10 Cinematic Masterpieces That Spotlight Life's Profound Questions
This article was something that I wanted to create after watching Ad Astra - a movie I really enjoyed. All of a sudden I found myself desperate to find other movies with similar themes. Movies that had a slow-burn pace, calm and beautiful cinematography with a hypnotic and dreamlike style to it. Movies where they appear to be one thing on the surface and are marketed as so, but actually contain a much deeper layer offering an introspective look at ourselves and our surroundings. The sort of questions that philosophers have been pondering for millennia. I’m sure there are more movies that deserve to be credited here, like The Green Knight, but I haven’t yet seen this movie.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
This is absolutely one of my favourite films of all time. It’s almost perfect in every department. The film’s main character Robert Ford, played incredibly by Casey Affleck, is completely mesmerised by his idol, a savage outlaw by the name of Jesse James - Brad Pitt’s best ever performance I’d like to add. So much so that he’s compelled to murder him to feel the richest connection to Jesse without actually being him. To quote Jesse in the film “I can’t figure it out. You wanna be like me, or you wanna be me?!”
It’s one of those films with a meandering pace, but coated in beauty and tension in every scene. It’s laced with trancelike stares and men looking across cornfields into the dying sun for a period of time. It’ll make you think that chasing anything for fame might not actually bring you joy in the end, but instead misery. Similarly to the lengths and risks that current day Tik-Tokers take to garner more views and likes, despite maiming themselves or putting their lives in extreme danger. Is it worth it in the end? Check out the trailer.
2. Interstellar (2014)
Christopher Nolan is another one of my favourite Writer / Director’s in Hollywood. All of his films are critically well received masterpieces and there’s obvious reasons why. Interstellar, at its heart, is a story revolving around the relationship between a father and daughter. One of its main themes is how love transcends time and space. It questions why humanity has evolved in such ways. Where are we heading? What are we meant to do to survive? Looking at our past may line the dots up for our future. This film is a beautifully shot, emotional roller coaster of a film that’s dialogue, acting and VFX will transport you to the outer perimeter of our solar system. In my mind it’s Nolan’s best film.
3. Signs (2003)
This might seem like an odd one in the list, but at the centre of this film is a man that’s lost his faith. Yes, it’s about aliens, but there are many layers here. After tragedy strikes Graham, the main character played by Mel Gibson, he loses his faith in God. The film then explores, through symbolism, how you overcome the trauma of past events and whether it should change you as a person or whether you keep strong in your beliefs. This film strikes many good conversations, especially the scene where Graham and Merrill are sitting on the couch talking about the two groups of people in this world - those that believe in miracles, or those that believe in pure luck. Questioning these motives and understanding which category we fit in often show what kind of people we are. Would we change if we witnessed such events? Who would we be moving forward after a life altering moment?
4. Ad Astra (2019)
Another sci-fi on the list. There’s something about exploring the depths of space that can bring a wholesome observation of humanity. Who we are - where we’ve come from and what more is there to our evolution? Brad Pitt plays Roy McBride who has to travel to Neptune to find his father. He has questions for him after believing he’s dead. But those questions are much more personal ones. Questions that will have undoubtedly shaped Roy as character growing up. Another soft-moving, meditative film that not only looks at the final frontier of space, but rather at ourselves. Looking at what’s right in front of us, rather than the desperate search for what might be out there, waiting in the vast expanse of space. The beauty is within us and our relationships with one another. As well as being hyper-realistic when it comes to travelling through space, the music and the power-performances are what makes this film a terrific thought-provoking masterpiece. It allows us to take a step back, soak in a helicopter view of ourselves and ask what really matters to us as a species.
5. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
What a sequel! Denis Villeneuve decided to pose new questions to the audience rather than answering the ones left over from the original in this incredible sequel. The whole concept of Blade Runner asks us what it means to be alive. To be human and to be born. If androids / replicants can live, feel and reproduce like humans then why can’t they be considered as human? Another movie with long distanced stares and a jaw-dropping-wide-screen scenery to match, Blade Runner 2049 stays with you long after you’ve watched it, questioning our own reality. What decisions and values should we consider before leading ourselves down a potentially dark and nightmarish future? Where could we go wrong if we outstay our welcome as the most dominant species on the planet?
