That Damned Fourth Wall...
May 23, 2017 6:34 AM Subscribe
I love movies, the darker and more complex the better.
I also drink true-crime podcasts like water and read as much history as I can keep my eyes open for... help me find movies I won't nitpick my way out of enjoying...
I love movies, the darker and more complex the better. (And TV. When're the next five seasons of The Wire coming out again?)
I also drink true-crime podcasts like water, read as much history as I can keep my eyes open for, and love studying a bunch of different western languages (especially differences between translation and direct-translation).
So... I end up grouching through a lot of movies for historical inaccuracies, non-sensical plot points, or weird decisions with languages and accents (... watching Daniel Brühl yell back in English to his soldiers after they yelled to him in German when I saw The Zookeepers Daughter last night is one of the things that prompted me to write this question, and that's before we get to the mixture of accents...).
Other things that take me out of movies are explosions that have people very bloody, but not actually mangled, clocks that speed and slow based on what act the movie is in (or for that matter, wounds that kill/injure based on the value of the character), anachronisms, or unexplained inconsistencies with accent/dialect, etc... I just hate watching a non-slapstick (... somehow it doesn't bother me as much with comedy) movie that I sit back and say "... that's not how that works..."
What should I be watching? I don't mind setting aside some level of disbelief for the sake of the plot or universe-building - I enjoyed Luther which was practically a live-action cartoon and most of Engrenages which was almost a soap opera... but The Big Short, Der Untergang, The Night Manager... what else ya' got?
I love movies, the darker and more complex the better. (And TV. When're the next five seasons of The Wire coming out again?)
I also drink true-crime podcasts like water, read as much history as I can keep my eyes open for, and love studying a bunch of different western languages (especially differences between translation and direct-translation).
So... I end up grouching through a lot of movies for historical inaccuracies, non-sensical plot points, or weird decisions with languages and accents (... watching Daniel Brühl yell back in English to his soldiers after they yelled to him in German when I saw The Zookeepers Daughter last night is one of the things that prompted me to write this question, and that's before we get to the mixture of accents...).
Other things that take me out of movies are explosions that have people very bloody, but not actually mangled, clocks that speed and slow based on what act the movie is in (or for that matter, wounds that kill/injure based on the value of the character), anachronisms, or unexplained inconsistencies with accent/dialect, etc... I just hate watching a non-slapstick (... somehow it doesn't bother me as much with comedy) movie that I sit back and say "... that's not how that works..."
What should I be watching? I don't mind setting aside some level of disbelief for the sake of the plot or universe-building - I enjoyed Luther which was practically a live-action cartoon and most of Engrenages which was almost a soap opera... but The Big Short, Der Untergang, The Night Manager... what else ya' got?
Also, don't read the spoilers in the wiki page!
posted by turkeybrain at 6:56 AM on May 23, 2017
posted by turkeybrain at 6:56 AM on May 23, 2017
You should watch The Witch.
posted by phunniemee at 7:11 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by phunniemee at 7:11 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
We loved The Fall, or at least the first two seasons of it. The third was less delightful, but still probably worthwhile (if only to end the story).
The first season of Broadchurch (UK, not US) is great.
posted by uberchet at 7:24 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
The first season of Broadchurch (UK, not US) is great.
posted by uberchet at 7:24 AM on May 23, 2017 [5 favorites]
Deutschland 83 might be your kind of thing, maybe.
posted by plep at 8:34 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by plep at 8:34 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Hinterland (tvtropes). Certainly dark enough, and with accents (Welsh ones; sometimes Welsh language).
posted by plep at 9:23 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by plep at 9:23 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Rarely is anything fictional too dark or depressing for me, and I'm a champion nitpicker. That said, I recommend Foyle's War for its impressive, detailed accuracy. For instance, there's a funeral scene in which a bereaved father--a farmer--is depicted wearing a celluloid collar. During World War II. "But that's not accurate!," you howl. "Men stopped wearing celluloid collars in the thirties!" Right--and that tells you virtually everything you need to know about the character. I should mention that Foyle's War is not dark; rather, it's about decent people trying to do the right thing. This is just about the only show I watch that can be described as such.
I tried to intersperse the better-known stuff below with more obscure stuff. Enjoy!
So back to darkness. I hope you've seen the first season of True Detective, starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew McConaughey's torso, and Woody Harrelson. But if you haven't--it's very satisfyingly dark. Also: you're interested in language? Try and guess whether the character Charlie is an actor "doing" that dialect/accent, or whether he's a local they recruited off the street.
