There’s a quote relating to art about how it should disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed, and it speaks for itself, relating to bothcinemaand other types of art more generally. It’sattributed toCésar A. Cruz, though it might be more famously associated withBanksy, who repeated it, but either way, it means what it means. If a work of art wants to change attitudes or discuss confronting things, those who aren’t aware should be disturbed and alarmed, and those who can relate may take comfort in seeing such things addressed.
But then there arealso works of art that are so full-on or challenging, they might well disturb everyone, which is sort of equalizing, when you think about it. Put another way, these are just particularly disturbing, confronting, or eye-opening films, though some might still disturb the comfortable to a greater extent than they’ll disturb the disturbed.
10’An Elephant Sitting Still' (2018)
Directed by Hu Bo
A film that’s long, sad, and unbelievably heavy, even without taking into accountthe tragic story behind its director,An Elephant Sitting Stillasks a great deal of you, as a viewer. It’s a drama about several struggling people that unfolds slowly across a runtime that nears four hours, making you sit with some confronting ideas and emotions for basically an entire evening. And, even if not a whole evening, you’ll probably feel too exhausted afterward to do much with the time you have left.
It lays bare some rathermundane – yet still devastating – issues and conflicts, and the sense of hopelessness throughout is crushing. To some extent,An Elephant Sitting Stillis an empathetic movie, becausethe slow-paced approach and grounded nature of it all makes it easy to feel what the characters are feeling, but it’s still a hugely taxing film no matter how comfortable or disturbed you may otherwise be.
An Elephant Sitting Still
9’Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me' (1992)
Directed by David Lynch
Of all theDavid Lynchfilms out there, there’s a good argument to be made thatTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Meishis heaviest and least hopeful. It builds to an inevitable tragedy, given that most of it’s a prequel toTwin Peaks, and that show began with the murder of Laura Palmer, but it’s the execution of the nightmarish journey there that makes the whole film all the more confronting.
It does humanize a character who, because of her death, wasn’t physically inTwin Peaksa great deal, butthere’s little by way of hope here for anyone expecting conventional closure after the second season of the show got canceled. Further, the fact it didn’t have to stick to network TV restrictions meantTwin Peaks: Fire Walk with Mewas a great deal more graphic; not in an exploitative way or anything, but it was nonetheless shocking.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
8’Tetsuo: The Iron Man' (1989)
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
If you know onebody horror-focused filmmaker, it’s probablyDavid Cronenberg, but if you know two, that second one might well beShinya Tsukamoto. And his most famous work in this particular horror sub-genre wasTetsuo: The Iron Man, which is a film as dizzying and gross as it is short, and it’s extremely short by feature film standards, clocking in at just 67 minutes.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man is gooey and gruesome, but it’s also extra confronting to experience because of how it’s filmed and edited. It’s abrasive, loud, stomach-churning, and chaotic.
After accidentally running someone over, a businessman finds himself with some kind of curse or condition that has his body slowly turning metallic, becoming, you know, like an iron man (but not the Marvel kind).Tetsuo: The Iron Manis gooey and gruesome,but it’s also extra confronting to experience because of how it’s filmed and edited. It’s abrasive, loud, stomach-churning, and chaotic, and even those who like twisted films will probably come away from this one with some kind of headache.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
7’The Holy Mountain' (1973)
Directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky
As far as content goes, there might beAlejandro Jodorowskyfilms that are technically more disturbingthanThe Holy Mountain, but there’s still plenty of unsettling imagery here.What’s arguably more challenging aboutThe Holy Mountain, though, ishow ultimately existential and mind-bending it is, asking tons of questions about existence and the meaning of life, but offering few answers.
But also, if you connect withThe Holy Mountainin a different way, maybe you will find it enlightening or eye-opening. Or, for a third option, you might well just find it pretentious,because even by arthouse film standards, this one is pretty out-there. That’s all to say you’re not guaranteed to be horrified by all ofThe Holy Mountain, but there’s probably some aspect of it that will be confronting and/or psychologically troubling for everyone who ventures into it.
The Holy Mountain
6’A Clockwork Orange' (1971)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
This one is probably a little more well-known than the other titles mentioned here, but still, there is something timelessly provocative and horrifying aboutA Clockwork Orange. It’s another film without any easy answers, being an exploration of crime andinjustice in a bleak dystopia (of sorts)where horrific crime is handled with potentially just as horrific methods by those who enforce the law.
