eXistenZ
1999 · Film · 97 min
Directed by David Cronenberg
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
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Add The Thirteenth Floor and eXistenZ to the initial list of movies.
Three movies with overlapping themes came out in mid-1999: The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor, and eXistenZ (probably in that order of box office revenue).
Spend enough time in virtual worlds, especially (near-) photo realistic ones, and for some people, what's real / what's virtual may start to blur. Or aspects from the game leak into real life. Creepy indeed.
Although not quite what's discussed in the article, reminds me of the movie eXistenZ (1999). Well worth a watch if you don't know this one.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/
> It's funny how movies from the same rough period seem to be all similar underneath.
The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor, Dark City, eXistenZ... there was definitely something in the air at the close of the 90s.
I'm also a fan of the movie. It deserves a re-watch.
As a slow burner / future cult classic it's about the same as ExistenZ another of my favourites.
Cronenberg’s best film after Videodrome is Existenz; it’s not as we’ll know as The Fly which has always puzzled me.
The existence of a fictional movie says nothing about how popular conspiracies are. I have seen a lot of dystopian movies and read such books, including cyberpunk. A Scanner Darkly, The Illuminatus Trilogy, The Matrix, Snow Crash, Dune, eXistenz, just name some random ones. I'll mention four series, too: Twin Peaks, X-Files, Utopia, Nikita. That doesn't make me a conspiracy nut, because I am able to differentiate between fiction and non-fiction.
The trouble from 80's is different. We've shifted power vacuum, but whilst doing so the rich have become very much more rich, and [generally] they don't want to take responsibility; they want raw power. Things like bullshit (lies, conspiracies, manipulation), drama (such as creating friction between poor and middle class), obliteration of facts and science, cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions and law, and criminal behavior (including methods to avoid paying tax) are each tools for achieving more of such power.
UFOs are one of such, too. They're a tool to accelerate the distrust in government. For the acronym UFO itself is broad. A meteorite or Starlink satellite could be mistaken for an alien spaceship. Furthermore, drugs, hallucination, psychosis and the power of suggestion alone are strong tools to feed such fables.
I am well aware fans of conspiracies can very well be fans of X-Files but it is fiction first and foremost, plus don't forget Scully's role and background.
I refer to dark city all the time when creating AI agents, when Kiefer would inject them with particular memories when the city stood still. And Shell Beach pops into my mind when I take the train to the former grandios Coney Island.
Existenz was another unique underappreciated movie of that year and whose theme never got picked by any other movie. When Jude Law realizes that the Chinese food he is eating can be put together to assemble the gun my mind was blown.
It goes on my list of 'dreamlike' movies, they don't always fully add up consciously but you can feel your unconscious going into overdrive while watching them (or maybe there is a surface plot that mostly adds up, like EWS, but there is clearly something going on at a least one other level). The viewing experience is often downright hypnotic for me.
A few off the top of my head, this is a very personal list and I can't even claim that all these movies are 'good' in any particular sense. Just that they put me into this state: * basically anything in lynch's cannon. I'm not always the biggest fan of his stuff, but sometimes they hit me hard. * Cronenberg's Videodrome and it's spiritual sequel Existenz * Donnie Darko & Southland Tales (objectively just an awful movie) * Prince of Darkness * Enter the Void (not for the faint of heart) * Paprika * Solaris (the original mostly, there are some qualities in the remake) * Stalker * Dark City * Sorry to Bother You * The Fountain * 8 1/2 * The Ninth Gate * and certainly Eyes Wide Shut
>Think of all the countless valuable film, music, etc that didn't have the acclaim of The Matrix. Gone sooner, and more prolifically.
E.g. Existenz and Strange Days
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existenz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Days_(film)
> I still don't understand how Roland Emmerich [...] somehow managed to fail to get people into theater seats for 13th Floor.
There were a lot of "are you living in a simulation?" film and television episodes that came out in 1998-2000. The Matrix was obviously the most successful, but Dark City (over a year earlier) had a similar theme. The X-Files episode "Field Trip" aired a few weeks after eXistenZ was in theatres, but a few weeks before The Thirteenth Floor was released. Etc.
I'm a fan of the genre, and I like all of the examples I've seen from that period (eXistenZ in particular), but I remember feeling at the time like it was just too much similar material in too short a period of time. I doubt Sony could have done anything to significantly change the box office numbers other than releasing it well before The Matrix.
