14. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a 2013 comedy-adventure film directed and starred by Ben Stiller. The movie tells the story of a man who daydreams as a hobby and creates his own fantasy world where he is the hero. He is the manager of the negative assets sector of a magazine and when a certain negative that is needed for the magazine’s last printed edition went missing, his job is put at risk, and he sets off on a crazy journey to find it.
This is definitely an inspirational and moving movie. The underdog character of Walter Mitty is redeemed himself as a hero with the support of the people surrounding him. The goofy and creative character of Walter Mitty shows that imagination is not far from reality through hard work and determination.
The most breathtaking part of the film is the amazing cinematography; it maximized its capability to show the people a story in a bigger picture, and it captured the magical and glorious moments that would steal the audience’s hearts.
15. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
This comedy-drama premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. Greg (Thomas Mann), an awkward high school student with an interest for filming with his friend Earl (RJ Cyler), was forced by his parents to befriend Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a girl who was diagnosed with leukemia, believing that the girl needs someone for moral support. The unusual friendship the three made changed their outlooks and lives forever.
“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” is a product of combined art and talent. It is written with heartfelt lines and soulful execution that tells an honest and humorous story of three friends in an unexpected situation.
The movie would make you laugh and cry at the same time, and aside from its emotional effectiveness, it also gives great aesthetic pleasure. The surprising angles and camerawork also helped the film have that quirky yet playful kind of vibe.
16. Ghost World
“Ghost World” is a 2001 comedy-drama directed by Terry Zwigoff, starring Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson. The movie focuses on the story of best friends Enid and Rebecca, teenage girls who are social outcasts, who pulled a prank on a man by responding to his newspaper ad for a date, not knowing that that one move will make them pay the price and change their lives forever.
The movie shows an elaborate process of maturity and growing up. Despite the characters’ young age, the story opened up mature and serious matters that honestly exhibits life from a long term perspective.
Enid and Rebecca’s characters are portrayed as childish, spontaneous and unsure, and the two went through a stage where they had to face different challenges and obstacles that made them know themselves more and what they want. The way the characters bloomed from weird teenage creeps to talented young women connects to the audience in a simple yet heartwarming way.
17. Her
“Her” tells a very unusual romantic science-fiction story directed by Spike Jonze. Set in the near future, Theodore, a lonely writer in the process of a divorce, purchases an OS1, an artificially-intelligent operating system. Personified through a female voice, the OS1 named herself Samantha and after spending time working together and knowing each other, Theodore grows captivated by Samantha and falls in love with her.
Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore played an impressive role as someone who is deeply in love without seeing his lover personally, and Scarlett Johansson, the voice of Samantha, did a notable performance for expressing so much emotion with her voice. The chemistry between a computer and a human is surprisingly undeniable.
On the contrary, the film also shows the possible outcome of what a modern, developed technology and society brings. People being distant to each other personally because of technology, and being isolated only with the company of technological devices, are deep and meaningful topics that are being sugar-coated and lightened up by the film.
18. Me and You and Everyone We Know
The 2005 rom-com film is written, directed and starred by Miranda July. It follows the story of the eccentric life of a separated man (John Hawkes) with two equally eccentric sons who works as a shoe salesman, a weird video artist (Miranda July) who he romantically got involved with, and the story of everyone around them and how their lives are connected.
The poetic and metaphorical film used a lot of imagery and devices to relate a situation or a character, which is clever way for July to express. Every character in the film is outlandish and completely different from each other. It is the type of film that has someone to represent each and every type of viewer there is, so they could relate themselves to it.
One of its tricks is that the differences of the roles were coordinated and united. There’s always a couple of clashing characteristics that would be spotted to be working with each other in any scene. The film is funny because of the awkwardness and tension the opposites have built, but it also made it meaningful.
19. Ang Nawawala (What Isn’t There)
The 2012 Filipino drama is co-written and directed by Marie Jamora. The film is about Gibson, a shy 20-year old boy who stopped talking when he was a child, returning to Manila to spend Christmas and his twin brother’s death anniversary with his mysterious family. “Ang Nawawala” follows Gibson as he deals with his family, friends, his dead brother, the girl he fell in love with, and himself.
The way the film was written and filmed is alluring for millennials. The mixture of mainstream elements, such as the relatability of the characters for youngsters who have the same dilemmas and suffer from the same complications, and the uncommon and unparalleled matters emphasizing the ignorance of time and environment, is flawless.
The exceptional attention to details, especially to production design and soundtrack, also makes the message sentimental and expressive.
20. Wetlands
“Wetlands” is a German comedy-drama film by David Wnendt in 2013. The colorful and “nasty” movie is about 18-year-old Helen walking us through her bizarre life, including her obsession with sex, loathe for hygiene, love for her parents, crush on a guy, and attitude towards life. Helen lives a very chaotic and unsystematic life who might just have done every crazy thing a person could do, but she is just starting to know the world better.
Known as the most “WTF” movie of 2013, “Wetlands” would show what craziness and fun is on a whole new level. The straightforward unique personality of Helen is haunting (in a good way).
At the beginning of the movie, everyone would surely despise and abhor her, thinking that she is nothing but a bored and filthy girl, but as the movie runs, it would be easier to find everyone falling in love with her character and rooting for her. The film is vulgar, graphic and guiltless, and would get under your skin, but is surely worth remembering.
Author Bio: Adrienna Borda is a Mass Communication student from the Philippines. Apart from her insurmountable amount of love for films, she is aspiring to direct one (or more) too. She enjoys watching weird films probably because she, too, is weird.