Seeking speculative movies set in the near future: grim is fine :)
May 12, 2021 5:58 AM Subscribe
I am seeking movies that will help me engage imaginatively with what may be coming in the semi-near future. I feel like we're headed into weird & tough times, what with climate change, the pandemic, declining democracy, rising xenophobia, and so forth, and so I'm seeking recommendations for movies that aim to imagine what that future may look like. They definitely don't need to be formally sci-fi: realistic drama would be great too. More inside.
To sketch out my tastes: I have seen and enjoyed Children of Men, Snowpiercer, The Road, Interstellar, and to a lesser extent maybe District 9. I liked the Mad Max movies but they're not exactly what I'm seeking right now. I have watched but didn't love Ex Machina, The Lobster, Brazil, all those quiet/silence movies, and Bird Box.
What I ideally want:
-- post-apocalypse, dystopian, speculative, or straightforward realistic drama
-- set let's say 20-100 years in the future
-- ideally made within the past 10 or so years
-- socially realistic / politically aware would be great
-- a grim tone is fine
-- exploration of survivor psychology would be great
-- not American is fine or actually good
I don't really care whether the science of the movie is realistic or not. I also don't care how much of the movie is spent on science-y stuff.
What I am not looking for:
-- zombie/vampire/horror/jolt/shock type stuff
-- conventional blockbuster action/disaster movies (like, I am Legend is probably leaning too blockbuster-y)
-- satire/comedy
Thank you for any recommendations you can provide :)
To sketch out my tastes: I have seen and enjoyed Children of Men, Snowpiercer, The Road, Interstellar, and to a lesser extent maybe District 9. I liked the Mad Max movies but they're not exactly what I'm seeking right now. I have watched but didn't love Ex Machina, The Lobster, Brazil, all those quiet/silence movies, and Bird Box.
What I ideally want:
-- post-apocalypse, dystopian, speculative, or straightforward realistic drama
-- set let's say 20-100 years in the future
-- ideally made within the past 10 or so years
-- socially realistic / politically aware would be great
-- a grim tone is fine
-- exploration of survivor psychology would be great
-- not American is fine or actually good
I don't really care whether the science of the movie is realistic or not. I also don't care how much of the movie is spent on science-y stuff.
What I am not looking for:
-- zombie/vampire/horror/jolt/shock type stuff
-- conventional blockbuster action/disaster movies (like, I am Legend is probably leaning too blockbuster-y)
-- satire/comedy
Thank you for any recommendations you can provide :)
Children of Men would fit the bill, although it was made more than ten years ago.
As a word of warning, it's very intense; I think it's the only movie I've watched that I had to take a break from because of how overwhelming it was getting.
posted by Fister Roboto at 6:25 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
As a word of warning, it's very intense; I think it's the only movie I've watched that I had to take a break from because of how overwhelming it was getting.
posted by Fister Roboto at 6:25 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Wikipedia has a master list of Post-Apocalyptic films, which is listed chronologically. Here's a hotlink to the section of films made from 2010-2019.
From that list, here's a few that sound promising:
4:44 Last Day On Earth is nothing but People Coping With The End. The premise is that astronomers have predicted a massive cosmic radiation surge that will take place at 4:44 am on a given day and there is no hope, and the main characters are a pair of lovers who are holed up in their apartment waiting it out.
The Book Of Eli is kinda funky. It's post-nuclear-holocaust, and Denzel Washington is a dude on a mission to bring a book to San Francisco. It gets a little religious-y, but in a kind of intriguing way.
I kinda wanted to see I Think We're Alone Now - Peter Dinklage and Elle Fanning are the only two people left alive after a pandemic. It sounds like a weird post-apocalyptic take on The Station Agent.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:31 AM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
From that list, here's a few that sound promising:
4:44 Last Day On Earth is nothing but People Coping With The End. The premise is that astronomers have predicted a massive cosmic radiation surge that will take place at 4:44 am on a given day and there is no hope, and the main characters are a pair of lovers who are holed up in their apartment waiting it out.
The Book Of Eli is kinda funky. It's post-nuclear-holocaust, and Denzel Washington is a dude on a mission to bring a book to San Francisco. It gets a little religious-y, but in a kind of intriguing way.
