The Thirteenth Floor (1999)

Directed by Joseph Rusnak. Starring Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dennis Haysbert, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Rif Hutton, Jeremy Roberts, Shiri Appleby. [R]

In present day, Mueller-Stahl invents a virtual reality simulation of 1937 Los Angeles so complex and realistic that the “programmed characters” inhabiting it have their own thoughts and live their own lives. Not long after discovering its existence, protégé Bierko becomes a suspect in a murder related to the simulation’s existence, and he starts jumping in and out of its artificial reality to uncover the secrets behind the crime. Underappreciated sci-fi noir has its problems—the setup is better than the resolution, there’s not much in the way of rooting interest, and it was released amid a glut of tech-driven mindtrip movies—but those willing to pay attention to the convolutions and eager to soak in its synthetic atmosphere should find it to be an interesting spin on blurred-reality tropes. D’Onofrio stands out in a dual role as one of the VR programmers and a bartender inside the simulation. Based on Daniel F. Galouye’s novel, “Simulacron-3,” which was previously turned into a 1973 movie by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (World on a Wire). Look for Alison Lohman in a minor part.

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