Strange Events, Impossible Worlds, And Different Dimensions Have Never Been So Real
Movies are beautiful pieces of art.
They can show different worlds and perspectives, with exciting characters and surreal conundrums which are impossible to see in real life.
Here we share some of the more curious bits of information about some of the most puzzling movies in the last 30 years.
We hope you enjoy rocking your brain.
Fight Club
This movie was based on a book and was released in 1999 to mixed critical response.
Since then, however, it has only grown in popularity and has influenced people all over the world.
It's the showcase example for the "unreliable narrator" idea and as such, continues to bamboozle even those who have seen it before.
The movie's main focus is the character split you can see in people with different mental illnesses.
However, it isn't the only thing that's important in the feature - fear, boundaries, and identity are all important points of focus.
It was inspired by a revelation the book author had when he was badly beaten on a camping trip.
The story goes that there were some rowdy teenagers nearby, and when he went to confront them, they took it out on him in a way that made him look preposterous.
When he returned, none of his friends dared ask what had happened.
The author came to the conclusion that if you look nasty enough, no one even wants to know the bad things about you, which served as the inspiration for Fight Club.
Inception
This 2010 passion project made over $800 million worldwide and is considered one of the best movies about dreams.
The director, Christopher Nolan, worked very closely with the leading actor, Leonardo Di Caprio, to a point where he helped out with the script by making it more emotional and understandable which brought the two friends even closer together.
Surprisingly, the director didn't base any of the stories on any research on the topic, just on his inner feeling and experience, which is arguably why it is such a good rendition of what dreams are like.
Its basic premise is the world we live in when we fall asleep and what we can find there, and although this is a highly imaginative environment, it was made as close to real as it could.
The explosions, the building in the mountains, and the van falling off the bridge were all actual events - with the first being done with specific gasses, the second one being built just days before filming, and the last being shot out of a cannon.
Even the moving sets were all physically real and could spin 360 degrees which took amazing amounts of effort and dedication.
Memento
This psychological thriller was initially an idea born during a road trip of a then 26-year-old common boy Christopher Nolan and his younger brother.
The main focus of the movie is amnesia and the entire feature was shot in just 25 days.
The idea behind the convoluted narrative was, as the director explains, because of the “pizza delivery scenario.”
The notion is that if your pizza is delivered while watching a movie, you can skip 4-5 minutes of the film to answer the door and get the food and get back to the narrative without trouble.
In Memento, however, if you skip just the first 3 minutes, you won’t understand anything from the film itself.
With that explanation for why he was inspired to think outside the box, it’s easy to understand why the director opted for a non-linear structure.
There is, however, the option to see the movie from a different perspective.
The 2002 DVD includes a second version of the movie with the scenes in chronological order, but there is a twist to watching it - you have to pass several memory-based questions in order to unlock the content.
Donnie Darko
This movie is a cult classic for both young people and the older generations.
It explores time travel, dimensions, and the relationship between life and death.
This feature was shot in 28 days, which is coincidentally the same as the countdown time in the movie for when the world ends.
All sorts of symbolism can be seen in the movie - from the town in which it was shot is an homage to the director’s old neighborhood to a bike-riding scene as a reference to E.T.
However, most notably, the infamous character of the rabbit Frank is inspired by the protagonists in Watership Down - a controversial adventure novel.
Donnie Darko explores many theories about the future and past as well as alternate universes, and most people agree you need to watch it more than once to understand it fully.
Summary
Movies are one of the best pastimes in this day and age - artistic and thought-provoking, they’re often a reason for a great deal of retrospection.
Here we have listed just four of the more famous mind-bending movies with some of the lesser-known facts about them.
We highly recommend you watch all of them, seeing as they’re deemed classics in their respective genres!
Which one is your favorite? Comment below.