I kinda wanted to see I Think We're Alone Now - Peter Dinklage and Elle Fanning are the only two people left alive after a pandemic. It sounds like a weird post-apocalyptic take on The Station Agent.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:31 AM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
It's not easy to find, but Strange Days is a cyberpunk noir that feels like it could have been made last year. Interesting, relevant, so near-future as to be almost not future. (CW: really upsetting depictions of sexual assault)
posted by restless_nomad at 6:34 AM on May 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by restless_nomad at 6:34 AM on May 12, 2021 [8 favorites]
I think The Rover checks a lot of those boxes. Last Night is more of an end of the world flick, but it's an attempt at a realistic depiction of a looming apocalypse.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:34 AM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:34 AM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]
Everyone I know except me hated it, but Chappie might be worth a try. A bit older, but well worth seeing, is Ming-liang Tsai's The Hole. (And possibly one or two of the others in the "2000, seen by" project it was part of.) If people reacting to the coming apocalypse before it happens is of interest, Melancholia is quite good.
If television is of interest, The 100 is set farther in the future, but except for language drift, everything in it could have been set within the next 100 years.
posted by eotvos at 6:44 AM on May 12, 2021
If television is of interest, The 100 is set farther in the future, but except for language drift, everything in it could have been set within the next 100 years.
posted by eotvos at 6:44 AM on May 12, 2021
Spielberg's AI and Minority Report?
Blade Runner 2049
Elysium (I'm not a fan but the product design is great)
Dread
Equilibrium
Alita: Battle Angel
posted by octothorpe at 6:47 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Blade Runner 2049
Elysium (I'm not a fan but the product design is great)
Dread
Equilibrium
Alita: Battle Angel
posted by octothorpe at 6:47 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Never Let Me Go (I liked the book more, but YMMV.)
posted by gnomeloaf at 7:31 AM on May 12, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by gnomeloaf at 7:31 AM on May 12, 2021 [6 favorites]
Code 46 misses your 'produced within' time frame, but might be of interest. (As does Gattaca, in a similar vein)
Also feel compelled to mention Synecdoche, New York, because I'll proselytize for C. Kaufman's masterpiece any chance I get (and the coming dystopia is actually in your mind, maaaan...)
posted by Bron at 7:40 AM on May 12, 2021
Also feel compelled to mention Synecdoche, New York, because I'll proselytize for C. Kaufman's masterpiece any chance I get (and the coming dystopia is actually in your mind, maaaan...)
posted by Bron at 7:40 AM on May 12, 2021
I enjoyed Automata, but remember it getting a bit blockbuster-y.
I quite like the Annihilation film too. It's trippy and good in a lot of the right ways, but I think the book explores it's themes a bit better. Both are definitely concerned with how changing our environment changes us. (With a content warning for body horror elements in both)
Arrival also hits some of your boxes and is a stellar film.
These next two are a bit off topic. But I think The Expanse fits your criteria perfectly except it's a TV show. Also I thought the game Disco Elysium did a lot of interesting work imagining a future in a slightly twisted version of our reality.
posted by crossswords at 7:53 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
I quite like the Annihilation film too. It's trippy and good in a lot of the right ways, but I think the book explores it's themes a bit better. Both are definitely concerned with how changing our environment changes us. (With a content warning for body horror elements in both)
Arrival also hits some of your boxes and is a stellar film.
These next two are a bit off topic. But I think The Expanse fits your criteria perfectly except it's a TV show. Also I thought the game Disco Elysium did a lot of interesting work imagining a future in a slightly twisted version of our reality.
posted by crossswords at 7:53 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Cargo is a really good film. The wikipedia page describes it as a "horror" film and there is a disease that changes people into "zombies", but it's not a typical zombie film (I am not a horror/zombie fan). It's really a quiet, intense drama about people trying to survive - and has lots to say about contemporary issues.
posted by jb at 7:55 AM on May 12, 2021
posted by jb at 7:55 AM on May 12, 2021
Best answer: Also a "not quite" as its TV and starts in the present, but the BBC series Years and Years ticks a lot of your boxes.
Worth keeping an eye out for the TV adaptation of Station Eleven which I believe will be out sometime this year.
posted by crocomancer at 8:51 AM on May 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
Worth keeping an eye out for the TV adaptation of Station Eleven which I believe will be out sometime this year.
posted by crocomancer at 8:51 AM on May 12, 2021 [5 favorites]
Response by poster: OMG these suggestions are all fantastic: thank you so much. A few of the movies named so far I have seen and loved, which means we are 100% on the right track here, yay. And yes crocomancer I loved the novel Station Eleven: thank you for telling me there'll be a TV adaptation. And crosswords, I also found Disco Elysium super-interesting :)
Please keep more suggestions coming: this is really really useful :)
posted by Susan PG at 8:59 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Please keep more suggestions coming: this is really really useful :)
posted by Susan PG at 8:59 AM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Seconding Never Let Me Go. I'm a fan of the book and also the movie. Here's the trailer.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:52 AM on May 12, 2021
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:52 AM on May 12, 2021
Aniara, 2018, Swedish. Years and Years, as mentioned above was the other that came immediately to mind.
posted by cocoagirl at 11:25 AM on May 12, 2021
posted by cocoagirl at 11:25 AM on May 12, 2021
Sleep Dealer is a 2008 film featuring people remotely operating farm and construction equipment, along with immigration issues and water rights.
