Best mind bending movies you have watched so far?

[Momotaro]

Performance
Prospero's Books

I keep forgetting how good Peter Greenaway can be.

 

[spacevector]

I quite enjoyed Mother! and it did fuck with me a bit.

Friends and fam didn't really care for it. Curious to see what other viewers thought of it.

Mother! (2017) ⭐ 6.6 | Drama, Horror, Mystery

2h 1m | R

m.imdb.com

 

[Tks]

The Witch (pretty good, though idk how much that qualifies)

The Wind

NightCrawler

Nocturnal Animals
----------------------------

Idk tough to come up with anything others haven't mentioned.

EDIT: OH SHIT how could I forget..

The Killing of a Sacred Deer

and

The Lobster

 

[TimF]

I liked the Japanese movie The Third Murder by Hirokazu Kore-eda. It is not an action movie. I think it provides insight into behaviors people do without conscious decision or even awareness of decision. We ll think we are conscious and aware yet many people under specific circumstances act out a routine, an action plan, that they do unconsciously. After the fact they construct an awareness of the event and its sequence and then determine a motive.

 

[TimF]

I liked the Japanese movie The Third Murder by Hirokazu Kore-eda. It is not an action movie. I think it provides insight into behaviors people do without conscious decision or even awareness of decision. We all think we are conscious and aware, yet many people under specific circumstances act out a routine, an action plan, that they do unconsciously. After the fact they construct an awareness of the event and its sequence and then determine a motive. I can hear you say, "Not Me." Sure, you are the exception. You are specially conscious of your actions and motives. Or maybe not. The ones who insist in their special awareness and their extra special common sense are often enough the ones harboring a lot of unconscious habits and unknown motives. Except, you of course.

 

[bluefuzz]

I keep forgetting how good Peter Greenaway can be.

Sadly, very little of his work is available on blu-ray.

 

[bluefuzz]

Walkabout - Nicolas Roeg (1972) The Man Who Fell to Earth - Nicolas Roeg (1976) are two of my favorites.

Can't go wrong with Nic Roeg up until the mid 80s at least. He rather lost the plot after that ...

I am unfamiliar with the rest of your list but have made a New Years resolution to check them out.

Some of them may be difficult to find but the effort is worthwhile IMO. You'll need a region-free blu-ray player wherever you live! If you don't mind streaming then may I suggest a subscription to MUBI. The Criterion Channel will have a good few of those movies but it's sadly not available where I live ...

 

[bidn]

Alien Abduction (2005)
(a very cheap film, but things are not like what they seem...)

 

[GeorgeWalk]

Jim Carrey was in Sunshine. Moon stars Sam Rockwell.
Brad Pitt was in Fight Club which would fall into the mind bending genre.

Brad Pitt in "12 Monkeys"

 

[Midwest Blade]

I like a good mind bender once in awhile but usually do not associate the category with horror or monster type films.

Pretty impressive reading the titles in this thread.

 

[Destination: Moon]

Some off beat mind benders {if that's possible}

The Visitors

The History of Future Folk - about music!

Safety Not Guaranteed

Planet of the Apes

 

[Robin L]

"Heavenly Creatures", an early Peter Jackson film.

 

[JeffS7444]

Vivarium (2020)

 

[Pearljam5000]

 

[Pearljam5000]

 

[raistlin65]

For me probably Eraserhead and Blue Velvet....having read extensively in science fiction before movies caught up, none of the movies were particularly mind bending.....

I know exactly what you mean.

Started off my reading of time travel in the late 1970s as a teenager with Asimov's The End of Eternity and Dickson's Time Storm after having watched The City on the Edge of Forever. By the time time travel starts showing up in the cinema, they're basically reworking ideas that I had already read in science fiction or saw on Star Trek.

 

[raistlin65]

Brad Pitt in "12 Monkeys"

Watch the Sy-Fy 12 Monkeys TV series. Give it a few episodes. It's quite the wild ride.

 

[ZolaIII]

Napoleon Dynamite (2004), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Blade Runner (directors cut 1992)... and many many others.

​

 

[WHQL]

LX2048 (2020)

Mainstream:
Terminator Genisys (2015)
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009)

 

[Raindog123]

I still find Memento one of the most intellectually-mind-twisting films….

But I guess, Back to the Future II would also answer the original ask.
..and thinking about it, then The Usual Suspects must do too.

The Sixth Sense definitely catches you by surprise, but only the first time.