ESSENTIAL MOVIES FOR A STUDENT OF PHILOSOPHY
by catherineandsm | created - 16 Sep 2017 | updated - 16 Sep 2017 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Zizek! (2005)
Not Rated | 71 min | Documentary
A look at the controversial author, philosopher and candidate for Slovenian presidency: Slavoj Zizek.
Director: Astra Taylor | Star: Slavoj Zizek
Votes: 1,733 | Gross: $0.02M
2. The Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006)
150 min | Documentary
Slavoj Zizek examines famous films in a philosophical and a psychoanalytic context.
Director: Sophie Fiennes | Star: Slavoj Zizek
Votes: 7,342
3. Derrida (2002)
Not Rated | 84 min | Documentary
Documentary about French philosopher (and author of deconstructionism) Jacques Derrida, who sparked fierce debate throughout American academia.
Directors: Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering | Stars: Jacques Derrida, Marguerite Derrida, René Major, Chantal Major
Votes: 990 | Gross: $0.16M
4. The Ister (2004)
Not Rated | 189 min | Documentary
A 3000km journey up the Danube river to the heart of Europe.
Directors: David Barison, Daniel Ross | Stars: Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-Luc Nancy, Bernard Stiegler, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
Votes: 225
5. Examined Life (2008)
Not Rated | 87 min | Documentary
In Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor accompanies some of today's most influential thinkers on a series of unique excursions through places and spaces that hold particular resonance for them and their ideas.
Director: Astra Taylor | Stars: Kwame Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, Michael Hardt, Martha Nussbaum
Votes: 1,836 | Gross: $0.12M
6. Cartesius (1974 TV Movie)
150 min | Biography, History
This made for television film chronicles the illustrious life of French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650)
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Ugo Cardea, Anne Pouchie, Claude Berthy, Gabriele Banchero
Votes: 471
7. Blaise Pascal (1972 TV Movie)
135 min | Biography, History
Blaise Pascal struggles to understand the natural world around him, in addition to an inner quest for religious faith.
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Pierre Arditi, Rita Forzano, Giuseppe Addobbati, Christian De Sica
Votes: 636
8. Augustine of Hippo (1972 TV Movie)
121 min | Biography, History
This biography tells the life story of Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, a North African region during the last years of the Roman Empire. The film details Augustine's struggle to maintain ... See full summary »
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Dary Berkani, Virgilio Gazzolo, Cesare Barbetti, Bruno Cattaneo
Votes: 211
9. Socrates (1970 TV Movie)
120 min | Biography, History
A false accusation leads the philosopher Socrates to trial and condemnation in 4th century BC Athens.
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Jean Sylvère, Anne Caprile, Giuseppe Mannajuolo, Ricardo Palacios
Votes: 958
10. Wittgenstein (1993)
Not Rated | 72 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A dramatization, in modern theatrical style, of the life and thought of the Viennese-born, Cambridge-educated philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), whose principal interest was the ... See full summary »
Director: Derek Jarman | Stars: Clancy Chassay, Jill Balcon, Sally Dexter, Gina Marsh
Votes: 2,929
11. 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
12. Mindwalk (1990)
PG | 112 min | Drama
Philosophical conversations between a poet, politician, and scientist.
Director: Bernt Amadeus Capra | Stars: Liv Ullmann, Sam Waterston, John Heard, Ione Skye
Votes: 3,251 | Gross: $0.77M
13. The Stranger (1967)
104 min | Drama
A man faces a trial for murder. The court is biased because of his personal qualities.
Director: Luchino Visconti | Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Karina, Bernard Blier, Alfred Adam
Votes: 3,102
14. Lake of Fire (2006)
Unrated | 152 min | Documentary
A graphic documentary on both sides of the abortion debate.
Director: Tony Kaye | Stars: Noam Chomsky, Bill Baird, Flip Benham, Dallas Blanchard
Votes: 2,735 | Gross: $0.02M
15. I Heart Huckabees (2004)
R | 107 min | Comedy
A husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg
Votes: 66,282 | Gross: $12.78M
16. Thank You for Smoking (2005)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Drama
Satirical comedy follows the machinations of Big Tobacco's chief spokesman, Nick Naylor, who spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his 12-year old son.
