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Vanilla Sky voted 'Most Confusing Movie Eva!1"

Started by Artemis, July 21, 2010, 10:57:54 PM

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Artemis

It came before Mulholland Drive. I'm not even joking.

Did anyone else find Vanilla Sky especially complicated? I think it explained itself very well and by the end there wasn't much confusion in my brain. I love VS, I think it's genuinely wonderful, but it's not difficult to follow, surely. Mulholland Drive on the other hand is a right headfuck, especially the first time you watch it. But apparently readers of the Mirror were ok with that one, compared to Tom Cruise's baffling adventure.

Inland Empire was even more confusing than MD I thought, but in a far less engaging, much more boring way. Inception also had me trying to work it out as it went on - far more complicated than VS for crying out loud!

What's the one that really flummoxed you?

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Primer. I've only seen it the once, so maybe it would become clearer upon subsequent viewings, but that first one was a real headscratcher.

thugler

Hate vanilla sky. Inland Empire is pretty confusing.

non capisco

I haven't seen it myself but a friend told me he went to a screening of 'Silent Hill' and didn't have a clue what was going on. He said he was starting to feel a bit thick because it was an adaptation of a computer game and surely to god it can't be that much of a headscratcher. Then suddenly a bloke sat near the front stood up, turned round and said to the whole cinema "Sorry, everyone. Does anyone know what the hell's going on?" to which everyone unanimously replied "No!" and then all decided to leave the cinema and do something else. I like to think that maybe some people went to the pub next door, got talking and a relationship was formed that day, all because 'Silent Hill' is a confusing pile of shit.


Ginyard

Vanilla Sky's a solid movie and one founded on confusing the viewer. But its hardly difficult to follow or understand. Its just one of those Jacob's Ladder type movies that you have to keep focused on and the end reveal explains all.

All the President's Men  -  I saw it back when I thought the Watergate Scandal was some sort of mild crime committed on the Caledonian Canal. Didn't follow any of it and it bored the shit out of me. I've read the book since and thought it was great so I'll have to give it another go.


Johnny Townmouse

I found Audition very confusing, even though I am not convinced that it is. Vanilla Sky is not especially confusing, no. I'm surprised that came out as the top film - although perhaps it is the best example of a very mainstream, potentially confusing film. Until Inception, that is.

I think The Shining could have won this poll, if it were not for the fact that it is entirely watchable and understandable as a non-ambigious story of madness and murder.

Which I guess brings us on to 2001....


Santa's Boyfriend

Have only seen Open Your Eyes, the film Vanilla Sky is based on - I generally can't be bothered with remakes these days as the vast majority of the time they are inferior to the original movies (which are almost always great - otherwise they would never have caught the attention of the remakers).  Am I right in assuming it's essentially the same?  In which case there's very little to misunderstand in it as long as you're not eating popcorn or talking to your friend during the exposition at the end.

Primer?  No fucking idea what happened in that film in the last half hour.  Really can't be arsed to sit through it again to find out.

El Unicornio, mang

Synecdoche, New York had me scratching my head a bit.

vrailaine

That's just cos Vanilla Sky is synonomous with confusing films, isn't it?

I can remember being confused with the Discreet Charm of the Bourgeois, that's probably something to do with me being a bit thick and expecting a world war 2 film before watching it.

Santa's Boyfriend

Incidentally, that's a very short article.  Couldn't they have padded it out a bit?

non capisco

'The Big Sleep' is pretty confusing. Famously neither the director nor the screenwriters (or indeed Raymond Chandler) could figure out who killed one of the characters when the question was put to them.

the midnight watch baboon

^classic Chandler. The murders and chaos around him were always a side dish to his duels with himself.
.

Serge

I haven't seen 'Vanilla Sky', but I have seen the original,  'Abre Los Ojos' and had no problem following it at all.

