A Glean movie guide
Hidden Gems: The Best Underrated Sci-Fi
Sci-fi for the curious mind
Skip the blockbusters for these thought-provoking and overlooked masterpieces.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Moon
A haunting, character-driven mystery set on a lonely lunar base with a powerhouse central performance.
With only three weeks left in his three-year contract, Sam Bell is eager to return to Earth. Stationed alone at a Moon-based facility with his computer assistant GERTY, an unexpected accident sets off a series of unsettling events that shake his isolation.
- 02
Gattaca
A stylish, retro-futuristic look at genetic destiny and the resilience of the human spirit.
Vincent is an all-too-human man who dares to defy a system obsessed with genetic perfection. He is an "In-Valid" who assumes the identity of a member of the genetic elite to pursue his goal of traveling into space with the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation.
- 03
Coherence
A mind-bending dinner party thriller where reality fractures under the passing of a mysterious comet.
Four couples gather for dinner the night a mysterious and powerful comet passes overhead.
- 04
The Vast of Night
A masterclass in atmosphere following two teens tracking a mysterious audio signal in 1950s New Mexico.
At the dawn of the space-race, two radio-obsessed teens discover a strange frequency over the airwaves in what becomes the most important night of their lives and in the history of their small town.
- 05
Sunshine
A visually arresting journey to the sun that blends hard science with escalating psychological tension.
Fifty years into the future, the sun is dying, and Earth is threatened by arctic temperatures. A team of astronauts is sent to revive the Sun — but the mission fails. Seven years later, a new team is sent to finish the mission as mankind’s last hope.
- 06
Primer
The ultimate low-budget cult classic known for its uncompromisingly dense and realistic time-travel mechanics.
A group of fledgling inventors discover a complex method to manipulate reality. At first, they successfully game the stock market with it, but the consequences of the invention start to catch up with them.
- 07
Upgrade
A sleek, inventive action-thriller about a paralyzed man reclaimed by an experimental AI chip.
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.
- 08
Aniara
A bleak and beautiful existential odyssey aboard a spacecraft drifting hopelessly off course.
A ship carrying settlers to a new home on Mars after Earth is rendered uninhabitable is knocked off-course, causing the passengers to consider their place in the universe.
- 09
Timecrimes
A lean, ingenious Spanish thriller that executes a perfect and increasingly frantic time-loop paradox.
A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences.
- 10
Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes
A charming, one-take Japanese comedy that finds pure magic in a simple two-minute time delay.
A cafe owner discovers that the TV in his cafe suddenly shows images from the future, but only two minutes into the future.