A guide to films that express social realism or escapism; and a guide to culturally important films that may reveal a character's thoughts, dreams, or motivations.
Image from 2001: A Space Odysseyfrom giphy.com at http://gph.is/1ejRCnZ
Psychological
2001 A Space OdysseyMankind finds a mysterious artifact buried on the moon and with the intelligent computer HAL 9000, sets off on a quest to Jupiter.
Call Number: MOVIE 2001
ISBN: B00005ASUM
Publication Date: 1968
Black SwanA psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet. An insecure ballet dancer wins the lead in Swan Lake but slowly loses her grip on sanity when a seductive newcomer is out to steal her role.
Call Number: MOVIE BLACK
ISBN: B0041KKYEM
Publication Date: 2011
A Clockwork Orange"Being the adventures of a young man who couldn't resist pretty girls, or a bit of the old ultra-violence, who went to jail, was re-conditioned, and came out a different young man. Or was he?" So might opine your humble narrator, Alex. Alex and his droogs Georgie, Dim, and Pete are bored. Alex loves Ludwig van, milk bars, and mayhem. One night a botched burglary ends in murder. Apprehended by the police, Alex is tried, sentenced, and sent to prison for fourteen years. Two years into his sentence, he signs up for The Ludovico Treatment, and is released as cured. However, the world is a harsh and violent place, and now Alex is unable to defend himself. O my brothers, what will happen to poor Alex now?
Call Number: DVD MOVIE CLOCKWORK
ISBN: 9781419830594
Publication Date: 1971
Donnie DarkoDonnie is a troubled high school student: in therapy, prone to sleepwalking and in possession of an imaginary friend -- a six-foot rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days 06 hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds. During that time he will navigate teenage life, narrowling avoid death in the form of a falling jet engine, follow Frank's maladjusted instructions and try to maintain the space-time continuum.
Call Number: MOVIE DONNIE
ISBN: B0006GAOBI
Publication Date: 2001
Ex MachinaCaleb, a 24-year-old coder at the world₂s largest Internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a retreat belonging to the company₂s reclusive CEO, Nathan. But when Caleb arrives he finds that he will have to participate in a fascinating experiment with the world₂s first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot woman, Ava. Truths, emotions, and motives are blurred as the relationship between Caleb, Ava, and Nathan intensifies.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE EX
ISBN: B00XI059W8
Publication Date: 2015
Goodnight MommyIn this atmospheric, nerve-straining chiller, two young twins confined to an isolated country house transform their resentment towards their mother into a fatal illusion about her identity. In the heat of the summer, in a lonesome house in the countryside between woods and corn fields, nine-year-old twin brothers are waiting for their mother. When she comes home, bandaged after cosmetic surgery, nothing is like before. The children start to doubt that this woman is actually their mother.
Call Number: MOVIE GOODNIGHT
ISBN: B015EVT7FI
Publication Date: 2015
HereditaryWhen the matriarch of the Graham framily passes away, her daughter's family begins to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry.
Call Number: MOVIE HEREDITARY
ISBN: B07G1Y112F
Publication Date: 2018
The LobsterIn a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obligated to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE LOBSTER
ISBN: B01GF7NA2G
Publication Date: 2016
MelancholiaJustine and Michael are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister Claire , and brother-in-law John. A planet called Melancholia is heading directly towards Earth and threatening to collide. Meanwhile, tensions are mounting and relationships are fraying as the family deals with their fears.
Call Number: MOVIE MELANCHOLIA
ISBN: B006KH6CF4
Publication Date: 2012
MoonAstronaut Sam Bell is completing a three-year contract with Lunar Industries to mine Earth's primary source of energy, Helium-3. His declining health is causing headaches and hallucinations that lead to a near-fatal accident, rendering him unconscious. After recuperating, an unexpected discovery leads him to doubt his sanity, his identity, and the integrity of the company. Believing he is alone on his mission, his sole purpose is getting back home on his own.
Call Number: MOVIE MOON
ISBN: B002T9H2MO
Publication Date: 2009
Mother!A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE MOTHER!
ISBN: B075FGXPCL
Publication Date: 2017
The One I LoveEthan and Sophie are a married couple on the brink of separation. At the urging of their therapist, they escape to a beautiful vacation house for a weekend getaway in an attempt to salvage what's left of their relationship, only to discover an unusual dilemma that awaits them.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE ONE
ISBN: B00NG4H9JW
Publication Date: 2014
RepulsionCarol, who works in a beauty salon in London, is both repulsed and fascinated by men. She is unsure of how to handle their advances, which are numerous because she is gorgeous. Gripped by mental illness, she eventually imprisons herself in her apartment, where she suffers from sexual dreams. Her delirium leads to dire circumstances.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE REPULSION
ISBN: B0026VBOK6
Publication Date: 1964
Image from Repulsion from 4thact.wordpress.com at https://4thact.wordpress.com/2015/09/21/repulsion/
Fight ClubWhen a ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a soap salesman channel their aggression into therapeutic "fight clubs", an eccentric woman gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
Call Number: MOVIE FIGHT
Publication Date: 1999
Mr. NobodyThe life story of Nemo Nobody, a 118 year-old man who is the last mortal on Earth after the human race has achieved quasi-immortality. On his deathbed, Nemo shares his life story with a reporter and reviews the choices he made along the way. Yet even with his last breath, a pivotal decision awaits to conclude his destiny.
