Dark City - Wow so deep and complex!

Someone recommended the movie "Dark City" to me long ago, as a movie about our illusory world, but I never got around to watching it, until tonight. Wow that film is very deep and complex.

Does anyone know the meaning of the film? Was the filmmaker trying to tell us something? In the movie "V for Vendetta" there is a saying that "artists use lies to tell the truth". So was this an attempt by an artist to tell us the truth about something?

You all should see it. Here is part 1 of 10 on YouTube:



Story:

Separated from his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly), amnesiac John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to learn he is wanted for a series of brutal killings - but he can't remember if he did or didn't commit these murders. Indeed, most of his memories have completely vanished, and he becomes the focus of interest for both mad genius Dr. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) and sympathetic detective Frank Bumstead (William Hurt). Attempting to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity, Murdoch encounters a group of ominous beings known as the Strangers, shadow-like figures who have a collective memory and possess the ability to stop time and alter physical reality through a process called The Tuning. Focusing their minds, they are able to change the size and shape of the material world. Murdoch manages to stay a step ahead of his adversaries as he slowly jigsaws together the puzzle of his past-bittersweet memories of his childhood, his love for Emma, and the key to the murders -- while following a labyrinth leading to the Strangers' Underworld...

There are many gems like this in the film world.. Mainstream movies usually suck, much like mainstream music.. you have to dig just below the surface to find the excellent stuff.. but there really is a ton of them out there.

I don't know that there's a hidden meaning, but the writing and directing were excellent.. I know there's two different versions of the film with one being heavily watered down unfortunately.. I've not seen this in YEARS...

You should check out Equilibrium if you haven't .. not quite as great, but it's another often overlooked gem.

And while I'm here, this is actually a bit more "similar" to Dark City, it's not a sci-fi film per-say but it does deal with reality not being quite as it seems.. this is one of the most haunting movies I've ever experienced.. it's deep, emotional, well written and the soundtrack/score stuck with me forever.. You have to pay very close attention to the goings on around the main characters while watching it .. and even then you need to re-watch 2-3 times to see it.. it's not what it seems

Plot: A dedicated New York psychiatrist Sam Foster urgently attempts to stop a secretive and unusual young patient he inherited, Henry Lethem, from carrying out a planned suicide on the eve of his 21st birthday. But Sam's investigation of Henry has reality-shattering effects on the psychiatrist. As Sam is drawn deeper into the web of Henry's life--and then into the labyrinth of his subconscious--it puts stress on Sam's relationship with his artist girlfriend and former patient Lila. But soon Sam's own tightly-held grip on the rational world begins to melt away. Faced with increasingly surreal encounters and a Manhattan transformed into a wildly shifting dreamscape, Sam can no longer figure out what is true and what is happening only in his head, nor where he begins and Henry ends.

Watch the 13th Floor OP.

And Revolver as well...

If your really into amazingly complex films I loved the fountain. P.S you might want to take that link down. It annoys the Mods

Another excellent movie that blows your mind and is back into the sci-fi Genre is "Cube"

Cube follows a handful of diverse people who wake up inside a uniquely designed prison -- a gigantic cube with individual chambers that are constantly changing configuration, much like a rotating Rubik's Cube. It's a simple Darwinian tale of survival of the fittest as the prisoners ponder the nature and identity of their jailers and struggle to find a way out.

Edit: changed the video link

reply to post by WWu777


You might also enjoy Donnie Darko" . In the silver thread prt of the movie ( main character begins to see silver thread projecting from peoples navels) we see peoples ability to connect to the universe. I have actually seen this phenomenon. A woman I knew projected hers out of her third eye as she walked towards me. I don't know if she was aware that she was doing it but I most certainly saw it, quite similar to the movie. This lady is a 2nd or 3rd deg. black belt in a somewhat refined martial art. If anyone could do this I would expect it to be her, a very willful lady.

You may also enjoy Equilibrium.

Actually I'd say you NEED to watch it. It has such an amazing viewpoint on sensing and the human emotional construct.

Dark City is an excellent flick. I've watched it a few times. Might I also recommend "Triangle".
It'll twist your brain a bit, but it's fun.

reply to post by WWu777


Dark City is a great movie, nice and dark and surreal, but it's kind of a shame you spoiled the mystery in your OP. Granted, I think most version have an intro where Keifer Sutherland spoils everything, but that can be skipped. For me, some of the most interesting parts were wondering what was going on in this strange world.

You might like a movie called Ink.



I still don't know how I feel about the movie, it does some things very well, but other things...not so much. It's very visually interesting and does some decent pulling on the heart strings. It's about two groups of beings: storytellers who visit sleeping people in their sleep and give them good dreams and succubi who give bad dreams. There's a strange thing called Ink kidnaps the spirit of a little girl to use as a sacrifice to the succubi.

And I have to second the recommendation of Cube. Great and very creative indie picture from Canada. Haven't seen another one like it.

Originally posted by WWu777
Someone recommended the movie "Dark City" to me long ago, as a movie about our illusory world, but I never got around to watching it, until tonight. Wow that film is very deep and complex.

Does anyone know the meaning of the film? Was the filmmaker trying to tell us something? In the movie "V for Vendetta" there is a saying that "artists use lies to tell the truth". So was this an attempt by an artist to tell us the truth about something?

Firstly, you will never know what story the filmakers are actually telling. In big movies, theres always at least some subtext, but it's not overt and that makes your interpretation of anything past the obvious plot a personal subjective experience; which is a sign of good art, but will lead to arguments with people who see something different because they see the subtext through their own lense.

I'll give you my basic points here:

We have the Dark City which is devoid of sunlight/illumination/enlightenment, a flat world metaphorically compared to the rat maze in Dr. Schreiber's office. It's also lacking a significant amount of water, the spiritual element contrasted to the material earth (the old biblical idea that the sky was watery. I have a bible with a drawing of earth and heaven and heaven is explicitly watery). Also, water in dreams represents the unconscious mind, intuitive, maternal, etc., something thats also lacking.

The world, or micro-reality, is being shaped by unseen forces who are trying to find the human soul. (John Murdoch later points to his head and says they can't find it there, in memories, so maybe they need to look at the heart.) These unseen forces happen to be alien, but they are also the reanimated corpses of the dead, and suggest that the dead or bodiless entities are actually having some effect on the world and/or reality. (Think of the aliens from They Live who are called "ghouls" and look like dead people.)

All people have the potential of "christhood" or ability to affect reality, but as usual its reserved for the first messianic person. The ability came after many "lifetimes" (from having his mind reimprinted so much) so it might suggest a belief in reincarnation. John also realized his potential while being imprinted as a murderer, which is interesting (Cain and Able?).

The world is contained, it is "material" in the sense of being a "matrix" and is like Philip K. Dick's "black iron prison" which is an idea of the world/universe being a prison stuck in a time loop. I believe the hint at what the Dark City is, and by extension the world we live in is, comes near the end when the characters reach the edge of the world with the "Welcome to Shell Beach" billboard painted on the brick wall. Val Kilmer walks to his mark in that scene blocking the "S" in shell with his head revealing the true message, "Welcome to hell, b**ch."