Movies that when they ended you went "Whaaaaat?"

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@Max_the_Immortal

You know what I dislike about Barton Fink? There’s no acceleration. It starts slightly weird but steadily getting weirder, and maintains that course for the whole movie until eventually it’s really weird. But there’s no real change.

I confess to being a fan of Barton Fink - it has so much elegant Coen Brothers weirdness in it I can’t help but like it.

The lack of acceleration and the flat storyline are absolutely deliberate, IMVHO.

[spoiler]Fink is a one-note writer whose ego and pride at his tiny bit of success takes him straight to hell, where he remains for the rest of the movie. His punishment is to write the same story over and over and have it fail.

If you didn’t catch on that the hotel is hell (and a circle within the hell of Hollywood) then the weirdness might never make sense. It all begins with “Chet” coming up from below via a long, long set of steps.[/spoiler]

[Ellen_Cherry]

@Amateur_Barbarian

[spoiler]Fink is a one-note writer whose ego and pride at his tiny bit of success takes him straight to hell, where he remains for the rest of the movie. His punishment is to write the same story over and over and have it fail.

If you didn’t catch on that the hotel is hell (and a circle within the hell of Hollywood) then the weirdness might never make sense. It all begins with “Chet” coming up from below via a long, long set of steps.[/spoiler]

Thank you. I have long thought about the fake-looking flames when the hotel is afire, thinking it had to be deliberate because I would think the Coens and their effects people could certainly make convincing flames and make it appear that the hotel was actually burning.

My contribution was the 19-year-old me watching a VHS of A Clockwork Orange in my dorm room, an unheard-of luxury in 1983. Although it was less confusion and more “what the hell did we just WATCH?” The violence of it was just unnerving, I guess, to a proto-Ellen.

[yanceylebeef]

I think the last movie that did that to me was Mulholland Drive.

[tullsterx]

Barton Fink? That ends with him sitting on the beach with the box?

I love that ending. . . and he never opens the box.

I really like the unexpected ending. The movie Prisoners that came out last year, had a ending kind of like that, not entirely unexpected, but you couldn’t tell exactly when it was going to come.

[tullsterx]

@Freudian_Slit

I think a lot of people with Match Point. I wasn’t so shocked b/c I’d heard people saying how the last few minutes really mess with you, so came in primed, but if I hadn’t, I think it would have been more of a mindfuck.

Yeah, that’s a good one. And my favorite Woody Allen movie.

[drastic_quench]

Being There.

[2ManyTacos]

Basically every single one of the Cube movies. None of them make one iota of sense, but they’re all entertaining in their own surreal ways.

I finally saw Primer the other day, and I still don’t know what actually took place in that movie.

The first Saw had an OMG ending as well.

[That_Don_Guy]

Starship Troopers
Lost in Space

Yes, I realize that they were both meant to be “Part 1 of a series.” That is not an excuse (especially as the second Starship Troopers movie had little overlap with the first one).

[CalMeacham]

@That_Don_Guy

Starship Troopers
Lost in Space

Yes, I realize that they were both meant to be “Part 1 of a series.” That is not an excuse (especially as the second Starship Troopers movie had little overlap with the first one).

Starship Troopers wasn’t meant to be Part I of a series. AFAIK it was meant to be a standalone film. That they later made two live-action sequels (and a couple of CGI ones) doesn’t change this.

I haven’t heard that Lost in Space was supposed to be a series, either. I don’t think they’d have killed off Dr. Smith if that was their intention.

[Little_Nemo]

@Amateur_Barbarian

I confess to being a fan of Barton Fink - it has so much elegant Coen Brothers weirdness in it I can’t help but like it.

The lack of acceleration and the flat storyline are absolutely deliberate, IMVHO.

[spoiler]Fink is a one-note writer whose ego and pride at his tiny bit of success takes him straight to hell, where he remains for the rest of the movie. His punishment is to write the same story over and over and have it fail.

If you didn’t catch on that the hotel is hell (and a circle within the hell of Hollywood) then the weirdness might never make sense. It all begins with “Chet” coming up from below via a long, long set of steps.[/spoiler]

Interesting insight.

Another movie that often confuses viewers because they’re missing the key factor is Eraserhead. You have to realize the protagonist is asleep and the entire movie is a dream sequence. When you understand that, the lack of a straightforward narrative makes sense.

