Movies that "break reality"

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I recently watched the Truman Show after having not seen it for years. It was even better than I had remembered.

It also made me realize I'm a sucker for a specific kind of movie part: namely the "tumble down the rabbit hole" as Morpheus put it in the Matrix. The part where the main character starts to question his/her reality and his surroundings, like the scene in The Matrix where Neo gets a phone call from Morpheus in the office. Something about realizing that nothing is as it seems and ordinary life turning surreal just strikes a chord with me.

SO my question is: What other movies (or tv series) are there that feature this sort of "breakdown of reality"? Are they any good? I can only think of The Matrix, the Truman Show and possibly Total Recall (but since I have seen neither the original nor the remake, I can't say for sure). I'd like to see more of that stuff, but haven't come across any.

Pleasse, tell me!

 

[Thaluikhain]

Blade Runner...sort of. One of the editions does this a bit, but so subtly you really have to be told that's what they are going for by someone anyway.

Oh, any movie where it was all a dream...or was it? Blech.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

Actually yeah I'd say Blade Runner counts!
Also, the Animatrix was really cool; definitely worth a watch.
Hmm...m...maybe Memento counts too? Yeah actually pretty sure it does.

So yeah, those 3. Even if they're not exactly what you're looking for, they're still superb watches, whey.

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Inception has a lot of shades of this, with the ending...

Try that film.

 

[Marter]

Can we count Being John Malkovich and Adaptation?

The first definitely has John Malkovich questioning his reality, while the latter has Nic Cages's character ... writing the screenplay to the movie we're currently watching, which involves him writing that screenplay.

 

[tippy2k2]

My new personal favorite movie: Cabin in the Woods

Ideally you'll go into it knowing absolutely nothing about it. I absolutely adore this movie as it takes "horror movies" as a concept and gives it the Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World treatment.

A few of the obvious ones:
Fight Club
Memento
Sucker Punch
Donnie Darko

Spoiler: I didn't think any of these actually spoiled the movie but I suppose I can spoiler-tag them. Reasons within Spoiler tag

Fight Club: Office drone sparks a revolution with the help of his "friend"
Memento: Guy with amnesia tries to solve his wife's murder
Sucker Punch: Girl in mental asylum uses fantasy to escape reality
Donny Darko: Kid avoids death only to find that life is screwing up. Think Final Destination with less horror)

All of these movies to me sparks of a person having the world they know completely shattered and are forced to deal with it. Some of them might be stretching your definition (like Memento but these are all movies that I consider great that at least clip the edge of what you want.

 

[Professor Lupin Madblood]

My new personal favorite movie:

A few of the obvious ones:
Fight Club (office drone sparks a revolution with the help of his "friend")
Memento (guy with amnesia tries to solve his wife's murder)
Sucker Punch (girl in mental asylum uses fantasy to escape reality)
Danny Darko (kid avoids death only to find that life is screwing up since he was "supposed" to die. Think Final Destination with less horror)

Good god, did the spoiler tag insult your mother or something? I've seen both Fight Club and Donnie Darko, and I still feel like I've had them ruined for me.

OT:

I can think of two, the first being Inception, for pretty obvious reasons, especially near the end.

The second is Cloud Atlas, though it doesn't break down reality so much as it does poke holes in it by using six different stories set across wildly different time periods, locations, and genres. In the same movie, you get a tale of cyberpunk revolution and a smashing good British comedy about a man trying to escape a retirement home. It's so good.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Well there's Dark City, but I thought it was kinda stupid. At least I thought the ending was stupid.

 

[Marter]

My new personal favorite movie: Cabin in the Woods

Did you see Rubber? Very similar concept (the meta part of it, anyway), but it has a killer tire that can blow things up with telepathic powers.

Incidentally, Rubber fits this thread well, too.

 

[tippy2k2]

My new personal favorite movie: Cabin in the Woods

Did you see Rubber? Very similar concept (the meta part of it, anyway), but it has a killer tire that can blow things up with telepathic powers.

Incidentally, Rubber fits this thread well, too.

It's on my Netflix list (not due to your recommendation, although that will probably push it toward the top of the list now I saw the "Here is what this movie is about" paragraph in Netflix and thought it sounded like a neat idea.

 

[Puzzlenaut]

Donnie Darko

Spoiler

(kid slowly realises that he didn't miraculously avoid death but was in fact dying but had continued to hallucinate his life)

Fight Club+Shutter Island

Spoiler

(very, very spoil-able films if you don't know what's coming, but they have a person suddenly realise their reality is a lie.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind + Vanilla Sky

Spoiler

(guy falls in love, sci-fi deus ex machina blurs the boundaries of real and dream and breaks reality)

 

[Marter]

It's on my Netflix list (not due to your recommendation, although that will probably push it toward the top of the list now I saw the "Here is what this movie is about" paragraph in Netflix and thought it sounded like a neat idea.

I liked it. Not quite as much as Cabin in the Woods, but it's kinda surprising how, like, nobody saw it and yet everyone loved Cabin in the Woods. (Director, as was pointed out to me by somebody, clearly had a lot to do with it.)

Rubber is even weirder, though. Perhaps not as well-made, but I think it's funnier and even more original.

 

[Orange12345]

I remember reading/hearing somewhere that one idea for The Truman Show was to have cameras set up each theater it was showing so that footage of the audience could be inserted into the actual movie to give them a real mind fuck

http://www.tipjar.com/dan/peterweir.htm here's an interview with director where he mentions it (its in the second or third paragraph

 

[Lt._nefarious]

Total Recall did that (the old Arnie one) in that by the end their was still ambiguity as to whether it was all an implanted memory, brain surgery gone wrong or if it actually happened...

They Live also had that (a bit)...

Apart from that all the other ones I know of have already been stated...

 

[FalloutJack]

Looper is a good one, and so is 12 Monkeys.

I think Total Recall - either one - should count, and K-PAX.

Oh, and Moon. Definitely go with Moon.

 

[Zantos]

Looper is a good one, and so is 12 Monkeys.

I think Total Recall - either one - should count, and K-PAX.

Oh, and Moon. Definitely go with Moon.

Dammit, total recall was my one!

Erm, I'm not sure if Primer counts. It either broke reality, or by that point I was too confused to follow what was actually going one anyway. So broke reality or broke my brains.

 

[FalloutJack]

Looper is a good one, and so is 12 Monkeys.

I think Total Recall - either one - should count, and K-PAX.

Oh, and Moon. Definitely go with Moon.

Dammit, total recall was my one!

Erm, I'm not sure if Primer counts. It either broke reality, or by that point I was too confused to follow what was actually going one anyway. So broke reality or broke my brains.

Primer counts. Primer was another different and weird take on time travel that definitely did that thing.

 

[zumbledum]

naked lunch
video drome

classics i didnt notice others mention.


also worth an upvote

12 monkeys
cabin in the woods
moon

 

[Guffe]

The Marvel Avengers universe?
If I'd be in anything like that I'd defineatly start questioning my view of reality...