Thursday Movie Picks: Movies That Confused You: Wandering through the Shelves hosts a weekly movie challenge in which you choose 3-5 movies based on that Thursday’s theme and explain why you chose those movies. Today’s theme is Movies That Confused You, so here are my choices!
interstellar (2014)
I only realized after the fact that I chose 3 Christopher Nolan films! I suppose I would have added Tenet, but I haven’t seen that one yet. I really do adore Interstellar. It may be my favorite Nolan film (though The Prestige is up there too). But, honestly, the whole discussion and explanation of time and space and…I have no idea. It’s too much for my brain, and I’m just too dumb to really grasp it other than “time works differently in space,” and that’s all you need to tell me! But this is a beautiful, visually stunning movie!
inception (2010)
Another great Nolan film! Fantastic performances with a “what the f*ck?!” ending that I still see being debated and discussed today (it totally fell, IMO). Instead of messing with time, this movie messes with the subconscious and dreams. I guess it probably messes with time, too. I don’t know; it’s been a while since I’ve seen Inception, but the dream within a dream within a dream thing… got a little complicated and confusing for me. That didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy watching it! Great movie.
memento (2000)
IDK, I haven’t seen this movie in a really long time. It’s over 20 years old, and I don’t remember much about it other than that it told the story in a non-linear timeline, which was pretty cool but also super confusing. This is a movie that requires multiple viewings, I believe. I remember Brooklyn Nine-Nine did an episode that referenced Memento a lot when one of the characters was having short-term memory loss and decorating his body in tattoos to try to remember things (like buying toilet paper).
Allie
August 12, 2021I love that B99 episode! Also really weird foreshadowing about the toilet paper tattoo when COVID was just around the corner…
Sara
August 12, 2021Oh man, I didn’t even think of that! (TP an Covid). I am so excited that season 8 starts tonight for 99.
Kat Impossible
August 12, 2021I totally get why all those movies are on this list. I really liked Inception when I first watched it! Everyone had prepared me to be totally confused, but I didn’t find the concept that out of bounds for my imagination. Doesn’t mean that the ending wasn’t brilliantly controversial and a great talking point. (It better have fallen!)
Sara
August 12, 2021Inception is insanely creative. The ending is SO good.
Ronyell (a.k.a Rabbitearsblog)
August 12, 2021Great list! I haven’t seen any of these films yet, even though I’m a huge fan of Christopher Nolan’s works. I better start watching these movies soon!
Sara
August 12, 2021Thank you! I can vouch for Interstellar an Inception being fantastic.
Brittani
August 12, 2021Nolan is good at confusing. I saw a tweet the other day that Interstellar is actually a bad movie but we invested so much time into it that we try to make it good even though it’s confusing, and I honestly think that’s not far off anymore. lol
Sara
August 14, 2021Well, now I need to re-watched Interstellar to see if that’s true! lol It might be.
Joel
August 13, 2021I love a theme within the theme….even if it was accidental!
I like the majority of Nolan’s film but Interstellar isn’t among those. It was too cluttered, too abstract and most definitely too long.
However I loved Inception and while it was complex I didn’t find it confusing though I did get more out of it on my second view.
The same is true of Memento. That one I saw three times in the theatre, it was Nolan’s first big success and was only playing the arthouse theatre circuit in big cities. I was living about 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia but worked much closer at the time so when a couple of friends expressed interest in seeing it we made an excursion of it, trying different nearby restaurants and shopping. Miss that kind of nonchalance, of just picking up and going. Hopefully it will return soon.
I wish I could say that I ultimately ended up loving my three picks as you did yours once you sorted them out, but I didn’t and I’m sure if I was forced to watch them today I’d be just as lost as I was the only time I saw any of them!
Brazil (1985)-Some low-level flunky (Jonathan Pryce) in a world dominated by machines and technology spends his time daydreaming to escape his mundane existence leading to a muddled mess of confusion and ennui for the audience.
Eraserhead (1977)-In the gloomy city Henry (John Nance) lives in a bleak apartment with his wife Mary X (Charlotte Stewart) a one night stand he knocked up. When the baby comes it’s a bizarre lizard-like creature that won’t stop wailing. Henry tries to find the reasoning behind this from the other tenants, including a disfigured lady who lives inside a radiator, but answers aren’t easy to come by. In my case they were impossible.
Liquid Sky (1982)- An alien creature invades New York’s punk subculture in its search for an opiate released by the brain during orgasm or something like that, I’ll be damned if I could figure out what the point was or if this thing even had one!
Sara
August 14, 2021I have never heard of Liquid Sky! But I have seen Eraserhead on a lot of “confusing film” lists. It sounds bizarre! I have seen bits of Brazil but never watched the whole thing through. Not sure if my brain would be capable of deciphering it lol.
ThePunkTheory
August 16, 2021Those are great picks! Interstellar is one I haven’t yet seen, though.
Katy
August 17, 2021Great picks! Love the theme within a theme. I didn’t really struggle with Inception, but I definitely just accepted Interstellar because I had no clue about what he was talking about or trying to explain. lol
Sara
August 18, 2021Yeah the space/time explanations in Interstellar went waaaaaaaaaaaay over my head. LOL But I still enjoyed it.
Birgit
August 18, 2021I really liked all 3 films but they did make stop the DVD and ask my hubby WTF is going on?? Interstellar especially. I really like Memento but have not seen it in years. Inception is good but that ending I hated.
Sara
August 19, 2021The ending of Inception really does invoke a lot of emotion in people!
Wandering through the Shelves
August 19, 2021Memento is the only one I want to watch because I saw it soo long ago I remember almost nothing about it.
I don’t really like the other two. I found Interstellar particularly emotionally manipulative.
Sara
August 20, 2021I feel like I need to rewatch Memento as well. It’s been so long since I’ve seen it.