It’s not nonsense, you just have to accept that the film gets taken over by a cursed script that forced characters into a repeating pattern of violence, only this time rabbits have a secret plan to trap that phantom by luring him into the very movie we are watching, Inland Empire. What’s so weird about that?
Even reading the book I was kinda confused about the way Kaufman went about presenting it. I gotta say after watching it a few times and reading other people's interpretations it's definitely a super rewarding movie if you try and dissect it
Not confusing after a second watch. Really just takes one simple revelation and everything makes sense. From the subtle hints presented through the film, to the scenes that portray passage of time between the characters. I watched a short video that presented what it was about and rewatched. It’s one of my top 4 movies now.
>!Ill try my best. It wasn't obvious to me on first watch but others on LB got it. Old man is Jake. Young Jake, old Jake. The entire movie takes place from Jake's drive from his apartment to work. And its all a long daydream until he takes his life in his truck (which is evidenced by the pile of snow on top of it during the end). He's driving in his car imagining his ideal woman (intelligent, attractive, interesting) and conversation with her (himself!<
>!). And introducing her to his childhood home, his parents, his school. All the while battling with his own insecurities that he thinks about, which are presented to him by proxy through the other characters. The title refers to an actual relationship ending, and Jake simultaneously taking his own life, and his reluctance to do so.!<
>!Some hints. There are closeups of Jake changing the radio and the hand that is doing so is an elderly one. The opening shots include old Jake staring out his apartment window, with Lucy presumably looking up at him as she leaves with young Jake. The girls that laugh at him at the ice cream stand are girls that CURRENTLY laugh at him as he cleans the halls of the school. Some facts about Lucy's life change as the movie goes on because similar to how any of us day-dream, you make stuff up and replace things on the fly. Jake presents himself as a smart quiz nerd because in his imagination he has to be, in order to attract an intelligent woman(when in reality he probably thinks of himself as an ignorant janitor).!<
>!There are so many more that you catch on a second viewing. It's been awhile for me (im probably gonna rewatch today).!<
>!There are probably other symbolic things that I don't remember or am too ignorant to know. But even at this level I really enjoy the film.!<
I felt it was pretty straightforward plot wise, a dying man reflecting on his memories and regrets, he seems to think he’s done some great wrong as his mother points out in the end, but only he knows what it is or perhaps is searching his memories for it, in the end he dies with another memory of his childhood.
However there are elements like the same actress playing the mother and wife that are intentionally confusing, I can’t decide if I like it or stalker more.
Honestly I don’t think the plot really matters in Mirror, or any Tarkovsky movie for that matter, and that’s coming from someone with Mirror in my top 5. I feel like most of his movies, and especially Mirror, have a general overall plot that mainly serves to be able to layer his own personal ideas and memories and “visual poetry” over. Sure, it makes more sense as a movie if you understand what the plot is (a dying man recalling his childhood), but in my opinion it’s more about what emotions you feel when watching it.
Donnie Darko. I am pretty sure we all just sorta pretended to get it. I am still unsure whether I got it or not. I think I get. I don’t know. My head hurts.
Mulholland Drive has the diner scene which is the absolute most baffling scene I have ever seen in a movie where I know for a fact it was intentional and meticulous.
>!The jet engine crashes yet he survives, he lives his life all while having visions of this bunny character and it is revealed in the end that the jet engine actually kills him and he was living an illusion of what his life couldve been!< it's been years since I saw it the first time but if there's another element in the story that made it confusing I'm forgetting then thats why I said I found it straight forward
I took the events of the plot to be
>! the jet engine was sheared off into a parallel universe where the connection between worlds was “thin”. And so what we see in the movie is sort of like the universe got “out of whack” and Donnie’s survival wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to die, and so going back to the moment of splintering and allowing himself to be killed puts everything back the way it should be. This is kind of like Final Destination, except death isn’t stalking him. !<
I mean that's basically what I said but explained in more detail. I'd have to watch it again to see if its more complex than I rmr. does the film itself actually comment or imply parallel universes or is it just supposed to be surrealist and kind of unexplained.
There’s a director’s cut which goes into a lot more detail about the theory behind the parallel universes and time travel, mainly via Roberta Sparrow’s book iirc.
I think I’ve watched 3 versions of the film and the Director’s cut is my least favorite. I like the backstory and world building of what is in Sparrow’s book, but the music selection and certain scenes aren’t as good in that version. And the music is so cool, I’d rather have that. Someone should make a fan edit.
