The Thirteenth Floor

1999, Los Angeles. Douglas Hall investigates his employer's murder. The company's product is a simulation of Los Angeles in 1937, exact enough that you can enter it and talk to the people living there. The further Hall goes, the clearer it becomes that he is inside a simulation himself, which makes three realities nested in each other. Josef Rusnak wrote and directed, produced by Roland Emmerich's Centropolis. The source is Daniel F. Galouye's 1964 novel Simulacron-3, and the film is also a remake of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1973 miniseries World on a Wire. The cast includes Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Vincent D'Onofrio, Dennis Haysbert and Armin Mueller-Stahl. On a 16 million dollar budget it took 18.5 million worldwide, 11.9 million of that in North America. Its misfortune is the calendar. It opened on 28 May 1999, in the same season as The Matrix and eXistenZ, and finished last among the films questioning reality. It lost the Best Science Fiction Saturn nomination to The Matrix as well. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus blames the script and a confusing plot while calling the visuals impressive. The philosopher Slavoj Zizek defended it. Who it is for: viewers who like simulation science fiction and a forties noir atmosphere. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the pace of The Matrix. This one leans on mystery rather than action and moves slowly.