From the same year, another sci-fi film from Cronenberg himself: eXistenZ one of my favourite films ever
I get the sense that you would like some adult themes, but not too slow?
Top of my mind (and in no specific order) would be:
- Dark City
- The Thirteenth Floor
- City of the Lost Children
- Tron (original and maybe new one)
- Interstellar
- Inception
- A Clockwork Orange
- Her (very relevant to our times)
- Dune (2021 version)
- Brazil
- The Martian
- Children of Men
- Edge of Tomorrow (most like Marvelverse on this list but still very good)
- Moon
- Twelve Monkeys
- Upgrade
- The Fifth Element
- Contact
- Okja
- District 9
- Predestination (very relevant to our times)
- Serenity (but might need some prep from the tv show before watching)
- World on a Wire
- The Abyss
- Minority Report (very relevant in our times)
- The Fly
- Videodrome
- Equilibrium
- Strange Days
- The Andromeda Strain (relevant after Covid)
- eXistenZ (trippy but I loved it when it came out and was only around your sons age)
- In Time (interesting class dynamics on display)
- Enemy Mine
- Franklyn (some interesting takes on mental illness)
- The Arrival
There were even two other "people stuck inside simulated reality" SciFi films released within two months of The Matrix (Existenz and The Thirteenth Floor).
To be fair I found Crash to be his most boring film, wouldn't watch again, eXistenZ is effing great
I saw Perfect Blue in theaters. It must have been 1999. I remember just being burnt out on movies that were about not knowing what was real and what wasn’t. There were so many that year (The Matrix and eXistenZ just to name two.)
Speaking of having a little too much homage, an old anime I like (mostly nostalgia) is Bubblegum Crisis and it has direct rip-offs from Blade Runner and Streets of Fire.
One of the (many) issues I had with The Matrix was that it was always very clear cut when they were in the simulation and when they were in the real world, whereas if the simulation was that realistic shouldn't there have been constant doubt? That's one of the things I liked about the film eXistenZ (released the same year) - there was always that underlying "are we still in the game?" deep anxiety and paranoia running through it. So it was interesting to read that Baudrillard also agreed that "The Matrix is surely the kind of film about the matrix that the matrix would have been able to produce".
Alien, The Matrix, 12 Monkeys, Terminator, Fight Club, The Fifth Element, The Sixth Sense, Back to the Future, eXistenZ, Gattaca, The Arrival, 2001 space Odissey, the Shining, Trainspotting, Ground Hog day, Dune, Dark city, Tron, Demolition man, Total Recall, Robocop, The city of lost children...
Nuanced, scify, full of smart details or mind bending films are not new.
In fact, it's really hard to innovate now, because so much as already being covered.
Re: living in simulations: The Thirteenth Floor[0][1] and eXistenz[2][3]
Great movies, but may be seem somewhat dated if you're new to them as they're late 90's fare. I still love both of them.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thirteenth_Floor
[1]: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1089671-13th_floor
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existenz
[3]: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/existenz
eXistenZ (1999 film) was a mindfuck when I saw it.
But yeah, I think we're getting closer and closer to a true hivemind. It would have to suppress the individual personality, otherwise a lot of people will likely go insane.
Of course, it could be that's acceptable losses or they're cut off from the "advanced civilization" and left to live somewhere far from the cities.
That is, of course, if half the planet isn't flooded and turned into desert by then.
I must admit that sometimes I think the artists, especially the contemporary ones, are making things that are not really interesting in the artistic sense. I do appreciate the aesthetics of the piece that is provided here though. But besides that, the "conveyed idea" doesn't seem very smart to me. I understand artistic freedom though, but as such it can be criticized (which I do).
AFAIC, moreover, the virtual-real distinction has been already, in some sense, covered. See for example the hyperrealism movement, or more closely a movie such as Existenz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperrealism_(visual_arts)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existenz
The classic: eXistenZ. Released just a few days after The Matrix, and that's probably why this astonishing movie is far less known. Much better IMO.
1998-99, there were at least 5 movies about simulations: Dark City, The Truman Show, The Matrix, Existenz, and The Thirteenth Floor.
Some more movies in no particular order if you want to explore more of psychological horror:
Pandorum
The Lighthouse
eXistenZ
Videodrome
Hellraiser (I’m a fan of the series, some are better than others)
Blue Velvet
Mulholland Drive
The Thing
American Psycho
The Fly
Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978 version with Leonard Nimoy)
That's a bit like saying the fact that turtles have very hard shells is evidence that the earth is balancing on a giant turtle.