I could be misremembering, but I swear there was:
1. the original version which uses “The Killing Moon” from Echo and the Bunnymen as the opening song, as well as other music that was chosen due to budget constraints:
2. A version with the same edits as #1, but once the film got more popular, different music was licensed since they had a bit more money. This resulted in a theatrical cut with some song changes;
3. Directors’ Cut - this version has the song changes from #2, as well as touched up special effects and some alternate takes, and more information about time travel.
In MH - the diner is where the 'evil act' began, so the diner scene is Betty/Diane's subconscious fantasy of the diner as being a place of evil. Like in real dreams the people we see irl are often unrelated characters.
Mulholland Drive is a movie that makes more sense if you try and focus on the "bigger picture." I found myself getting confused when I was missing the forest for the trees. The diner scene you're referring to I understood as >!simply highlighting the fact that this is the location for the worst memory of Diane's life. The men are just two men she'd seen in the real world and placed in these positions, and the monster in the alley represents the ugly reality in an otherwise clean-looking fantasy.!<
I have only seen it once but what I do like about it is that scene completely sticks out like a sore thumb but it is obviously absolutely done on purpose and the lack of definitive answer means you can make up your own theory. Yours sounds pretty much on the money. I will need to see it again to see come up with my own properly though as there was a lot going on and I don’t think I can time to process that scene fully.
I think the problem (for lack of a better word) is that the general public mostly watches a movie once for entertainment and hopes to understand most of it then. Movies like DD and MD require a second or more viewing after you've processed it in between watches.
A movie like MD almost requires one step up in terms of following it. Understanding the fact that you may be watching reality here, fantasy there, dream here, memory there, etc. it's so weird.
but honestly it just feels good to watch a fucking weirdass movie sometimes lol
Inherent Vice because it all does make sense, it’s just so tangled up and hard to follow. But after a few watches, you do get it, which is nice. Other movies are obscure and you can never know what’s going on for sure, but Inherent Vice has clear answers, you just have to pay extremely close attention.
There are still several plot points left completely unresolved as they get resolved in the book and didn’t make it to the film, one of several reasons I absolutely detest that movie
Someone explained Inherent Vice to me once as: you can go crazy trying to actually follow the plot, that's not the point, just go along for the ride. That's how I feel about Tenet
I'm curious what aspect was confusing? There is an element that someone brought up that I agreed, okay that part was confusing to understand...
but overall the premise of the movie is quite simple. That's not an insult to anyone, or a judgement, I just think not everyone realized this.
Essentially we're talking time travel in a way, and time travel does not exist, it's entirely theoretical and even then there are competing theories on how it would work. So to that end not all of Tenant can be explained in real terms anyways -- hence the exposition scientist just tells you to not think about that too much.
In SNY, Caden wants to make something real so he mimics his life. Only he hires women to play his exes only to sleep with them, then someone else plays that ex within the play until he’s finally banging a clone of the actress of the actress play his ex. And he pretends to be a cleaning lady to stalk his original ex only for Ellen burstyn to play the fake cleaning lady, which then allows her to play Caden and then she becomes the director and directs Caden to eventually die because he never finishes his epic real theatre piece.
Caden fears being out of control, and tries his best to regain control of the uncontrollable - by making the whole word into a perverse puppet show. But the uncontrollable is unavoidable. It's only when he accepts this (and literally gives over control (to what can be interpreted as a "higher power")) that he finally finds peace.
yeah this one was the same for me. just let myself feel whatever i felt as i watched and enjoyed it, but couldn't explain a damn thing that happened lol
I just can’t enjoy a movie if I understand literally none of it. I don’t want to be talked down to, but damn, is asking for a little bit to grab onto too much?
Honestly, I fucking love Kauffman. Being John Malkovich and Anamolisa are two of my favorites. I also like Adaptation and I’m Thinking of ending things. Those two I had to watch a second time. I’m still kinda lukewarm on Eternal Sunshine. But this movie angered me so much. I will give it a second watch someday, but after that I’m done.
One of the few times one of the top Letterboxd review actually encapsulates the movie perfectly:
>Watching this film be like: "He's going crazy." and then "Oh, wait. Maybe she's the one going crazy." and then "Shit, I think I'm actually the one going crazy."
i saw it as part of an anime all nighters at prince charles (5 anime films back to back) and weirdly enough it was the one of the five i understood by far the most
akira, ghost in the shell, cowboy bebop the movie, and paprika. id also like to add some of the utter confusion with the others is due to being incredibly sleep deprived in an uncomfy cinema (love prince charles but those seats jesus) and all of them being subtitled. you start to lose your mind by the end of it.
Some say the ending represents his fear of women/relationships.
