1. Inception (2010)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO.
In the film the topic of collective lucid dreaming and dream levels is well showed, which is definitely interesting.
2. Waking Life (2001)
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Trevor Jack Brooks
A man goes through different layers of a dream, meets characters in them, discusses the meaning of the Universe with them, and gradually gains more and more awareness. If at the beginning of the plot the main character is in an ordinary dream, then step by step his awareness arises.
3. Doctor Strange (2016)
Director: Scott Derrickson
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch
The main character discovers incredible abilities to transform space and time. Now his mission is to protect the Earth and oppose the Evil, no matter what guise it takes.
Perhaps, one of the best Marvel films of recent times.
4. Electric Dreams (2017, episode 5)
Director: David Farr and others
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Geraldine Chaplin and others
Strange spiritual adventure stories from the main science fiction writer of the 20th century. The future, spaceships, lucid dreams, and leaps into parallel reality. For dreamers, episode 1 of season 1 will be especially interesting, where they talk about the dream space and raise the question of what is more real: the world of familiar life or the world of dreams?
5. The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
Director: Josef Rusnak
Starring: Craig Bierko
On the thirteenth floor of the computer corporation a perfect virtual reality model was developed, the creation of which entailed a chain of mysterious murders. The riddle can be solved by plunging into another dimension, where there may be an answer to many questions, or maybe terrible unreality …
6. Maniac (2018, mini-series)
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Starring: Jonah Hill, Emma Stone
Two strangers agree to take part in the test of a new medicine, which promises to fix any disease and disorderб up to a broken heart.
Science fiction fans will love it. The film is full of unexpected twists and lucid dreams (in which the medicine is tested).
7. The Matrix (1999-2003)
Director: Lana and Lilly Wachowski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne
The life of Thomas Anderson is divided into two parts: during the day he is the most ordinary office worker who receives scolding from his superiors, and at night he turns into a hacker named Neo. But once everything changes – he unwittingly learns the terrible truth: everything that surrounds him is nothing more than an illusion, the Matrix, and people are just a power source for artificial intelligence that enslaved humanity. Only Neo can change the balance of power in this horrible world.
8. A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
Director: Ava DuVernay
Starring: Storm Reid, Chris Pine
Young Meg, along with her younger brother and school friend, goes in search of her father, a physicist who disappeared during a scientific experiment. To find him they can not in the familiar world, but in the mysterious breaks of time and space, where the concept of reality is relative and nothing can be trusted!
Amazing film with a deep meaning.
9. What Dreams May Come (1998)
Director: Vincent Ward
Starring: Robin Williams
Chris Nielsen dies in an accident and enters Heaven. But when he discovers that his beloved wife Annie has killed herself out of grief over the loss, he embarks on an afterlife adventure to reunite with her.
Not exactly about lucid dreaming but the world into which the character gets into reminds the phase state…
10. Anamnesis: The Memory (2015, TV-series)
Director: Brandon Azoo
Starring: Ben Hoffman, Emily Killian
When Adam wakes up in a place from his childhood memories, he decides that he is sleeping. But when his girlfriend Hannah begins to lead him deeper into his subconscious, he begins to understand the truth …
11. House, M.D. «House’s Head» (2008)
Director: Greg Yaitanes
Starring: Hugh Laurie
Gregory House is not only a brilliant diagnostician, but also a really good dreamer. In this episode, for the sake of a detective investigation, the mad doctor plunges into his subconscious mind many times in one day in various violent ways: lucid dreaming, narcotic trance, hypnosis, strange cryovanna, and even heart failure.
12. Rusideu Deurim (2017)
Director: Kim Joon-seong
Starring: Ko Soo
Three years ago, Te-ho lost a little son, a child was kidnapped in an amusement park. All these years, the inconsolable father has been trying to find the boy, but the police are powerless, for all this time they have not found a single clue. Then Tae-ho clings to the last chance – to use lucid dreams, plunging into which you can see the details and details of long-standing events.
13. Beyond the Edge (2018)
Director: Aleksandr Boguslavskiy, Francesco Cinquemani
Starring: Miloš Biković, Antonio Banderas
Michael, a talented gambler, gathers a team of people with paranormal abilities to rob a casino. However, everything is not going according to plan, and the characters are in mortal danger. To save them Michael has to act beyond reality – in the mysterious world of the subconscious, from where superpowers of his friends come from.
If you like action and movies about superpowers.
14. Falling Water (2016, TV-series)
Director: Jack Bender and others
Starring: David Ajala, Lizzie Brocheré
A detective story in which the laws of the world of dreams are revealed. Labyrinths in lucid dreams, joint dreams and waking dreams – all this in an exciting storyline.
15. Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Starring: Ivana Baquero
10-year-old Ophelia, fascinated by fairy tales, discovers an old abandoned labyrinth near the house. A fairy takes her to the center of the maze, where she meets Faun, the owner of the dungeon. The Faun claims to know her true fate and her secret destiny.
16. Vanilla Sky (2001)
Director: Cameron Crowe
Starring: Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz
A car accident ruins the life of a young and successful David Ames. Now he is forced to hide his disfigured face under a mask. In desperation, he decides on an extremely risky operation. He comes to himself with a normal and beautiful face. The beloved is nearby again, and everything seems serene, when suddenly David’s life turns into a nightmare: reality and visions begin to mix…
17. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Director: Wes Craven
Starring: Heather Langenkamp, Johnny Depp
The monstrous spirit of a slain child murderer seeks revenge by invading the dreams of teenagers whose parents were responsible for his untimely death.
18. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Director: Michel Gondry
Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet
When the relationship of Joel and Clementine breaks, they undergo a medical procedure to erase each other from their memories. But it is not as simple as it seemed before.
19. Sucker Punch (2011)
Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Emily Browning
A young girl, placed by her cruel stepfather in a psychiatric hospital, plunges into an alternative reality, as a way to survive and find a plan that will help her escape.
20. Paprika (2006, anime)
Director: Satoshi Kon
Starring: Megumi Hayashibara
A special device allows doctors to penetrate patients’ dreams, as well as record them on tape. Three such devices were stolen, the heroes’ task is to return the devices, in the fulfillment of which the mysterious girl Paprika comes to the rescue.
The compilation made by Zhanna Zhunusova
