Don’t get us wrong, dear reader, we’re always down to sit down and rewatch our favourite meet-cute romcoms or hyper-realistic dramas (mostly to impress our mates on Letterboxd), but sometimes we’re itching to cast our peepers onto something that we’ll struggle to explain the plot to the next poor fool who we come into contact with.

If unique visuals and bonkers plots are your bread and butter, or if you want to watch something out of the box for your next movie night, we suggest checking out some of the picks we’ve got down below.

GREENER GRASS Strap yourself in, this one’s a doozy. This 2019 satirical and surrealist black comedy was directed by Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe (who also star in the film) and follows the adventures of married couples – all adorned with dental braces and driving around in golf carts – living in an unnamed suburban town where things are bright, seemingly perfect and objectively bizarre. There’s a child who gets turned into a golden retriever, there’s a suspicious and constantly giggling person stalking our protagonist and someone who gives birth to a soccer ball, so don’t say we didn’t warn you. It’s bizarre, but we like it all the same.

SORRY TO BOTHER YOU Directed and written by Boots Riley and starring LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Terry Crews, Danny Glover and heaps of other talented peeps, this science fiction dark comedy follows main character Cassius (played by LaKeith) struggling to get by as his job as a telemarketer before adapting to a “white voice”, which leads him to immense job success. We frankly would be spoiling the entire rest of the film’s wild second half if we spoke any further, so we highly suggest watching this one for yourself (trust us, you won’t see what’s coming).

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON We never thought we’d ever cry over the antics of a one-inch-tall talking one-eyed shell voiced by Jenny Slate, but we can safely say that we’ve done that after watching this 2021 mockumentary comedy-drama. Directed by Dean Fleischer Camp – who worked on the original video series alongside Jenny that was published on YouTube in 2010 – this A24 flick depicts main character Marcel living in an Airbnb with his grandma and filmmaker Dean, who spends his days looking after his pet ball of lint and searching for his lost family. It’s silly, yes, but it’s also tender and tooth-achingly sweet (and worth checking out).

I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS This 2020 movie was written and directed by the same guy who wrote Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich – Charlie Kaufman – so you already know you’re in for an eccentric experience. What starts off as a young woman travelling with her boyfriend to meet his family for the first time in the midst of a snowstorm quickly turns into an atmosphere of suspense, surrealism and becomes slightly unnerving, shifting from one person’s point of view into another. It has a lot to say but it doesn’t give any clear answers, leaving it up to us to decide what we reckon the film is trying to tell us (there’s also a fair bit of singing and dancing, if that happens to be your thing).

MULHOLLAND DRIVE Listen, really any of David Lynch’s work could be up here – or even just one episode of Twin Peaks – but we reckon that his 2001 neo-noir flick set in the star-studded hills of Hollywood is our perfect pick for a taste of wonderful weirdness (fair warning: you will never see the jump scare coming, no matter how hard you prepare yourself for it). It stars Naomi Watts, Justin Theroux, Laura Harring and even a surprising cameo by Mr. “Achy Breaky Heart” himself, Billy Ray Cyrus, although the plot is something a bit harder to decipher. It’s part dream sequence, part crime drama and everything else all at once and, in true David Lynch fashion, the director has yet to give a solid explanation to the reality and meaning of his film to this day. Our suggestion? Give it a watch and come up your own conclusions.