Surreal Concepts and Plots
by parallelrealitiesmusic | created - 27 Oct 2016 | updated - 27 May 2022 | PublicMy choice of surreal stories & fascinating plots.
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1. Capturing Mary (2007 TV Movie)
TV-14 | 105 min | Drama
A young man ushers an older woman into a dark exploration of her past - back to the time when, as a young girl, she met a stranger who affected her life forever.
Director: Stephen Poliakoff | Stars: Maggie Smith, Ruth Wilson, David Walliams, Danny Lee Wynter
Votes: 2,075
2. A Real Summer (2007 TV Movie)
45 min | Drama
It is 1958, and the final debutante 'season'. Mary, a brilliant young writer and critic is befriended by Geraldine, a seemingly friendly young debutante of a similar age but a very ... See full summary »
Director: Stephen Poliakoff | Stars: Ruth Wilson, Dirk Bogarde, Jack Hawkins, Kenneth More
Votes: 172
3. Eleanor (2015)
20 min | Short, Drama
Golden-globe winner Ruth Wilson plays three different women whose lives become fatefully intertwined over one night. A truly innovative and haunting examination of the human psyche - Eleanor will replay in your dreams.
Directors: Tobias Ross-Southall, Alex Warren | Stars: Ruth Wilson, Daniel Easton, Romany Pajdak
Votes: 30
4. The Meeting Point (1989)
98 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
During the excavation of ancient Roman ruins, an old archaeology professor accidentally opens the gate between our world and the world of the dead.
Director: Goran Markovic | Stars: Rade Markovic, Bogdan Diklic, Dragan Nikolic, Olivera Markovic
Votes: 3,374
5. Until the End of the World (1991)
R | 158 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In 1999, Claire Tourneur's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash. She rescues Sam and travels the world with him. Writer Eugene Fitzpatrick follows and writes their story as a method of recording dreams is being developed.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: William Hurt, Solveig Dommartin, Pietro Falcone, Enzo Turrin
Votes: 11,348 | Gross: $0.75M
6. Avalon (2001)
R | 107 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
In a dystopian world, a woman spends her time playing an illegal and dangerous game, hoping to find meaning in her world.
Director: Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Malgorzata Foremniak, Wladyslaw Kowalski, Jerzy Gudejko, Dariusz Biskupski
Votes: 13,701
7. Sliding Doors (1998)
PG-13 | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
After personal and professional setbacks, a woman experiences an alternate reality.
Director: Peter Howitt | Stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch, Jeanne Tripplehorn
Votes: 71,514 | Gross: $11.88M
8. On the Milky Road (2016)
125 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A story that stretches across war, blossoming love and living as a recluse.
Director: Emir Kusturica | Stars: Emir Kusturica, Monica Bellucci, Sloboda Micalovic, Predrag 'Miki' Manojlovic
Votes: 4,893
9. The Magic Mountain (1982)
153 min | Drama
Hans Castorp, fresh from university and about to become a civil engineer, comes to the Sanatorium Berghof in the Swiss Alps to visit his cousin Joachim, an army officer, who is recovering ... See full summary »
Director: Hans W. Geissendörfer | Stars: Werner Eichhorn, Rod Steiger, Marie-France Pisier, Flavio Bucci
Votes: 501
10. Fritz the Cat (1972)
X | 78 min | Animation, Comedy, Drama
Fritz drops out of college, starts a riot in Harlem and hits the road with an ex-girlfriend before getting mixed up with domestic terrorists.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Skip Hinnant, Rosetta LeNoire, John McCurry, Judy Engles
Votes: 14,355 | Gross: $25.00M
11. The Prestige (2006)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After a tragic accident, two stage magicians in 1890s London engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion while sacrificing everything they have to outwit each other.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine
Votes: 1,442,320 | Gross: $53.09M
12. Shooting the Past (1999– )
182 min | Drama, History
A US property developer realises that he has a battle on his hands when he tries to renovate a London building containing a vast photographic collection and discovers that the library employees will resort to anything to thwart him.
Stars: Lindsay Duncan, Timothy Spall, Liam Cunningham, Billie Whitelaw
Votes: 1,307
13. Dimensions (I) (2011)
101 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
Cambridge, England, 1921 - or so it seems. A brilliant young scientist becomes obsessed with finding a way back to his past - no matter what the cost.
Director: Sloane U'Ren | Stars: Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Camilla Rutherford, Patrick Godfrey, Olivia Llewellyn
Votes: 567
14. Night Train to Lisbon (2013)
R | 111 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Swiss Professor Raimund Gregorius abandons his lectures and buttoned-down life to embark on a thrilling adventure that will take him on a journey to the very heart of himself.
