# The Fountain & other hidden movie gems.



## Winni (May 27, 2013)

I have recently watched a film called “The Fountain”, written by Darren Aronofsky, a very spiritual metaphysical movie of life, love and death (kind of like “The tree of Life” but with complete constructed dialogue that makes sense).  The movie tells a story over three time periods which are all interlinked.  My friends and I are now on a quest to find other hidden mystical indie gems.  So far we have found & watched Memento, Moon, Eden Log, The Man from Earth and Ink.  Does anyone know of any well produced hidden indie SF or Fantasy flicks that were lost under Hollywood’s radar?  Oh and if anyone is curious about “The fountain” I suggest you head over to YouTube & watch the trailer.


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## Lenny (May 27, 2013)

*Robot and Frank*! It's a cute little indie-comedy-drama set in the near future, starring Frank Langella as an aging jewel thief whose son buys him a domestic robot to help him out around the house.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_&_Frank

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EDIT: Shane Carruth's *Primer* always deserves to be mentioned when talking about indie SF flicks - one of the best time travel films anyone will ever see, but it's also incredibly science heavy (Carruth is a software engineer by trade, with a degree in mathematics, and extensively studied Physics whilst writing the film) and needs at least three back-to-back viewings before it makes complete sense.

It has become a massive cult hit in the past decade, and placed Carruth firmly in Hollywood's spotlight. His second film, *Upstream Color*, has just come out and has been similarly received.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primer_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upstream_Color

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EDIT2: OK, three more.

*Dark Star* - John Carpenter's first film. It's a SF comedy, centred around three guys on a deep space mission to find possible planets for colonisation, and to destroy those that aren't suitable. A very bizarre, surreal humour, but worth the watch.

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

*Super* - a superhero flick starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page. Not quite indie, and possibly not that SF/Fantasy ish (although there are arguments in favour), but still good. Gory and violent in parts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_(2010_American_film)

*Paper Man* - again, not that SF/Fantasy ish, but the main character has an imaginary friend that we can see... so not exactly realistic, either. It's a quirky drama starring Jeff Daniels, as a writer with writer's block sent to Montauk by his wife so he can write, and Emma Stone (giving what I consider to be her very best performance in a film) as an unlikely teenage girl Daniels befriends. Definitely more drama than quirky, though, and you need to be in the right state of mind to watch it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Man_(2009_film)


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## Winni (May 27, 2013)

Lenny! You Sir are a scholar and a gentleman.  Thanks for the film tips I will head over to YouTube and check out the trailers before I make my purchases. Except Primer, that film gave me a headache LOL.


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## Lenny (May 28, 2013)

Not at all. I hope you enjoy the ones you do watch as much as I did.

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How is *Eden Log*, by the way? I've had it on my list of things to watch for a few years, and a friend keeps trying to lend it to me, but I never seem to find the time to watch it.


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## clovis-man (May 28, 2013)

Lenny said:


> *Dark Star* - John Carpenter's first film. It's a SF comedy, centred around three guys on a deep space mission to find possible planets for colonisation, and to destroy those that aren't suitable. A very bizarre, surreal humour, but worth the watch.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Star_(film)


 
A really fun film and much better than its low budget would have made you think. I'm thinking of the wooden board that the beach ball alien uses to foil Pinback's attempts to capture it.

I would suggest *Kwaidan* from 1964. Great Japanese ghost stories. Especially "Hoichi the Earless"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058279/


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## Foxbat (May 28, 2013)

Glad to see you've discovered The Fountain. It's a firm favourite of mine. If you've not already seen it, I'd suggest Pi (the mathematical symbol.... don't know how to put that in here) by the same director. Also, Jan Svankmeyer's version of Faust is worth a watch.


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## Rodders (May 28, 2013)

I've not seen The Fountain, but it is on my list. (Actually, i haven't seen Dark Star either.)


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## tangaloomababe (May 28, 2013)

Have to agree Winnie I really liked The Fountain.  I just didn't feel it was finished.  But it was very interesting.  Love Momento.  Anyone one I enjoyed and didn't notice when it first came out was Gattica with Uma Therman and Jude Law.


