Non-linear fiction in film

[mattlistener]

I'm a big fan of non-linear fiction on the big screen. By this I mean: stories told out of chronological order, in parallel universes, or in a repeating loop. Clearest examples include:

o Memento (told in reverse chapter order),
o Run Lola Run (three different ways the same story could have gone)
o Groundhog Day (reliving the same day over and over),

I don't count movies like Highlander (just flashbacks), or where the entire action is in the past/future/parallel world but for a bit of getting there and getting home (eg Back To The Future).

Here's all the other non-linear fiction movies I can think of right now:

o Mulholland Drive (earlier chapter shown at the end)
o Eternal Sunset of the Spotless Mind (later chapter shown at the beginning)
o Pulp Ficton (later chapter shown in the middle)
o Sliding Doors (two different ways the same story could have gone, told in parallel),
o Butterfly Effect (changing the past and then living the different outcomes)

Ones I've heard of but not seen:

o ExistenZ
o Donnie Darko
o Dot the I
o Timecode
o Red Violin

What others do you know of, that you think deserve my attention?

Comments

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

There's Irreversible, but be warned that it's been said to contain very disturbing depictions of rape (I haven't seen it myself).

[queue.livejournal.com]

I added some of the movies you mentioned to my Netflix queue. When you do that, it gives you recommendations for other movies you might like, based on what other people who liked that movie also liked. It's hard to tell if some of the following movies meet your criteria, but they might be worth checking out:

Amores Perros
21 Grams
House of Games
Ditto
The Loss of Sexual Innocence

Oh, and reading the description for Ditto made me think of Frequency (which I haven't seen but remember the previews for).

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Frequency.

Hmmm. I think I may have seen this but I'm not sure why. Is this the one involving radio transmission across time. (Trying not to say too much because I don't know what would be considered spoilers)

[queue.livejournal.com]

Ja.

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

I would say that Baron Munchausen might qualify, as it's strange to have a title character talk about his death.
Frequency (already mentioned by others) is quite good.
The other things popping into mind are TV episodes.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I loved Memento. Mind-blowing.

When you've got a more complete list, will you post it somewhere? It would be a good reference, as now there's more movies I want to see...

In the vein of Groundhog Day, there was a TV-movie called 12:01 (1993) that was pretty good. It was based on a story that came out before Groundhog Day.

And althought it's never been made into a movie, may I recommend the novel REPLAY by Ken Grimwood, in which a man finds himself living his life over and over?

[ahkond.livejournal.com]

Timecode isn't told out of order. In fact the gimmick is that it's told precisely in order even though there are multiple storylines. The screen is divided into four segments showing simultaneous action in four places. As the characters meet and separate, the cameras sometimes show multiple viewpoints of the same scene. It was shot simultaneously with four cameras.

However, there's a film called Go that you might want to add; it has chapters told out of order from different viewpoints, and they hook up in odd ways. For instance, there's a telephone conversation between two characters, and we only see one side of the conversation at a time.

[ahkond.livejournal.com]

One other example that might be of interest:

Alan Ayckbourn wrote a trilogy of plays called "the Norman Conquests". They take place over the same weekend in three different locations of the same house. So each play gives you a separate subset of the action. Characters frequently leave a scene in one play and walk into one of the other plays. There's one point where some people are arguing in one room and the people in another room hear raised voices through the wall ... but the viewer has to piece this all together on their own because you only see one play at a time.

They're called "Table Manners" (dining room), "Living Together" (living room) and "Round and Round the Garden" (back garden / yard). They were filmed for the BBC and broadcast on American cable a few years ago but I don't think they're commercially available.