The Unofficial Alternative Roadmap to the Film Bro Cinematic Universe
let's talk about some other movies
Hey gang! This week, we’ve got a guest writer, my funny and talented friend, Steph Mill. You might remember her from our Most Anticipated Movies of 2021 newsletter that we did a few weeks ago! She’s here to guide you through The Film Bro Expanded Universe. I’m a huge fan of a lot of these films (lol) but Steph has some great recs to help broaden your tastes. Enjoy!
As fans of Film with a capital F, it is always exciting to meet another fellow movie lover. Of course, sometimes that means meeting a Film Bro, with a capital F and B, respectively. Film Bros are, generally speaking, not bad people, nor do they necessarily have bad taste. Gently put, they have limited taste. They could talk to you about Fight Club for 45 minutes without interruption but might give you a puzzled look when you ask if they’ve read the book it was based on. They use words like “trippy” to describe a plot. They thought Joker deserved ALL the awards.
For the most part, I do really enjoy the movies that Film Bros obsess over. However, they are surface-level crowd-pleasers. You’ll find almost all of these on any standard “Top Movies of All Time” list, or maybe more so on any “Top Mindfuck Movies of All Time” list. With that being said, this is the point I want to drive home: Film Bro movies are able to exist because a plethora of classic cinema came before them. Film Bro movies have also paved the way for plenty of movies that are pretty amazing (and in some cases, severely underrated). This is where we begin. Exactly where you want to be. Listening to a woman tell you what to watch.
Without further ado, I present to you:
The Unofficial Alternative Roadmap to the Film Bro Cinematic Universe
Film Bro Selection
Fight Club - David Fincher (1999)
Let’s start at the tip of the iceberg. The frontrunner in the category otherwise known as “movie characters that men misinterpreted”. If you relate to any of these people, please stop reading and go promptly to therapy.
Alternative Recommendation
Persona - Ingmar Bergman (1966)
Persona tells the story of a nurse looking after an actress in seemingly perfect health, except for the fact that she won’t (can’t?) speak. The nurse begins confessing some deep, dark secrets to the actress, and things get weird from there. While there is a lot of mirroring and symmetry that can be seen as a direct influence to Fight Club, both films also involve our Film Bros’ favourite technique (mine too, I can’t lie) of breaking the fourth wall and directly addressing the audience. I love that shit.
Where to Watch: HBO MAX, Criterion Channel
Film Bro Selection
Donnie Darko - Richard Kelly (2001)
Despite knowing for a fact that Lady Bird could kick Donnie Darko’s ass, this movie rules. I like Jake Gyllenhaal, I like the soundtrack, and I like that they used the same font for the poster as Lord of the Rings.
Alternative Recommendation
We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lynne Ramsay (2011)
I am connecting these two films solely based on the moody emo teen at the centre of each. We see Kevin (Ezra Miller) from a distance in this one however, with the majority of the plot following his parents (Tilda Swinton, John C Reilly). I’m not terribly sure how we’re supposed to be convinced as an audience that those two people created Ezra Miller/Kevin, but that’s besides the point. This one is a slow burn, with a really devastatingly dark pay off. No imaginary rabbits, I’m afraid.
Where to watch: Hulu
Film Bro Selection
Pulp Fiction - Quintin Tarantino (1994)
Another Film Bro hero, Mr. Tarantino, has introduced us to a cinematic world of violence, excellent monologues, and feet. I do not have bad things to say about this man, except maybe the feet thing. Pulp Fiction is a top-tier Film Bro film, but it is also a top-tier film, period. It has done a lot for cinema. Gonna give credit where credit is due. Plus, I would die for Uma Thurman.
Alternative Recommendation
Thoroughbreds - Cory Finley (2017)
This one may seem like a stretch, but let this marinate for a moment. Thoroughbreds is a neo-noir black comedy (yes, I went to art school) that tells the story of two high school teens (Anya Taylor-Joy, Olivia Cooke) in a Stepford Wife-y American suburb that are plotting to kill one of their stepfathers. I always appreciate a movie that presents characters with moral dilemmas, constantly making you consider their choices and how you would handle them in their shoes. I also especially appreciate a movie that presents characters that continually use each other for their own benefit and gain, which this does plenty of. You can also find these types of characters and situations within any Tarantino movie, but especially within Pulp Fiction - a film so full of layered characters and dilemmas that bleed into each other. See where I’m going? Thoroughbreds takes a singular slice of a Tarantino cake and runs with it. Please trust me.