Director: Jason Reitman | Stars: Aaron Eckhart, Cameron Bright, Maria Bello, Joan Lunden
Votes: 228,984 | Gross: $24.79M
17. Rashomon (1950)
Not Rated | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura
Votes: 180,530 | Gross: $0.10M
18. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Gerry Robert Byrne
Votes: 1,078,340 | Gross: $34.40M
19. Minority Report (2002)
PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
John works with the PreCrime police which stop crimes before they take place, with the help of three 'PreCogs' who can foresee crimes. Events ensue when John finds himself framed for a future murder.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow
Votes: 584,515 | Gross: $132.07M
20. Inception (2010)
PG-13 | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe
Votes: 2,551,763 | Gross: $292.58M
21. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,053,985 | Gross: $171.48M
22. The Truman Show (1998)
PG | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
An insurance salesman discovers his whole life is actually a reality TV show.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich
Votes: 1,196,959 | Gross: $125.62M
23. Stranger Than Fiction (2006)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
I.R.S. auditor Harold Crick suddenly finds his mundane Chicago life to be the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire existence, from his work to his love life to his death.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Queen Latifah
Votes: 236,498 | Gross: $40.14M
24. Ikiru (1952)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama
A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori, Haruo Tanaka
Votes: 87,598 | Gross: $0.06M
25. The Seventh Seal (1957)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama, Fantasy
A knight returning to Sweden after the Crusades seeks answers about life, death, and the existence of God as he plays chess against the Grim Reaper during the Black Plague.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Max von Sydow, Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe
Votes: 198,521
26. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi
In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke
Votes: 881,528 | Gross: $6.21M
27. Pi (1998)
R | 84 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.
Director: Darren Aronofsky | Stars: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman, Pamela Hart
Votes: 186,483 | Gross: $3.22M
28. Waking Life (2001)
R | 99 min | Animation, Drama, Fantasy
A man shuffles through a dream meeting various people and discussing the meanings and purposes of the universe.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Trevor Jack Brooks, Lorelei Linklater, Wiley Wiggins
Votes: 66,941 | Gross: $2.89M
29. My Night at Maud's (1969)
GP | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A devout Catholic man's rigid principles are challenged during a one-night stay with Maud, a divorced woman with an outsize personality.
Director: Éric Rohmer | Stars: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Françoise Fabian, Marie-Christine Barrault, Antoine Vitez
Votes: 14,554
30. The Fountainhead (1949)
Approved | 114 min | Drama, Romance
An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
Director: King Vidor | Stars: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith
Votes: 10,909
31. Alexander (2004)
R | 175 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Alexander, the King of Macedonia and one of the greatest army leaders in the history of warfare, conquers much of the known world.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson, Angelina Jolie
Votes: 176,695 | Gross: $34.30M
32. Sisyphus (1974)
3 min | Animation, Short
The film is an artistically spare depiction of the Greek myth of Sysiphus, sentenced to eternally roll a stone up a mountain. The story is presented in a single, unbroken shot, consisting ... See full summary »
Director: Marcell Jankovics
Votes: 1,040
33. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
An ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated with another woman.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Bill Bernstein, Claire Bloom
Votes: 60,803 | Gross: $18.25M
34. 13 Conversations About One Thing (2001)
R | 104 min | Drama
In New York City, the lives of a lawyer, an actuary, a house-cleaner, a professor and the people around them intersect as they ponder order and happiness in the face of life's cold unpredictability.
Director: Jill Sprecher | Stars: Alan Arkin, John Turturro, Matthew McConaughey, David Connolly
Votes: 11,497 | Gross: $3.29M
35. The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
PG | 109 min | Adventure, Comedy
A comic allegory about a traveling Bushman who encounters modern civilization and its stranger aspects, including a clumsy scientist and a band of revolutionaries.
Director: Jamie Uys | Stars: N!xau, Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo, Louw Verwey
Votes: 59,467 | Gross: $30.03M
36. Giordano Bruno (1973)
123 min | Biography, Drama, History
Fleeing from his enemies in the Catholic Church, the free thinking philosopher, poet and scientist Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) has found some protection in Venice. But the Roman Inquisition,... See full summary »
Director: Giuliano Montaldo | Stars: Gian Maria Volontè, Hans Christian Blech, Mathieu Carrière, Renato Scarpa
Votes: 981
37. Days of Nietzsche in Turin (2001)
85 min | Drama
A cinematographic essay, without dialogues, about the months Nietszche spent in Turin, Italy, with narration quoted by his original writings.
Director: Júlio Bressane | Stars: Fernando Eiras, Paulo José, Mariana Ximenes, Leandra Leal
Votes: 331
38. Rope (1948)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Dick Hogan
Votes: 153,707
39. Hannah Arendt (2012)
Not Rated | 113 min | Biography, Drama
A look at the life of philosopher and political theorist Hannah Arendt, who reported for 'The New Yorker' on the trial of the Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem.
Director: Margarethe von Trotta | Stars: Barbara Sukowa, Axel Milberg, Janet McTeer, Julia Jentsch
Votes: 12,025 | Gross: $0.71M
40. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
R | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
Directors: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris | Stars: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin
Votes: 518,238 | Gross: $59.89M
41. Talk to Her (2002)
R | 112 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
Two men share an odd friendship while they care for two women who are both in deep comas.
Director: Pedro Almodóvar | Stars: Rosario Flores, Javier Cámara, Darío Grandinetti, Leonor Watling
Votes: 117,513 | Gross: $9.36M
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