Movie Substrate · Film
Impossible Things (2021)
★ 8.4 · 422 ratings on TMDB
There are encounters that change your life
After the death of her abusive husband, Matilde finds her new best friend in Miguel, her young, insecure, and disoriented neighbor.
DirectorErnesto Contreras
The emergence reading
In Impossible Things, consciousness is carried by machines — a plane of “cyber‑espionage thriller”. The story fights on E11/E12 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing technology, surveillance, power, control, cyberwar.
↷ machinesMXtechnologysurveillancepowercontrolcyberwar
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
The Circle (2017)E11/E12 · rare rung · control, power
Southland Tales (2007)E11/E12 · rare rung · power, surveillance
WarGames (1983)E12 · rare rung · control, technology
Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)E12 · rare rung · control, technology
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)E11/E12 · rare rung · power, technology
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)E11/E12 · rare rung · power, technologySame subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)E7/E10 · rare rung · power, technology
Terminator Genisys (2015)E8/E14 · rare rung · control, power
Atlas (2024)E8/E14 · rare rung · control, power
I, Robot (2004)E8/E10/E14 · rare rung · control, technology
M3GAN 2.0 (2025)E8/E10/E14 · rare rung · power, technology
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)E8/E14 · rare rung · control, technologyAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
Echelon Conspiracy (2009)consciousness in machines · autonomous surveillance AI
Eagle Eye (2008)consciousness in machines · surveillance-state AI
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)consciousness in machines · superhero defense
RoboCop (2014)consciousness in machines · cybernetic policing
RoboCop 2 (1990)consciousness in machines · corporate cyber‑police dystopia
The Lawnmower Man (1992)consciousness in machines · digital ascensionSame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)consciousness in animals · control, power
Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)consciousness in aliens · control, power
Godzilla (2014)consciousness in monsters · power, technology
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)consciousness in animals · power, technology
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)consciousness in monsters · power, technology
Avengers: Endgame (2019)consciousness in aliens · power, technology