ALSO. Please watch S2E18 of Community: Critical Film Studies. You’ll thank me later! (Saul here to second this recommendation)
Where to watch: not streaming anywhere, unfortunately. Rent wherever you’d like.
Film Bro Selection
Inception - Christopher Nolan (2010)
Linking my review to this on Letterboxd riiiight here because it sums up everything pretty well. And yes, I gave it 4 stars.
Alternative Recommendation
Videodrome - David Cronenberg (1983)
Canadian body horror KING right here. This is probably a strange recommendation, but I just really love this movie, and love that a lot of it takes place while our main man is in and out of sleep. A lot of really bizarre visuals, you might even call it trippy! Much like Inception on that account, but from a different type of genius.
Where to watch: not streaming anywhere, unfortunately. Rent wherever.
Film Bro Selection
A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick (1971)
The production design here is *chefs kiss* but… maybe it’s because I’m a silly little woman but this movie just does not do it for me! I am so here for violent movies (I have a weird fascination with the SAW franchise) but the way women are treated in this movie is pretty disgusting. There are plenty of movies out there that I can appreciate and love because of the way they go about showing (or not showing) sexual assault or any other triggering act of violence against women, but this ain’t it!
Alternative Recommendation
Funny Games - Michael Haneke (1997 & 2007)
Yeah, that’s right. Two movies. With the same name. By the same director. Filmed shot by shot the exact same way. Why, you ask? Why the fuck not! Well okay, one is in German and one is in English (starring Naomi Watts, no less). I am choosing to list both instead of picking one because 1) both are good and like… essentially the same movie and 2) I am assuming suggesting a foreign movie to a Film Bro is not always the most useful thing to do. Anyway, this is an excellent display of visceral, hard-to-watch psychopathic torture. I’d tell Kubrick to take notes, but y’know. RIP.
Where to Watch:
1997 - HBO MAX
2007 - not streaming anywhere, but most services have it for rent at 1.99.
Film Bro Selection
Drive - Nicolas Winding Refn (2011)
This movie’s script is essentially non-existent, or at the very least, unmemorable. We are all here for the visuals - it oozes style. An ultraviolent ode to the sleaze and colour of the 80s, influenced heavily by Film Bro veteran director Michael Mann, this exists solely to look Cool As Shit.
Alternative Recommendation
Blue Ruin - Jeremy Saulnier (2013)
Blue Ruin is Drive if Ryan Gosling was a vagrant living in a Pontiac in Delaware. And had an actual reason to be vengeful. They both tell stories of two men going to drastic (emphasis on the d r a s t i c) measures for revenge, in this case, or for love (I guess?) in Drive’s case. I like to call this genre Accidental Thriller: what starts as a drama but features too many sudden bursts of chaotic violence to be limited to that genre alone, but not enough to be deemed an action movie.
Where to Watch: not streaming, unfortunately. Rent wherever.
Film Bro Selection
The Big Lebowski - Joel Coen (1998)
I have zero qualms with this movie. Truly. It’s fine. I’m a huge Coen Brothers fan (I have a No Country for Old Men tattoo because I’m a fucking loser) but this one kinda just chills in the middle of the list for me. Doesn’t really make my top 5, but if it’s on I’m like “oh yeah, cool, I can watch this.” Is that because I smoke a lot of weed? Fuck. Probably.
Alternative Recommendation
The Nice Guys - Shane Black (2016)
This is as mainstream as this list will get. This is one of the better (if not best) buddy cop comedies to come out in the last several years. That doesn’t mean it’s amazing by any means, but it’s pretty dang good. If The Big Lebowski, Inherent Vice, and Boogie Nights had a weird threesome that somehow resulted in a mediocre baby, it’d be this movie. It’s also probably my only genuinely “FUN” recommendation so please take it.
