All the hand-wringing of late about how difficult The Tree of Life is to follow has got us thinking about some other films over the history of cinema that have stirred similar debate. These are the films that invariably end up getting talked about at parties, where you overhear someone saying, “Oh, Mulholland Drive? That made no sense!” and just can’t help getting involved in the argument. Here’s our pick of ten of the best — plus a snappy one-liner you can use to nip any such discussions in the bud.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
The gold standard for confusing films, and also for the idea that a film doesn’t need to have a coherent narrative to be powerful and compelling viewing. 2001 has been confusing audiences for the last 43 years, and remains the subject of much bewildered discussion among people who’ve seen it for the first time. And after all this time, quite what’s going on during the film’s crazily tripped-out ending sequence is still very much open for debate.
Ruin the discussion by saying: “HAL is just a metaphor for the government, man!”
Comments (14)
my favorite jodorowsky quote is the one where he explains how it’s because he is an artist that he makes “tiny pornographic sculptures” out of his snot, and then masturbates to it. It’s just something artists do. and the 7th seal is not that confusing.
I love the holy mtn. This is one of the better explanations I’ve found decoding all of the magic and mysticism in the movie. http://thestygianport.blogspot.com/2010/03/holy-mountain-rubedo_5075.html
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I’d think the Tracy fragments would be on there it is utterly mind boggling all the chronological mixing with the split screen inter weave.
I knew I’d see some Lynch here
I agree that the Director’s cut of Donnie Darko just ruined a nearly perfect picture.
Add : Tree of Life (2011)
Seriously… Wtf?
Wow, dude, you’re pretty dumb if you found THE SEVENTH SEAL incomprehensible and didn’t understand DONNIE DARKO the first time around. Both of these flicks, while weird, are pretty straightforward.
Forgot ENTER THE VOID (2010)
DOG STAR MAN & LUCIFER RISING
Surprised Jacob’s Ladder didn’t rate. Especially as it is a better-done example than Mulholland Drive of the same idea.
[...] while back, we surveyed a selection of cinema’s most notoriously “difficult” classics. This week, we got to thinking about literary equivalents, mainly because of the news that to [...]
I love Synecdoche and think it is Kaufman’s best work, with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a close second. In my view, the movie is about the inability to live authentically in the face of traumatic loss and in the face of mortality (I’m saying this really simplistically). And if you can’t face it (death and mortality) you may become like the protagonist- grandiose, overblown, pseudo-intellectualizing. ( I’ve written a paper about this which I’m presenting next month!)
What, no Guy Maddin films?
And how about, “The Fatal Glass of Beer” by great W. C. Fields?
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