6. Drive (2011)
Dreamlike. Mesmerising. Hypnotic. These are the words I would use when describing this film. In fact this film was one of my first inspirations for creating this list. The film itself shows a character desperate to be someone heroic. Someone more than what he is in the real world. The act of heroism will win the girl. The real world is too stale and dry for the likes of Driver in this movie. It’s about reaching in to the soul and finding the other version of yourself. The version that wants out. Instead it lays dormant inside of you, disguising your true nature in society. In this case, he wants to love. He’s fallen hard for the girl in the apartment opposite him. He wants that warmth and to feel that touch, but the only way to do that is to show his inner self. To fight for what he wants. This film is the pinnacle of all those long-stare with narrow-eyes shots, a soundtrack that captivates you and draws in tension and dread just at the right moment. There are moments of bliss and tranquility, only to flip into violent rage a few seconds later. Once you’ve seen this movie, you’ll just want to rewatch it immediately and let yourself sink into its dreamlike and mesmerising state.
7. Annihilation (2018)
This trippy sci-fi has so much going on, it’ll send you searching down the rabbit hole for answers immediately after the credits roll. With another dreamlike aesthetic glazed over the top, this movie really gets you thinking. The film’s core message is about self-destruction and how cancer is similar to biological warfare on ones body. It’s all consuming nature to multiply and grow without boundaries. Lena (Natalie Portman) has to go into an unknown alien ‘shimmer’ as it’s called in the film, to search for a previous recon team that never came out alive. What they find in there is what’s so unique about this film. The surface level concept may not be original, but its execution is what adds so much intrigue. A mind-warping and fascinating sci-fi horror, this is definitely a movie that might give you nightmares, even if you’re not the type to get a restless night.
8. Donnie Darko (2001)
Here’s a tremendous head fuck of a film - in a good way though, before you question it. A classic film with a young Jake Gyllenhaal. A time-travelling, mind bending, thought provoking movie that really drives the question; is everything in this world based on fate? Or is there something else at work? Is everything predetermined so no matter what you do, you’re always on a planned trajectory so what will happen, will happen regardless of your decisions and was always meant to happen? This is why Donnie Darko is such a standout piece of cinema. My advice is watch this film several times over. There’s so many intriguing ideas, philosophical meanings and insights that you’ll definitely want to dive deeper into its concept. Great soundtrack too!
9. The Thin Red Line (1998)
Even if you’re not into war movies, this is still a must watch. It’s set during world war two in the pacific islands. it uses the war as more of a backdrop to open the discussion of what humans are able to do to one another. Why are we so evil? How have we got to this place why we can kill each other in mass quantities? How did our destructive nature grow so wild that we must destroy? There’s always something special about a Terence Malick film -they’re always poetic and meaningful. They take you on a journey that explores some of the deepest questions we have to ask ourselves. Through Hans Zimmer’s masterpiece of a score, you watch and feel intense scene after intense scene. A story told by one of the marines, played by Jim Caviezel, where he questions his right to be in the world and why he’s there, doing what they’re doing on this tropical paradise to other human beings. Are we puppets to a higher being that’s just toying with us in some sadistic game, or is our destruction the will of humanity and hard coded into us from the start? Are we the ones to blame for our catastrophic behaviour?
10. First Man (2018)
It seems that Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt both like to feature in the deeper, more meaningful films than most! That’s what I’ve come to notice about this list. First Man is no exception. From the outside it looks like it’s a movie based on the moon landings. Yes, this is true, but the deeper story behind this is the relationship between Neil Armstrong and his daughter and how to say goodbye to her. She died of a brain tumour when she was only two years old and this is something that changes Neil as a person. How does he let go? How does he cope with moving forward in life, especially with an expedition to the moon? When you watch it with that lens on, you’ll see quite a different film to just another adaptation of the moon landing. This is a spectacle of a film that hits you right in the feels. It shows how mother nature is still the ruler of all there is. A truly inspiring watch and comfortably sits in my top ten films of all time.
This concludes my list of masterful movies that really do make you think deeply about life. It’s not just about the surface level marketing that’s designed to draw you in. It’s the layers that live beneath it, that to my mind, are why films that have multiple emotional layers are the best. It’s certainly not easy to pull off, but inspiring all the same. To add to that - they all have incredible soundtracks that sit in my playlist and play whenever I’m writing. It’s these types of inspirational films that give you another angle on life. To take a different glance at your surroundings. To make you question and probe further into our psyche. To make you wonder and appreciate what you’ve already got.
Thanks for reading.