There were a bunch of movies in the late 90's about reality being virtual (the matrix, the 13th floor, existenz), but somehow it was the one without VR that was the most prophetic (the truman show).
Cryptonomicon too?! Well I'll be darned.
Refactoring... wow. How many programmers have been redefined by works published that year alone?
I can't say eXistenZ was a particularly good movie in any objective way, but I enjoyed it and watched it several times.
Thirteenth Floor has been on my Netflix queue for a while... I should really get around to it.
I appreciated the article but was feeling the same way.
Mainly the portion about working primarily in VR and refurnishing the lab for reclining on the floor as a result. It's interesting, but foreign to me. Strange Days and Existenz are cool movies and all, but I just don't find VR that compelling.
I'm glad someone is working to find meaningful experiences in these new mediums though.
The only movie I've watched while tripping is eXistenZ, and that was an indescribable experience. I can imagine four hours of anthropomorphized turtles doing karate was also a good time, though probably less horrifying than eXistenZ.
Out of curiosity, how old were you when this happened?
You may find the film eXistenZ interesting. Basically a biological version of the Matrix.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existenz
Keanu Reeves in the former, Willem Dafoe in the latter. I'll give both a whirl, thank you.
From what I can tell nobody brought up David Cronenberg either. I liked his works [1] when I was younger (not sure if I still would now). I especially liked eXistenZ, but also Videodrome, The Fly, and Scanners.
I just started binge watching The Man In The High Castle and it exactly underlines my statement in my previous post: great storyline (IMO), but not depending much on CGI. I think if the story lacks, all you got going for it is CGI (or not if there is none). CGI may impress you when you're still young, but as you grow older you see through the façade. Especially when its overdone. Because older movies lack it, and therefore are rather limited (take for example old Star Wars which heavily used costumes, models, and camera tricks). It might feel a bit dated, if not just from the hair models. Yet sometimes the nostalgia hits the nail (such as in Black Mirror's San Junipero episode). Not exactly sure why. While I'm thoroughly enjoying The Man In The High Castle series my partner hates anything related to WWII so thats yet another series we cannot watch together.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cronenberg#As_director
No one mentioned eXistenZ yet. Really loved that movie.
If you're adding (the excellent) Equilibrium, I'd say V for Vendetta too due to its influence on "Anonymous". And Fight Club because of what their end goal is.
That said, I can still remember seeing eXistenZ in the cinema:
>Death to the demoness, Allegra Geller.
For action I would add Equilibrium (it has a cyberpunk feel to it) as well as the other movie he director did that I can't recall.
Also Existenz which has a female programmer and predates the Matrix and Inception.
The movie eXistenz made the exact same prediction in 1999.
I always appreciate that Hulu has its Criterion collection section.
And I very recently signed up for Seeso for $4 a month because I was craving some Monty Python's Flying Circus. I don't plan on keeping it long term, maybe just a month, to get it out of my system.
And then I still end up digging through shitty cheap roku channels occasionally to find stuff. Mostly just schlock, but I saw, for example, niche titles like Millennium Actress, Ninja Scroll, and Ghost in the Shell 2 on free services.
The idea of one streaming service that has it all is dead, but it kind of reminds me of DVD bundles at Walmart. 10 Sci Fi movies for $10, and one of them will be Existenz and the rest will be straight to TV or DVD.
Reminded me of the movie eXistenZ.
I remember an article in the 1980s about a wearable computer on a man's belt with batteries, and he had some wires to his brain to help him see shapes, but I can no longer find the reference or pics. It's amazing to see the progress if you compare the pics of the large device back then to the things they are doing now. That and the discoveries and inventions in computing, chip manufacture, cognitive science and biology that are coming together in so many ways. When I watched the film 'Transcendence' this past year, along with having been a fan of Kronenberg and his movie 'eXistenZ', I really started to think about the overlap and hybridization of technologies: implants, wearable tech, AI, CI, CRISPR, biopunk, VR, AR, etc... I can see a dystopic 'Bladerunner' style future of cyborgs, modified humans and crazy disease and organisms. On the other hand, I can see humanity coasting his way into accepting the weirdness, and the crazy future it will bring.
In the meantime, I hope many who cannot, will get to partake in walking, seeing and living longer due to these discoveries and inventions.
There were a couple different movies that explored this theme around the time The Matrix came out. eXistenZ is another one that I enjoyed a lot, where video games become completely immersive, but there's still a few tropes like vapid NPCs and generic place names that kind of give it away.
