The idea that there’s no originality in the film industry anymore is a common complaint, although several incredible creative releases blow these accusations out of the water entirely. While it’s easy to look at the litany of by-the-numbers action movies, superhero films that are indecipherable from one another, or unnecessary sequels in franchises that should have called it quits years ago, this ignores all the hugely creative actors, directors, and writers who continue to push filmmaking into brave new territory.

Many of the best films of recent years were challenging and original releases that pushed outside of their comfort zone or delivered something that pointed Hollywood toward a new direction creatively. From jaw-dropping one-sH๏τ movies to thematically rich explorations of trauma, there’s no shortage of highly original films from recent years if you know where to look. While they may not all have hit big at the box office, every one of these movies proves that there’s plenty of creativity left in the film industry.

10

I Saw The TV Glow (2023)

Directed by Jane Schoenbrun

I Saw the TV Glow was one of the best movies of 2023 that looks set to become a modern horror classic and a true cult favorite. Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun and co-produced by Emma Stone, this deeply moving coming-of-age story leaned into 1990s nostalgia while also remaining incredibly modern as it depicted high school students bonding over their love of a TV series. This deep connection saw the characters questioning their reality and idenтιтies as the lines between fact and fiction started to blend in an unnerving and visually stunning narrative.

As a love letter to how formative media can be in the lives of young adolescents, I Saw the TV Glow also dove into LGBTQ+ and was clearly informed by Schoenbrun’s life experiences as a trans woman. As an underground success that reached a much larger audience through word-of-mouth hype, I Saw the TV Glow showcased that smaller-scale psychological releases like this can make a big impact through sheer creativity and originality.

9

Boiling Point (2021)

Directed by Philip Barantini

While it sometimes feels like everything’s been done in the realm of feature films, in recent years, directors have been playing with the art form to produce long-form one-sH๏τ films that truly boggle the mind for their sheer technical innovation. Audiences will be familiar with one-sH๏τ films like Birdman and 1917, although the British drama Boiling Point deserves attention for its anxiety-inducing nature. Depicting a night at an upmarket restaurant in London, Boiling Point took viewers on an immersive journey into the fast-paced, meticulously planned, and panic-ridden world of fine dining.

Boiling Point featured a standout performance by Stephen Graham, an outstanding actor who viewers will recognize from the similarly constructed one-sH๏τ Netflix series Adolescence, as Andy Jones, the head chef of Jones & Sons. With a sense of pacing that never lets up for a minute, anyone who’s ever worked in a restaurant will be immediately familiar with the uneasy energy of impending disaster that pervades this entire film.

8

Sound Of Metal (2020)

Directed by Darius Marder

Sound of Metal was a unique character study that explored the very nature of sound and silence. With Riz Ahmed as the heavy metal drummer Ruben Stonem, this lifelong musician’s world is turned upside down when he starts to lose his hearing and must face the consequences of this essential sense rapidly deteriorating. By utilizing long stretches of silence as audiences are forced to experience life as Ruben does, Sound of Metal forced us to confront just how debilitating this affliction would be for a pᴀssionate musician.

The originality of Sound of Metal was in the way it ensured viewers empathized with Ruben, and we watched as he gradually found a new sense of purpose among the community of deaf people who helped him come to terms with his disability. Sound of Metal challenged commonly held perceptions around hearing loss and was a stunning original film that encouraged viewers to consider how they would cope if their lives were suddenly transformed in this way.

7

The Unbearable Weight Of Mᴀssive Talent (2022)

Directed by Tom Gormican

While movies where celebrities play fictionalized versions of themselves are nothing new and have been seen in everything from Being John Malkovich to Last Action Hero, The Unbearable Weight of Mᴀssive Talent was original in the way it fully embraced the unhinged reputation of Nicolas Cage. By leaning into Cage’s unique legacy, this action-comedy was truly one of his most interesting performances in a career filled with starkly original roles. With Cage as a struggling Hollywood actor version of himself, audiences watched as he was tormented by an imaginative vision of his former self called Nicky Cage.

As a fun-filled wild adventure that saw Cage caught between a billionaire superfan and the CIA, it was incredible the way The Unbearable Weight of Mᴀssive Talent balanced mainstream action with clever references to everything from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to Paddington 2. Cage has always pushed the boundaries of what an A-list star can get away with, and this was just another in a long list of examples of him pushing the boundaries of Hollywood expectations and having a great time in the process.

6

Dream Scenario (2023)

Directed by Kristoffer Borgli

While the career of Nicolas Cage had some low periods throughout the 2000s and 2010s, in recent years, this iconic actor has been tackling some of his most starkly original roles. A great underrated Cage performance came with 2023’s Dream Scenario, a satirical horror about a mild-mannered professor who starts appearing in the dreams of other people. While the reasons for this are uncertain, Paul Matthews became something of a celebrity until his appearances in unsuspecting people’s dreams turned dark, even going as far as people having nightmares where he’s trying to kill them.

