I’ve recently rented or otherwise seen movies that I thought were absolutely amazing because of their complexity. Basically, I couldn’t figure them out from one viewing…or at the very least a second viewing was necessary to catch the plot in retrospect.
After seeing these films, I find it necessary to read about them, talk about them, and contemplate them late at night while staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. Most recently, they are Donnie Darko (wow!), Memento, and Mulholland Drive.
Does anyone have suggestions for other films along these lines? After seeing Lost Highway (a few times) and Mulholland Drive, I already have plans to explore a bit more David Lynch. Anything else I should make plans for?
Ingmar Bergman’s Persona and Robert Altman’s 3 Women
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and David Mamet’s House of Games
Anything by Luis Bunuel (for starters, try Belle de Jour or The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie)
Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Eclisse and The Passenger with Jack Nicholson.
Jacque Rivette’s Celine and Julie Go Boating
I’ve seen Chinatown and The Conversation and loved them both. Thanks for all the recommendations.
Rented Gosford Park recently and couldn’t get into it. Not sure if it was my mood or the movie. It was beautiful, but I couldn’t convince myself to CARE about what was going on. I’ll have to give it a second shot.
On a more “mainstream” level I found both The Hunt for Red October (Sean Connery) and Deathtrap (Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve) to be well-plotted, with enough twists to keep you guessing to the end.
ultrafilter beat me to The Usual Suspects a great film, so I’ll suggest [bL.A. Confidential** and The Man Who Wasn’t There both modern film noir that have some good plot twists. And you might try Somersby a Civil War era movie, based on a French movie (yes, the French movie was undoubtable better, but I never saw it, so go be a snob somewhere else). I liked Somersby mostly because it did not have an American ending, and that amazed me–Hollywood ruins so many movies by giving them nice, neat, happy endings. (Yeah, so I’m a snob, too, be surprized).
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension. It throws all kinds of characters and plotlines at you right off the bat and never quits. Good fun.
I like CyberPundit’s suggestion of The Big Sleep. It is definitely complex…so much so that the writers, Raymond Chandler and William Faulkner (!), had trouble explaining some of the plot points. It makes for a dangerous drinking game if you take a swig every time Bogart takes a gun off someone.
I’m not a David Lynch fan, but The Elephant Man is good, and The Straight Story is supposed to be excellent.
Anything by Terry Gilliam is bound to be pretty complex, such as “Twelve Monkees” and “Brazil”. Other than that, I’ll third the suggestion for “The Big Sleep” - a buddy and I killed three pitches of beers trying to diagram the plot!..Timmy
Mystery Train - three storylines Julian Donkeyboy - more difficult than complex Kingdom - Dutch miniseries about a haunted hospital, great acting Through a Glass Darkly and Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman
I’ll throw in Being John Malkovich. It’s one of thse films that just when you think you’ve figured out where it’s going it veers off in another direction.
Angel Heart is another one that keeps you guessing right up until the end.
And don’t get me started on the hidden complexity in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”
Go has a non-linear structure and was fun too. Someone mentioned **The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover ** in the thread about movies you like that no one saw. Layered and very weird. Fanny and Alexander is also good if you don’t mind subtitles.
I also just finished watbhing Akira. I don’t know whether complicated is exactly how I’d describe it. More like confusing.
A $20 million inside jokefest, requiring you to have seen 4 other films to get them all. I’ve been trying to explain them all to guy at work who liked the movie a little but kept asking "Why was that in there? and “Who was that?”. He’s seen one other film in the ViewAskewniverse, and is totally lost.