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## Moonbat (May 28, 2013)

*Quiet Earth* was pretty good, not exactly like 'the fountain' but a decent little film you may have missed.

also people like

*Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind*, this is quite well known so probably not an 'under the radar' film like you wanted.


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## Winni (May 28, 2013)

Lenny said:


> Not at all. I hope you enjoy the ones you do watch as much as I did.
> 
> ---
> 
> How is *Eden Log*, by the way? I've had it on my list of things to watch for a few years, and a friend keeps trying to lend it to me, but I never seem to find the time to watch it.




This is a very strange and trying SF movie that you will either love or hate, there is no in between with this flick.  I personally enjoyed the movie, but you do have to have patients with it as its kind of slow moving, but pays off well at the end.

To everyone else on this fantastic thread I sincerely thank you all for your time and indie movie tips I look forward to hunting them down. Please feel free to keep the hidden gems coming-as I can never get enough of them.


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## Toby Frost (May 28, 2013)

I'd recommend the following. They're all either SFF or they have a strong element of the unreal - dream sequences and so on:

*Brazil *(Terry Gilliam) : a bizarre and surprisingly moving comedy about a bureaucrat who goes up against the state for which he works. Imagine 1984 with jokes, if that's possible. Very quirky, but very good.

*Outland* (Peter Hyam) : High Noon in space. Sean Connery cleans up on a mining colony. There's a considerable overlap with Alien, and it looks very similar. Pretty decent.

*Paperhouse* (Bernard Rose) : a girl enters her own drawings and dreams, but finds other people there. Low-budget and probably quite dated, but interesting and creepy.

*Heavenly Creatures* (Peter Jackson) : two schoolfriends share an intense fantasy life together. When they are parted, they respond with violence. Sinister, disturbing and true. Very good.

*Excalibur *(John Boorman) : simply the best version of the King Arthur story there is. Quite low-budget but beautifully shot. 

*The Company of Wolves* (Neil Jordan) : a portmanteau film based loosely on Red Riding Hood, adapted from stories by Angela Carter. A bit dated, but stylish and unsettling.


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## gully_foyle (May 28, 2013)

It has been a long long time since I watched it, and it is very very violent, but an outstanding indie SF flick from the late eighties/early nineties was *Hardware*. I appreciate there were a lot of out there post-apocalyptic indie flicks (think *A Boy and his Dog*, but this one had one badass psychotic robot in it.

In researching other possible responses to this thread I came across this cool list of the Popular Mechanics Top 100 SF films of all time. I shall have to watch this movie called *Primer*. http://www.popularmechanics.com/tec...iction/the-100-best-sci-fi-movies-of-all-time


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## Mouse (May 28, 2013)

Mirrormask.


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## clovis-man (May 28, 2013)

Another underrated film: *Shadow of the Vampire*. Willem Dafoe is great as Max Schreck.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189998/

It's certainly no *Twilight*.


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## svalbard (May 28, 2013)

clovis-man said:


> Another underrated film: *Shadow of the Vampire*. Willem Dafoe is great as Max Schreck.
> 
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189998/
> 
> It's certainly no *Twilight*.



A great movie. Another excellent vamp movie is the original version of *Let The Right One IN*.

*The Mission* is one of my all time favourite movies. It boasts a great cast, a brilliant movie score by Ennio Morricone and it has a cracking story. It piqued my interest in South American history and the part the Church had to play for good and ill at this time in history. It also has Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons chewing up the screen. Ray McNally, a very much underrated actor, steels the show for me.


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## tangaloomababe (May 28, 2013)

Thanks for the reminder Moonbat:The Quiet Earth is a very interesting movie made in New Zealand. I can watch it regularly.


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## clovis-man (May 28, 2013)

tangaloomababe said:


> Thanks for the reminder Moonbat:The Quiet Earth is a very interesting movie made in New Zealand. I can watch it regularly.


 
I would have thought nothing less, based on your avatar.


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## williamjm (May 30, 2013)

Winni said:


> I have recently watched a film called “The Fountain”, written by Darren Aronofsky, a very spiritual metaphysical movie of life, love and death (kind of like “The tree of Life” but with complete constructed dialogue that makes sense).  The movie tells a story over three time periods which are all interlinked.



