Listicle: 10 movies that were way ahead of their time

The Truman Show predicted our performative lives. In Her, a man fell in love with an OS. These 10 movies depicted reality before it happened

The Truman Show (1998). Jim Carrey plays Truman Burbank, unsuspecting star of a 24/7 reality show. His city is a set, his wife, set and community are actors. Even the horizon is painted on. Cameras track his every move. His life is a spectacle. Peter Weir directs the tale with slow compassion, long before questions of consent, authenticity, and the moral boundaries of voyeurism became part of our lives.

The Truman Show raised questions of consent and authenticity long before they began to be discussed.

Gattaca showed gene editing in 1997, eight years before the human genome was sequenced.

Gattaca (1997). Gene editing, custom-making babies, DNA tests that determine your job, your status and who you can love. Andrew Niccol’s sci-fi film is less about the tech and more about the drama. It came eight years before the human genome was sequenced. But even now, when we watch naturally conceived Vincent (Ethan Hawke) cheat his way to becoming an astronaut, we’re rooting for him.

The 1996 film Fire showed a lesbian relationship, something Indians are still uncomfortable with.

Fire (1996). India was still two decades away from decriminalising consensual same-sex relationships when Deepa Mehta’s film released.Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das play Radha and Sita, sisters-in-law largely neglected by their husbands in a conservative household, who develop feelings for each other. The focus is on desire and companionship. It’s the kind of content that much of India remains uncomfortable with today.

Burnout? Quiet Quitting? They’re terms you’d not expect to see in Office Space, a 1999 film.

Office Space (1999). When the millennium turned, most of us worried about the Y2K bug and whether our microwaves would explode. No one was thinking of burnout or quiet quitting. It’s why Mike Judge’s black comedy still holds up. Disengaged programmer Peter Gibbons comes out of a hypnotherapy session in blissful apathy — ignoring deadlines, refusing overtime and playing games at his desk. “Isn’t this all kind of stupid?” It still is.

Twelve years ago, a man falling in love with his operating system seemed odd but cute. Today, it’s reality.

Her (2013). Twelve years ago, a movie about a man falling in love with his operating system seemed odd but cute. She had Scarlett Johansson’s voice, she managed his homelife, work life and emotions. No one believed bots could do that much, so they played along with Spike Jonze’s tale. Now, we’re using AI to write apology notes, make art, track stocks, build travel itineraries. We’re in love, we just haven’t realised it.

Network captures the start of journalism’s downward slide, long before the chaos of cable news.

Network (1976). “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore” was never just a line—it was a sign that people were losing faith in the media. Network captures the start of journalism’s downward slide, long before reality TV and the chaos of cable news. It follows a news anchor’s breakdown, showing that even insanity can be monetised. We know this all too well now, don’t we?

Fight Club addressed the question of what it means to be a man in 1999.

Fight Club (1999). Everyone’s asking men what it means to be a man. Fight Club addressed that question in 1999. In David Fincher’s film, Edward Norton and Brad Pitt aren’t just punching their rage out, they’re playing out a masculinity crisis and the flip side of consumer culture. “The things you own end up owning you,” says Tyler Durden. A much better line than Marie Kondo’s “Does this spark joy?”

Donnie Darko had existential dread before Gen Z TikTokers made it cool.

Donnie Darko (2001). In Richard Kelly’s cult classic, a jet engine crashes into teen Donnie’s bedroom—but he survives. Then, a man in a rabbit suit tells him the world will end in 28 days. As Donnie wrestles with school, therapy and love, he uncovers strange links between time, fate and his own mind. Before Gen Z began making TikToks about existential dread, Donnie Darko was already deep in the spiral.

François Truffaut’s film, The 400 Blows, is an ancestor to Netflix’s series Adolescence.

The 400 Blows (1959). Put aside for a moment that this is a film-school favourite, and watch François Truffaut’s film as an ancestor to Netflix’s series Adolescence. Through 13-year-old Antoine Doinel, we see a boy discarded by home, stifled by school, and drawn to rebellion. Every glance aches with the need to escape. Truffaut keeps the mood tender, intimate—and revolutionary. The final freeze-frame doesn’t end the story; it dares us to ask: What becomes of the unloved when no one’s watching?

Westworld was a warning about using humanoid robots for pleasure.

Westworld (1973). Michael Crichton warned us but we didn’t listen. We just saw bots as socially approved slaves and kept at it. The theme park in the title is where humanoid robots exist solely for pleasure, until they malfunction and the escapist fantasy devolves into chaos. Long before we got ChatGPT to talk to itself, Westworld asked: What happens when our creations stop obeying—and start remembering?

From HT Brunch, May 10, 2025

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