7. Dead Man (1995)
Written and Directed by Jim Jarmusch
The film was called a “psychedelic western” by its director. It is considered to be an archetype postmodernist film. The film is filled with references to William Blake’s poetry. Reflections to Blake’s work occur throughout the film. The film is set in the 19th century but the director does not shy away from the 20th century American Culture. There is a character called Nobody in the film. He is also known as He who talks too loud but does not say anything is a classic representation of postmodernist thought.
There are erratic references to the western films. One of the characters in the film says, “My name is nobody” which is also a Henry Fonda western film. Jim Jarmusch hated westerns. Westerns were always made to establish a certain kind of American moral code. Jarmusch despises it. The film juxtaposes industrialization with westerns and what comes out is an interesting, well thought pastiche. The film leaves you disoriented and distanced and that is probably the strongest point of it as well.
8. Chungking Express (1995)
Written and Directed by Wong Kar-wai
Chungking Express has two stories within the film. Both stories are left with open resolutions. The film in many ways deals with the themes of dystopia and chaos. The idea of misplaced identity is apparent as both stories have these male characters who are cops. They don’t have names and are always mentioned by numbers.
The film is about an urban life in Hong Kong where characters are distanced and lonely. One can question that Wong Kar Wai’s narrative with each film has become even more unstructured and aimless but in the larger scheme of things, this is precisely the feeling he aims to draw out of his films. The Chinese title translates to Chungking Jungle which refers to the concrete jungle of the modern city space.
Chungking Express is about a locality in Hong Kong which has people from varied ethnicity co-existing in this urban space. It is a pastiche of people and cultures which is reflected in the film as well. The film is about missed opportunities and ridicules the existence of chance encounters in films.
The ambiguity around the place decided by the characters of the second story for their date, ‘California’ also talks about how postmodernists hint towards destruction of language and its capacity to make sense of things. The real space is elevated to surreal experiences and that is why this film becomes an apt example of postmodernism.
9. The Big Lebowski (1998)
Written and Directed by Coen Brothers
The film is essentially based on the drama that evolves from ‘mistaken identity’. This film like all the other films mentioned in this list defies genre cinema which is an attempt to structure and study cinema. The film pays homage to Chandler novels and the classic kidnapping stories in its own special way. The protagonist “The Dude” often quotes various people he has met and celebrities throughout the film reiterating on the fact that there is lack or originality in this post-modern world.
The film also heavily parodies the entertainment industry. The movie has portions which depict allusions which are surreal and are disorienting. Coen Brothers have mastered the art of pastiche in their cinema. Influence of whatever they have seen and liked is always seen in their films.
10. Run Lola Run (1998)
Written and Directed by Tom Tykwer
Run Lola Run is like a video game. It is non-linear and almost plays in a loop with mixing elements of live action and animation. The film is famous for its numerous jump-cuts. It is an editing masterpiece. The video game like lead character in an unreal world with her strength and ability to rewind her life makes this a very strange experience. It breaks popular notions of cinema. The film uses Paetsch as the narrator. He is a popular German children story voice. At various places the film has tried to bring together German popular culture together.
The film also has references to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. The spiral staircase through which Lola runs reminds of the spiral production design elements from Hitchcock’s film. Rhizome is a theory proposed by Deleuze which acknowledges different perspectives to a singular reality. This films goes on to compliment this theory by adapting a butterfly effect type storyline. The cause and effect relationship becomes extremely obscure in the film. The beginning, middle and end structure is completely broken when the film proposes multiple ends to the viewers.
11. Fight Club (1999)
Directed by David Fincher. Written by Jim Ulhs. Based on a novel by Chuck Phalahniuk
The film starts with the narration of this character played by Edward Norton. Never in the film do you come to know his name except for once when he talks about himself in third person and calls himself Jack. The association is pretty vague. The other lead character in the film is Tyler Durden and in the end you realize he is nothing but a figment of the narrator’s imagination. This very playing around the concept of misplaced identities is a postmodernist trope. Schizophrenia is an important element of postmodernism. It essentially points towards a state where notions of reality become skewed.
There is a part in the film where Brad Pitt inserts certain frames of his “snake” in a film reel during the projection, where for less than a second one is exposed to the image of a “snake” and it goes. The inclusion of projection and tampering with it is somewhere related to stimulation of hyper reality. In fact, in the film itself there are certain frames of a “snake” and also through the same cinematic device the filmmaker often exchanged Norton’s image with Pitt’s. This breaks classical form of storytelling in some ways and also brings form and content together.
The film is full of pop culture references. There is no shot in the film which does not have a Starbucks coffee mug in it. There are references to famous brands and people including Gucci, Meryl Streep and Gandhi. In this film, the narrator is disconnected and distanced from his world so much that he suffers from insomnia which makes him a classic postmodernist hero.
12. American Beauty (1999)
Written by Allan Ball and Directed by Sam Mendes
The film intelligently comments on the American lifestyle that their media has propagated over so many years, which have formed the ideas of perfect beauty, perfect home, lifestyle, love and truth. American Beauty goes on to criticize these very notions with a pinch of humor. The film talks about how a superficially perfect American neighborhood is shallow from within. The characters face existential crisis. They all feel misunderstood.
The film is structured very well. It starts with giving the audience the knowledge that the protagonist is going to die by the end of the film. This dead narrator gives the film elements of hyper reality. This particular motion picture can be quite a perfect example of a post-modernist piece because of all these features.
13. Memento (2000)
Directed by Christopher Nolan and written by Johnathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan
The protagonist of the film suffers from short term memory loss and this translates to the form of the film when it breaks down to scattered parts told in a nonlinear fashion. The narrative style mimics memory pattern. The element of schizophrenia and breaking down of memory make it a post-modernist film.
The film also questions the indexical quality of photography. It breaks our suspension of belief by showing how memory can be mould according to convenience. The ability to have a constructed memory makes this film an interesting take on post-modernism. It proposes a hypothesis that there is no ‘real’ truth which is the core of postmodernism.
The film becomes engaging when the viewer gets involved in putting the information together. This makes the film more intriguing than most nonlinear films.