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Between 1964 and 1981, Oldřich Lipský and Jiří Brdečka collaborated on a loose trilogy of films, each of which paid loving, yet subversive, homage to a strain of pop culture that would’ve been seen as hopelessly disreputable by the Communist authorities in the former Czechoslovakia. Lemonade Joe is a tribute to the John Ford western, while Adela Has Not Had Supper Yet tinkers with the conventions of the private eye film. And Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians delivers a hilarious and surreal steampunk riff on a lesser known Jules Verne novel, in which the French writer filters the trappings of gothic fiction through his “scientific-technical” worldview.

The comedic sensibility behind Mysterious Castle bears comparison to a number of other films and filmmakers. Its sense of anarchy and unpredictability brings to mind the work of the Marx Brothers, while the delight that it takes in in absurdism and abstruse wordplay (only some...

So…what do I mean by “What the F**k?” Movies? These are the films that, upon completing your viewing, you seriously worry about the director’s sanity. Or you can’t really comprehend what you just saw. Or you know what you watched was something magical, but can’t really put the pieces together in your mind. Or, worse, you know what happened, but certifiably it’s insane. But with this “definition” comes a few caveats: no horror films and no fully animated films. Those genres lean a little too crazy to begin with – it’s more fun to look at films that force a sense of realism, even if it’s just on the surface.

50. Southland Tales (2007)

Directed by: Richard Kelly

Not all these movies are necessarily “good.” In 2001, writer/director Richard Kelly found cult status with the mind-bending Donnie Darko. It took six years for him to...