Three-time Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach is back in the director's chair with Netflix's White Noise, an adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel of the same name. The plot centers on a family whose lives get disrupted after an air contamination incident forces them to live in quarantine.
Starring Oscar nominees Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig and Don Cheadle, White Noise is the perfect absurdist comedy that also deals with deeper issues. Fans who enjoyed it might want to check out these other similar projects. With their over-the-top premises but gentle and thoughtful approach to deeply humane issues, these films are the perfect mix of comedy and thought-provoking satire.
'Stranger Than Fiction' (2006)
Stream On Pluto TV
Will Ferrel delivers the most subdued and compelling performance of his career in the 2006 sci-fi comedy Stranger than Fiction. The plot centers on Harold Crick, an IRS agent who begins hearing a voice narrating his life and suggesting he will die shortly. Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Queen Latifah and Maggie Gyllenhaal also star.
Existential dread is a tough nut to crack, and movies exploring it must be careful not to seem too overindulgent. However, Stranger than Fiction presents a tender and thoughtful exploration of the meaning of life, framing its daring themes around an out-there sci-fi premise that benefits from Farrell's comedic genius. Definitely one of the hidden comedy gems of the 2000s.
'Sorry To Bother You' (2018)
Stream On Netflix
Boots Riley's surrealist dark take on capitalism is one for the ages. In Sorry to Bother You, Lakeith Stanfield plays a telemarketer involved in a conspiracy who must choose between supporting his fellow workers or sticking by the company. The film features a large ensemble, including Tessa Thompson, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt and Steven Yeun.
Sorry to Bother You goes all-in on its gonzo premise, featuring absurd twists that will leave audiences stunned. The insights into late-age capitalism and work culture are brilliantly presented, with Riley opting for a provocative approach to the central idea. A cult classic in the making, Sorry to Bother You is the rare surrealist film that offers answers to some of the questions it poses.
'The Lobster' (2015)
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Leave it to Yorgos Lanthimos to find the absurdity in romance and dating. Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz star in the director's 2015 absurdist black comedy The Lobster, about a recently-single man who moves to a hotel for singletons, who will be transformed into animals unless they find a romantic partner in 45 days or less.
Lanthimos' films are an acquired taste, and The Lobster is no exception. Absurd to a fault, the film still manages to say something meaningful about human connection and society's obsession with romance and partnerships. The Lobster is a wicked satire of a well-known trope that will leave audiences scratching their heads and, perhaps, rethinking some things.
'Swiss Army Man' (2016)
Stream On Paramount+
Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe, two of the youngest and most versatile character actors in the business, join forces for the Daniels' feature directorial debut, Swiss Army Man. The story concerns a young, helpless man stranded on an island, who joins forces with a talking corpse to return home.
Swiss Army Man is a movie about death that is still strangely reaffirming. By using its ludicrous premise to explore weighty concepts – the meaning of life and its purpose – the film becomes a funny and clever insight into the human experience. Swiss Army Man is many things at once; it defies convention and categorization, which makes it all the more engaging and fascinating.
'Melancholia' (2011)
Stream On HBO Max
The apocalypse never seemed so intense or bleak as in Lars Von Trier's 2011 surrealist drama Melancholia. The plot centers on two sisters and their distinct reactions to the news that a rogue planet will clash with the Earth, destroying it. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Rampling star.
Melancholia works on different levels: as a metaphor for climate change anxiety, as a jarring exploration of depression, and as a familial drama. Ever the provocateur, Von Trier delivers a surprisingly nuanced film that stands out as his most empathetic. And while the ending is expectedly devastating, the journey is more than worth the pain.
'Dr. Strangelove' (1964)
Rent From Prime Video
Peter Sellers is at his utter best in Stanley Kubrick's satirical end-of-the-world masterpiece Dr. Strangelove. The film revolves around several characters and their reactions to the prospect of a nuclear conflict at the height of the Cold War. George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden and Slim Pickens also star.
Cinema has always allowed artists to explore serious societal issues with a humorous eye. Dr. Strangelove takes a very real, very latent fear and turns it into a brilliant satire of the institutions that feed on and encourage it. By imbuing its action with a clear satirical tone, Dr. Strangelove allows audiences to ridicule and mock their seemingly dire situations.
'The Exterminating Angel' (1962)
Rent From Apple TV
Surrealist maestro Luis Buñuel delivers one of his finest works with 1962's The Exterminating Angel. The film follows a group of guests at a dinner who find themselves unable to leave the room after the party is over. As time passes and tensions increase, the guests begin descending into chaos.
Numerous interpretations exist about the film's themes and allegories. Indeed, The Exterminating Angel works as a critique of class, power structures and privilege. The film also succeeds as an exploration of humanity's primal instincts amid extreme situations, including isolation and uncertainty. After years of a lingering pandemic and amid increasing worldwide tensions, The Exterminating Angel will ring uncomfortable true to many fans.
'Synecdoche, New York' (2008)
Rent From Prime Video
The late great Philip Seymour Hoffman stars in Charlie Kauffman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York. The film follows Cade Cotard, an ailing theater director whose grip on reality becomes unstable as he creates a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Synecdoche, New York is a Charlie Kauffman film through and through, for better and worse. Yet, it succeeds as an ambitious insight into the artist's struggle to create amidst the inevitability of death. The film juggles hefty concepts that ultimately elude its grasp, but Kauffman's willingness to try is what makes him such a fascinating writer and filmmaker.
'Birdman, Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance' (2014)
Rent From Apple TV
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Few films portray the tragedy of late-life frustration as greatly as Alejandro González Iñarritu's Oscar-winning black comedy Birdman. Michael Keaton delivers the performance of his career as Riggan Thomson, an aging actor trying to prove himself as a prestige talent by mounting a Broadway adaptation of a Raymond Carver short story.
Elevated by Keaton's devastating portrayal, Birdman is a bittersweet look at the ideas of purpose and meaning. Featuring a purposely blurry take on time, space, and reality, Birdman offers an unsubtle but intriguing portrayal of the treachery of celebrity culture and the obsessive artist's struggle to convey his supposed "genius" to an uncaring world.
'Everything Everywhere All At Once' (2022)
Stream On Paramount+
The Daniels' second film, Everything Everywhere All at Once, is a surrealist masterpiece and one of 2022's best films. The film stars Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn, a Chinese-American woman who becomes the center of a multiversal struggle against an all-powerful entity known as Jobu Tupaki.
Everything Everywhere All At Once is a brilliant showcase of Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan's acting abilities and a thoughtful and emotional exploration of human connections. By using the multiverse and its infinite possibilities, the film blends absurdity with thematic resonance, crafting an emotionally cathartic cinematic experience unlike any other.