# Movies you found incomprehensible **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 21, 2001, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042 "2001-05-21T03:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/1 "2001-05-21T03:24:06Z")
Here are the movies I just didn’t “get”: **Lost Highway Jacob’s Ladder Repo Man** Your turn. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/2 "2001-05-21T04:10:04Z")
I agree with Lost Highway. All I got from it was that Lynch decided to do something pretentious and postmodern, and that’s about it. I more or less figured out the plot, but the “so what” factor was high. I also didn’t get the ending of **The Sweet Hereafter.** Reading the book later cleared it up, but the movie was too subtle about what was the catalyst for the ending. Right now I don’t understand the end of \*\* The Virgin Suicides, \*\*what they did is obvious, but not why. I suspect I’ll figure that one out by reading the book too. The only other one I can think of is \*\* The Boiler Room\*\* I was sure the beginning was a flash-back(in the expensive hotel) but if it was, I missed how it connected to the ending. I don’t remember leaving the room, either. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/3 "2001-05-21T04:41:51Z")
“The Quiet Earth” I dug it the most, I just didn’t get it. Same with that film that starred the guy from “Beauty and The Beast,” I think it was called “Village/Children” something-the-other. Beautiful film to look at, but it eluded me. “Holy Man”, although to be honest I turned it off after an hour or so. Have these guys heard of plot progression? Sir ---
**Author:** ![Lawmill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lawmill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawmill)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/4 "2001-05-21T04:42:54Z")
> [@](#): > > The only other one I can think of is The Boiler Room I was sure the beginning was a flash-back(in the expensive hotel) but if it was, I missed how it connected to the ending. I don’t remember leaving the room, either. The opening scene is just an attention grabber. It has nothing to do with the ending per se and is shown again in its correct chronological place later on in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/5 "2001-05-21T04:44:06Z")
My state while watching **The Doom Generation** consisted primarily of snickering. And not in a way that those involved with making the film would probably have found very flattering. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/6 "2001-05-21T05:02:27Z")
**Bikini Car Wash, part II.** I think one needed to have seen **part I** in order to completely understand the intricate twists of the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/7 "2001-05-21T05:16:07Z")
Albert, I agree, but just having seen the incredible first half of this saga (there’s just too much story to pack into one film) I can say that you should be looking for this to get a full understanding of the films’ delicate framework: Remember that the soap spray is a metaphor for the ennu of life that afflicts us, while the rinse is symbolic of the cleansing we receive when we reach epiphaney–in this case, epiphaney being the final wax given to the 74 Olds 98. See? 😃 Sir Rhosis Ebert ---
**Author:** ![osweetman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@osweetman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/osweetman)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/8 "2001-05-21T06:13:04Z")
Killer Klowns From Outer Space ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/9 "2001-05-21T07:53:20Z")
I heard the plot of Lost Highway is supposed to be some kind of literary mobius strip. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/10 "2001-05-21T08:20:19Z")
I got the gist of it alright. But… **raining frogs??** WTF? ---
**Author:** ![VanLandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/eb9ed0/32.png) [@VanLandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanLandry)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/11 "2001-05-21T13:11:55Z")
Natural Born Killers ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/12 "2001-05-21T13:43:49Z")
Didn’t “get” as in didn’t understand the appeal to the other Teeming Millions, or just completely didn’t fucking understand? In the first definition, Paul Mazursky’s AN UNMARRIED WOMAN (1978). Woman’s marriage collapses, so she trades in her scumbag cheating husband for a better model…rich and handsome and tall and is a SoHo artist with a ten-million square foot loft. One is awestruck by the sense of Realism. Got up and walked out of this one when Jill Clayburgh say down at the piano with her daughter and started singing “Maybe I’m Amazed.” In the second definition, Robert Altman’s 3 WOMEN (1977). Huh? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/13 "2001-05-21T13:52:44Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Sir Rhosis \* > \*\* > Same with that film that starred the guy from “Beauty and The Beast,” I think it was called “Village/Children” something-the-other. Beautiful film to look at, but it eluded me._\* Would this be **The City of Lost Children** , starring Ron Perelman? I think that was the one where he played this really nasty feller who kidnapped kids so he could steal their dreams for all sorts of evil trickery. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/14 "2001-05-21T13:55:58Z")