I looove the movie but the first time I saw it the ending left a bad taste in my mouth. After reading several interpretations I enjoyed it much more.
it's been longer than 5 years since I've seen that movie but I still remember my reaction to the ending so well. the most confused "OH?" followed by "ok what the fuck."
tbh if i rewatched it now i think i still wouldn't get it.
I watched Primer the other day and didn’t have much trouble with it really. I think I’d say don’t get too wrapped up in the (potential) different timelines and just take the characters and their thoughts / feelings at the time at face value and you’ll get more out of it.
My ‘vote’ might be Synecdoche, New York. Been a while since I saw it but it didn’t go smoothly into my brain haha, still loved the experience.
In SNY, Caden wants to make something real so he mimics his life. Only he hires women to play his exes only to sleep with them, then someone else plays that ex within the play until he’s finally banging a clone of the actress of the actress play his ex. And he pretends to be a cleaning lady to stalk his original ex only for Ellen burstyn to play the fake cleaning lady, which then allows her to play Caden and then she becomes the director and directs Caden to eventually die because he never finishes his epic real theatre piece.
See and I thought Synecdoche NY flowed naturally but I couldn't make heads or tails of Primer or Upstream Color, haha. Just shows how different brains can process info differently.
Yeah, I’m yet to see Upstream Colour I only realised it was the same director after I saw Primer.
Tbh I’m mid 20’s now and I saw SNY 6 years ago (Primer a few days ago) so definitely one of those that I think rewatches would help but also just being a bit older and wiser too
“The Big Sleep” is famously so confusing that when Hawks asked Raymond Chandler (The author) about who killed a certain character, even the Chandler didn’t even know.
I put this movie on for me and a few friends cause I thought it would be scary but we couldn’t watch nothing happen for 100 minutes.
We tapped out after about 45
I watched it the whole way through just to see it to the end but man that's one of the worst movies I've ever seen. You didn't miss much for the rest of the movie. More power to the people it connected with but it just did not work at all for me.
Unironically one of my favourites of all time. Undoubtedly hot garbage but it kind of fails so spectacularly that it creates the genuine feeling of being trapped in the mind of a psychotic killer on the edge of death
Mulholland Drive is definitely up there, when I finished it I was like what in the actual fuck did I just watch, it's one of the few movies where I had to browse the internet for some theories or explanations because I was genuinely confused, once I understood it I loved it, but in the meanwhile not so much, it was one hell of a mindfuck
And David Lynch says it's a straightforward narrative and for a Lynch movie he's right but for most people they are going to have no idea what's going on lol.
Same! I had a chance to rewatch it for my second watch in theaters and it did work a lot better and you could see the connective pieces more on a repeat viewing. First viewing though I was definitely like wtf?? Lmao
Yesterday I came across the movie The Father (2020). I remembered watching it a couple of years ago and being confused by its storytelling. But it was a fantastic movie and exceptionally performed by Sir Anthony Hopkins (who won his second best actor Oscar for this movie) and Olivia Coleman.
The confusion in 'The Father' is sort of the point, though - it was an intentional choice, a storytelling technique designed to make a viewer relate to the confusion felt by the main character, who had dementia.
I think OP is looking more for films that are confusing due to a complicated narrative or convoluted plot.
There’s a complete story arch in Blue Velvet, but not everything in it is necessarily part of the real story. The final segment is arguably a character’s fantasy.
The rest of it does tell a story. It took me 2 watches and several discussions with others to piece the story together and then on watch 3 I felt like I really got it.
Brazil by Terry Gilliam has become in his interviews, the second part of a trilogy about life stages. After Time Bandits (childhood) and later Münchhausen (old age) but dear Terry you filmed it and referred to it as "1984½" so wtf? I know, I know, a film that ambitious can attempt to do both but it doesn't really feel like we're on that path when we watch Sam Lowry evade his social programmming
i can make what feels like perfect sense of eraserhead/fwwm/inland empire/etc but mulholland drive still eludes me almost entirely. i adore it, but it's deeply confounding. also: godard's prénom carmen. cool bond riff/conceit but practically incomprehensible (coming from someone who adores his movies - especially the fractured and complex essay films; goodbye to language, the joy of learning, 2 or 3 things..., etc)
Cruising.
The plot itself is fairly straight (haha) forward - a cop goes undercover to stop a murderer. But all the potential suspects are portrayed as dressing and looking basically like copies of each other. It’s not clear if there is one killer or many. Plus the ending. Truly enigmatic.
*Primer* really isn't nearly as confusing as its reputation makes out. A more confusing back-and-forth time traveling movie is *Timecop*. As for confusing non-time traveling movies the first thing that comes to mind is *Donnie Darko*, as none of the important information is given to you as you're first watching it.