Call Number: MOVIE MR
ISBN: B00H3JHGBC
Publication Date: 2009
R-PontKorean soldiers searching for a missing platoon in 1972 Vietnam end up encountering forces that basic training never prepared them for. Giving new meaning to the phrase "the horrors of war."
Publication Date: 2004
Requiem for a DreamHarry, his best friend Tyrone, his girlfriend Marion, and his mother all struggle with drug addiction against a backdrop of the abandoned beaches and faded glory of Coney Island, Brooklyn.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE REQUIEM
ISBN: B00005Q4CS
Publication Date: 2001
Ruby SparksStruggling with writer's block and a lackluster love life, once-famous novelist Calvin creates a beautiful fictitious character named Ruby who inspires him. But not only does this bring his work to life, it also brings Ruby to life, literally. Face-to-face with an actual relationship with his once virtual girlfriend, Calvin must now decide whether to pen this love story or let it write itself.
Call Number: MOVIE RUBY
ISBN: B008220BA2
Publication Date: 2012
StokerFollowing the tragic death of her father on her eighteenth birthday, India Stoker meets Charlie, her charismatic uncle, whom she never knew existed. When Charlie moves in with India and her unstable mother, both are drawn to his charming and calming demeanor. But it soon becomes clear that Charlie's arrival was no coincidence, and that the shocking secrets of his past could shatter India's future.
Call Number: MOVIE STOKER
ISBN: B00BJ0RE4A
Publication Date: 2013
SuspiraA darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned dance company, one that will engulf the artistic director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist. Some will succumb to the nightmare. Others will finally wake up.
Call Number: BLU-RAY MOVIE SUSPIRIA
ISBN: 6317570906
Publication Date: 2019
Swiss Army ManHank is stranded on a deserted island, having given up all hope of ever making it home again. One day everything changes when a corpse names Manny washes up onshore. The two become fast friends, and ultimately go on an epic adventure that will bring Hank back to the woman of his dreams.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE SWISS
ISBN: B01N26TVU6
Publication Date: 2016
TullyThe film is about Marlo, a mother of three including a newborn, who is gifted a night nanny by her brother. Hesitant to the extravagance at first, Marlo comes to form a unique bond with the thoughtful, surprising, and sometimes challenging young nanny named Tully.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE TULLY
ISBN: B07CPCFTXH
Publication Date: 2018
We Need to Talk About KevinKevin's mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly vicious things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.
Call Number: MOVIE WE
ISBN: B007C3TVNA
Publication Date: 2011
The WitchA family in 1630s New England faces destruction by the forces of witchcraft, black magic, and possession. When one of their five children goes missing and their life-sustaining crops fail, they fall victim to paranoia and fear as they begin to turn on one another.
Call Number: DVD MOVIE WITCH
ISBN: B01D2KFSS8
Publication Date: 2016
Image from A Clockwork Orange from giphy.com at http://gph.is/1c4yabe
Image from Fight Club from giphy.com at https://giphy.com/gifs/thegoodfilms-fight-club-DNVvhndpBlUbK
Image from Fight Club from giphy.com at https://giphy.com/gifs/helena-bonham-carter-high-school-rp-J91gCMhibU0kU
Image from Stoker from imdb.com at https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1682180/mediaviewer/rm3708171776
Image from Ex Machina from film-grab.com at https://film-grab.com/2015/07/17/ex-machina/#bwg833/51372
Image from Possession from cinenthusiast.wordpress.com at https://giphy.com/gifs/possession-isabelle-adjani-andrzej-zulawski-qJl64mbGE0Ju8
Image from Possession from cinenthusiast.wordpress.com at https://cinenthusiast.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/short-review-possession-1981-zulawski/
Image from Mr. Nobody from film-grab.com athttps://film-grab.com/2014/05/04/mr-nobody/#bwg1192/73950
Image fromWe Need to Talk About Kevin from giphy.com at https://gph.is/1co4cMt
Image from Ruby Sparks from film-grab.com at https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/01%20(867).jpg?bwg=1547382546
Image Ruby Sparks from giphy.com at https://giphy.com/gifs/ruby-DYfyG5fdFyzCw
Image from Mr. Nobody from film-grab.com at https://film-grab.com/wp-content/uploads/photo-gallery/51%20(687).jpg?bwg=1547237759