Dream Scenario’s fascinating premise acted as the perfect reflection for modern society’s fickle relationship with celebrity, as Paul watches his 15 minutes of fame quickly fall apart as the public turns on him. This psychologically rich and thought-provoking story balanced comedy, drama, and horror in a way that was both entertaining and unnerving. A true late-career highlight within Cage’s filmography, those who like films on the stranger side will love Dream Scenario.

5

The French Dispatch (2021)

Directed by Wes Anderson

In a film landscape where so many movies look like identical copies of one another and audiences are subjected to one lackluster action movie or uninspired superhero movie after another, we can be happy that there are still highly original directors like Wes Anderson around. With a unique visual style that values minimalism and meticulously composed frames, Anderson’s films are immediately recognizable as his. This striking sense of style has only become more pronounced over the years, with The French Dispatch being a particularly compelling example of his highly creative brand of cinema.

The French Dispatch not only boasted Anderson’s unique visual style but also his quirky characters, as he utilized an anthology format to showcase various stories from a fictional magazine’s final issue. With plenty of familiar faces like Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, and Adrien Brody, it’s a testament to how much actors value Anderson’s unique contribution to Hollywood that his films consistently boast astoundingly stacked ensemble casts of A-list stars.

4

тιтane (2021)

Directed by Julia Ducournau

The genre-bending triumph тιтane was a boundary-pushing experience that incorporated elements of body horror, psychological thriller, romantic drama, and dark comedy. As a challenging piece of cinema from the French filmmaker Julia Ducournau, тιтane brought to mind the grotesque work of David Cronenberg and was an example of the type of bold examinations of bodily autonomy and transformation later seen in The Substance.

As one of the most shocking films of 2021, the trailblazing nature of тιтane meant Ducournau became the second female director to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Telling the story of a young woman with a тιтanium plate fitted into her head as a result of a car crash, becoming a murderous car model, and engaging in a bizarre Sєxual encounter, тιтane was an outlandish and original film that addressed themes of idenтιтy, gender, and trauma.

3

Aftersun (2022)

Directed by Charlotte Wells

Few directorial debuts showcased the emergence of a brand new filmmaking voice more than Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun. As Wells’ feature film debut, Aftersun was a touching, thought-provoking, and traumatic coming-of-age story about an 11-year-old Scottish girl looking back on a holiday she took with her 30-year-old father at a Turkish resort. This powerful autobiographical story saw the now-grown woman recontextualizing her childhood experiences and her troubled father through the lens of her own experiences.

With an almost dreamlike style, Aftersun was a disarming film that hinted at a whole world of buried trauma and unspoken pain, regrets, and sorrow. As a film that’s as much about what was not depicted as what was explicitly said, this emphatic and honest character study delved into themes of growing up and the inevitable way we reinterpret our parents’ stories as we get older. As one of the most powerful films of the 2020s, Aftersun was an extraordinarily original debut from Wells, which was elevated by standout performances from Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal.

2

Beau Is Afraid (2023)

Directed by Ari Aster

Director Ari Aster is one of the most exciting horror filmmakers working today, whose works like Hereditary and Midsommar became instant modern classics. While not as many people saw it, Aster’s 2023 film Beau Is Afraid was perhaps his most challenging, original, and downright strange movie to date. With Joaquin Phoenix as the eternally anxious Beau, this epic odyssey saw him go on a surreal journey to try to make it home in time for his mother’s funeral.

At 179 minutes in length, Beau Is Afraid was not for the faint of heart, as viewers were subjected to one intense sequence after another. As a Kafkaesque nightmare that pushed viewers well outside of their comfort zones, the brazen originality of Beau Is Afraid did not translate into box office success, and the film bombed despite great reviews from critics.

1

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

The Best Picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once was indisputable proof that originality is alive and well in Hollywood, and there’s still the potential for astoundingly unique movies to be both a hit with critics and a smash success at the box office. Blending elements of surrealism, sci-fi, fantasy, and martial arts, the directing duo known as the Daniels pulled off an astounding feat with this film that showcased the post-COVID slump was well and truly over with an independent movie that became A24’s highest-grossing film.

With astounding performances from Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once was a multiverse-spanning adventure that just delivered on all fronts. Whether it was the thought-provoking way it explored themes of the immigrant experience or its engrossing visuals, the innate power of this movie earned it seven Academy Awards. While there’s no shortage of highly original films being made today, the mainstream success of Everything Everywhere All At Once proves that challenging and unique movies can still break through with mᴀss audiences.