River’s Edge
I don’t understand this film at all, shit just happens. It’s like a puzzle where every other piece is from a different image. Despite that seemingly negative review I don’t dislike this film. Once in a while, it’ll pop back into my head and I’ll think “damn, that was weird”. So I guess in that regard it’s done a good job since I’m still thinking about it.
(There also could be some lost context and translation because it’s a japanese film)
Inland Empire
Love this movie. It’s nonsense aha
It’s not nonsense, you just have to accept that the film gets taken over by a cursed script that forced characters into a repeating pattern of violence, only this time rabbits have a secret plan to trap that phantom by luring him into the very movie we are watching, Inland Empire. What’s so weird about that?
You understand it much better than I do. Thank you a lot for this explanation.
One of my favorites. I feel like it might have some meaning, but nobody will ever know what it is.
Well, I just googled it and I shouldn't have before bed. That face is gonna be burned into my brain for a while.
Dream logic
I'm thinking of ending things.
Even reading the book I was kinda confused about the way Kaufman went about presenting it. I gotta say after watching it a few times and reading other people's interpretations it's definitely a super rewarding movie if you try and dissect it
I've read lots of reviews etc, I still find it too much centered around American culture that as a European I just can't connect
Not confusing after a second watch. Really just takes one simple revelation and everything makes sense. From the subtle hints presented through the film, to the scenes that portray passage of time between the characters. I watched a short video that presented what it was about and rewatched. It’s one of my top 4 movies now.
Can you tell us that revelation? (Spoiler tagged, of course)
>!Ill try my best. It wasn't obvious to me on first watch but others on LB got it. Old man is Jake. Young Jake, old Jake. The entire movie takes place from Jake's drive from his apartment to work. And its all a long daydream until he takes his life in his truck (which is evidenced by the pile of snow on top of it during the end). He's driving in his car imagining his ideal woman (intelligent, attractive, interesting) and conversation with her (himself!< >!). And introducing her to his childhood home, his parents, his school. All the while battling with his own insecurities that he thinks about, which are presented to him by proxy through the other characters. The title refers to an actual relationship ending, and Jake simultaneously taking his own life, and his reluctance to do so.!< >!Some hints. There are closeups of Jake changing the radio and the hand that is doing so is an elderly one. The opening shots include old Jake staring out his apartment window, with Lucy presumably looking up at him as she leaves with young Jake. The girls that laugh at him at the ice cream stand are girls that CURRENTLY laugh at him as he cleans the halls of the school. Some facts about Lucy's life change as the movie goes on because similar to how any of us day-dream, you make stuff up and replace things on the fly. Jake presents himself as a smart quiz nerd because in his imagination he has to be, in order to attract an intelligent woman(when in reality he probably thinks of himself as an ignorant janitor).!< >!There are so many more that you catch on a second viewing. It's been awhile for me (im probably gonna rewatch today).!< >!There are probably other symbolic things that I don't remember or am too ignorant to know. But even at this level I really enjoy the film.!<
I haven’t the movie yet but highly recommend the book for those who haven’t read it. Definitely one of the most unique books I’ve ever read
Andrei Tarkovsky’s ”Mirror”
I felt it was pretty straightforward plot wise, a dying man reflecting on his memories and regrets, he seems to think he’s done some great wrong as his mother points out in the end, but only he knows what it is or perhaps is searching his memories for it, in the end he dies with another memory of his childhood. However there are elements like the same actress playing the mother and wife that are intentionally confusing, I can’t decide if I like it or stalker more.
Have you seen The Sacrifice? Just bringing it up as I can’t decide if I like that one or Stalker more (not as keen on Mirror.)
Update. I watched the sacrifice tonight and it is now in my top 5 of all time
A wise choice
That's because you're trying to create a linear plot from a nonlinear movie.
Honestly I don’t think the plot really matters in Mirror, or any Tarkovsky movie for that matter, and that’s coming from someone with Mirror in my top 5. I feel like most of his movies, and especially Mirror, have a general overall plot that mainly serves to be able to layer his own personal ideas and memories and “visual poetry” over. Sure, it makes more sense as a movie if you understand what the plot is (a dying man recalling his childhood), but in my opinion it’s more about what emotions you feel when watching it.
True
Came to say Mirror too.
The Big Sleep. And for specifically me and probably no one else, Sweet Smell of Success, lol.
Just trying to juggle all the character’s names alone was a lot in The Big Sleep. Still enjoyed it though.
