FilmsThe IdealLike this

Films like The Ideal.

The Ideal (2016) reads as Neutral, kinetic, gentle comedy, grounded in texture. Ambivalent, intimate, cold. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

The Players (2012) poster
1. The Players2012

Keeps the heightened unreality and the gentle temperature; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Accidental Love (2015) poster
2. Accidental Love2015

Keeps the heightened unreality and the cold, bleak undertow — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Players (2020) poster
3. The Players2020

Keeps the heightened unreality and the cold, bleak undertow — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Fool's Paradise (2023) poster
4. Fool's Paradise2023

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the gentle temperature — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Stand In (2020) poster
5. The Stand In2020

Keeps the heightened unreality and the cold, bleak undertow — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Simply Black (2020) poster
6. Simply Black2020

Keeps the heightened unreality and the gentle temperature; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

Serious Moonlight (2009) poster
7. Serious Moonlight2009

Keeps the heightened unreality and the cold, bleak undertow; trades toward a clean studio craft.

The Big Bad Wolf (2013) poster
8. The Big Bad Wolf2013

Keeps the heightened unreality and the cold, bleak undertow; trades toward a grounded, familiar shape.

Boudu (2005) poster
9. Boudu2005

Keeps the heightened unreality and the gentle temperature — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

3, 2, 1... Frankie Go Boom (2012) poster
10. 3, 2, 1... Frankie Go Boom2012

Keeps the heightened unreality and the cold, bleak undertow — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Gambit (2012) poster
11. Gambit2012

Keeps the heightened unreality and the cold, bleak undertow — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Struck by Lightning (2013) poster
12. Struck by Lightning2013

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the gentle temperature — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

These are The Ideal’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

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