i forget if you've seen a few of these, and a few of them i've recd already, but anyway. even if you don't like some of these, it might give me a better understanding of what appeals and what doesn't and i'll be able to get more accurate lol
sion sono stuff - the live-action director most similar to animé that i've found (i guess OLDBOY is up there too, i need to rewatch that). LOVE EXPOSURE actually tries really hard to be offputting at times and it's really long so i'm loathe to recommend it as a starting point - maybe start with TAG instead. i definitely suggest exploring him quite extensively anyway, i find him absolutely exhilarating even when he's a mess. literally every one i've seen has been great so far and i haven't even seen a lot of his most revered material yet. unhinged to a fault.
KEANE - just one of the most emotionally raw and intense movies i've ever seen. i recall it being short and to the point.
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE - admittedly this took me 2 viewings to fully appreciate, but again it's really emotionally fraught.
ANOMALISA - charlie kaufman's latest. also try ADAPTATION if you haven't seen it, not SNY level of course but still good.
IT'S SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY - another animation, it's not perfect but i'd expect anyone who likes SNY to get something out of this. temporal slipperiness to the max.
THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS - depends on your tolerance for wes anderson's OCD schtick i suppose, but i find this chaotic family portrait more affecting every time i see it - actually the same applies to his whole filmography. loads of emotion buried under the stylisation. this isn't a safe recommendation really but i'm curious about your response.
THE FLY - a fun, silly genre movie that slowly becomes really disturbing and melancholy, or at least it did for me. i really like VIDEODROME and it may be a more prescient film thematically, but it didn't hit me emotionally the way this one did.
johnnie to stuff - he's a chinese genre director who constructs and directs his stories so beautifully without sacrificing any of their pulp pleasures. his cop movies are all awesome fun (if sometimes hard to follow if you're like me and struggle to tell asian faces apart lol), but i love his tragic meta-romances even more - ROMANCING IN THIN AIR is an all time favourite in that department. BLIND DETECTIVE meanwhile is just a batshit comic procedural thing, it has a certain chaos and insanity to it that you don't find much outside of animé, you may like. DRUG WAR is a more straightforward (but still chaotic and ingenious) cop procedural which seems to have garnered him more mainstream notoriety, so could be a good place to start. he's asian. you like asians. his movies are pretty short too generally iirc? there are actually an absolute shitload of great unhinged asian action movies/thrillers/etc, nearly every one i check out is awesome.
REAR WINDOW - everyone seems to respond differently to hitchcock (i know you've liked a couple of his if not necessarily loved) but this is one of his most purely pleasurable ones. NORTH BY NORTHWEST too.
LOVE STREAMS - i can imagine you hating cassavetes but you did ask before, and it's possible you'd like. may as well chuck you in at the deep end. i'd rather not say anything as it goes in unexpected directions. keep in mind he thought he had a couple of months to live when he made this - makes it more affecting somehow.
WOMAN IN THE DUNES - this is an existential allegory and not necessarily the most subtle, but it's so fucking vivid and strange that it doesn't matter. also ASIAN.
NAKED - this is like NOTHING else, not sure how to even begin describing it. it's like a british working class drama on a bad trip, but that description doesn't really do it justice. it's the kind of thing that can burn into your brain forever if you can get into it.
MEMORIES OF MURDER - asian cop movie with a really singular tone, pretty much canonical at this point.
OBSERVE & REPORT - like a seth rogen romcom for psychopaths. there's just a juxtaposition in tones here that's really unsettling.
THE SKIN I LIVE IN - insane identity-shifting thriller thing. felt really short to me, idk if it was in reality.
EYES WIDE SHUT - you've probably seen this but eh, it's kubrick being weird and dreamy. probably my fav of his after ACO.
THE SON - i always assumed the dardennes wouldn't be my cup of tea and i was dead wrong. if you like KEANE (i'd try that first) definitely give this a try - the dardennes are the masters of that basic style. their filmmaking is unbelievably economical, it's like they know exactly what to show and when to cut for maximum impact, like fucking clockwork. i've seen all their acclaimed movies and this is their best.