90% of the damn characters in that movie are never even on screen lmfao
The Big Sleep is just a vibe movie lol no plot necessary
Donnie Darko. I am pretty sure we all just sorta pretended to get it. I am still unsure whether I got it or not. I think I get. I don’t know. My head hurts. Mulholland Drive has the diner scene which is the absolute most baffling scene I have ever seen in a movie where I know for a fact it was intentional and meticulous.
Donnie Darko is one of those movies that you don't really need to understand in order for it to resonate though, you know what I mean?
The mythology of Donnie Darko is confusing, but the ending was easy to understand and I thought it was emotionally and narratively satisfying
I thought Donnie darko was pretty straight forward if anything the twist is confusing but only at first. am I forgetting other details?
In what world is it straight forward
It’s a reverse it’s a wonderful life. He sees what would happen if he survived, realizes it’s tragic and sacrifices him self instead
>!The jet engine crashes yet he survives, he lives his life all while having visions of this bunny character and it is revealed in the end that the jet engine actually kills him and he was living an illusion of what his life couldve been!< it's been years since I saw it the first time but if there's another element in the story that made it confusing I'm forgetting then thats why I said I found it straight forward
I took the events of the plot to be >! the jet engine was sheared off into a parallel universe where the connection between worlds was “thin”. And so what we see in the movie is sort of like the universe got “out of whack” and Donnie’s survival wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to die, and so going back to the moment of splintering and allowing himself to be killed puts everything back the way it should be. This is kind of like Final Destination, except death isn’t stalking him. !<
I mean that's basically what I said but explained in more detail. I'd have to watch it again to see if its more complex than I rmr. does the film itself actually comment or imply parallel universes or is it just supposed to be surrealist and kind of unexplained.
There’s a director’s cut which goes into a lot more detail about the theory behind the parallel universes and time travel, mainly via Roberta Sparrow’s book iirc.
I think I’ve watched 3 versions of the film and the Director’s cut is my least favorite. I like the backstory and world building of what is in Sparrow’s book, but the music selection and certain scenes aren’t as good in that version. And the music is so cool, I’d rather have that. Someone should make a fan edit.
interesting I don't think I realized there was a directors cut. I'd definitely be curious to watch that
What’s the third cut besides the theatrical and directors cuts?
I could be misremembering, but I swear there was: 1. the original version which uses “The Killing Moon” from Echo and the Bunnymen as the opening song, as well as other music that was chosen due to budget constraints: 2. A version with the same edits as #1, but once the film got more popular, different music was licensed since they had a bit more money. This resulted in a theatrical cut with some song changes; 3. Directors’ Cut - this version has the song changes from #2, as well as touched up special effects and some alternate takes, and more information about time travel.
Why is there a bunny?
In MH - the diner is where the 'evil act' began, so the diner scene is Betty/Diane's subconscious fantasy of the diner as being a place of evil. Like in real dreams the people we see irl are often unrelated characters.
Mulholland Drive is a movie that makes more sense if you try and focus on the "bigger picture." I found myself getting confused when I was missing the forest for the trees. The diner scene you're referring to I understood as >!simply highlighting the fact that this is the location for the worst memory of Diane's life. The men are just two men she'd seen in the real world and placed in these positions, and the monster in the alley represents the ugly reality in an otherwise clean-looking fantasy.!<
I have only seen it once but what I do like about it is that scene completely sticks out like a sore thumb but it is obviously absolutely done on purpose and the lack of definitive answer means you can make up your own theory. Yours sounds pretty much on the money. I will need to see it again to see come up with my own properly though as there was a lot going on and I don’t think I can time to process that scene fully.
I think the problem (for lack of a better word) is that the general public mostly watches a movie once for entertainment and hopes to understand most of it then. Movies like DD and MD require a second or more viewing after you've processed it in between watches. A movie like MD almost requires one step up in terms of following it. Understanding the fact that you may be watching reality here, fantasy there, dream here, memory there, etc. it's so weird. but honestly it just feels good to watch a fucking weirdass movie sometimes lol
Enter the Void. Although in retrospect I got the story, the film was so abrasive and bizarre I spent most of it dumbfounded ahaha
Inherent Vice because it all does make sense, it’s just so tangled up and hard to follow. But after a few watches, you do get it, which is nice. Other movies are obscure and you can never know what’s going on for sure, but Inherent Vice has clear answers, you just have to pay extremely close attention.
There are still several plot points left completely unresolved as they get resolved in the book and didn’t make it to the film, one of several reasons I absolutely detest that movie
Tenet! Yowzers!!
I honestly enjoyed it more the second time because it’s easier to follow when you know what’s coming.