Where to Watch: Hulu
Film Bro Selection
V for Vendetta - James Teigue (2005)
Unfortunately, I have ruined this movie for myself because one time in college I was hanging out with this guy and I guess I wanted to hook up with him so I let him pick the movie (rookie move, honestly) and it happened to be November 5th so he wanted to watch V for Vendetta and then for some reason I decided to sleep with him anyway and it was a really terrible and awkward experience and now I definitely remember, remember, the 5th of November.
Alternative Recommendation
Children of Men - Alfonso Cuaron (2006)
ANYWAY… Children of Men tells the tale of a dystopian future-ish world in which humans can no longer procreate, focusing on an activist who accompanies a miraculously pregnant woman on a dangerous journey to see if they can save mankind. Some of the best cinematography of the last couple decades - a lot of it actually influenced the video game The Last of Us. There’s a particular battle scene worth mentioning - actually, an 8-minute tracking shot that took 14 days to prepare for and 5 hours to set up each time it was shot. 1917 who?
Where to Watch: Stream on Peacock (lol), rent wherever
Film Bro Selection
Memento - Christopher Nolan (2000)
I’m doubling up on Nolan because he is a Film Bro legend. King of the “what the fuck did I just watch?” but also simultaneously the king of “that movie was fuckin’ cool, man” - me, verbatim, after watching Tenet on shrooms. Truthfully, as a human who loves to watch complicated movies while under the gentle and soothing influence of natural-ish substances, Nolan is my man.
Alternative Recommendation
Oldboy - Park Chan-wook (2003)
While this South Korean flick is not necessarily ~trippy~, it is certainly a layered and twisted masterclass in “dude wakes up not knowing what’s going on and shit gets wild”. This is probably where the similarities end between this + Memento - but that’s perfectly fine. This is a genre-defining revenge tale and if you aren’t into that, how have you gotten so far down this list?
Where to Watch: not streaming, unfortunately. Rent wherever.
Film Bro Selection
Joker - Todd Phillips (2019)
When talking about this film, I think it’s always important to state that it hems from the director of The Hangover trilogy. It’s just a little tidbit worth mentioning. I appreciate that this movie is hugely ambitious, it’s the first time we’ve seen a gritty, serious, minimally CGI-ed film in the DC universe since The Dark Knight, and I commend the filmmakers for that. Beyond that, it’s an incel wet dream. I love Joaquin Phoenix, I think he’s as good here as he always is, but this movie is masquerading as a prestigious thinkpiece when it’s just.. not. My favorite Letterboxd review simply says “if you’ve never swam in the ocean, then of course a pool seems deep”.
Alternative Selection
The Piano Teacher - Michael Haneke (2001)
Another Haneke recommendation, surprise surprise. French QUEEN Isabelle Huppert plays a sexually repressed piano teacher in her 40s living with her overprotective mother. She meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her and things… escalate. This is the sort of scary, brutal, and horribly unflinching way a deeply pained person should be portrayed on film. I don’t want to spoil too much, but this is a hard watch. Highly recommended if you want to actually feel uncomfortable, rather than just watching a man in clown makeup skip down some stairs.
Where to watch: Not streaming, unfortunately. Rent wherever
Honourable Mentions (Honourable because I’m Candian)
FIGHT CLUB Honourable Mentions
The Double Life of Veronique - Kryzsztof Kieslowski (1991) (Amazon Prime)
Enemy - Denis Villeneuve (2013) (Hulu)
JOKER Honourable Mentions
Her Smell - Alex Ross Perry (2018) (Hulu)
You Were Never Really Here - Lynne Ramsay (2017) (Amazon Prime)
MEMENTO Honourable Mentions
I Saw The Devil - Kim Ji-Woon (2010) (Amazon Prime)
Zodiac - David Fincher (2007) (Paramount +)
THE BIG LEBOWSKI Honourable Mentions
Inherent Vice - Paul Thomas Anderson (2014) (Rent)
I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore - Macon Blair (2017) (Netflix)
DRIVE Honourable Mentions
Le Samourai - Jean-Pierre Melville (1967) (HBO MAX)
Thief - Michael Mann (1981) (Hulu)
PULP FICTION Honourable Mentions
Snatch - Guy Ritchie (2000) (Hulu/Amazon Prime through a Showtime Subscription. You can do a free trial on Amazon)
Layer Cake - Matthew Vaughn (2005) (Amazon Prime)