Along with some painkillers, your mom鈥檚 chicken soup and plenty of fluids, the best thing to fight a cold is taking it easy. Rest and relaxation come in many forms, but for me, curling up in front of a movie always makes me feel better.
With that in mind, here鈥檚 a list of movies that are just what the doctor ordered.
1. Shutter Island
Feeling feverish? Director Martin Scorsese鈥檚 鈥淪hutter Island,鈥� the surreal story of two U.S. marshals who uncover a shocking truth about an asylum on a remote island, is the kind of movie that feels like it was dreamed up during a low-grade fever.
Scorsese uses flashbacks, odd and deliberate lapses in continuity, weird camera tricks鈥攈e runs the film backwards in one scene, so it looks like smoke is flowing into, rather than out of Leonardo DiCaprio鈥檚 cigarette鈥攖o create an atmosphere of creeping dread, one in which the viewer, and perhaps even the characters, don鈥檛 know what is real and what is not.
Where many of his earlier films like 鈥淩aging Bull鈥� and 鈥淕oodfellas鈥� are about a state of existence, 鈥淪hutter Island鈥� is all about a state of mind. It鈥檚 a bold, risk-taking film, ripe with dramatic music, sweeping photography and unapologetically strange storytelling. It鈥檚 a story of paranoia, a deeply psychological thriller that pays homage to Hitchcock films like 鈥淰ertigo鈥� and 鈥淣orth By Northwest.鈥� Throw in a dollop of 鈥淭he Snake Pit鈥� and some Mario Bava you get an idea of the film鈥檚 feverish tone.
2. Pontypool
The flu can be a drag, but it鈥檚 nothing compared to the transmittable disease in 鈥淧ontypool,鈥� a bug that turns regular people into flesh eating creeps.
Set entirely inside a small radio station in the basement of a church, the story focuses on announcer Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie), his producer Sydney (Lisa Houle) and call screener Laurel Ann (Georgina Reilly) who use eye-witness accounts to slowly piece together the horrible story that is happening outside their doors.
When the reports turn ominous Mazzy realizes he is at the center of a big story and keeps broadcasting. What he doesn鈥檛 realize is that, perhaps, he is helping to spread the disease. 鈥淧ontypool鈥� is a movie set in a radio station that plays like a radio show. By and large the action is described and for once the old cliché that what you can鈥檛 see is more terrifying that what you can actually see, rings true. Couple that with a mounting sense of doom and you have an edge of your seat thriller.
3. Barefoot in the Park
They say misery loves company, so if you find yourself sneezing and wheezing from a cold, check out 鈥淏arefoot in the Park,鈥� the classic romantic comedy starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. They play the uptight Paul and the free-spirited Corie, newlyweds living in a cramped, fifth-floor Greenwich Village apartment.
When Paul refuses to impulsively run barefoot in the park with her, they fight, and he sleeps on the sofa, under a hole in their skylight on a snowy February night. The next morning, he wakes up with a fever, and spends most of the rest of the film with a cold and sneezing. He sneezes at least three times, and does, according to 鈥淢ajor Arcana,鈥� a 鈥渃ollection of movies and tv episodes in which there is sneezing,鈥� a 鈥渨onderfully convincing job.鈥�
So come for the sneezes, but stay for the pleasingly performed screwball farce that, although dated, still provides laughs and a wonderful portrait of a couple as they grow comfortable with one another.
4. A Quiet Place
A headache can make it impossible to enjoy anything, but if you want to take your mind off the dull thump in your head and still be entertained, the muted but exciting 鈥淎 Quiet Place鈥� should do the trick.
Imagine living in complete silence. Never raising your voice over the level of a faint whisper. No music. No heavy footsteps. You can鈥檛 even sneeze. Silence. Then imagine your life depends on staying completely noiseless.
It鈥檚 great if you鈥檙e suffering from a headache, but for the 鈥淎 Quiet Place鈥檚鈥� Abbott family鈥攁nd the rest of the world鈥攊t the difference between life and death. Their world has been invaded by creatures attracted by sound鈥攁ny sound鈥攕o survival means silence. The silence of the first half of the movie is deafening. There is no spoken dialogue for forty minutes, just dead air.
In the way that many filmmakers use bombast to grab your attention director John Krasinski uses the absence of sound to focus the audience on the situation. Uncluttered and low key, it鈥檚 a unique and unsettling horror film, and perfect to soothe the banging in your head.
5. The Big Sick
Finally, most rom coms don鈥檛 feature illness as a plot point, but for comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani and writer Emily V. Gordon it was a crucial part of their film鈥檚 story. Based on their real lives, 鈥淭he Big Sick鈥� sees their relationship blossom after she contracts a mysterious illness.
There are no major revelations here, just a carefully balanced look at the immigrant experience鈥斺�淭he rules don鈥檛 make sense to me,鈥� Kumail says to his parents. 鈥淲hy did you bring me here if you didn鈥檛 want me to have an American life?鈥濃�攁mbition, family and the nature of true love. It鈥檚 funny, but not laugh-a-minute funny, just comfortably charming as it navigates the cultural and medical landmines in the paths of Kumail and Emily (played by Zoe Kazan).
Even when 鈥淭he Big Sick鈥� is making jokes about terrorism and the 鈥淴-Files鈥� it is all heart, a crowd-pleaser that still feels personal and intimate and could be a great pick-me-up when feeling under the weather.