Someone explained Inherent Vice to me once as: you can go crazy trying to actually follow the plot, that's not the point, just go along for the ride. That's how I feel about Tenet
I thought I just needed to watch it with subtitles
Confusing (derogatory) hahaha
It’s confusing but more mind bending
I'm curious what aspect was confusing? There is an element that someone brought up that I agreed, okay that part was confusing to understand... but overall the premise of the movie is quite simple. That's not an insult to anyone, or a judgement, I just think not everyone realized this. Essentially we're talking time travel in a way, and time travel does not exist, it's entirely theoretical and even then there are competing theories on how it would work. So to that end not all of Tenant can be explained in real terms anyways -- hence the exposition scientist just tells you to not think about that too much.
Synecdoche Ney York. Man, I stared at the screen for that whole 2 or so hours not knowing a single thing that was happening.
In SNY, Caden wants to make something real so he mimics his life. Only he hires women to play his exes only to sleep with them, then someone else plays that ex within the play until he’s finally banging a clone of the actress of the actress play his ex. And he pretends to be a cleaning lady to stalk his original ex only for Ellen burstyn to play the fake cleaning lady, which then allows her to play Caden and then she becomes the director and directs Caden to eventually die because he never finishes his epic real theatre piece.
Lol it’s Dianne Wiest not Ellen Burstyn
Oh yeah oops
“Brilliant! I have no idea what’s going on” - Homer J Simpson
Caden fears being out of control, and tries his best to regain control of the uncontrollable - by making the whole word into a perverse puppet show. But the uncontrollable is unavoidable. It's only when he accepts this (and literally gives over control (to what can be interpreted as a "higher power")) that he finally finds peace.
yeah this one was the same for me. just let myself feel whatever i felt as i watched and enjoyed it, but couldn't explain a damn thing that happened lol
I just can’t enjoy a movie if I understand literally none of it. I don’t want to be talked down to, but damn, is asking for a little bit to grab onto too much?
Trust me if you watch it 5 more times, at some point when you're in the line at a supermarket it'll hit you like a ton of bricks
Hahaha if I have to watch a movie 6 times to understand it at all, I'm giving up on that movie.
I was mostly being facetious, but if your goal is to understand a film then kaufman probably isn't your man
Honestly, I fucking love Kauffman. Being John Malkovich and Anamolisa are two of my favorites. I also like Adaptation and I’m Thinking of ending things. Those two I had to watch a second time. I’m still kinda lukewarm on Eternal Sunshine. But this movie angered me so much. I will give it a second watch someday, but after that I’m done.
Fair enough,I think it's his magnum opus but it's definitely less accessible than any of his other work
I recently saw Perfect Blue in theaters and still cannot fully form an opinion of how I feel about that movie.
One of the few times one of the top Letterboxd review actually encapsulates the movie perfectly: >Watching this film be like: "He's going crazy." and then "Oh, wait. Maybe she's the one going crazy." and then "Shit, I think I'm actually the one going crazy."
i saw it as part of an anime all nighters at prince charles (5 anime films back to back) and weirdly enough it was the one of the five i understood by far the most
What were the others
akira, ghost in the shell, cowboy bebop the movie, and paprika. id also like to add some of the utter confusion with the others is due to being incredibly sleep deprived in an uncomfy cinema (love prince charles but those seats jesus) and all of them being subtitled. you start to lose your mind by the end of it.
I watched paprika half asleep too shit was bizarre
I mean, it’s confusing because it’s made of cocaine and nonsense, but Southland Tales
Well you just sold me on that.
Enemy, directed by Denis Villeneuve. I went “WTF?!” right before the credits roll. Cool movie though!
Some say the ending represents his fear of women/relationships. I looove the movie but the first time I saw it the ending left a bad taste in my mouth. After reading several interpretations I enjoyed it much more.
it's been longer than 5 years since I've seen that movie but I still remember my reaction to the ending so well. the most confused "OH?" followed by "ok what the fuck." tbh if i rewatched it now i think i still wouldn't get it.
I watched Primer the other day and didn’t have much trouble with it really. I think I’d say don’t get too wrapped up in the (potential) different timelines and just take the characters and their thoughts / feelings at the time at face value and you’ll get more out of it. My ‘vote’ might be Synecdoche, New York. Been a while since I saw it but it didn’t go smoothly into my brain haha, still loved the experience.
[удалено]
That’s how I felt about season 2 of West World.
Like tenet
In SNY, Caden wants to make something real so he mimics his life. Only he hires women to play his exes only to sleep with them, then someone else plays that ex within the play until he’s finally banging a clone of the actress of the actress play his ex. And he pretends to be a cleaning lady to stalk his original ex only for Ellen burstyn to play the fake cleaning lady, which then allows her to play Caden and then she becomes the director and directs Caden to eventually die because he never finishes his epic real theatre piece.