It might be too high-profile to be a hidden gem (although it didn't do very well at the box office) but the recent _Cloud Atlas_ film did remind me a bit of _The Fountain_ and although it wasn't as good as the book I still think it was a good film.

Some other good non-Hollywood SF/Fantasy movies:
_Cube_ - it was a very tense and claustrophobic film and very effective for something that was probably made on a tiny budget. The sequel was a bit rubbish, though. 
_Avalon_ - a Polish language live-action film by a Japanese animé director (this is almost certainly the only film that could be described in this way) about a woman trying to making a living in a virtual world. 
_eXistenZ_ - another virtual reality film this time by David Cronenberg, it was a strange and very memorable film. Might actually be a Hollywood film, but doesn't feel like one.
_Brotherhood of the Wolf_ - perhaps technically not a fantasy movie but it's not far off. You won't find a better French language historical fiction/martial arts/based on a true story/monster movie.
_City of Lost Children_ - the director is more famous for _Amelie_ (and infamous for a certain Alien sequel) but I think this is his best film.
_Intacto_ - a Spanish film about people with the ability to absorb other's luck competing to become the luckiest person in the world. Very rarely mentioned, but I liked it a lot. 

You've reminded me that I have the DVD of _Eden Log_ but haven't watched it yet, it does sound potentially interesting.


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## Lenny (May 30, 2013)

I was considering recommending *Cloud Atlas* and *existenZ*, but had the same thoughts that they might be a bit too Hollywood.

I'll definitely add my recommendations for them now that they are on the list, though. existenZ is one of the strangest things I've ever seen, but in a good way. It doesn't hold back at all, which is great, and I remember it being very immersive.

Which reminds me of another that can be added to the list: *John Dies at the End*. Like existenZ, it doesn't hold back on it's similarly brilliant out-of-this-world strangeness. Definitely one that stays with when you've finished it.

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


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## Droflet (Jun 1, 2013)

I've just seen a little gem called Let Me In. Beautifully written and directed this is far better than I expected. Tempted as I am, I'll say nothing more and leave it up to you.


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## Musky (Jun 2, 2013)

telford said:


> I've just seen a little gem called Let Me In. Beautifully written and directed this is far better than I expected. Tempted as I am, I'll say nothing more and leave it up to you.



That's a remake of a Swedish movie titled _Let the Right One In_, which in my opinion is even better.


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## svalbard (Jun 3, 2013)

Musky said:


> That's a remake of a Swedish movie titled _Let the Right One In_, which in my opinion is even better.



A great movie with no need of a Hollywood re-make! Speaking of hidden gems* Troll Hunter* is another Scandinavian Horror/Sci-Fi movie that struck me as quite quirky and original.


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## Krayhayft (Jun 8, 2013)

*Save the Green Planet
*Byeong-gu believes that the world is on the verge of an alien invasion, and sets out to save the world.* 

Grabbers
*When an island off the coast of Ireland is invaded by bloodsucking  aliens, the heroes discover that getting drunk is the only way to  survive.*

Attack the Block
*A teen gang in South London defend their block from an alien invasion.*

Cockney's vs Zombies
*A gang of bank robbers fight their way out of a zombie-infested London. *

War of the Dead
*A platoon of American and Finnish soldiers is driven deep into a Russian  forest where its Captain discovers a terrifying secret.    *

Warm Bodies
*After R (a highly unusual zombie) saves Julie from an attack, the two  form a relationship that sets in motion a sequence of events that might  transform the entire lifeless world. *

John Dies at the End*
A new street drug that sends its users across time and dimensions has  one drawback: some people return as no longer human. Can two college  dropouts save humankind from this silent, otherworldly invasion?* 

The Cabin in the Woods*
Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they  get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth  behind the cabin in the woods.* 

Dredd*
In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act  as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down  a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.

*The Good, The Bad and the Weird*
The story of two outlaws and a bounty hunter in 1940s Manchuria and  their rivalry to possess a treasure map while being pursued by the  Japanese army and Chinese bandits.


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