Thought provoking movies

Here are a series of my favorite sci-fi movies which I found thought provoking, mind twisting, puzzling and generally good conversational pieces.

Her and Ex Machina, besides the fact that are incredibly good movies, they both leave you thinking about the future of technology and how that might affect humans, mostly from an emotional standpoint. Her explores one man's (Joaquin Phoenix) relationship with his OS, which, with the help of a soothing female voice (Scarlett Johansson's) and infinite information generated from the internet it can piece up conversational topics and suitable answers for his questions, making him become emotionally dependent on her, as she tells him everything he wants / needs to hear. The movie explores a spiritual and mental relationship, which seems to work without the physical aspect of the generally accepted notion of one. I find the film's concept extremely thought provoking, as I believe we are not far from this to become reality. (bonus: not only is it a smart movie, it is also visually stunning, with a beautiful color scheme of pink and orange undertones). The second movie, Ex Machina treats a similar theme, in which a man is asked to perform the Turing test on a robot programmed and designed to be a female (Alicia Vikander), to see if the AI can pass off as a human, however he starts to have feelings for her, but the question remains if she can also feel something similar, or if she can just teach herself to respond in the way he wants her to respond, making him easily manipulated.

Speaking of philosophical themes and character studies, I will also include Under the skin, although this one does not feature robots but an "alien", the theme of relationships that don't conform to the norm continue. This movie is more of a meditation on human behavior, how it can be perceived by an exterior presence and how easily it can be imitated and used as an advantage. Scarlett Johansson plays and alien who disguises itself as a women and begins to study the way humans act, luring men into her house for some dubious business. Even though it is slow paced, the ending does raise some questions. 

Ex Machina

Her

Under the skin

Moving towards the themes of time and space, there are a few films that approach time travel and multi dimensions in a smart and of course, mind blowing way. I'm talking about Coherence, Predestination and the more mainstream one, Interstellar. The first two are hard to summarize, but I guarantee they are not disappointing. What happens when a comet disrupts the normal order of life opening the possibility for a group of friends to see the way their different decisions from the present unfold in other dimensions? What happens when you meet yourself at different points in your life, but you have no idea about that? What happens when you are on a planet where a few minutes mean several years have passed on earth and your children are now older then you are?

Coherence

Predestination

Interstellar

Another one which is full of subtext and metaphors is Enemy starring Jake Jylenhaal. Besides the actual plot, throughout the film there are a few scenes involving spiders, which I read can symbolize women and the character's fear of commitment (pretty cool in my opinion!), or maybe even schizophrenia. It depends on how you want to perceive it.

Enemy

Some other movies that play with your mind, that I've seen and recommend include:

Memento

Requiem for a dream

Inception

Shutter island

The usual suspects

The prestige

Donnie Darko

Mr Nobody

The butterfly effect (just the first one is worth watching)

Goodnight mommy

2001:a space odyssey

Melancholia

After the dark

The game

Cube

Prisoners

All of these movies have unexpected plot twists, not the lame, cliched ones, but keeping-you-at-the-edge-of-your-seat ones. They treat very interesting topics, leaving every viewer to decide for himself what he makes out of it. If you start analyzing them, you might get into some deep realizations and symbolism. If not, they still make up for an entertaining way to spend your time!