13 Most Confusing Movies You Can Watch Right Now
Madame Web didn’t set out to confuse the few people who saw it. The comic book movie ended this way – due to incompetence, lazy filmmaking, or something else we may never know for sure.
However, many auteur-driven films are designed to confuse their audiences, begging moviegoers to unravel the plot threads to find the true message of the story. Most often they succeed. But some films leave viewers disappointed and continue to search for the meaning of the film even after the credits roll. Here are a dozen films that have a reputation for confusing and confusing audiences.
Tenet (2020)
Numerous blog posts and YouTube videos have been published claiming that they can explain the plot of Christopher Nolan’s time-traveling adventure. While it boasts some eye-popping set pieces, even the Oscar-winning director admits that the film, which stars John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, ” doesn’t quite make sense ,” so if you watch this mind-bending thriller, just enjoy the ride.
Where to watch: digital rental.
Dune (1984)
To be fair, almost any of surrealist David Lynch’s films would fit on this list, but none of them needed a glossary to explain the world Lynch created based on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi masterpiece. When you consider that director Denis Villeneuve managed to create two hit films based on the same novel, you begin to wonder if Mulholland Drive is really that complex.
Where to watch: Max, Digital rental
Enemy (2014)
Speaking of Denis Villeneuve, the director’s follow-up to Prisoners reunites him with that film’s star Jake Gyllenhaal. This ultimate doppelgänger puzzle didn’t attract much attention upon release, much like the fate of most of A24’s other non-horror films. (Its marketing team doesn’t seem to have figured out how to market films that don’t have a cool hook.) In the decade since its release, it has achieved cult status and its Canadian-born director has moved into the big-budget realm. making movies with Arrival and its pair of Dune adaptations.
Where to watch: Kanopy, Cinemax, digital rental.
Barton Fink (1991)
The Coen brothers’ film about a pretentious screenwriter trying to unleash his creativity won numerous awards at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, including the top prize, the Palme d’Or. But why? Is it because he’s so good at making fun of Hollywood, or because of his metaphorical view of heaven and hell? It’s likely both, but when you see John Goodman running through a fiery hotel hallway with a shotgun at the end of the film, you might wonder what message the directors were really trying to convey.
Where to watch: digital rental.
Inherent Vice (2014)
Joaquin Phoenix plays an investigator trying to find his missing ex-girlfriend and her rich new beau, but the entertaining film, filled with a great ’70s rock soundtrack, mysterious contradictions and a convoluted plot that requires multiple viewings, takes the cases to three. . The good news is that Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s equally complex novel is a film that really makes you want to see it again.
Where to watch: Paramount+ with Showtime, digital rental.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Your favorite director’s favorite film has such an unusual and mysterious ending that you’ll have to watch its subpar sequel, 2010: The Year We Made Contact , to understand what it all meant. The innovative special effects of this classic film, directed by Stanley Kubrick, are still (surprisingly) relevant today, making it well worth a watch.
Where to watch: Max, Digital rental
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
The film features every great British actor of the last 30 years, but the filmmakers fail to condense John le Carré’s complex and intricate spy novel into something digestible. Instead, check out the 1979 BBC adaptation starring Alec Guinness as former spy George Smiley, which tells a story of double agents and betrayal in just five hours.
Where to watch: Starz, digital rental.
Under the Skin (2014)
There are plenty of subreddits dedicated to explaining Oscar-winner Jonathan Glazer’s film about an alien (Scarlett Johansson) who seduces and abducts people (we think) but then starts liking them (that’s the theory). It all comes down to one powerful scene of a baby alone on the beach, which some say highlights the film’s theme and others say muddles the plot.
Where to watch: Kanopy, Max, Digital rental
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays the avatar of the film’s writer and director Charlie Kaufman. He struggles to stage the play inside a life-size replica of New York City, which he built with a MacArthur grant he was awarded. Over the years, the line between the play and the real world has become blurred, leaving the actors (and the film’s audience) struggling to understand what is really going on.
Where to watch: digital rental.
Annihilation (2018)
As evidenced by the more than 20 percent difference between critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes , this visually stunning but bizarre sci-fi film starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac left moviegoers with more questions than answers. It’s about a biologist trying to figure out what happened to her husband while inside a phenomenon called “The Shimmer,” but the film’s arguably ambiguous ending left viewers confused and disappointed.
Where to watch: Pluto TV, digital rental.
Asteroid City (2023)
It starts out like another kitschy Wes Anderson film, this time about aliens making contact with humans in the titular small desert town. As the characters face the uncertainty of this development, it suddenly becomes a meta-satire of… storytelling? If you’re already a fan of Anderson’s style, there’s a lot to love here. If not, then this scattered, star-studded gem is unlikely to have any impact on you.
Where to watch: Prime Video, digital rental.
Fountain (2006)
Brad Pitt reportedly turned down the film because he found the script, co-written with Darren Aronofsky, inconsistent. Pitt was replaced by Hugh Jackman, who is searching for eternal life in three different timelines. Those stories never panned out for the few who saw it, and it is now considered one of the biggest box office flops of all time.
Where to watch: digital rental.
Naked Lunch (1991)
Critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert said in their television review that they admired David Cronenberg’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ novel about paranoia and addiction, but could not recommend it. It’s not hard to see why. Cronenberg integrates elements of the life and work of a beatnik into the script, but the film’s mystical elements and talking bugs make the plot almost incomprehensible.
Where to stream: Max