As for '2001', Arthur C Clarke once said that if you completely understood it, he and Kubrick hadn't done their job properly. I went to see it at the cinema when it was reissued in, er, 2001, and it had the intermission, which as I remember it came just before the stargate sequence. While we sat waiting for the film to start again, a woman in the row behind me turned to her boyfriend and said, "Well, I haven't understood this so far, what was that black thing that killed all the apes? And what happened with the computer?" (Or something along those lines.) I felt like turning around and saying, "If you haven't understood it so far, you might as well leave now, because you've got no chance with the last forty minutes."


Johnny Townmouse

Quote from: Serge on July 21, 2010, 11:53:19 PM
I haven't seen 'Vanilla Sky', but I have seen the original,  'Abre Los Ojos' and had no problem following it at all.

As for '2001', Arthur C Clarke once said that if you completely understood it, he and Kubrick hadn't done their job properly.

Yep, and that is why I find the novel/isation so disappointing. Kubrick's grasp of ambiguity is what made him so great. Stephen King's TV version of the The Shining is testament to this. As you pointed out in another thread, the book was written at the same time as the screenplay and film, which gives it a wonderful feeling of abandonment as it revels in its own lack of clarity. I don't think I can ever enjoy the film in the same way I did when I watched it 3,000 times as a teenager, but the confusion is what makes it so enjoyable.

mcbpete

#15
Quote from: non capisco on July 21, 2010, 11:36:22 PM
'The Big Sleep' is pretty confusing. Famously neither the director nor the screenwriters (or indeed Raymond Chandler) could figure out who killed one of the characters when the question was put to them.
I remember complying that for work a couple of years back and by the end of it I hadn't a fookin' clue about what had just happened in the previous 100 and a bit-minutes - It seemed like a perfectly normal detective film that had been obscurificated by a loon. I seemed to enjoy it though, despite having no idea about what was going on and why people were doing what they were doing.

vrailaine

Jesus yeah, The Big Sleep, not helped by its ideal viewing time being 3am.

Paaaaul

Quote from: Santa's Boyfriend on July 21, 2010, 11:25:57 PM

Primer?  No fucking idea what happened in that film in the last half hour.  Really can't be arsed to sit through it again to find out.

This should clear that all up - http://www.freeweb.hu/neuwanstein/primer_timeline.jpg

hummingofevil

Is it just me or is the fact that noone has mentioned Eraserhead in this debate make me proper thick or proper smart?

For genuine confusion I always find the end of the Jungle Book a fucker. Are we supposed to be happy or sad? He leaves his mates, never to see them again all for the sake of a women. In hindsight I suspect this is supposed to be a good news story but it kills me everytime. Its fucking heartbreaking!

boxofslice

Vanilla Sky?  I thought that pretty much tied itself together by the end.  Not as good as the original but not entirely the disaster it could've been.

Remember seeing Momento for the first time at the cinema and then going back to watch it again two days later to satisfy my confused mind.

alan nagsworth

Quote from: Johnny Townmouse on July 21, 2010, 11:23:38 PM
I found Audition very confusing, even though I am not convinced that it is.


I don't think it's really that confusing, though others have told me they didn't get it. The very end scene was what left me stumped for a while but I'm pretty sure I've got it nailed now.
Spoiler alert
woman has trust issues, wants a man to devote himself entirely to her. she is a bit nuts so doesn't grasp the fact that the guy also loves his son. then she shows him the true meaning of sole dependency by drugging him and attacking his most pain-receptive areas.
[close]

Quote from: hummingofevil on July 22, 2010, 01:40:51 AM
Is it just me or is the fact that noone has mentioned Eraserhead in this debate make me proper thick or proper smart?

It is pretty bloody baffling, aye. Isn't it just more of a dreamlike assault on the senses, though? A true portrayal of anxiety, worry, doubt, stress and misery? The plot doesn't really need to make any sense, it's just a seriously deep piece of macabre art. I kind of found myself feeling the same way with 'Mulholland Drive' to be honest, but there is definitely more of a soherent plot to that one. In the DVD case there's even the inclusion of ten clues to help you solve the mystery. Not that they actually helped me at all, mind.