Carbon Origins just last week during a presentation in AltspaceVR had a sign up form for remote operators for their delivery robots. They also make a laser weed zapping robot. So the film is holding up.
posted by Sophont at 1:09 PM on May 12, 2021
Carbon Origins just last week during a presentation in AltspaceVR had a sign up form for remote operators for their delivery robots. They also make a laser weed zapping robot. So the film is holding up.
posted by Sophont at 1:09 PM on May 12, 2021
Been awhile since we watched Survivors, but I think it fits.
posted by LoveHam at 1:40 PM on May 12, 2021
posted by LoveHam at 1:40 PM on May 12, 2021
It may not be what you're looking for but Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Bright Future might work for you. It's connection to your desired genre might be obscure but stick with it.
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:57 PM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Ashwagandha at 3:57 PM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
If you want to push the envelope for older films, there's Death Watch and the Peter Watkins' films Privilege, the War Game, Punishment Park, The Gladiators, Evening Land.
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:13 PM on May 12, 2021
posted by Ashwagandha at 4:13 PM on May 12, 2021
Renaissance (YT Video Trailer) fits some of the items on your checklist. It's a mostly-forgotten 2006 film that barely played in the U.S. It's a French black and white animated film set in Paris in 2054. Features a pre-James Bond Daniel Craig voicing the main cop; he's dealing with mega-corporate intrigue and a missing scientist. If you are captivated by the visual style, check it out; the visuals are the strongest part of the movie.
posted by JDC8 at 4:33 PM on May 12, 2021
posted by JDC8 at 4:33 PM on May 12, 2021
I recently watched Wim Wenders Until the End of the World on the Critereon Channel and was totally blown away by it. It's from 1991, but otherwise checks a bunch of your boxes. Be aware though, it clocks in at around 5 hours, so you'll probably want to watch it over a couple of sessions.
posted by TwoToneRow at 6:13 PM on May 12, 2021
posted by TwoToneRow at 6:13 PM on May 12, 2021
Michael Haneke's Time of the Wolf takes place in the immediate aftermath of an unspecified disaster.
posted by clockwork at 7:45 PM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by clockwork at 7:45 PM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I know you specified movies, but if you’ve got room for a short TV series then I would suggest Years and Years.
posted by robcorr at 12:23 AM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by robcorr at 12:23 AM on May 13, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: nthing Years and Years, maybe one of the best TV shows I've ever seen.
posted by ryanbryan at 5:36 AM on May 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by ryanbryan at 5:36 AM on May 13, 2021 [2 favorites]
I Am Mother -- a robot raises a child in a postapocalyptic world.
posted by foxfirefey at 10:01 AM on May 13, 2021
posted by foxfirefey at 10:01 AM on May 13, 2021
Young Ones (inexplicably titled Badland: Road to Fury in the UK, in what I can only construe as an attempt to capture Mad Max: Fury Road viewers, complete with nicking the font colours) is an actually-pretty-good neo-Western with a great cast, set in a future US devastated by drought. Once you realise it is a homage to Westerns some of the camera angles and style make more sense.
These Final Hours is a harrowing Australian film about a man attempting to get back to his partner after a comet strike on the other side of the planet. It's brutal but very well put together.
Hell is a Swiss-German film about a future Earth where the sun has dramatically increased its heat output and seared most of human civilisation away.
One Hundred Mornings is a bleak little low-budget Irish film about an unspecified slow-motion apocalypse that catches two Dublin couples when they are away in a holiday cabin.
There's tons more, that's just what I can think of right now - I have a weird affinity for small, human-scale stories set in dystopian or mid/post-apocalypse settings.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:43 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
These Final Hours is a harrowing Australian film about a man attempting to get back to his partner after a comet strike on the other side of the planet. It's brutal but very well put together.
Hell is a Swiss-German film about a future Earth where the sun has dramatically increased its heat output and seared most of human civilisation away.
