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Curated playlist

Existentialist films

  • Blade RunnerBlade Runner exists in seven versions, but Ridley Scott controls only one.
  • 2001: A Space OdysseyAt the New York premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey, 250 people walked out. The poster later said "the ultimate trip."
  • The Trial (1962 film)Orson Welles filmed The Trial in an abandoned Paris railway station. Late funding left him without studio sets.
  • Toy StoryToy Story was the first feature film built entirely inside a computer. It opened in November 1995.
  • A Clockwork Orange (film)Warner Bros. pulled the film A Clockwork Orange from British cinemas in 1973. Kubrick himself requested it.
  • Apocalypse NowFrancis Ford Coppola bet his house and car on Apocalypse Now. He also put up his Godfather profits as security.
  • Waking LifeWaking Life opens with a boy floating up from a driveway into the sky. Linklater's 2001 film is animated.
  • The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (film)The Tale of the Princess Kaguya was the most expensive Japanese film ever made. It opened in Japan in November 2013.
  • Interstellar (film)Interstellar, the 2014 science fiction epic directed by Christopher Nolan, was filmed under a decoy name: Flora's Letter. Flora is one of Nolan's four children with producer Emma Thomas. Nolan is famous for guarding his productions, and…
  • Taxi DriverPaul Schrader wrote Taxi Driver in ten days while living in his car. He had been through a divorce and a breakup.
  • Synecdoche, New YorkRoger Ebert named Synecdoche, New York the best film of the decade in 2009. Another critic gave it a D+.
  • Ghost in the Shell (1995 film)Ghost in the Shell flopped in theaters, then became a video hit. In August 1996 it topped Billboard's video sales chart.
  • The Seventh SealA knight in The Seventh Seal bets his life on a chess game against Death. He believes he lives while the game goes on.
  • The End of EvangelionThe End of Evangelion, a 1997 Japanese animated film, carried a startling line on its poster: "Wouldn't it be nice if everyone would just die?" Japanese media seized on the contrast with the poster for Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke,…
  • Everything Everywhere All at OnceEverything Everywhere All at Once began as a script for a male lead, written with Jackie Chan in mind.
  • Pokémon: The First MovieSo many kids skipped school for Pokémon: The First Movie that the day got the nickname Pokéflu.
  • Jacob's Ladder (1990 film)In the 1990 film Jacob's Ladder, a psychic tells a man he is already dead. Jacob laughs it off as a joke.
  • Groundhog Day (film)A wild groundhog bit Bill Murray twice on the same knuckle while making Groundhog Day. Its name was Scooter.
  • Barbie (film)The film Barbie used up the world's remaining supply of one shade of pink paint. The shade was Pantone 219.
  • I Heart HuckabeesI Heart Huckabees began as a film about secret fortune cookies. A dream about a spiritual detective changed it.
  • Mind Game (film)In the film Mind Game, a 20-year-old dies in the first act, then comes back and ends up inside a whale.
  • IkiruIkiru's first draft killed its hero in the final minutes. Writer Hideo Oguni moved his death to the film's midpoint.

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