This weekend I rented 5 movies. 3 of them had twists that played on my expectations of the POV. The Others, Imposter and A Beautiful Mind.
The Usual Suspects was the first movie I remember that manipulated my expectations so thoroughly that I was taken by surprise. Before that was The Crying Game, but I knew Jayne was a guy from almost the beginning. Well, I didn’t know, but I suspected. I knew what the twist was before I saw The Sixth Sense (I wish I didn’t).
The only movie of the 3 that I saw this weekend that surprised me was A Beautiful Mind. Strange considering I knew it was about Nash’s schizophrenia.
So, the question is: Which movies successfully played with you mind? Which tried, but failed? Is this a new trend?
I’m not sure that’s a new trend, though. I saw The Others and The Sixth Sense, and I see the whole idea of flipping what you think is going to happen. But I think that’s just a strong component to a suspense/mystery genre. It’s the idea of taking what you least expect and doing it in a different way each time.
Anyway…movies that have played with my mind? I’ll also agree with The Others. And Sixth Sense too, though I didn’t enjoy that one quite as much. To bring in an older (and a TV show example), the Twilight Zone episode “Eye of the Beholder” did in the best way. The filming and angles are so great, that you don’t even realize what you’re not seeing. Then again, I was about ten when I first saw it. But it really took me in and had me believing something completely different.
Well, lets not forget about that wonderful sleeper Memento (now playing on Starz). Saw it for the second time last night and it was even better trying to untangle the web when I “thought” I had all the answers… foiled again !
I was pleased with the twist at the end of “The Others.” Movies about ghosts always give me a the willies (even “Ghost” did).
I’m still not sure about “Brazil”- it has some twists that never really straighten out.
What do you think of “American Psycho?” I’ve never read the book, but I was a bit taken at the end. Sure, the violence along the way was excessive, but in Hollywood?
Do we want to count “Dead Again,” where the killer and the victim are not who you think they are?
The dif. between that and, say, “The Others” and “Sixth Sense,” is that with the latter two, the twist was the film’s whole shtick. With “DA,” it was a (great, fascinating) plot point.
Lately: Mulholland Drive (at least in my interpretation of the plot)
older-- Yeah, Angelheart, Jacob’s Ladder, Naked Lunch (if you don’t know the plot already, that is. I was confused and thought it was a sci-fi flick for the first half. “Ohhh. . . the mugwumps don’t REALLY exist!”). How about the Rear Window? (although I’m not sure whether he was really mistaken all along) What was the Arnold Schwartznegger movie that takes place on Mars. . . Total Recall? We might also toss Blade Runner in this stack.
I can name one that DIDN’T work. Wild Things I fucking detest that movie, but it seems everytime I hit up the video store with a bunch of guys, someone’s gotta pick it up and scream “Dude, this is the best movie.” GHAH!!!
It came out soon after The Usual Suspects, so it tried to pull the whole “Shocking twist ending,” but pulled about five out of fucking no where, and they all sucked.
I don’t know if it still counts, but I really like Sunset Boulevard. I know the movie starts with the narrator pointing out the fact it’s his body they’re fishing out of the pool, but when the end comes around and you realize, “Yup, he’s still dead,” it’s really interesting.
The problem now is that the savvy audience member now expects both the unreliable narrator and the play-with-your-mind plot twist. I’d like to see something play upon those expectations and really mindfuck me.
This is sooo true. “They’re dead. He’s a bomb.” that what I said out loud while watching those movies this weekend.
Which is why I don’t know why I didn’t see through A Beautiful Mind. I kept thinking “His job is going to drive him off the deep end.” But after all was reveiled half-way through I thought “Damn, that was so obvious!”
Hmmm. Why was I fooled by A Beautiful Mind, but not The Others or Imposter? In fact I think I would have been more surprised if they weren’t dead and he wasn’t a bomb.
Was it the screenplay? Or maybe it was the director. Outside of his movie directing, Ron Howard seems so trustworthy that I didn’t think he would “fool” me.