Director: Bille August | Stars: Jeremy Irons, Mélanie Laurent, Jack Huston, Martina Gedeck
Votes: 20,785
15. Planetarium (2016)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
"Planetarium" follows the journey of sisters who are believed to possess the supernatural ability to connect with ghosts. They cross paths with a visionary French producer while performing in Paris.
Director: Rebecca Zlotowski | Stars: Natalie Portman, Lily-Rose Depp, Emmanuel Salinger, Amira Casar
Votes: 3,774
16. An Inspector Calls (2015 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 87 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A mysterious inspector investigates the wealthy Birling family and their dinner guest following the suicide of a young woman.
Director: Aisling Walsh | Stars: Sophie Rundle, Lucy Chappell, Miranda Richardson, Ken Stott
Votes: 15,665
17. Who's Singin' Over There? (1980)
86 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
It's April 5, 1941, somewhere in Serbia. A group of people go on a bus to Belgrade, on a journey that will change their lives forever.
Director: Slobodan Sijan | Stars: Pavle Vuisic, Dragan Nikolic, Danilo 'Bata' Stojkovic, Aleksandar Bercek
Votes: 16,634
18. The Sheltering Sky (1990)
R | 138 min | Adventure, Drama
An American couple travel abroad to revitalize their relationship. But as the trip drags on, their attempt at recovering what they once had seems futile.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: Debra Winger, John Malkovich, Campbell Scott, Jill Bennett
Votes: 13,737 | Gross: $2.08M
19. The Queen of Sheba's Pearls (2004)
131 min | Drama
Set in post-war England, a mysterious woman arrives at the Prettys' rural family home on the eve of young Jack Bradley's (Rollo Weeks') sixteenth birthday. Her remarkable likeness to a ... See full summary »
Director: Colin Nutley | Stars: Helena Bergström, Lorcan Cranitch, Lindsay Duncan, Tim Dutton
Votes: 521
20. Beyond Good and Evil (1977)
127 min | Biography, Drama
The life and ideas of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. A love triangle unfolds as Nietzsche and his best friend decides to live with a Jewish woman. According to Nietzsche's ... See full summary »
Director: Liliana Cavani | Stars: Dominique Sanda, Erland Josephson, Robert Powell, Virna Lisi
Votes: 511
21. Beyond the Edge (2018)
Not Rated | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
In Moscow, a gambler gathers a team of people with supernatural abilities to win big at a casino.
Directors: Aleksandr Boguslavskiy, Francesco Cinquemani | Stars: Milos Bikovic, Antonio Banderas, Lyubov Aksyonova, Yuriy Chursin
Votes: 3,490
22. It's Getting Late (2012)
8 min | Short
Short film made for a fashion house. Four women from different backgrounds get ready and go to a concert.
Director: Massy Tadjedin | Stars: Patricia Clarkson, Rinko Kikuchi, Gemma Arterton, Aubrey Plaza
Votes: 173
23. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
PG | 82 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
In 1935 New Jersey, a movie character walks off the screen and into the real world.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Irving Metzman
Votes: 55,315 | Gross: $10.63M
24. The Illusionist (2006)
PG-13 | 110 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
In turn-of-the-century Vienna, a magician uses his abilities to secure the love of a woman far above his social standing.
Director: Neil Burger | Stars: Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti, Rufus Sewell
Votes: 389,777 | Gross: $39.87M
25. Maratonci trce pocasni krug (1982)
92 min | Comedy, Drama
The Topalovic family has been in the burial business for generations. When the old (150 yrs old) Pantelija dies, five generations of his heirs start to fight for the inheritance.
Director: Slobodan Sijan | Stars: Bogdan Diklic, Danilo 'Bata' Stojkovic, Pavle Vuisic, Mija Aleksic
Votes: 16,998
26. Steppenwolf (1974)
R | 107 min | Drama
In the bourgeois circles of Europe after the Great War, can anything save the modern man? Harry Haller, a solitary intellectual, has all his life feared his dual nature of being human and ... See full summary »
Director: Fred Haines | Stars: Max von Sydow, Dominique Sanda, Pierre Clémenti, Carla Romanelli
Votes: 1,310 | Gross: $0.05M
Warning: If you have not read Hesse's Steppenwolf, you will not understand the film.
27. Death Defying Acts (2007)
PG | 97 min | Drama, History, Romance
On a tour of Britain in 1926, Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) enters into a passionate affair with a psychic out to con him.
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall, Saoirse Ronan
Votes: 10,501 | Gross: $0.00M
28. Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979)
X | 93 min | Comedy
Believe it or not, even Smalltown USA still has people who are unfulfilled and unrelieved in the midst of plenty. Levonna and Lamar could have the perfect relationship, were it not for Lamar's obsession with rear entry.
