A Glean movie guide
Reality-Warping Thrillers
Don't trust your eyes.
Masterpieces of narrative deception that will leave you questioning everything.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
Inception
A high-stakes heist that blurs the line between dreams and reality with relentless momentum.
Cobb, a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: "inception", the implantation of another person's idea into a target's subconscious.
- 02
Memento
A brilliant, reverse-chronological puzzle that puts you inside the perspective of a fractured mind.
Leonard Shelby is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife's killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he's going, or why.
- 03
The Prestige
A dark, obsessive rivalry where every scene is part of a larger, meticulously crafted magic trick.
A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.
- 04
The Sixth Sense
A haunting psychological drama famous for one of cinema's most iconic and emotional revelations.
Following an unexpected tragedy, child psychologist Malcolm Crowe meets a nine year old boy named Cole Sear, who is hiding a dark secret.
- 05
Arrival
A profound sci-fi mystery that uses the concept of language to reshape the perception of time.
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
- 06
Shutter Island
A moody, atmospheric thriller that forces you to question the sanity of its protagonist at every turn.
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
- 07
The Usual Suspects
A masterclass in unreliable narration and the art of the cinematic 'long con.'
Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. Verbal lures his interrogators with an incredible story of the crime lord's almost supernatural prowess.
- 08
Coherence
A tense, low-budget marvel that explores the terrifying possibilities of parallel realities during a dinner party.
Four couples gather for dinner the night a mysterious and powerful comet passes overhead.
- 09
Fight Club
A visceral exploration of identity that subverts expectations with a massive psychological shift.
A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.
- 10
Interstellar
An epic journey through space and time that anchors its complex physics in deep human emotion.
The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
- 11
Predestination
A dizzying time-travel paradox that rewards viewers who pay close attention to every detail.
Predestination chronicles the life of a Temporal Agent sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to prevent future killers from committing their crimes. Now, on his final assignment, the Agent must stop the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time and prevent a devastating attack in which thousands of lives will be lost.
- 12
The Invisible Guest
A sharp, fast-paced mystery that keeps you guessing with a series of rapid-fire final-act reveals.
Barcelona, Spain. Adrián Doria, a young and successful businessman accused of murder, meets one night with Virginia Goodman, an expert interrogation lawyer, in order to devise a defense strategy.