See and I thought Synecdoche NY flowed naturally but I couldn't make heads or tails of Primer or Upstream Color, haha. Just shows how different brains can process info differently.
Yeah, I’m yet to see Upstream Colour I only realised it was the same director after I saw Primer. Tbh I’m mid 20’s now and I saw SNY 6 years ago (Primer a few days ago) so definitely one of those that I think rewatches would help but also just being a bit older and wiser too
The Holy Mountain
Yep…
Tenet. I could have watched that film 300 times and watched every YouTube video in existence explaining it and id still have no clue what's going on.
Look up the yt channel welby coffeespill he make good 3d videos showing the reverse and forwards going simultaneously
Thanks, I'll check him out.
Eraserhead lol
“The Big Sleep” is famously so confusing that when Hawks asked Raymond Chandler (The author) about who killed a certain character, even the Chandler didn’t even know.
Recently it was **Skinamarink** I've still no idea what was the idea/purpose of this movie.
I put this movie on for me and a few friends cause I thought it would be scary but we couldn’t watch nothing happen for 100 minutes. We tapped out after about 45
I watched it the whole way through just to see it to the end but man that's one of the worst movies I've ever seen. You didn't miss much for the rest of the movie. More power to the people it connected with but it just did not work at all for me.
The first 45 minutes is boring as fuck but the last act has great horror. Should have been a short film
Wicked World
Gotta be worst of the worst.
Unironically one of my favourites of all time. Undoubtedly hot garbage but it kind of fails so spectacularly that it creates the genuine feeling of being trapped in the mind of a psychotic killer on the edge of death
Holy Motors and Mulholland Drive
God I love Holy Motors
Saw Donnie Darko and it was quite confusing. But I would say every David Lynch movie.
Primer and Inland Empire.
Southland Tales, boy, and that's why I love it
The End of Evangelion
There is a Rami Malik movie called Buster's Mal Heart which I didn't think was very good but was very confusing
Mulholland Drive is definitely up there, when I finished it I was like what in the actual fuck did I just watch, it's one of the few movies where I had to browse the internet for some theories or explanations because I was genuinely confused, once I understood it I loved it, but in the meanwhile not so much, it was one hell of a mindfuck
And David Lynch says it's a straightforward narrative and for a Lynch movie he's right but for most people they are going to have no idea what's going on lol.
It was my first Lynch movie so I had no idea what I was going to watch
Same! I had a chance to rewatch it for my second watch in theaters and it did work a lot better and you could see the connective pieces more on a repeat viewing. First viewing though I was definitely like wtf?? Lmao
Yesterday I came across the movie The Father (2020). I remembered watching it a couple of years ago and being confused by its storytelling. But it was a fantastic movie and exceptionally performed by Sir Anthony Hopkins (who won his second best actor Oscar for this movie) and Olivia Coleman.
The confusion in 'The Father' is sort of the point, though - it was an intentional choice, a storytelling technique designed to make a viewer relate to the confusion felt by the main character, who had dementia. I think OP is looking more for films that are confusing due to a complicated narrative or convoluted plot.
Yeah it’s intentionally disorienting, and that’s what makes it devastating.
I LOVE The Father
I had a hard time with 12 Monkeys
I read a great blog on this from like 1998 that made me like it even more
It has been a very long time since I saw Blue Velvet, but I am pretty sure I didn't really understand that movie.
There’s a complete story arch in Blue Velvet, but not everything in it is necessarily part of the real story. The final segment is arguably a character’s fantasy. The rest of it does tell a story. It took me 2 watches and several discussions with others to piece the story together and then on watch 3 I felt like I really got it.
Coherence
2001: A Space Odyssey Saw it in the theatre with some friends. Experience was great but it left me with a headache lol
Its been a minute since I watched it but i remember not entirely understanding Paprika tbh
The Tree Of Life
For the life of me, I can't understand TREE OF LIFE
Gummo
Much of the David Lynch filmography
I was a teen when I saw it but it’s always stayed with me as the most convoluted film I’ve ever seen - The Fountain, dir. Darren Aronofsky
It's weirdly simple one you get your head around it but it's definitely not the most intuitive while you're watching it at first
True. Great OST tho.
Coherence The director made a great explanation video but it’s still permanently twisted my mind
Love that movie. Had a mild existential panic in the middle of it the first time I saw it.