[foolsguinea]

@dasmoocher

For me: Jacob’s Ladder.

Really? I thought the ending made a sort of sense, but I’ve never seen the beginning, so that may make a difference.

@Edward_The_Head

I watched a Romanian movie a couple of weeks ago called 4 Weeks, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. It was interesting, but the ending what just kind of there. I guess it resolved things, but I didn’t think all that great. There was a “Chekhov’s Gun” That was nothing. They made a big deal out of something twice and then it was never brought up again.

I’ve actually noticed this about some European movies, they sometimes just kind of end and I don’t always know if the resolution was good or not.

It’s been a while since I saw <i>4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days,</i> but I think it resolved the main story well enough (and the movie deliberately takes place within a single day and following one character’s perspective). What Chekhov’s Gun are you talking about?

@drastic_quench

Being There.

Yeah, fair accusation.

[j666]

@Horatio_Hellpop

Yeah, Orson Welles’. When Joseph Cotton walks past Harry Lime’s inexplicably loyal girlfriend and doesn’t get a rise out of her. That one.

It was definitely an atypical ending for that type of movie, but I thought it made perfect sense when she just keeps walking past him.

[Tim_R.Mortiss]

@Little_Nemo

Interesting insight.

Another movie that often confuses viewers because they’re missing the key factor is Eraserhead. You have to realize the protagonist is asleep and the entire movie is a dream sequence. When you understand that, the lack of a straightforward narrative makes sense.

Pretty much all David Lynch movies are meant to be dream sequences. He has stated that he never intends to tell a linear story; he just wants to create moods and atmospheres.

And I totally thought *The Third Man *ended on a perfect closed loop.

[Horatio_Hellpop]

@j666

It was definitely an atypical ending for that type of movie, but I thought it made perfect sense when she just keeps walking past him.

It made sense, but it occurred in an era when clear endings were spoon-fed to American audiences and was a bit of a surprise within its context.

[Lightnin]

@Little_Nemo

Push. It was supposed to be the first movie in a series and it ended on a cliff-hanger with a couple of unresolved plotlines. It was not advertised as such and I, along undoubtedly with a number of other audience members, were surprised by the unexpected open ending. Even more annoyingly, the movie didn’t do very well and the sequels were never made.

Such a shame, too. That’s one of my favorite movies.

[epbrown01]

I’ve got some that are more typical, both with recent threads about them. “Superman: The Movie” - the first time I’d encountered what we now call a reset button. I was like “what the hell?” And it still doesn’t make sense - was there never an earthquake, or does everyone remember the reversal except Lois, or what. Everyone’s thanking Supes and arresting Lex but from their perspective nothing happened, did it?

Another was “The Last American Virgin” when the girl goes back to his friend. I saw that when I was younger and it left me flabbergasted. Saw it after I dated a bit and the ending is just “Eh, chicks.”

Finally, the ending to “The Wages of Fear” was a shocker, before I discovered most foreign films do that. The ending of a French “The Karate Kid” would have Daniel lose with a broken leg, and as he and Mr. Miyagi left the hospital they’d see the Billy screwing his girlfriend Ali on the hood of the vintage Plymouth.

[phungi]

Million Dollar Baby…

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

@phungi

Million Dollar Baby…

Good one.

[Miller]

@CalMeacham

I haven’t heard that Lost in Space was supposed to be a series, either. I don’t think they’d have killed off Dr. Smith if that was their intention.

I’m pretty sure he was still alive at the end of the movie.

[LC_Strawhouse]

I vote for Witness Protection, a TV movie with Tom Sizemore. It’s actually a very well made movie - the problem is that it ends right before the most interesting part. The entire movie consists of the mobster family being trained for witness protection and then the credits roll when they’re about to enter witness protection for real. The movie was doing great up to that point, why not just add the third act? :smack:

@epbrown01

Finally, the ending to “The Wages of Fear” was a shocker, before I discovered most foreign films do that. The ending of a French “The Karate Kid” would have Daniel lose with a broken leg, and as he and Mr. Miyagi left the hospital they’d see the Billy screwing his girlfriend Ali on the hood of the vintage Plymouth.

I think a typical French version would have the girlfriend end up with Mr. Miyagi.