Best Existential

Directed by Daniels, 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' is a mind-bending, genre-defying film starring Michelle Yeoh as a Chinese-American laundromat owner who must connect with parallel universe ver...

After Yang is a quiet, meditative exploration of what it means to be human in a world where AI is integrated into daily life. When a family's robotic companion, Yang, malfunctions, the father attempts...

Set on a remote island off the coast of Ireland in the 1920s, this film tells the story of two lifelong friends whose relationship abruptly ends, leading to increasingly dark and absurd consequences....

Neon Genesis Evangelion, debuting in 1995, revolutionized the mecha genre with its complex psychological themes and deconstruction of anime tropes. The series follows Shinji Ikari as he pilots a giant...

Palm Springs is a clever and hilarious time-loop romantic comedy that revitalizes the familiar Groundhog Day premise. The film follows two wedding guests who find themselves reliving the same day repe...

Perhaps the most iconic film in Scandinavian history, this Bergman classic follows a medieval knight returning from the Crusades to find his homeland ravaged by the Black Death. He challenges Death to...

BoJack Horseman is a groundbreaking animated series that tackles complex themes of depression, addiction, and trauma with surprising depth and dark humor. The show follows a washed-up sitcom star, BoJ...

Fleet Foxes second album is a lush, harmonic triumph that captures the existential anxiety of young adulthood. With intricate vocal harmonies, acoustic instrumentation, and sprawling, folk-inspired ar...

Soul is a deeply philosophical and visually inventive film that asks the big questions: What makes you, you? Following a jazz musician who finds himself in the afterlife, the film explores the meaning...

I Know This Much Is True is a deeply moving and emotionally challenging drama based on Wally Lambs novel. The series centers on identical twin brothers, one of whom suffers from paranoid schizophrenia...

A recovering drug addict is granted a day of leave from his rehabilitation center to interview for a job in Oslo. Over the course of the day, he wanders the city, reconnecting with old friends and ref...

Michelangelo Antonionis 1960 film is a landmark of modernist cinema. When a woman disappears during a yachting trip, her lover and her best friend begin a search that slowly transforms into a detached...

SOMA is a philosophical horror game that explores the nature of consciousness and identity. Set in an underwater research facility, the game forces players to confront disturbing questions about what...

Land of the Lustrous is the gold standard for full-CGI anime. Studio Orange proved that 3D animation could be used to create something truly beautiful and expressive, capturing the crystalline nature...

Russian Doll is a clever and darkly funny series that follows Nadia, a woman who keeps dying and reliving her 36th birthday party in a time loop. As she tries to figure out why this is happening, she...

Texhnolyze is perhaps the darkest and most nihilistic anime ever produced. Set in the underground city of Lux, where society is crumbling and violence is the only currency, the story follows a prize f...

Vanishing Point is the ultimate existential road movie. The entire film is essentially one long, high-speed drive from Denver to San Francisco, with the protagonist, Kowalski, pursued by police across...

Serial Experiments Lain is a surreal, avant-garde exploration of the boundaries between reality and the digital world. It follows a shy, introverted girl named Lain who becomes obsessed with the 'Wire...

Michelangelo Antonionis 1962 film is the final part of his 'trilogy of alienation.' It follows a young woman who breaks off an engagement and begins a tentative, emotionally distant affair with a stoc...

Published in 1968, *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?* is arguably Dick's most famous work, serving as the basis for the film *Blade Runner*. It explores a bleak, post-apocalyptic San Francisco whe...

Mahler pushed the boundaries of the symphony to their absolute limit, creating massive, world-encompassing works that explore the full spectrum of human experience. His symphonies are known for their...

Swan Song is a sci-fi drama starring Mahershala Ali as a man diagnosed with a terminal illness who secretly undergoes a cloning procedure to leave his family with a healthy replacement. The film explo...

Universal Paperclips is a unique and thought-provoking clicker game with an existential theme. Players start by making paperclips and gradually expand their operations, ultimately leading to a surpris...

Hiroki Kondo's 'After Life' is a profoundly moving Japanese film that explores the nature of memory and what it means to live a meaningful life. The film depicts a way station where recently deceased...

Modest Mouses 1997 album is a sprawling, raw exploration of the American West, urban sprawl, and existential dread. Isaac Brocks frantic, conversational vocals and the bands jagged, unpredictable guit...

Toy Story 4 is a surprising and thoughtful addition to the franchise that focuses on Woody's existential journey as he finds a new purpose in life. While some fans felt the third film was a perfect en...

Michelangelo Antonionis 1964 film was his first in color, and he used it to create a stunning, alienating portrait of a woman struggling with mental health in a bleak, industrial landscape. The film i...

Franz Kafkas 'The Trial' is a surreal, nightmarish exploration of a man arrested for a crime he never learns the nature of. It is the ultimate critique of bureaucratic power and the loss of individual...

Ingmar Bergmans Wild Strawberries is a beautiful, introspective film about an elderly professor reflecting on his life as he travels to receive an honorary degree. Through a series of dreams and memor...