INTPs are noted for their introversion, intuition, thinking, and perception. One of the sixteen personality types defined by the Myers-Briggs Personality Type®, INTPs are quiet and reserved, but their mental capacities are always in overdrive. INTPs are eternally curious, wanting to know how things work or how problems can be solved in logical ways.
When it comes to movies, INTPs prefer straight-forward, compelling narratives that showcase characters striving through difficult situations. Much more intellectual than emotional, INTPs enjoy films that push their analytical skills instead of their feelings. This type doesn't mind experimental or abstract thinking; they just don't care too much for wishy-washy drama. If dramas to watch and which ones to avoid.
LOVE: If Beale Street Could Talk (2019)
Moonlight director Barry Jenkins is behind this award-winning period drama.
KiKi Layne and Stephan James play the couple, Tish and Fonny. After Fonny is falsely accused of assaulting a white woman, Tish endeavors to free her love from a prejudical system. INTPs will be drawn into this narrative about people forced to think outside the box in order to find the independence they deserve.
HATE: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
INTPs will not be fans of this histrionic adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. Directed by Keanu Reeves to Winona Rider.
Set in both Romania and England during the Victorian Era, this gothic tale is too over-the-top for an INTP. INTPs are more likely to respond to subtle plot developments, realistic acting, and believable settings than they are fantastical circumstances. This MBTI® type is just too grounded in the real world.
LOVE: First Man (2018)
Ryan Gosling plays historic astronaut Neil Armstrong in this biopic based on James R. Hansen's book. The film follows a young and aspirational Armstrong as he strives to become the first person to walk on the movie. It culminates with 1969's Apollo 11 mission.
Josh Singer's forthright film and engaging character study right up an INTP's alley. Without using soap opera theatrics, First Man revels in Armstrong's quest for greatness.
HATE: Apollo 13 (1995)
Apollo 13 too drawn out and theatrical for the INTP sensibility.
INTPs enjoy watching challenges unfold on screen, but they prefer to see them depicted without the bombast or pomp rampant in Howard's period drama.
LOVE: The Seventh Seal (1957)
Ingmar Bergman's classic Medieval drama is an abstract, philosophical feature about life, death, and personal revelations. Max Von Sydow plays a knight in the middle ages living in a world ravaged by both the black plague and the Crusades. His disheartened character, Antonius Block, literally plays a game of chess with the personification of Death on the beach while sharing stories from his life.
The Seventh Seal is a thought-provoking film. INTPs will bask in all the theoretical concepts and big questions presented in the film.
HATE: The Decameron (1971)
This controversial film from controversial Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini is adapted from Boccaccio's classic medieval frame story of the same name. Each part of The Decameron is a morality tale. Pasolini rejoices in excess, presenting exaggerated narratives involving sex, gross-out humor, and slapstick.
INTPs enjoy conceptual films, but Pasolini's masterpiece epic just isn't their cup of tea. Instead of playing out like a historical drama, The Decameron is theatrical and grandiose. INTPs prefer cinema that is more low-key.
LOVE: The Imitation Game (2014)
INTPs are really into science, and they will be intellectually stimulated by the work of British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing. The father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, Turing worked for the British government as a code breaker during WWII. A gay man, Turing was charged with homosexual acts in 1952, which was considered illegal at the time. Even in the context of the time period, this is a problematic concept.
Benedict Cumberbatch plays Turing in The Imitation Game. INTPs won't be able to stay away from this period drama.
HATE: The Great Gatsby (2013)
Leonardo DiCaprio as the title character.
All the jazz and gaudy costuming in the movie isn't enough to regal the INTP. This thoughtful, introverted type prefers a quiet night at home over the endless party on display in the movie.
LOVE: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The search for justice and truth at the heart of this classic adaptation of Harper Lee's award-winning novel. Set in 1930s Alabama during the height of the Jim Crow Era, To Kill a Mockingbird tells the story of a white defense attorney who decides to defend a black man he believes has been falsely accused of raping a white girl.
Gregory Peck shines as the lawyer Atticus Finch. This candid story plays across many genres: courtroom procedural, family drama, and race relations include. This sincere tale will strike INTPs.
HATE: The Importance Of Being Earnest (2002)
This direct adaptation of Oscar Wilde's Victorian comedy of errors stars Reese Witherspoon, Rupert Everett, and Colin Firth. The film involves two men who use the same pseudonym, Ernest, as they vie for the love of high society women. The movie showcases the dishonest, artificial nature of proper Victorian gentlemen.
The Importance of Being Earnest is definitely witty, but it deals too much with superficial characters to keep an INTP amused.
