

(also "Threads", whilst technically not a movie, is my favourite post-apoc effort).

Gattaca is a great film, and it seems to get more and more relevant as time passes imo.

I've heard Threads mentioned on here a few times, must track it down.

Renn

Try:

Videodrome (1983)
9 (2009)
Code 46 (2003)
Bunker of the Last Gunshots, The (1981)

Haven't seen either of these two but sound like something you might like:

The Handmaid's Tale (1990)
Harrison Bergeron (1995)

Technocentral

Blade Runner's has to be the ultimate (and best visually realized) dystopian future, Fahrenheit 451's and The Road's two other great ones too.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_7RXADQ-wc

Easily the best movie about being stuck in an elevator with a selection of miscellaneous psychopaths in a dystopian future. Admittedly there isn't much competition, but c'mon: it's called Hellevator!

Oscorp

Equilibrium. Dystopian Gun-fu movie starring Christian Bale. Panned by most critics mind.

RoutineBites

Terry Gilliam's, "Brazil". Great film. If you can stand Kim Greist's character its definitley worth watching. Highly reminiscent of Ninteen Eighty-Four, if I may say so.

Cool score too.

snausages

Gatacca is good. Not quite as hellish as 1984 but a more plausible future society in our current age.

Seedy Arling

A Boy and his Dog is a great little movie with a very young Don Johnson in it.

I watched a great one a good while ago based in Australia about a man who wakes up in a room and he is apparently the only one left on earth. I can't remember the name of it. I'm sure someone here knows it though. It was made in the late 70's early 80's.

SnakePlissken

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quiet_Earth_(film)

Great film actually, genuinely unsettling.

livinsane

For a new movie, check out Looper.

Minority Report deals with issues over over-policing.

Total Recall?

Twelve Monkeys does that menacing sci fi world to a tee.

Battle Royal is a nice violent kill or be killed survivalist movie!

For a cartoon, WALL-E kinda fits the criteria.

...almost forgot Moon about a man alone in space with an intelligent computer for company. Spectacularly uneasy atmosphere.

Icarus Wings

If you want to head down the Japanese anime route, Akira is a classic!

Biker gangs, clashes with the military and government conspiracies - they're all in there and, like some many anime movies, is well able to hold it's own against (and surpass) so many live action efforts!

Try the subtitled Japanese version. It's well worth it! It's a major plus if you can get a hold of some of the original manga as well!

martomcg

Some great suggestions here!

Gattaca and THX1138 are the two on the top of the list to watch next. Heard great things about them.

Funnily enough watched a film last night that rarely comes up on any Dystopian Lists - V for Vendetta. Its my 2nd time to watch it (not having seen it for years) and forgot how brilliant it is.

What do you think of it?

For a new movie, check out Looper.

Minority Report deals with issues over over-policing.

Total Recall?

Twelve Monkeys does that menacing sci fi world to a tee.

Battle Royal is a nice violent kill or be killed survivalist movie!

For a cartoon, WALL-E kinda fits the criteria.

...almost forgot Moon about a man alone in space with an intelligent computer for company. Spectacularly uneasy atmosphere.

Haven't seen Looper yet but have seen all the rest of these.

Really enjoyed Moon. Would be quite fond of the whole claustrophobic nature of it and how the mind deals with being alone. I am legend touched on it a bit too.

seamus

I really liked Children of Men myself. I prefer dystopian films which don't try to have a "this is what could happen to your children" message.

It starts with a theoretically believeable if exceptionally unlikely premise, and then charts the progress of society from that one change, and does it very well IMO.

Movies like the Running Man try to make futuristic predictions, and while I enjoyed the film from an entertainment perspective its attempt to have a message is what annoys me.

briany

V for Vendetta. Great stylish take on the subject.

Idiocracy. Good comic take on the subject. America grows progressively ignorant as the trailer trash outbreed the sensible middle classes.

Series 7 : The Contenders. Even better comic take on the subject. It imagines an alternate present day where a game show is allowed to take place that pits 6 ordinary residents of a town against each other in a battle to the last one alive. Each is given a pistol and a camera crew to follow their every move. Very funny, very black.

Gamayun

Dead Man's Letters (Pisma myortvogo cheloveka) from 1986 is a decent soviet dystopian film.

Also Kin Dza Dza (also 1986) is another, more surreal, soviet comedy-dystopian movie. Apparently it has a large cult following in Russia, it's a tad mental and has it's own language!

omahaid

Dredd (not the 1995 one )

kdevitt

Quite enjoyed Never Let Me Go, although am far from a Keira Knightley fan - takes quite a while for your to realise its a pretty twisted world they're living in.

martomcg

Children of Men is a very good film. The concept of children not being born was has shown up in other films aswell.

Theres a futuristic film - Aeon Flux that kind of touches on this notion too. Would this fall under the Dystopian category?

What do you make of this film?

chops018

Suppose it isn't a dystopian film but I loved eXistenZ.

Dermighty

The Fifth Element

Equilibrium

Blade Runner

martomcg

Dermighty wrote: »

The Fifth Element

Equilibrium

Blade Runner

Equilibrium and Blade Runner are definitely dystopian.

I think the Fifth Element wouldnt fall under dystopian though as its more a science fiction film.

Reg'stoy

Two 70's kitsch dystopian movies for me would be Logan's Run and Rollerball. Thanks to the likes of Battle Royale and Rollerball, I love to see a 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here before I die' style program where instead of the celebrities eating animals testicles; the animals get a chance to eat theres .

karma_

Children of Men and Gattaca are both fantastic films, everyone should see them both right now if you haven't done so yet.

Soylent Green would fit into this category nicely, not great but a certain classic, in fact it's one of those films that I wouldn;t mind seeing remade.

DazMarz

A kinda outside the box one: Se7en. While set in the present day, I have never seen a bleaker, more depressing city than the un-named city in this excellent film. In reference to one of the Circles of Hell with its endless rain and with a vast gulf between the elite in their plush offices and the grimy underbelly of prostitutes and criminals, this is as far from a utopia as you can get within the confines of modern urban decay.

Add to the fact that the city is so grim and seemingly endlessly pounded with driving sheets of rain, it also appears to be in close proximity to a barren, arid desert. (This was to make the viewer confused as to the setting; the grimy, rainy city seems to reference New York, but the nearby desert is more akin to somewhere like Los Angeles).

While not futuristic, it is dystopic and bleak.

LiamMc

RoutineBites wrote: »

Terry Gilliam's, "Brazil". Great film. If you can stand Kim Greist's character its definitley worth watching. Highly reminiscent of Ninteen Eighty-Four, if I may say so.

Cool score too.

Definitely one of my favourite films of all time.

The film inspired at least three adverts. I know at least two of the scenes.
The "Information Retrieval" phrase should have the same status as "Enhanced Interrogation" and "Colateral Damage".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFlFIG22Y9E

Seedy Arling wrote: »

A Boy and his Dog is a great little movie with a very young Don Johnson in it.

I watched a great one a good while ago based in Australia about a man who wakes up in a room and he is apparently the only one left on earth. I can't remember the name of it. I'm sure someone here knows it though. It was made in the late 70's early 80's.

A friend of mine explained it to be about twenty years ago,and I thought 'nah,can't be that good'. But it was.