I was thinking about the Sandy Hook Promise: Gun violence warning signs video where a stereotypical teen romance story plays out and in the background someone gives off warning signs that they’re going to go on a shooting spree and it’s made me wonder if there are movies that follow a similar setup of building something up in the background just to have it completely overtake the main story line.
Like an average city girl following in love with a prince but you see protests and other signs of civil unrest in the background and the prince gets assassinated at the wedding. Maybe some kind of story that ends in 9/11 or the Cold War turning hot. Some kind of discount M. Night Shyamalan-style twist.
Cabin in the Woods, definitely
Life is beautiful.
The first half is a romcom about a charming and dorky Jewish Italian man chasing after his “princesa” and starting a family with a little boy.
Then the Nazis arrive.
Beautiful movie, but that’s not really a ‘subtly in the background’ story that catches you off guard
Maybe some kind of story that ends in 9/11
For exactly that, there’s 2010’s “Remember Me” with Robert Pattinson. Haven’t personally seen it, but for most of it it’s apparently a mid level romance/drama, then bam, date is revealed in on the blackboard of the main character’s sister’s school and the main character is looking out the window of his dad’s office which turns out to be in the North Tower. Idea behind it may be something like “each of the victims had their own ongoing story that was suddenly cut short” or something, but a lot of people felt that was shoehorned in for shock value or something
Not exactly what you are asking for but you reminded me of Searching (2018).
I vaguely remember some cop or cop adjacent tv show where a character thought that his neighbors were terrorists. They event went so far as to have him knock on the door and apologize, only to have the door close and show the inside of a bomb making setup.
Maybe Arlington Road? Love that movie.
Not a movie but would The OA fit this description? I admittedly haven’t seen it since season 1 originally came out and never watched the show past that S01 finale episode.
Perfect Blue.
Story and editing like it should the indie darling classic it is.
I feel like a lot of Anime’s have that kind of twist, where all is revealed, with plenty of background clues on first watch.
Mirai Nikki springs to mind
Attack on Titan