Santa's Boyfriend


SetToStun

Possibly a cliché but I really couldn't get to grips with Donnie Darko - I watched the first hour with my brother one night and it had us both so poxy lost that we abandoned it in favour of something that was at least supposed to make sense.

I still have no idea what it was all about and I can't summon up the willpower to give it another go.

SetToStun


Hank_Kingsley

Quote from: alan nagsworth on July 22, 2010, 09:10:17 AM
I don't think it's really that confusing, though others have told me they didn't get it. The very end scene was what left me stumped for a while but I'm pretty sure I've got it nailed now.
Spoiler alert
woman has trust issues, wants a man to devote himself entirely to her. she is a bit nuts so doesn't grasp the fact that the guy also loves his son. then she shows him the true meaning of sole dependency by drugging him and attacking his most pain-receptive areas.
[close]
That's it completely. If anyone was confused by the film they should just read the (inferior) book which makes everything clear.


Johnny Townmouse

Quote from: Hank_Kingsley on July 22, 2010, 10:12:02 AM
That's it completely. If anyone was confused by the film they should just read the (inferior) book which makes everything clear.

I haven't seen it for a long time and I was very tired and my enduring memory is not of the elongated torture scene, but of a bag with a deformed human in it in the corner of a room that I never fully understood.

Little Hoover

I never understand why people don't like not being able to understand a film, being utterly confused by a film is a fun emotion for me, knowing exactly what's going on is boring.


SavageHedgehog

The Ipcress File is pretty confusing really, but I don't really notice because I enjoy the film anyway; I suspect there a lot of films where we don't really get the full picture, but we don't mind because we are being entertained. Vanilla Sky I don't remember finding particularly confusing, but then I'm not sure I cared about it all that much. Inland Empire, I really couldn't have given a shit what was going on after an hour or so, so I just stopped watching.

Doomy Dwyer

'Inland Empire' is a mind fucker isn't it? What the fuck is all that about? When I went to see it a woman in the audience had a total breakdown and ran out screaming "What's going on? What's going on?" between wracking sobs. The rest of the audience stared at her sympathetically. It would have been nice if we had all risen in Spartacus like solidarity and made a weepy dash for it, but we were all to busy stroking our chins and muttering something about Bunuel to pledge allegience. I keep meaning to watch it again, but I'm scared.

I watched  'The Blues Brothers' for the first time in about twenty odd years recently and there's a documentary with a John Landis interview in which he talks about how Dan Aykroyd wanted to include scenes of the Blues Mobile being parked next to a mysterious reactor in order to explain how it could perform all those crazy stunts. John pointed out that such scenes would explain absolutely nothing and would in fact make matters even more confusing. I can't believe anybody has ever come out of the 'Blues Brothers' clutching their head in anguish, thinking 'I liked the bit with Aretha Franklin, but surely a car couldn't do that. Unless...unless it was radioactive or something?"

So yeah, Inland Empire, the Blues Brothers and Last Year at Marienbad. And El fucking Topo. That's a bastard too.

Paaaaul

Quote from: Doomy Dwyer on July 22, 2010, 11:15:53 AM


I watched  'The Blues Brothers' for the first time in about twenty odd years recently and there's a documentary with a John Landis interview in which he talks about how Dan Aykroyd wanted to include scenes of the Blues Mobile being parked next to a mysterious reactor in order to explain how it could perform all those crazy stunts. John pointed out that such scenes would explain absolutely nothing and would in fact make matters even more confusing. I can't believe anybody has ever come out of the 'Blues Brothers' clutching their head in anguish, thinking 'I liked the bit with Aretha Franklin, but surely a car couldn't do that. Unless...unless it was radioactive or something?"

There's an extended version of the film on DVD which does include the car-park next to a weird generator/reactor scene.