Suggest lesser-known good Sci-Fi films

[Timcognito]

Quest for Fire
"80,000 years ago, man's survival in a vast uncharted land depended on the possession of fire. / For those early humans, fire was an object of great mystery, since no one had mastered its creation. Fire had to be stolen from nature, it had to be kept alive - sheltered from wind and rain, guarded from rival tribes. / Fire was a symbol of power and a means of survival. The tribe who possessed fire, possessed life."
Not for children. After a short brutal scene the story evolves in epic journey of two men and a woman (who is completely naked throughout) on their quest for fire. No subtitles because the prehistoric time predates language. A very involving 100 minutes of a " Science Fantasy Adventure"

 

[bluefuzz]

I am perplexed by how movie buffs typically praise that film.

I rather like Solaris but boring movies are kind of my thing. In fact I prefer it over most other Tarkovski movies I've seen, including Stalker. That said, it doesn't exactly send me into paroxysms of adulation.

Sometimes I wonder if movie buffdom is a kind of fashion industry.

Of course it is. Wasn't there are high profile movie poll a couple of years ago that voted Chantal Akermen's Jeanne Dielman as best film ever? While it's a fine movie and certainly to my taste for catatonic plot development and minimal action, I'm not sure even I would vote it best movie ...

 

[Multicore]

Quest for Fire
"80,000 years ago, man's survival in a vast uncharted land depended on the possession of fire. / For those early humans, fire was an object of great mystery, since no one had mastered its creation. Fire had to be stolen from nature, it had to be kept alive - sheltered from wind and rain, guarded from rival tribes. / Fire was a symbol of power and a means of survival. The tribe who possessed fire, possessed life."
Not for children. After a short brutal scene the story evolves in epic journey of two men and a woman (who is completely naked throughout) on their quest for fire. No subtitles because the prehistoric time predates language. A very involving 100 minutes of a " Science Fantasy Adventure"

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I was thinking about Quest for Fire a few weeks ago and it really is a unique accomplishment. It is probably the most science fiction of the films mentioned in this thread, in the sense of the scope of intellectual and educational ambition built into the movie. One well known anecdote is how they got Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange with its futuristic fictional slang, to provide a language for this film. Burgess was proud of the result, judging from how he boasted about it subsequently. And the director said that the international crew started to use it to talk to each other during the shoot.

But the intellectual ambition is bigger than just the language. It's a movie that presents the audience with lots of big questions about the story of modern humans. I have a hard time imagining how such movies could get made today. As entertainment it stumbles laughably at certain points, especially how the fire quester walks out of the scene to the right in the highlands of Scotland and steps into the next scene on the left in the Sahel of Africa. But with old SciFi we gotta allow for that, right?

 

[Multicore]

Wasn't there are high profile movie poll a couple of years ago that voted Chantal Akermen's Jeanne Dielman as best film ever?

That was the BFI and I think it was last year. I read some of the buffs comments on the film and they didn't get me interested.

 

[bluefuzz]

I read some of the buffs comments on the film and they didn't get me interested

Well, there is little about Jeanne Dielman that is interesting. That is rather the point. It's a film that probably needed to be made at the time and place it was made and, as you said about Quest for Fire, it's difficult to imagine a film like that being made at any other time, and certainly not today. However, it is still worth a watch IMO with the right sedatives ...

 

[krabapple]

'Upgrade' was a good recent (2018) sci-fi thriller I caught on streaming a few weeks ago, about a normal joe whose body is 'upgraded' with implanted AI and hardware tech by an Elon Musk-like figure after a deadly car hijacking, essentially hosting a talking ninja computer in his body. He/they proceed to exact revenge on the hijackers, Liam Neeson-style but with a bit more humor and some style. There are of course twists too. Doesn't bear 5 minutes of serious thought about the plot, but it's fun, exciting, comically violent at times, decently acted, doesn't overstay its welcome at 100 min, and has some delicious darkness to it.

 

[Multicore]

Well, there is little about Jeanne Dielman that is interesting. That is rather the point. It's a film that probably needed to be made at the time and place it was made and, as you said about Quest for Fire, it's difficult to imagine a film like that being made at any other time, and certainly not today. However, it is still worth a watch IMO with the right sedatives ...

That seems fair. I was watching Ali: Fear Eats the Soul when her indoors arrived from outdoors and I put it off. Exaggerated, raw, simple, transparent and very uncomfortable. I lived in Munich for the first half of the 90s and witnessed some of that. Today I would expect the typical reaction would be to distance oneself and admire how far we have come since then and I wish there were something, anything, happening in popular culture today explicitly attacking exactly that complacency.

 

[krabapple]

Out right now , Dream Scenario, with a vaguely sci fi premise of being able to enter other people's dreams, is really good, with a sort of Eternal Sunshine vibe to it.

In this case the person entering your dreams in Nicolas Cage, playing a balding, schlubby, petulant college professor. In your dreams he just stands there watching whatever you are dreaming. (Though later in the story, he does more than that...)

It's great and Cage should get an Oscar nomination for it.

 

[Multicore]

Poor Things it's on theatrical release here ATM but I haven't seen it yet. It involves advanced surgical experimentation so I want to include it here. I read The book when it was new and liked it a lot. Still have my copy. The trailer looks like a special effects fantasy movie. I remember the book being more gritty Victorian.

 

[MrOtto]

Europa Report (2013) ⭐ 6.4 | Adventure, Drama, Mystery

1h 30m | PG-13

m.imdb.com

 

[pkane]

The Fountain, by Aronofsky

 

[Sokel]

The Fountain, by Aronofsky

Oh yes!
Beautiful music too.

 

[ExPerfectionist]

Vesper - watched this last year, was pretty good, very unique.

 

[ExPerfectionist]

Poor Things it's on theatrical release here ATM but I haven't seen it yet. It involves advanced surgical experimentation so I want to include it here. I read The book when it was new and liked it a lot. Still have my copy. The trailer looks like a special effects fantasy movie. I remember the book being more gritty Victorian.

I saw this in the theater, great movie and has been winning a lot of awards.

 

[Somafunk]

Vesper - watched this last year, was pretty good, very unique.

Soundtrack is worth a listen as well

 

[Multicore]

I saw this in the theater, great movie and has been winning a lot of awards.

Lanthimos was very fashionable in Euroart movie land. I loved The Lobster, hated The Killing of a Sacred Deer, thought The Favourite was worth watching but getting a bit Cohen Bros., and still haven't seen Poor Things. I thought the idea of specifically him doing this very self-indulgent and creepy psychosexual story very interesting. Somebody should make a sci-fi movie of Books 3 and 4 of Lanark. Gray did storyboard cells for it. We put some here https://gasgiants.substack.com/p/glasgows-miles-better-part-3-lanark

 

[Tell]

Poor Things it's on theatrical release here ATM but I haven't seen it yet. It involves advanced surgical experimentation so I want to include it here. I read The book when it was new and liked it a lot. Still have my copy. The trailer looks like a special effects fantasy movie. I remember the book being more gritty Victorian.

Sure it's a good movie, but in what way is it a "lesser known scifi"?

 

[Multicore]

Sure it's a good movie, but in what way is it a "lesser known scifi"?

When I posted that it had only just started playing in cinemas. It has become well known since then.