I have always cringed a little bit when people say a movie is better if you watch it high. Sure, some movies can be enhanced -- but The Wizard of Oz, for instance, is great with or without weed. And, as someone who is a big marijuana proponent -- both for pleasure and medicinally -- I think it's silly to make too big a deal out of the unofficial holiday which is 4/20.
And yet, here we are.
So in no particular order here are 10 films I'd recommend if you're looking to have a particularly trippy experience today or any day, sober or not...
House (1977) - One of the most surreal, strange films ever made -- feels like a bizarre glossy commercial mixed with unpredictable body horror. Hard to categorize. It's sort of a horror movie but it's far more weird than scary with its director Nobuhiko Obayahsi throwing all sort of fantastic homemade-seeming special effects at you to see what sticks. Tonally nuts. You can see a lot of influence on Michel Gondry here.
Mulholland Drive (2001) - The film that got me hooked on David Lynch 20 years ago is still a mind bending gut punch now. It works as both a deliriously sexy and strange update on the film noir and a darkly funny art film satirizing Hollywood's figurative cutthroat nature. It takes at least two viewings to fully appreciate. In fact, it might be cool to watch it back to back when under the influence after the initial shock wears off.
Vertigo (1958) - My favorite Hitchcock film and perhaps the most visually inventive -- the Jimmy Stewart nightmare dream sequence alone is worth the price of admission. It's the vibrant use of color and dreamlike atmosphere that engross me every time I see it, and like many of the movies on this list, it's about so much more than what it appears to be on the surface, which is perfect for drug-induced viewing.
The Big Lebowski (1998) - The ultimate stoner mystery-thriller (although The Long Goodbye is probably its equal) features Jeff Bridges in arguably his most iconic performance as a burnout drawn into an elaborate scheme at the urging of his ex-Vietnam vet friend (the great John Goodman). One of the Coen brothers' loosest, silliest movies is still one of their best and just great fun to watch.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - I've written about this before but 2001 is such a feast for the eyes, ears and soul that you can get quite a lot out of it if you're in the right headspace. Kubrick's legendary film famously didn't find much of an audience until it was embraced by the hippie crowd in the late 60s. Today, it's now viewed as the high water mark of a certain kind of heady sci-fi, one that has rarely, if ever, been equaled.
Inception (2010) - While I'm sure it's wacky premise falls apart if you scrutinize it too much, it's hard to deny how entertaining and accessible this film is, especially considering what it's trying to do narratively. Tenet showed the limitations of this type of movie when its relatively devoid of soul, but with Leonardo DiCaprio fully committed in the lead, this feels like more than just a technical exercise and it's big set pieces still pack a wallop.
The Tree of Life (2011) - Terrence Malick's stunning achievement -- a paean to the process of life and family, is an elegiac tone poem whose unorthodox rhythms are perfectly suited to a mental flight of fancy. Its montages are peerless as is it's swelling emotion. Definitely not for all tastes, but if you can get on Malick and the movie's wavelength it takes you on quite a journey.
MacGruber (2010) - Simply the best dumb comedy of recent years -- a gut-busting melange of high but mostly low comedy. Criminally under-appreciated when it first came out, it now feels like a genuine cult classic (can't wait for the TV series inspired by it). Wonderfully nutty tone and style that is eminently quotable and surprisingly endearing.
Apocalypse Now (1979) - One of my favorite war films in part because it really leans into the madness, chaos and creeping existential dread of war. It's last act in particular takes on a kind of mythological proportion that supersedes the drama and its melodrama makes for a surreal viewing experience. It doesn't hurt that the people making this film were almost certainly on a lot of drugs, too.
Solaris (1972 and 2002 either version) - Again, hard 'not for everyone's taste' warning on these too -- they are intentionally slow paced and meandering movies about the nature of humanity and the challenges of reckoning with our mortality -- all wrapped in the package of a genre sci-fi movie. The Soderbergh version, which boasts a powerful, against-type performance from George Clooney, is the more accessible one, but both films are deep, passionate and profound.
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