Director: Russ Meyer | Stars: Kitten Natividad, Ann Marie, Ken Kerr, June Mack
Votes: 3,355
29. Supervixens (1975)
Unrated | 106 min | Comedy
Clint Ramsey must quit his job at Martin Bormann's gas station and flee after his wife is killed by psychopathic cop Harry Sledge, who tries to pin the murder on him.
Director: Russ Meyer | Stars: Charles Pitt, Shari Eubank, Charles Napier, Uschi Digard
Votes: 5,037
30. Twin Peaks (1990–1991)
TV-MA | 50 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An idiosyncratic FBI agent investigates the murder of a young woman in the even more idiosyncratic town of Twin Peaks.
Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Ontkean, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook
Votes: 215,616
31. The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
PG-13 | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The affair between a politician and a contemporary dancer is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart.
Director: George Nolfi | Stars: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Lisa Thoreson, Florence Kastriner
Votes: 270,262 | Gross: $62.50M
32. Lost Highway (1997)
R | 134 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Anonymous videotapes presage a musician's murder conviction, and a gangster's girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Bill Pullman, Patricia Arquette, John Roselius, Louis Eppolito
Votes: 153,304 | Gross: $3.80M
33. The Crystal Crypt (2013)
28 min | Short, Sci-Fi
The last refugee plane to leave Mars before an intergalactic war may be hiding earthling terrorists, along with other things much more terrifying and precious.
Director: Shahab Zargari | Stars: Evan Cassidy, Alex Demkin, Bob Gates, Jean Gomez
Votes: 47
34. Mudhoney (1965)
TV-MA | 92 min | Drama, Horror
It's 1933, in the midst of the Depression and Prohibition. Calif, a stranger with a past walks into Spooner, Missouri on his way from Michigan to California. He hires on with Lute Wade to ... See full summary »
Director: Russ Meyer | Stars: Hal Hopper, Antoinette Cristiani, John Furlong, Rena Horten
Votes: 1,431
35. The X-Files (1993–2018)
TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two F.B.I. Agents, Fox Mulder the believer and Dana Scully the skeptic, investigate the strange and unexplained, while hidden forces work to impede their efforts.
Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Mitch Pileggi, William B. Davis
Votes: 250,046
36. The Twilight Zone (1959–1964)
TV-PG | 50 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Ordinary people find themselves in extraordinarily astounding situations, which they each try to solve in a remarkable manner.
Stars: Rod Serling, Robert McCord, Jay Overholts, James Turley
Votes: 93,245
37. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter
Votes: 720,110 | Gross: $56.95M
38. The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970)
GP | 94 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Harold Pelham discovers a doppelganger is meddling with his personal and professional life in the aftermath of a car crash.
Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Roger Moore, Hildegard Neil, Alastair Mackenzie, Hugh Mackenzie
Votes: 2,798
39. Midnight in Paris (2011)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller
Votes: 450,067 | Gross: $56.82M
40. Jumper (2008)
PG-13 | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A young man with teleportation abilities suddenly finds himself in the middle of an ancient war between those like him and their sworn annihilators.
Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson
Votes: 323,747 | Gross: $80.17M
41. Portrait of Jennie (1948)
Approved | 86 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
In Depression-era New York, an impoverished painter has a chance encounter with an enigmatic, old-fashioned little girl in Central Park who inspires him and changes his destiny.
Director: William Dieterle | Stars: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish
Votes: 7,629
42. Pleasantville (1998)
PG-13 | 124 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Two 1990s teenage siblings find themselves transported to a 1950s sitcom where their influence begins to profoundly change that colorless, complacent world.
Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Tobey Maguire, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy
Votes: 136,378 | Gross: $40.57M
43. Next (2007)
PG-13 | 96 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A Las Vegas magician who can see into the future is pursued by FBI agents seeking to use his abilities to prevent a nuclear terrorist attack.
Director: Lee Tamahori | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore, Jessica Biel, Thomas Kretschmann
Votes: 166,485 | Gross: $18.21M
44. Coherence (2013)
Not Rated | 89 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Strange things begin to happen when a group of friends gather for a dinner party on an evening when a comet is passing overhead.
Director: James Ward Byrkit | Stars: Emily Baldoni, Maury Sterling, Nicholas Brendon, Elizabeth Gracen
Votes: 146,277 | Gross: $0.07M
45. The Lovers (I) (2015)
R | 109 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
An epic, sweeping and riveting tale of an impossible love set across two time periods and continents.
Director: Roland Joffé | Stars: Josh Hartnett, Bipasha Basu, Tamsin Egerton, James Mackay
Votes: 3,437
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