Movies that confused you...

[Ireneparalegal]

Mullholland Drive...I have seen it partway three times and it confuses me. I can't even watch it all the way thru because it gives me a headache.

[Pentimento]

That's one of my favorite movies. I've watched it five or six times now, and I always notice something new each time. I actually like movies that confuse me, so long as I can make sense of them with repeated viewings. It's much better than watching something so straightforward and obvious that I never need to see it again.

[stella]

Pulp Fiction.

What's confusing about that movie is getting all the timelines straight. Obviously, the movie isn't shown in sequential order. The part that reveals this is that halfway in the movie, the character played by John Travolta is gunned down by the character played by Bruce Willis. But later in the movie, John Travolta's character is alive and well with Samuel L. Jackson's character.

[Pentimento]

Since this thread got me thinking about other confusing movies, I've thought of a lot of ones I've liked. Most are ones that are confusing until the end and then they make sense (more or less), but others require multiple viewings. It's a safe bet, for instance, that anything by David Lynch is going to require further commitment. A partial list, off the top of my head:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Magnolia
Abre Los Ojos (remade, not as well, as Vanilla Sky)
The Tenant
Lost Highway
After Hours
Fight Club
Jacob's Ladder
I Heart Huckabees (not really a favorite of mine, but it falls into this category)
The Sixth Sense ( definitely worth watching at least a couple of more times after knowing the twist)
Being John Malkovich

As for Mulholland Dr., it's worth watching through to the end since there's a clear turning point where it becomes almost a whole separate movie. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but wants to, but it really does make a little sense after it's all over. If for no other reason, sticking it out through the latter part of the film is worth it for the experience of Rebekah Del Rio performing "Llorando". She is exquisite.

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

Mullholland Drive...I have seen it partway three times and it confuses me. I can't even watch it all the way thru because it gives me a headache.

Anything by David Lynch gives me a headache.

[ABlairican Pie]

Originally Posted by Pentimento

Since this thread got me thinking about other confusing movies, I've thought of a lot of ones I've liked. Most are ones that are confusing until the end and then they make sense (more or less), but others require multiple viewings. It's a safe bet, for instance, that anything by David Lynch is going to require further commitment. A partial list, off the top of my head:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Magnolia
Abre Los Ojos (remade, not as well, as Vanilla Sky)
The Tenant
Lost Highway
After Hours
Fight Club
Jacob's Ladder
I Heart Huckabees (not really a favorite of mine, but it falls into this category)
The Sixth Sense ( definitely worth watching at least a couple of more times after knowing the twist)
Being John Malkovich

As for Mulholland Dr., it's worth watching through to the end since there's a clear turning point where it becomes almost a whole separate movie. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it but wants to, but it really does make a little sense after it's all over. If for no other reason, sticking it out through the latter part of the film is worth it for the experience of Rebekah Del Rio performing "Llorando". She is exquisite.

I liked After Hours by Martin Scorsese, it was very clever and a perfect illustration of conflict.

One movie I'm still scratching my head over is the ending to A.I. (Artificial Intelligence).

[Pentimento]

Originally Posted by Captain ABlairica

I liked After Hours by Martin Scorsese, it was very clever and a perfect illustration of conflict.

One movie I'm still scratching my head over is the ending to A.I. (Artificial Intelligence).

Now that I think about it, I don't even remember how A.I. ends. Now I'll have to watch it again.

I thought of some other good ones. First, two of the most purposely perplexing films of the last half-decade or so:

Donnie Darko (Watch it until you get it or until your head explodes, whichever comes first...)
Memento (Ironically, it requires good short-term memory to follow it.)

also:

Julia and Julia
Lulu on the Bridge
Wetherby

[seventies_sitcoms]

Liquid Sky (one of my faves!!)
Eraserhead
Phantasm
Dubeatio
Lisa and the Devil
Fellini Satyricon