Dark City (R)
Break Room of Geeks; IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes; TV Tropes; Warner Bros.; Wikipedia
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This came out in 1998, and I think I saw it on TV or something, not too long after that. But I didn't remember anything about it except that it was really weird. I watched it on DVD in 2026, during my Summer of film noir, because sites like Wikipedia and TV Tropes call it neo-noir. Whic I guess it kind of is, I mean it has all the trappings, but it has so many other trappings that one could almost overlook it being of that genre. It's also science fiction, and dystopian, and I could certainly see calling it an art film... but mostly I just think it's weird. In a good way. (I don't remember what I thought of it the first time I saw it, but I have the sense that I liked it a lot more this time than I did the first time.) I also need to mention that you should definitely watch the director's cut, as I did (this time), instead of the theatrical cut. The latter includes some opening narration that apparently spoils the whole movie. (I don't remember it from the first time I saw the movie, but various sites, as well as pretty much anyone who's seen the film, will tell you to avoid the narration.) The director's cut also adds about 11 minutes to the runtime, making it an hour and 51 minutes, though I have no idea which scenes are extended, or in what ways.

So... a man (played by Rufus Sewell) wakes up in a bathtub, with no memories, not even his name. He receives a phone call from a man named Dr. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland, doing a stammering German accent, though I feel like it slipped in one scene), who tells him to run, because people are coming for him. The man finds a dead woman's body in the room, and well... he runs. He eventually learns that his name is John Murdoch, and that he has a wife named Emma (Jennifer Connelly), whom he had apparently left three weeks ago, after she had an affair. Throughout the film, she wants to help him, if she can. We also occasionally see her working as a lounge singer. Meanwhile, a police inspector named Bumstead (William Hurt) is investigating a series of murders of prostitutes, a case which had driven another police detective insane. The woman in John's room was the latest victim, so he becomes the only suspect, but he doesn't believe he's guilty. He must try to avoid the police, but also avoid some mysterious, Nosferatu-looking strangers who are also after him. They all have rather simple names, "Mr." followed by a seemingly random word. The most important one to the story is Mr. Hand (Richard O'Brien). There's also a creepy kid called Mr. Sleep, who I mention only so that I can link to my "creepy kids" page. Anyway, these strangers all have telepathic/telekinetic powers, and use an ability they call "tuning", which it turns out John also has, for some reason. There are various things the strangers can use the power for individually, and collectively they have the ability to completely alter the cityscape. And they force Dr. Schreber to alter people's memories with injections, though it isn't clear who's side he's really on until later in the movie.

Well, I'm not going to spoil the true nature of the strangers, or what their whole deal is. Nor do I want to spoil how things turn out with either Emma or Bumstead. In fact, I think I'm through spoiling any details of the movie. But it's all visually stunning (and dark), and the story is a real head trip. It definitely has some intriguing concepts, and I expect to find it more memorable, this time around. If you're into stories wherein the characters can't trust their own memories or identities, this is a good one. Or if you like sci-fi noir (like Blade Runner), or stuff like The Matrix, where reality isn't what it seems. Or if you like just, you know, weird stuff. And I guess I don't know what else to say.