As far as the “what is the meaning?” . . . I saw 2001 on teevee this weekend and sat there thinking, “whhaaaat?” I saw it when it was first released and enjoyed it: went oooh-aaaah at the music and the special effects. But rewatching it, all I could think was, what pretentious crap! I mean, was it just me, or was there no plot at ALL? As far as “why did everyone like this?” add me to the “ANY film by Oliver Stone” camp. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/15 "2001-05-21T14:29:47Z")
Yeah, I was watching TCM last night too. _2001: A Space Odyssey_ is a brilliant film. It lacks a plot and any memorable characters except for HAL, but that’s not the point. Kubrick and Clarke were constructing a grand panorama of human evolution through extraterrestrial intervention, so it’s more of a pageant than a plot-driven story. A twenty-minute segment of a spacecraft landing on the moon while a Strauss waltz plays in the soundtrack doesn’t advance the narrative, but it is beautiful to watch and listen to. You might as well criticize _Koyaanisqatsi_ for having no plot. Movies I don’t get: _Last Year at Marienbad_ _Un Chien Andalou_ _Eraserhead_ _Six-String Samurai_ ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2001, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/16 "2001-05-21T17:26:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfkin477 \* > \*\*Right now > I don’t understand the end of \*\* The Virgin Suicides, \*\*what they did is obvious, but not why. I suspect I’ll figure that one out by reading the book too. > \*\* Probably not. The book wasn’t exactly clear on their motivation either, since it was told from the viewpoint of the neighbor boys. It’s a little less hazy than the movie, but not much. I thought it was a terrific adaptation, though. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2001, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/17 "2001-05-22T01:13:47Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \* \*\*Didn’t “get” as in didn’t understand the appeal to the other Teeming Millions, or just completely didn’t fucking understand? [QUOTE] The second definition. I could never figure out WTF was going on in any of the 3 movies I mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/18 "2001-05-22T01:25:26Z")
_Jacob’s Ladder_ was one of my favorite movies ever. What was it you didn’t get? It had a twist ending, so discussing it would be a spoiler which I hesitate to post. But I found the whole plot quite coherent despite the abruptly shifting storyline. Think of Billy Pilgrim coming “unstuck in time” in _Slaughterhouse-Five_. To understand the outcome and the shape of the whole plot, read the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce. That story was the first to use the plot twist that was borrowed for _Jacob’s Ladder_. Aside: I didn’t like Tim Robbins in _Bull Durham_ because his character was so utterly stoopid. He scored much better in _Erik the Viking_, a very good movie that nobody saw. Then when _Jacob’s Ladder_ came along I was floored by the brilliance of the whole thing. I don’t get why people don’t get it! ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2001, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/19 "2001-05-22T02:47:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\*Then when _Jacob’s Ladder_ came along I was floored by the brilliance of the whole thing. I don’t get why people don’t get it! \*\* I **got** it, but I can see why many others would not. It’s not a straightforward movie, and when the general public goes to the movies, they expect things to be told to them in a particular order - beginning, middle, end. **Pulp Fiction** was like this, too. At the time it came out on tape, I was working in a video store, and I had a LOT of people return it who said they didn’t “get” it. It’s nothing against the movie or the people, but their expectations were simply different. And now my own aside: A few months after **Jacob’s Ladder** came out on tape, this one line from a film kept running through my mind. I asked **everyone** I could, including a lot of film buffs, what it was, and it turns out it’s a line from **Jacob’s**! Cool, creepy movie, and more than a little muddled. (I don’t want to give you the line, because it’s very crucial to the plot and could be considered a spoiler.) ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2001, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042/20 "2001-05-22T04:02:36Z")
I agree that I didn’t understand what the ending of “The Quiet Earth” was supposed to be/mean. If anyone else DID figure it out can you PLEASE explain? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-you-found-incomprehensible/66042.md?page=2)