20 INSANE Recent Movies You Probably Missed

13. By Design

By Design
Smudge Films

By Design is a new surreal drama film starring Juliette Lewis as a woman who swaps bodies with a chair, and because that's not unhinged enough, all of her friends actually end up liking the chair better.

Writer-director Amanda Kramer gets an A+ for cooking up such a blindingly original premise, and while the film's deeply offbeat style and tone won't be for all tastes, the end result largely lives up to the transfixing weirdness of its setup.

This is nothing if not a twisted new take on the well-worn body-swap genre, and yet despite its astoundingly nutty premise and buzzy Sundance premiere, the film barely made a peep during its limited theatrical release back in February, before landing on streaming in similarly low-key fashion.

Granted, a film this alienating-by-design (ha!) was never going to be a mainstream smash, but even within the bubble of art-house cineastes it still barely made a dent.

 
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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.