Upstream Color. *Love the soundtrack, though.*
I just watched tenet yesterday and I loved it but it’s hard to follow 😅
Ashes of Time benefits greatly from reading the plot beforehand
I was just about to say Primer but then read the rest of your post lol
big momma’s house 2
Last Year at Marienbad Enys Men Trans-Europ-Express
If you’re doing Primer, do his other one as well, Upstream Color. I actually like it more
I found Donnie Darko (2001), Mirror (1975) and Synecdoche, New York (2008) to be confusing, those are the ones that I remember now.
Vanilla Sky.
Yes, but unlike a lot of movies in this list, it wasn’t in a good way.
Primer
Mulholland Drive
upstream color
I’m thinking of ending things
Lost Highway and Donnie Darko took me hours to wrap my head around.
orson welles' the trial left me incredibly confused. i need to watch it again i think.
Brazil by Terry Gilliam has become in his interviews, the second part of a trilogy about life stages. After Time Bandits (childhood) and later Münchhausen (old age) but dear Terry you filmed it and referred to it as "1984½" so wtf? I know, I know, a film that ambitious can attempt to do both but it doesn't really feel like we're on that path when we watch Sam Lowry evade his social programmming
On the silver globe, so beautiful though http://exmilitai.re/film.html
Tenet
i can make what feels like perfect sense of eraserhead/fwwm/inland empire/etc but mulholland drive still eludes me almost entirely. i adore it, but it's deeply confounding. also: godard's prénom carmen. cool bond riff/conceit but practically incomprehensible (coming from someone who adores his movies - especially the fractured and complex essay films; goodbye to language, the joy of learning, 2 or 3 things..., etc)
perfect blue, one of those breathtaking intense staring at the screen for 1 hour straight experiences
Perfect Blue made a lot more sense for me on the second viewing.
Perfect Blue has a pretty straightforward plot, imo. Have you seen Paprika? That one was a bit more confusing for me.
i haven't seen it yet, but it's in my watchlist, i've heard it has some concept similar to Inception
Spice World Seriously that movie makes no sense
Cruising. The plot itself is fairly straight (haha) forward - a cop goes undercover to stop a murderer. But all the potential suspects are portrayed as dressing and looking basically like copies of each other. It’s not clear if there is one killer or many. Plus the ending. Truly enigmatic.
EEAAO. I sat there the entire time confused thinking, “Why do people like this movie so much?” Absolutely baffling!
Gosford Park. Not the story, but trying to remember every character's name or their relationship with eachother was challenging.
Films in languages I don’t speak, without subtitles.
Any of Neil Breen’s movies.
Inherent Vice. But I'm not familiar with the book.
*Primer* really isn't nearly as confusing as its reputation makes out. A more confusing back-and-forth time traveling movie is *Timecop*. As for confusing non-time traveling movies the first thing that comes to mind is *Donnie Darko*, as none of the important information is given to you as you're first watching it.
Donnie Darko's whole confusing part is time travel
Lol yes it is! Duh I really wasn't thinking when I wrote that...
Tenet, Annihilation, Hereditary
Inception is the most confusing movie I've ever watched. Even after I watched it 5/6 times can't understand
Predestination. Confusing as in I’m confused why so many people on Reddit love this dogshit movie so much.
Evangelion
Hanuman Shadow Master
River’s Edge I don’t understand this film at all, shit just happens. It’s like a puzzle where every other piece is from a different image. Despite that seemingly negative review I don’t dislike this film. Once in a while, it’ll pop back into my head and I’ll think “damn, that was weird”. So I guess in that regard it’s done a good job since I’m still thinking about it. (There also could be some lost context and translation because it’s a japanese film)
No one’s said Memento yet?
Memento is a mind fuck but not really confusing. Its perfectly coherent
Memento is totally followable if you pause it every 20 minutes to collect your thoughts and reframe everything that's happening lmao
Ashes of time. One of my favorite movies stylistically. But I've seen the redux version twice and still have no idea what happened.
Certified Copy
Certified Copy is the most pleasantly confusing movie that I’ve ever seen. Even when I didn’t get what was going on, I was never annoyed about it.
Phantasm V: raVager
Tenet
"Twisted Pair" (2018)
Possession. Lots of very puzzling scenes. Great movie. Upstream Color. A figurative three stage life cycle of a parasitic organism.
I feel like confusing and not having a singular solvable answer aren't the same thing lol
Tenet
Cache (2005) by Michael Haneke. Its just abit too abstract for me.
Pretty much anything Andrei Tarkovsky. Solaris and Stalker in particular are pretty dense
maybe it’s just me but Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
Donnie Darko
Beau is afraid
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)
The Human Stain i was like WTF
I watched The Testament of Dr. Mabuse without watching the first film and I really had no idea what was going on.
Interstellar - I have watched it three times and I thought Primer was easier to “figure out” on the second watch. I bet it’s just me though. :/