Summary

Non - linear moviescan dally with metre in way of life beyond a grapheme traveling to the past times or future . A select identification number ofdirectors and writers can expertly weave together the yesteryear , present , and future into intriguing non - analogue narratives . Their options admit narratives that work back or are all scattered , consist several different timelines .

Whileflashbacks are the most straightforward way to form a non - linear story , this is not where the conception ends . Some movies compare seemingly unrelated events to show the significance of recurring pattern and themes throughout history . designed ambiguity about the separation of the past and present creates an intriguing closed book . A character search for answer after a case of amnesia is also common in non - linear movie . Overall , the non - analog category let in some of film ’s most modern film that defy all expectations .

10Cloud Atlas (2012)

Different people affect each other’s lives across 500 years.

Cast

The Wachowski sisters’Cloud Atlasencompasses many eccentric , places , and times . Cloud Atlas’story is dissever among five narratives : a attorney who is tardily poison by his doctor during a ocean trip across the Pacific in the mid-19th one C ; an aspiring composer indite letters to his lover in Britain in the early twentieth C ; a newsman investigate a corrupt superpower industrial plant in seventies San Francisco ; a failing British publisher trapped in a nursing house in 2012 ; a clone rebel again the organisation in 2144 Seoul ; and a tribesman investigating secret ruin in post - apocalyptic Hawaii .

Cloud Atlascuts between narratives , showing moments of action at law centuries apart as though they are happening at the same time . The life story of all the characters are intertwined : The composer reads the lawyer ’s diary ; the diarist finds the honey letter that belonged to her witnesser ’s ascendent ; the fleeting clone becomes a deity to the succeeding tribesmen . Noteworthy actors , include Tom Hanks , Halle Berry , and Jim Broadbent , take on various function across different period . Ultimately , Cloud Atlasis base on the theme that the entire cast is hold by their love for and dependance upon other mass .

buff of Cloud Atlas should check out these other 10 thought - harry moving picture if they want to expand their horizon .

Collage of Anya Taylor-Joy in The Menu, Last Night in Soho, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie

9Mulholland Drive (2001)

A woman loses her memory in a car crash and searches for answers in Hollywood.

David Lynch’sMulholland Drivefollows an aspiring actress unexampled to Hollywood aid a woman with amnesia small-arm together the events beleaguer the elevator car crash on Mulholland Drivein which she lost her computer storage . Betty and Rita investigate the mystic Diane Selwyn , attempt to work a puzzle that may have no response . However , Mulholland Drive’sendingdisrupts the ostensibly linear narration and throws into question what timeline coincides with world . There are manyinterpretations ofMulholland Drive , andit requires multiple watches before the audience can completely sympathize its events , heighten the story ’s whodunit .

8Citizen Kane (1941)

Orson Wells was a pioneer of non-linear movies.

Orson Welles was one of the first directors of a successful moving picture with a non - linear narrative . InCitizen Kane , unlike flashback from various perspectives slowly bring out details about the life of the reclusive publishing house Charles Foster Kaneas present - mean solar day newsman attempt to understand the import of his last words . Citizen Kane’sendingreveals the meaning of " rosebud , " but the picture show has still been a subject of debate for decades . Citizen Kaneis considered the"greatest film ever made"because of its innovative storytelling , introducing unreliable teller and twist endings to cinema .

7Last Night In Soho (2021)

Thomasin McKenzie in the present overlaps with Anya Taylor-Joy in the past.

Thomasin McKenzie play Eloise " Ellie " Turner , an draw a bead on fashion designer who moves to London for shoal and receive her lifetime affected by the ghost of Anya Taylor - Joy ’s Sandie , an aspiring singer of 1960s London . Eloise is initially thrilled by her ambition of Sandie ’s animation , making Sandie her style muse . Yet the tragical events of Sandie ’s life start to intrude upon Eloise in the form of red visual modality , guide up toLast Night in Soho’sshocking termination . While Eloise and Sandie ’s narratives overlap , Matt Smith and Diana Rigg play memorable supporting persona .

From her early career to her lead story roles in the 2020s , all Anya Taylor - Joy movies showcase her tremendous endowment , from the worst to the best .

6Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)

A couple have their memories of each other surgically removed.

Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet star inthe unusually psychological rom - com , Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind . After the chief characters ' romanticism falls asunder , they both undergo operating theatre to remove their memories of each other . A present - day narration about the surgery is interlocking with flashbacks of the relationship . However , the flashback are also uncover out of chronological purchase order . The unusual narrative sequence leading toEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’sendingis used to demonstrate the mistakeJoel and Clementinemade in wanting to forget each other .

5Glass Onion (2022)

Benoit Blanc’s second mystery resets midway.

Knives Outfollows a relatively linear narrative , depicting Marta Cabrera and Benoit Blanc in the present tense with occasional flashback revealing more detail about Harlan Thrombey ’s death . In the sequelGlass Onion , Benoit Blanc mysteriously arrives at tech billionaire Miles Bron ’s secret island to witness a scenario that supposedly leads up to two deaths , before the story whole resets . The second half ofGlass Onionrelives the events from a unlike perspective , expose the truth of Benoit Blanc ’s mission . It is characteristic of the enfranchisement ’s original approach to the whodunit plot;Knives Out 3will be challenge with doing something every bit interesting .