One Hundred Mornings is a bleak little low-budget Irish film about an unspecified slow-motion apocalypse that catches two Dublin couples when they are away in a holiday cabin.
There's tons more, that's just what I can think of right now - I have a weird affinity for small, human-scale stories set in dystopian or mid/post-apocalypse settings.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:43 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: So many good answers here (and Happy Dave if you remember more, please add them: I share your affinity) but I wanted to specifically call out the recommendations for Years and Years. I binge-watched all six episodes last night, and they were exactly what I was seeking. One reviewer apparently described the series as Black Mirror with heart, and I think that’s exactly right. I was seeking (in part) stories about how societal collapse affects ordinary people, and that’s exactly what Years after Years provides. Thank you so much to the people who recommended it; I would never have found it otherwise.
posted by Susan PG at 3:54 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Susan PG at 3:54 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Here's a few more then:
Before the Fire/The Great Silence - Another bleak pandemic movie. This one has themes of familial abuse and is pretty grim, honestly. Upbeat(ish) ending though. Mostly everyone looks very cold and miserable. Leans heavily on male threat and is an uneasy watch as a result.
Into the Forest - Post-EMP cabin-in-the-woods movie. Kind of slow moving but atmospheric. Also big on the 'stranger at the gate' male threat angle.
To the Lake - Russian TV series on Netflix, about a virulent pandemic which kills very quickly and the associated social breakdown. It's good enough that I stopped watching it on my laptop in favour of wanting to see it on a bigger screen.
There are heaps of terrible, very low budget post-apocalyptic movies on Amazon Prime and Netflix. The vast, vast majority of these are not worth your time, because they are absolutely what you'd think - a bunch of not very good actors wandering about in the Mojave or (in the UK variant) a derelict industrial estate, spouting cliches at each other and usually with a bunch of lazy brutality and sexual violence. You will be able to tell the real turkeys in a couple of minutes, usually. There's also a small subset of movies aimed explicitly at right wing prepper paranoids that are truly dreadful.
Letterboxd lists are a great place to find new examples of this genre, as are the 'other viewers also watched' recommendations on Amazon.
posted by Happy Dave at 5:20 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Before the Fire/The Great Silence - Another bleak pandemic movie. This one has themes of familial abuse and is pretty grim, honestly. Upbeat(ish) ending though. Mostly everyone looks very cold and miserable. Leans heavily on male threat and is an uneasy watch as a result.
Into the Forest - Post-EMP cabin-in-the-woods movie. Kind of slow moving but atmospheric. Also big on the 'stranger at the gate' male threat angle.
To the Lake - Russian TV series on Netflix, about a virulent pandemic which kills very quickly and the associated social breakdown. It's good enough that I stopped watching it on my laptop in favour of wanting to see it on a bigger screen.
There are heaps of terrible, very low budget post-apocalyptic movies on Amazon Prime and Netflix. The vast, vast majority of these are not worth your time, because they are absolutely what you'd think - a bunch of not very good actors wandering about in the Mojave or (in the UK variant) a derelict industrial estate, spouting cliches at each other and usually with a bunch of lazy brutality and sexual violence. You will be able to tell the real turkeys in a couple of minutes, usually. There's also a small subset of movies aimed explicitly at right wing prepper paranoids that are truly dreadful.
Letterboxd lists are a great place to find new examples of this genre, as are the 'other viewers also watched' recommendations on Amazon.
posted by Happy Dave at 5:20 AM on May 14, 2021 [1 favorite]
Z for Zachariah is a modest post-apocalypse survivor movie; its main strength is the quality of the only three actors in the film (Margot Robbie, Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor).
posted by JDC8 at 4:16 PM on May 20, 2021
posted by JDC8 at 4:16 PM on May 20, 2021
Arise thread! Just found another one which popped up on Amazon Prime (in the UK anyway) this week - The Survivalist - another bleak little (Northern) Irish post-apocalypse featuring a fella growing crops in the woods on his own after some kind of Malthusian peak oil population crash. Very similar vibe to 100 Mornings. CW for fairly grim 'trading sex for food' moments early on.
Also, I remembered the equally grim Le Temp De Loups (The Time of the Wolf) which is a French movie. Takes bleak to the next level.
posted by Happy Dave at 8:48 AM on July 8, 2021
Also, I remembered the equally grim Le Temp De Loups (The Time of the Wolf) which is a French movie. Takes bleak to the next level.
posted by Happy Dave at 8:48 AM on July 8, 2021
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