There's also Durham County, a crime drama from Canada, of all places, that's super dark as well. Can be hard to find in the US, but DVDs crop up on eBay every so often.
I second The Fall even though I loathe Gillian Anderson. She does a solid British accent, too.
Pixote is about impoverished children in Brazil. This is one that was almost too dark for me.
Not enough time to keep linking, but:
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Fiction based on fact. You'll never look at a suitcase discarded by the side of the road the same way again. Fine detail: a character employed at a gas station who's too lazy or too much of an asshole to check the air in the tires, as requested, so he taps them with the air pressure checker instead.
Winter's Bone is fairly dark, and detail-wise, they nailed it on how a lot of country women dress: exactly the same as the men except with makeup and jewelry. That is, Carhartt jackets, jeans and T-shirts, flannel shirts, work boots. However, they did not nail it on how a severely depressed character managed to get up the energy and interest in plucking her eyebrows and putting on makeup.
The Woodsman, a film starring Kevin Bacon as a pedophile. Watch for the only time he smiles in the entire movie.
Christiane F. -- teenage drug addicts in Berlin in the 70s.
Snowtown: Australian murders. Almost too dark.
Once Were Warriors: New Zealand Maori family. Alcoholism, domestic violence, etc.
posted by scratch at 9:27 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
I tried to intersperse the better-known stuff below with more obscure stuff. Enjoy!
So back to darkness. I hope you've seen the first season of True Detective, starring Matthew McConaughey, Matthew McConaughey's torso, and Woody Harrelson. But if you haven't--it's very satisfyingly dark. Also: you're interested in language? Try and guess whether the character Charlie is an actor "doing" that dialect/accent, or whether he's a local they recruited off the street.
There's also Durham County, a crime drama from Canada, of all places, that's super dark as well. Can be hard to find in the US, but DVDs crop up on eBay every so often.
I second The Fall even though I loathe Gillian Anderson. She does a solid British accent, too.
Pixote is about impoverished children in Brazil. This is one that was almost too dark for me.
Not enough time to keep linking, but:
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Fiction based on fact. You'll never look at a suitcase discarded by the side of the road the same way again. Fine detail: a character employed at a gas station who's too lazy or too much of an asshole to check the air in the tires, as requested, so he taps them with the air pressure checker instead.
Winter's Bone is fairly dark, and detail-wise, they nailed it on how a lot of country women dress: exactly the same as the men except with makeup and jewelry. That is, Carhartt jackets, jeans and T-shirts, flannel shirts, work boots. However, they did not nail it on how a severely depressed character managed to get up the energy and interest in plucking her eyebrows and putting on makeup.
The Woodsman, a film starring Kevin Bacon as a pedophile. Watch for the only time he smiles in the entire movie.
Christiane F. -- teenage drug addicts in Berlin in the 70s.
Snowtown: Australian murders. Almost too dark.
Once Were Warriors: New Zealand Maori family. Alcoholism, domestic violence, etc.
posted by scratch at 9:27 AM on May 23, 2017 [6 favorites]
Do you like film noir? It seems like you would like noir and noir-adjacent genres. Double Indemnity, LA Confidential, The Big Sleep (its plot is not so much nonsensical as incomphrensible), The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, etc.
posted by phoenixy at 9:34 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by phoenixy at 9:34 AM on May 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Maybe try some Korean films? I especially remember Mother as being very well put together. Also, from the same director, Memories of Murder. The Chaser is pretty damn good too.
posted by Kosmob0t at 10:00 AM on May 23, 2017
posted by Kosmob0t at 10:00 AM on May 23, 2017
I've enjoyed the first season of Preacher, which is a supernatural mess of motives and conflicts. It's from a series of comic books, so they're not making it up as they go along, and things make sense, at least in that people can be deeply weird and damaged and do things that are also weird and damaging. I've read a lot of Preacher, and it gets weirder and weirder.
Edited to add wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preacher_(TV_series)
I've read the comics. That show shouldn't be called Preacher.
posted by Samizdata at 10:49 AM on May 23, 2017
Edited to add wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preacher_(TV_series)
I've read the comics. That show shouldn't be called Preacher.
posted by Samizdata at 10:49 AM on May 23, 2017
Shetland and The Killing.
