New-ish soft science fiction films

I’m constantly amased at how many great recommendations I get here (that’s not been my experience elsewhere), so thought I’d start another “recommend me” thread. I’m looking for pretty niche ‘soft’ sci-fi films. I do watch and love all manner of sci-fi, so it’s not a hard criterion, but I tend to gravitate towards stuff like pretty much anything by Moorhead & Benson, and anything to do with quantum mechanics/physics, such as Primer, 12 Monkeys, Moon, Upstream Colour, Volition, etc. I’m also ideally looking for more recent recs from the last decade or so that I may have missed, but again, not a hard criterion. Needless to say, suggestions in all languages are very welcome.

Thanks in advance.

I'm guessing you've already seen Coherence, but if not, that's probably the very first one you should watch.

Predestination feels a lot...I wanna say 'goofier' but that's a little harsh. But it doesn't have the same even keel that your examples (or the rec just above) do. That said, for people who like high-concept sci-fi, even the less grounded stuff is enjoyable, so maybe that, too.

Thank you - Coherence is one of my all-time favourites in this context, and Predestination was a fun watch, and actually, I think “goofy” is exactly right. But these are definitely on the right track, so thanks!

I do as much of my own research as most of us here, but yesterday I ended up trying to watch something shockingly bad as a result of trying to discover new things, so thought I’d ask for help/pointers.

Her 2013
The Martian 2015
10 Cloverfield Lane 2016
Life 2017
Ad Astra 2019
Finch 2021
Free Guy 2021
(Space Sweepers 2021)

Not soft but good:
Snowpiercer 2013
Ex Machina 2014
Upgrade 2018
Dune 2021

Different:
Under the Skin 2013

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Thank you! Free Guy was a blast, there are 3 here that I haven’t seen, which is awesome.

High Life (2018)

That was alright, a bit too artsy, but I’m glad I’ve seen it. Denis’ work doesn’t tend to connect with me an awful lot. But thanks!

You might like After Yang. I hope to have a review up for it in the next few days.

Ah, yes, I totally missed that one and remember being very excited for it, and then it fell off the radar. Thanks!

Aniara (2018)

Watched it recently, a month ago at most. It certainly falls in the same category that’s usually up my street, but something was lacking imo. Did enjoy it still.

Apologies if some of these are ones I already recommended to you a while back! Some overlap with others in this thread-consider them a seconding (or thirding!) These are all from 2010 and forward:

Mad God
Ad Astra
Titane
Possessor
I'm Your Man
Prospect
The Machine
Robot & Frank
Advantageous
Marjorie Prime
Empathy Inc

Titane and Possessor aren't exactly "soft". Prospect might not fully fit your criteria, but I have such a soft spot for it and love the central relationship and character arcs.

Thanks so much, I was hoping you’d show up. I do now seem to recall I may have started a similar thread in the past, so apologies if so. Love a lot of these but don’t think I’ve seen Robot & Frank or Prospect (especially intrigued in light of your comment!).

Titane and Possessor are both gorgeous and I very much enjoy but, but agreed, perhaps not very soft!

For some fun irony along the lines of an old-school Twilight Zone episode, check out the small-budget flick Time Lapse from 2014.

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Oh, yes, that I really liked. Exactly my kind of low-key thing.

I enjoyed Come True (2020) a lot. However, all my friends who saw it don't think as highly of it as me.

Last and First Men (2020) is one of the best sci-fi films in X years. But I'm not sure if it fits what you're looking for.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

I did think Come True was memorable, but at the time I found it very cliché-ridden, even did a little write-up about. I haven’t heard of Last and First Men, so thank you!

First ones that came to mind were Coherence and Aniara, which were already mentioned.

Others that came to mind, some of which might fall under the "soft" criteria, others not, but...

Under the Skin
Beyond the Black Rainbow
Another Earth
Triangle

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@Thief mentioned a Brit Marling film, so I will add...

I, Origins
The Sound of My Voice
Also the Netflix series The OA

Hell, yes, I’m very much a Brit Marling person. The Sound of My Voice is also one of my favourites, but in the OA, annoyingly, she just didn’t convince me as a Russian. Am I right that the OA got cancelled?

Also need to get to Beyond the Black Rainbow.