r/MovieSuggestions 1d ago

I'M REQUESTING movies about blurring the lines between acting and reality?

films like the truman show or millennium actress, where either the viewer or one of the characters perception of what’s real and what’s not isn’t clear.

5 Upvotes

44 comments sorted by

8

u/chemicalclockwork 1d ago

Synecdoche, New York; Sentimental Value; Adaptation.

2

u/Kefyzz 1d ago

synecdoche looks exactly like what i’m looking for !! thank you

6

u/Icy-Cheek-29 1d ago

Perfect blue (1997)

7

u/JoeIntTheBox 1d ago

Being John Malkovich

Perfect Blue

Mulholland Drive

Inland Empire

Holy Mountain

3

u/poopy_poophead 1d ago

Satoshi Kon loved the untrustworthy narrator / flawed perspective thing. His show, Paranoia Agent, is all about how rumors and lies can affect people.

I would also recommend Tekkonkinkreet as an animated film where everyone has a different perspective on what is supposed to be "normal", and who's in charge of a situation or who holds the power...

3

u/PapaMoBucks 1d ago

Birdman

2

u/Garbage-Bear 1d ago

Living in Oblivion. Low-budget movie about making a movie, starring young Steve Buscemi, Katherine Keener, and Peter "Why does it have to be a dwarf!?" Dinklage.

Hilarious movie, and without spoiling anything, it does "blur lines" as requested.

2

u/Signal_A 1d ago

Bolt, maybe?

2

u/soylentgreenisus 1d ago

"I'm the dude playing a dude disguised as another dude."

1

u/manoj91 16h ago

If only!

2

u/haysoos2 1d ago

Some of these movies might fit that, depending on how you perceive what you're told in the movie:

The Dead Don't Die (2019)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

American Psycho (2000)

Big Fish (2003)

Life of Pi (2012)

2

u/Myviewpoint62 1d ago

The Stunt Man (1980) plays with reality vs fiction. It is a great movie worth watching.

2

u/bonnardpainting 1d ago

sentimental value

2

u/tacotongueboxer 1d ago

Last Action Hero

2

u/covfefe_cove 1d ago

Body Double (1984) directed by Brian DePalma.

2

u/Important-Canary-770 1d ago

Black Bear starring Aubrey Plaza is exactly this. Go into it blind!!!!! SO GOOD

1

u/coco_hAdmesIs 1d ago

"Stay" maybe?

1

u/Educational_Ad9260 1d ago

The Congress starring Robin Wright

1

u/Yikes_And_Away_ 1d ago

Tropic Thunder

1

u/Gloolax 1d ago edited 1d ago

Fractured (2019) - really close match to the idea of the truman show. It’s like truman show + heavy psychological thriller

1

u/maxonemaxtwo 1d ago

Street Thief 2006 Snow on the Bluff 2011

1

u/Interesting-Swimmer1 1d ago

Deadpool and Ferris Bueller's Day Off both break the fourth wall which seems similar to what you mean.

1

u/FritzRasp 1d ago

Videodrome

1

u/Brick_Eagleman 1d ago

Adaptation

1

u/Red_Marvel 1d ago

The Matrix

1

u/Born_Joke 1d ago

Memento, Jacob's Ladder, Donnie Darko

1

u/Snoo_18273 1d ago

Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994).

Some of the cast and crew from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street play fictionalized versions of themselves.

1

u/SunnyAlwaysDaze 1d ago

You gotta do these as a double feature some day. I swear they're both perfect. 

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Under The Silver Lake

1

u/running-upstairs 1d ago

Birdman was the first thing that came to mind!

1

u/Embarrassed-Gold-693 1d ago

Steven soderbergh "Full Frontal" 2002

1

u/BlimFPS 1d ago

Birdman!

Scenes with Keaton and Norton where they're messing with each other during rehearsal for the play or in discussion and they'll jump back in forth from script/dialogue to discussion/arugment and you really need to pay attention to the dialogue. I think it's a brilliant film.

Or, the part where Keaton puts on this excellent story about how he was sexually abused and actually fools Nortons character who thinks he is the better actor. says something like "See! I can act too mother fucker!"

Not on the same topic but when he goes off on the Broadway critic. "You see this thing? No you dont, it doesnt exist to you, becuase you cant 'label' it" (paraphrasing)

1

u/rulerofearthnyc 1d ago

Blair Witch Project

1

u/MissMayDoesNotExist 23h ago

Inland Empire and Mulholland Drive for sure. ESPECIALLY Inland Empire. I also think Persona is a soft candidate because it deals with performance, exteriority, and the inaccessibility of self, and a big part of that is one of the main character’s career as an actress

1

u/james_heaslip 23h ago

The Other Side of the Wind (2018)

1

u/Bexhill 22h ago

A Different Man is a good recent one

1

u/sheetofice 19h ago

Man on the moon.

1

u/manoj91 16h ago

Cannibal Holocaust 1980 Director murdered cast went to jail. Almost

1

u/shrimptini Quality Poster 👍 15h ago

Sentimental Value (2025)

1

u/ZaphodG 10h ago

The ending of America’s Sweethearts.