The former is dark, although I will say that a lot of that darkness is in a literal sense as the series is set in the rainy, dank, gloom of the Scottish islands. That said, it is certainly a gorgeously filmed production and the writing itself is remarkable. The characters all have thick Scottish brogues.
The Killing is a production based on the Scandinavian drama of the same name, and again, set in Seattle, so dark in the literal sense. Like Shetland, though, the crimes tend to be vicious, but the scenes and characters themselves feel very authentic.
Wire in the Blood is my all-time favorite crime show. Robson Greene is a forensic psychologist, and the cases he profiles are dark, twisted, and complex. If you liked Luther and The Night Manager (two of my personal faves), you'll love this one.
Finally, BBC's Jekyll. Absolutely fantastic, dark, grimy adaptation.
posted by Everydayville at 11:00 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
The former is dark, although I will say that a lot of that darkness is in a literal sense as the series is set in the rainy, dank, gloom of the Scottish islands. That said, it is certainly a gorgeously filmed production and the writing itself is remarkable. The characters all have thick Scottish brogues.
The Killing is a production based on the Scandinavian drama of the same name, and again, set in Seattle, so dark in the literal sense. Like Shetland, though, the crimes tend to be vicious, but the scenes and characters themselves feel very authentic.
Wire in the Blood is my all-time favorite crime show. Robson Greene is a forensic psychologist, and the cases he profiles are dark, twisted, and complex. If you liked Luther and The Night Manager (two of my personal faves), you'll love this one.
Finally, BBC's Jekyll. Absolutely fantastic, dark, grimy adaptation.
posted by Everydayville at 11:00 AM on May 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Unless you enjoy the irritation, I suggest you give up movies and take up .... bird watching, maybe? Movies and theater require a suspension of disbelief. It's integral to what, in movies, is actually the illusion of motion created by the rapid presentation of a series of still images. (thanks to a New Yorker cartoon for that)
In the documentary "Side by Side", which examines the differences between movies shot on film and on video, Keanu Reeves is arguing with James Cameron about the "realness" of film, and Cameron says, in an irritated tone, "Come on, Keanu, you know better. It's all pretend."
I joke, but it's not just little things like accents, or inaccurate wounds (not that I would know), but EVERY scene is shot from an angle that has been chosen, is lit in artificial ways, and later is cut together. Mr K and I know the movie biz (he's a filmmaker, I've owned a movie theater). Some things disturb my suspicion of disbelief more than others, but it's my individual mind, not that some movies are "realer" than others.
posted by kestralwing at 1:11 PM on May 23, 2017
In the documentary "Side by Side", which examines the differences between movies shot on film and on video, Keanu Reeves is arguing with James Cameron about the "realness" of film, and Cameron says, in an irritated tone, "Come on, Keanu, you know better. It's all pretend."
I joke, but it's not just little things like accents, or inaccurate wounds (not that I would know), but EVERY scene is shot from an angle that has been chosen, is lit in artificial ways, and later is cut together. Mr K and I know the movie biz (he's a filmmaker, I've owned a movie theater). Some things disturb my suspicion of disbelief more than others, but it's my individual mind, not that some movies are "realer" than others.
posted by kestralwing at 1:11 PM on May 23, 2017
Seconding The Witch. I'm a fan of obscure occult history and they really did their research and applied it well.
posted by Jilder at 2:25 AM on May 24, 2017
posted by Jilder at 2:25 AM on May 24, 2017
Beyond The Wall. It's French and hard to find but I think it's right up your alley.
posted by Marinara at 12:25 PM on May 24, 2017
posted by Marinara at 12:25 PM on May 24, 2017
Well never watch anything with Liam Neeson in it.
You should watch Wallander, all three versions.
(Three different versions with diferent casts and episodes)
And you should also watch the Scandi version of The Killing. Pessimistic and cynical, no punches pulled.
posted by glasseyes at 3:46 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
You should watch Wallander, all three versions.
(Three different versions with diferent casts and episodes)
And you should also watch the Scandi version of The Killing. Pessimistic and cynical, no punches pulled.
posted by glasseyes at 3:46 AM on May 25, 2017 [1 favorite]
Krister Henriksson is the only true Wallander!
posted by crocomancer at 3:59 AM on May 26, 2017
posted by crocomancer at 3:59 AM on May 26, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
Edited to add wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preacher_(TV_series)
posted by turkeybrain at 6:54 AM on May 23, 2017