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Jan 2, 2024 · Existentialism films have been around for quite some time, exploring narratives where characters are confronted with the absurdity of existence, the burden of freedom, and the question of how...
- Senior List Writer
- The Last Laugh (F.W. Murnau, 1924) Existentialist themes in movies got an early start with F.W. Murnau’s, “The Last Laugh’. An old man who finds all of his identity and sense of pride in being a hotel doorman is found to now be too old for the job, and is demoted to work as a humble bathroom attendant, and is stripped of his fancy uniform and all feelings of self worth.
- Modern Times (Charlie Chaplin, 1936) Charlie Chaplin was the master of tragic humor, and he perhaps expressed it best in his great work, “Modern Times’.
- The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946) Film Noir as a genre, with all of it’s double crosses, crime, violence and greed that often goes without consequence in an uncaring world, is almost existential in a lot of ways by nature.
- Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952) Master filmmaker Akira Kurowsawa was no stranger to existentialist themes and ideas in his films. In Seven Samurai (1954), he had seven great ronin samurai who no longer had an allegiance or purpose come to find personal meaning in the defense of villagers (and even in their own deaths) whom they didn’t even know.
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- Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953) Few movies have managed to deal with universal themes like family life, loss, aging and loneliness in a sincerely and powerful way like this masterpiece of Japanese cinema.
- Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959) Hiroshima Mon Amour (1953), the first full-length film by the French director Alain Resnais, previously known for his fabulous and dense documentaries, this film is an adaptation of a manuscript by writer Marguerite Duras, whose work flirted with existentialism.
- Vivre Sa Vie (Jean Luc-Godard, 1962) In Vivre As Vie (1962) the camera acts as a detective. Nana (Anna Karina) is presented to us in the distance, and sometimes we even lose the sight of her.
- 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1963) Guido Anselmi, a renowned Italian director, has a crisis while preparing his new movie. Looking for a rest he goes to a spa resort in order to collect his ideas.
- Georgia May
- Stalker (1979) Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Starring Alisa Freyndlikh, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn. Drama, Sci-Fi (2h 42m) 8.1 on IMDb — 100% on RT.
- Tokyo Story (1953) Directed by Yasujirō Ozu. Starring Chishū Ryū, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara. Drama (2h 16m) 8.2 on IMDb — 100% on RT. Tokyo Story takes place on the heels of World War II, centering on an elderly couple who leave the city of Onomichi to visit their children in post-war Tokyo.
- Solaris (1972) Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Starring Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet. Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi (2h 47m) 8.0 on IMDb — 92% on RT.
- Apocalypse Now (1979) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall. Drama, Mystery, War (2h 27m) 8.4 on IMDb — 98% on RT.
- The Meaning of Life. The films that Monty Python made were so enjoyable for not only their cynicism and inventiveness of the group, but also for the deep understanding of society and philosophical problems that the group displayed in the films.
- What Are the Clouds? Adaptations of Shakespearean dramas always involve character with deep existential crises, but this short film by Pier Paolo Pasolini is one of the greatest adaptation ever made of a Shakespearean play, because it goes beyond what the play originally proposed and creates a unique experience through film language.
- F for Fake. More than 30 years after the outstanding “Citizen Kane,” Orson Welles proved to the world that he was still able to create unique and original films with his 1973 unclassifiable film “F for Fake.”
- La Dolce Vita. It was in 1960 when Federico Fellini displayed his highly personal and mesmerizing style with the first of his masterpieces, “La Dolce Vita.”
Jan 24, 2024 · The best existential films explore hard-hitting philosophical questions and combine these with universal themes that most viewers have thought about or experienced at some point. Contents. 7....
Jul 10, 2017 · Perhaps the most recent example centering around man's struggle with his own existence can be seen in David Lowery's A Ghost Story , which shows existential crises can still be found in death. Most filmmakers use realist cinema methods for these kinds of films.
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