You get many scenes of horrific crimes, especially in the film’s first half, and then the second half explores the consequences that come with the state brainwashing those who commit the most terrible of crimes. InA Clockwork Orange, pretty much everyone (or at least those on both sides of the “conflict”) issome level of evil, and a different kind of evil, and it makes the whole film troubling to watch and later think about. All by design, of course, butthat doesn’t make it any easier to experience.
A Clockwork Orange
5’Lilya 4-ever' (2002)
Directed by Lukas Moodysson
CallingLilya 4-everconfronting would be a massive understatement, since it pulls no punches in its story of what a young teenage girl has to do to survive after her mother abandons her. She’s misled by some older people and eventually becomes the victim of human trafficking, and it’s explored in a deathly serious way. There’s noLiam Neesonto save the dayTaken-style, in other words.
A film can take a “pull no punches” approach while also feeling exploitative or sensationalist, butLilya 4-everis not that. It just feels raw and honest, andmakes the tragic story it tellsfeel moving and empathetic, but not cathartic. It has to be blunt about the reality of it all, and it’s unnervingly successful at doing just that.
Lilya 4-ever
4’The Piano Teacher' (2001)
Directed by Michael Haneke
Like the aforementioned Alejandro Jodorowsky,Michael Hanekehas built a filmographythat’s filled with despairing and disturbing movies, withThe Piano Teacherbeing potentially his most troubling. Well, calling it his most psychologically devastating is a big call, when he’s also directed the likes ofFunny Games(both versions) andThe White Ribbon, but it’s definitely a contender.
It’s technically a romance film, but it’s not romantic, being about the relationship that forms between a young man and a rather intense older woman who is the titular piano teacher. It’s sort of likeHarold and Maude, ifHarold and Maudedidn’t have any comedy in it andwas also more extremein terms of what it was willing to show on screen. It’shard to imagine anyone coming away from this feeling better than they did right before the film started.
The Piano Teacher
3’I Saw the Devil' (2010)
Directed by Kim Jee-woon
I Saw the Devilis about asharrowing and intense as a movie about revengecould be, and you’d expect the average revenge movie to be pretty tense stuff by default, you know? It has a simple premise, but explores it with a unique ferocity over the course of almost 2.5 hours, being about a game of cat and mouse between a serial killer and a determined agent who wants to bring him down for personal reasons.
Like withA Clockwork Orange, neither side can be considered good in any way, as even if one starts the film clearly worse,the extent the other goes to when it comes to finding “justice” quickly crosses a line. And so what you’re left with is a movie that’s disturbing both for its story and themes, and its content, withI Saw the Devilbeingone of the most violent filmsof its era.
I Saw the Devil
2’The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover' (1989)
Directed by Peter Greenaway
A classic of sicko cinema,The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Loverhas a shocking number of shocking things to show you, all jammed into approximately two hours. The four titular figures are wrapped up in a story that involves abuse, infidelity, murder, and revenge, alongside some other things that are probably not PG to talk about, so instead they’ll just be vaguely acknowledged like so. If you’re eating while reading, you’re welcome.
ButThe Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Loveris also surprisingly beautiful, with thecontrast between horror/bloodshed and the artistic imagesmaking for a fascinating viewing experience.It’s just not an easy-to-watch one, regardless of where you fall on the “comfortable to disturbed” spectrum, but directorPeter Greenawayprobably wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
1’Happiness' (1998)
Directed by Todd Solondz
It’s hard to talk about everything inThe Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Loverwithout getting too graphic, but withHappiness, it’s hard to talk about pretty much anything in it without getting graphic. No taboo subject is off limits in this movie, and everything is explored quite openly; again, without being exploitative, but there’s nothing here that’s sugar-coated or likely to go down easy.
Happinessdoes all this while also technically beinga dramedy, and one of the most challengingout there without a doubt. It’s kind of a contradiction, becauseHappinessis a very good movie, butit’s also a movie that’s exceedingly hard to recommend. Even admitting you’ve seen it can make one feel sort of guilty, but it’s brave and willing to go to places pretty much no other American movies have gone. Those qualities are hard to deny, for better or worse.