In a movie I saw (Existenz) there is a scene where someone pieces together a gun firing teeth from a bunch of stuff they find in their meal. All the bits individually look very gross but are not immediately recognizable as parts of a weapon.
In the words of Chris Rock: we don't need gun control, we need bullet control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db0Y4qIZ4PA
I think the Cyan Worlds guys might have the right idea at the right time. With the Oculus Rift coming out at some point soon in a more general fashion, it could be very good timing. I think basically this class of games could actually be perfect for the platform. A lot of the video of trying to play Team Fortress and similar on O.R. kind of makes me dizzy.
I think many people (myself included) would be very interested in seeing a O.R powered 'Myst' game of some sort or another. If anyone remembers the movie eXistenZ, I can somehow see worlds like that eventually happening. Would be interesting stuff if actually taken outside of the sci-fi context!
Edit: The right idea at the right time was in regards to Kickstarter.
I'm glad someone mentioned Existenz. God, that movie is weird, but it's definitely very unique in its biological approach to sci-fi. Very interesting though, check it out if you haven't yet.
There's still a lot of ground to cover with the future. For one thing, everyone assumes minimalism. I can imagine a very lush future with ornate decoration. We could have a renaissance triggered by nearly cost-free manufacturing.
Another vision of the future might be excessively biological. Sci-fi authors have depicted bio-engineered worlds, but cinema doesn't seem to do much with the idea. An old favorite of mine in this area is 'Existenz' by David Cronenberg, but then bio has always been his thing.
Cinema can also do a lot depictions of the future that seem flat out impossible today. For example, imagine identity being fragmented such that people can simultaneously be and experience life in many places at once. I'm not sure how that would ever be possible, but maybe it doesn't have to be explained. It could just be a piece of technology that appears to as as magic, much like a teleporter.
In response to your parent, there's also the movie by Wim Wenders "Until the end of the world"
Where IIRC a scientist creates a device that can record dreams and his wife becomes totally addicted to the experience and just can't stop playing and re-playing her dreams.
I think it's in Until the end of the world but cannot swear it ; )
Good movie anyway...
And then there's the movie which is a reflection on immersive videogame as the main plot: David Cronenberg's Existenz. Existenz is considered a flop by many, but an underrated movie by quite some people too.
* eXistenZ (Another Cronenberg movie)
I see where you're coming from.
However, I simply disagree with you. Which doesn't per se mean I'm ignorant, trolling, or refusing to back down from a mistake.
To me, 'Having children' means you birth them and raise them. By shooting your sperm during unprotected sex you didn't just 'make babies' or 'have children'. I personally believe life does not start at conception, and as long as they look like tadpoles, I won't acknowledge them as something human. Heck, I even have my doubts about newborns. I find babies annoying and ugly as sin, and I doubt they have much of a psyche to speak of.
(Granted, the last statement may not be a healthy perspective; I blame eXistenZ — http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/ )
you should see the movie eXistenZ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/
They're not up to Primer's level of complexity, but for bending your brain a little, try:
eXistenZ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/)
Naked Lunch (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102511/)
(And other David Cronenberg movies. While I'm at it, although it's completely linear, I'm going to plug: "Crash" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115964/).)
Jacob's Ladder (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099871/) is almost a great brain-bending movie, but for some damn reason at the very end there's a, "Let's explain what really happened!" scene. F'idiots. (I recommend stopping the movie when you get to the scene where the Jacob and his son (played by Macaulay Culkin) dreamily walk up a back-lit stairway together. Let the movie percolate in your brain for a while. Then, start the movie up again and see how they ruined it.)
Reminds me of the film eXistenZ.
And scanner darkly (7.7) - still eXistenZ is the one that really stands out for me. But I admit that there are other "good" movies out there that use PKD as a basis.
"eXistenZ" is the only good PKD movie I know about, although it is not directly based on one specific book.
Also you've got to read all the short stories. They are better than the novels in my opinion.
Since this is fast turning into a list of good mind-bending movies, I'm going to put a shout out for eXistenZ, as it always seems to be slightly overlooked.
Also, most of Lynch's non-Dune stuff would fit in this category.
Not all are hacker movies per se, but these have great general geek appeal:
Existenz http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/
Cube http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0123755/
The Nines http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0810988/
The World's Fastest Indian http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0412080/
October Sky http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0132477/
Three Days of the Condor http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0073802/