There are several firm reasons Knives Out is the best Benoit Blanc movie , but there are also compelling arguments to suggest Glass Onion is better .

4Gone Girl (2014)

Nick Dunne becomes the main suspect in his wife’s disappearance.

Gone Girlis based on Gillian Flynn ’s novel of the same name , in whichthe range of a function of Nick and Amy Dunne ’s complete marriage begins to crumble when Amy work missing on their fifth day of remembrance . flashback reveal truth about Nick and Amy ’s life that regard the present tense . Gone Girl’stimelinecan be viewed chronologically , but the deadening reveal of the past increase the tension and mystery . go Girlis sleep together for its twistsand turns , which would not have the same consequence incorporate into a linear narration .

3Memento (2000)

A man with short-term memory loss hunts his wife’s killer.

Most ofMementohappens in inverse chronological orderliness , with some flashbacks of a undivided fragmented throughout and an opening conniption that takes place in the future ( or the present , depending on the perspective ) . The admirer Leonard expend a strict system to remind himself of meetings and people , which serves as another means the audience is clue into the mystery . AsMementoworks backward to the terminate , more information about the main character ’s mission and the mass necessitate with it is revealed , demonstrating how nothing is as it seems in a non - elongate narration .

2Arrival (2016)

A linguist learns an alien language that transcends time.

Arrivalopens with a vista that appear to set up a grievous backstory for its protagonist , linguist Louise Banks . Louise is called upon when alien spaceships descend upon Earth to reckon out a way of life to communicate with the aliens . As Louise learns more about their language , it is revealed that this shape of communication interacts with time differently . Events that seem to have happened in the past tense are in reality in the time to come . Arrival’stimelineis an intriguing take on a non - one-dimensional narrative . The picture features flashbacks that are revealed to be flashforwards as the primary fibre gains the ability to see into the futurity .

Arrival is arguably the greatest success Denis Villeneuve has had in sci - fi . If you care that film , check out these similar sci - fi picture show .

1Pulp Fiction (1994)

Quentin Tarantino’s iconic non-linear crime drama.

Pulp Fictionis break-dance into several narrative about various criminalsout of chronological parliamentary law . The curtain raising scene portray an armed robbery bump at a dining car , but its conclusion is not shew until the final stage . The moving picture prove events that happened both before and after this looting . A character is killed and appears in a different timeline afterwards ; two characters seem in one conniption fag uncharacteristic wear , and it is not reveal why until later on . Quentin Tarantino ’s witty dialogue meets the satisfaction ofPulp Fitcion’stimelinecoming together . Non - linear picture show are entertaining because they move beyond the canonical linear structure , lead to a satisfying conclusion as the narrative succession is break .

Collage of Knives Out and Glass Onion With Benoit Blanc in front

Collage of Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, and Dune

best-non-linear-movies

Headshot Of Tom Hanks In The Los Angeles World Premiere Of Apple TV+ Series ‘Masters Of The Air’

Headshot Of Halle Berry

Headshot Of Jim Broadbent In The Jewish Film Festival UK premiere of Charlotte

Headshot Of Hugo Weaving

V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas, Mr. Nobody

Diane and Rita at a movie theater together in Mulholland Drive

Headshot Of Laura Elena Harring

Headshot Of Mark Pellegrino In The NBC Universal Press Tour All-Star Party

Headshot Of Justin Theroux

Cast Placeholder Image

Still from Citizen Kane of Orson Welles leaning forward and talking

A shot from the Last Night in Soho trailer

Headshot Of Michael Ajao

Headshot Of Matt Smith In The UK premiere of Sky series ‘House of the Dragon’

Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

Headshot of Kate Winslet

Headshot Of Jim Carrey In The North America Rights

Headshot Of Elijah Wood

Headshot Of Kirsten Dunst

Headshot Of Dave Bautista In The Glass Onion A Knives Out Mystery' Premiere, part of the London Film Festival

Headshot Of Daniel Craig

Headshot Of Edward Norton In The 10th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony

Headshot Of Janelle Monae

Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike meet in a bookstore in David Fincher’s Gone Girl

Headshot Of Ben Affleck

Headshot Of Rosamund Pike In The 77th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs)

Headshot Of Neil Patrick Harris In The 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Headshot Of Tyler Perry

Guy Pearce holding a Polaroid in Memento

Headshot Of Joe Pantoliano In The Bad Boys For Life Los Angeles Premiere

Headshot Of Guy Pearce In The 77th annual Cannes

Headshot oF Carrie-Anne Moss

Headshot Of Stephen Tobolowsky In The Play production of ‘Stew’ at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner looking into the distance in Arrival

Headshot Of Michael Stuhlbarg

Headshot Of Forest Whitaker

Headshot Of Amy Adams In The BAFTA British Academy Film Awards 2019

Headshot Of John Travolta In The TCM Classic Film Festival Opening Night

Headshot Of Bruce Willis In The Premiere of Motherless Brooklyn

Headshot Of Ving Rhames

Samuel L. Jackson headshot