Login/Register

CAPSULE: IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL: THE MYSTERY OF HENRY DARGER (2004)

DIRECTED BY: Jessica Yu

FEATURING: Dakota Fanning, Larry Pine

PLOT: Documentary on Henry Darger, the reclusive Chicago janitor who secretly wrote a slightly insane, 19,000 page fantasy novel about a child slave rebellion, illustrated by hundreds of incredibly detailed full size paintings.

WHY IT WON’T MAKE THE LIST: Outsider artist supreme, a devout Catholic . . . → Read More: CAPSULE: IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL: THE MYSTERY OF HENRY DARGER (2004)

SATURDAY SHORT: IMAGENES MENTALES DE UN HOMBRE PERDIENDO LA RAZON (2004)

Those of you who enjoy loud abrasive music and gory images (we know you’re out there!) will enjoy this over-the-top depiction of madness, sculpted in clay and entrails. The title translates as “mental images of a man losing his mind.”

RECOMMENDED AS WEIRD: PALINDROMES (2004)

DIRECTED BY: Todd Solondz

FEATURING: Ellen Barkin, Richard Masur, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sharon Wilkins

PLOT: A teenager falls in with a group of anti-abortionists in her quest to become pregnant.

WHY IT SHOULD MAKE THE LIST: As if the plot isn’t off-beat enough, Palindromes‘s teenage porotagonist is played by a variety of actors of . . . → Read More: RECOMMENDED AS WEIRD: PALINDROMES (2004)

CAPSULE: STRINGS (2004)

DIRECTED BY: Anders Rønnow Klarlund

FEATURING: James McAvoy, Catherine McCormack, Derek Jacobi, Julian Glover (voice actors)

PLOT: Hal, Crown Prince of a kingdom of marionettes, disguises himself as a commoner to try

to uncover his father’s murderer. WHY IT WON’T MAKE THE LIST: Strings is essentially a stock prince-grows-to-be-a-man-and-saves-the-kingdom high fantasy tale, but with . . . → Read More: CAPSULE: STRINGS (2004)

THREE GUY MADDIN SHORTS: “A TRIP TO THE ORPHANAGE” (2004)/”SOMBRA DOLOROSA” (2004)/”SISSY-BOY SLAP-PARTY” (1995)

Though most folks (who know him at all) know him thanks to his feature films, Guy Maddin is a master of the short film format, having birthed more than two dozen shorts in his career, many under five minutes.  The Heart of the World, his apocalyptic valentine to Soviet constructivist cinema, is the director’s . . . → Read More: THREE GUY MADDIN SHORTS: “A TRIP TO THE ORPHANAGE” (2004)/”SOMBRA DOLOROSA” (2004)/”SISSY-BOY SLAP-PARTY” (1995)

SATURDAY SHORT: THE STOLEN BIBLE (2004)

If you’re looking for something insightful, you may want to skip this post. This trailer for the Nigerian movie The Stolen Bible is among the most incoherent videos out there, and, judging by the other treasures available on YouTube nowadays, that’s saying quite a lot.

LIST CANDIDATE: PRIMER (2004)

DIRECTED BY: Shane Carruth

FEATURING: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan

PLOT: Two engineer/entrepreneurs accidentally discover a box that allows time travel, and

soon get themselves into trouble. WHY IT MIGHT MAKE THE LIST:  Primer‘s baffling story gives you an untethered, free-falling in reality feeling.  But although the dense, complicated, and deliberately obtuse plot produces . . . → Read More: LIST CANDIDATE: PRIMER (2004)

READER RECOMMENDATION: 3-IRON [BIN-JIP] (2004)

Reader review by Jason Ubermolch.  Some background on this review: in the suggestion thread, Jason recommended three movies: Brother Sun, Sister Moon; this one; and Zachariah.  I noted that the first two movies were critically acclaimed but sounded only mildly weird, so I picked Zachariah to cover as the weirdest of the trio.  Thinking I . . . → Read More: READER RECOMMENDATION: 3-IRON [BIN-JIP] (2004)

LIST CANDIDATE: IMMORTAL (AD VITAM) (2004)

DIRECTED BY: Enki Bilal

FEATURING: Linda Hardy, Thomas Kretschmann, Thomas M. Pollard (voice), Charlotte Rampling

PLOT: The Egyptian god Horus shows up in a pyramid floating above Manhattan in 2095 and

possesses the thawed body of a cryogenically frozen political prisoner to search for a blue haired woman. WHY IT MIGHT MAKE THE LIST: . . . → Read More: LIST CANDIDATE: IMMORTAL (AD VITAM) (2004)

LIST CANDIDATE: DEAD LEAVES (2004)

DIRECTED BY: Hiroyuki Imaishi

FEATURING: Amanda Winn Lee (voice), Jason Lee (voice)

PLOT:  A man with a television for a head and a woman with mismatched eyes wake up with

amnesia, are imprisoned on what’s left of the moon, lead a revolt, have a baby, and kill lots and lots of people. WHY IT . . . → Read More: LIST CANDIDATE: DEAD LEAVES (2004)

Instantly watch from thousands of TV episodes & movies streaming from Netflix. Try Netflix for FREE!