There are movies that I have watched and just thought..WTF?!? I have not watched any Jean Luc Godard films nor seen Marienbad(thank God), but I have seen films that just confuse me and anger me because I wasted my time watching that film. I will be curious to find out what everyone else thinks so head on over to Wandering Through The Shelves to find out what everyone else has chosen. Here are my 3...
1. PERSONA-1966
This is an Ingmar Bergman film starring his 2 favourite actresses Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann. One plays a famous theatre actress who suddenly stops speaking. Every test is done so they figure it is a mental issue. To help her out, the doctors and her husband all feel it is best to place her on a secluded cabin in the middle of nowhere with a nurse who just won’t shut up. This nurse talks all the time. Soon the 2 seem to mesh with one another especially that they look very much alike. They seem to be taking on the other’s personality. I just sat there ...watching this film, as their faces appear straight on the camera or half on and half off the camera with Freudian themes..ughhh. I just felt all my brain cells seeping out of my ears. I knew this was supposed to make me think philosophically but I just shook my head. This is supposed to be Bergman's masterpiece but I am just scratching my head wondering ...what's the point?
2. THE MATRIX RELOAD AND REVOLUTIONS-2003
Why...why must they make sequels to films that were big and ended in a positive manner? Oh yes...money. These 2 films were mostly about looking sleek in a shiny, skin tight pleather outfits with dark sunglasses, have tons of fight scenes that make you go ..oooh and aahhh. And have a plot that makes me think of a balloon quickly deflating and then drop to the ground. Oh yes and then we have that big rave concert thing while Neo and Trinity have tribal sex.. she dies...nope she doesn’t but Neo dies..maybe. Probably not since there will be a 4th movie coming out. Ughhh
3. TREE OF LIFE-2011
WTF?? This grown up man, played by Sean Penn is trying to deal with his issues with his dad, played by Brad Pitt in the past. We know Sean had 2 other brothers but one died way back when. In between the basic plot we have to think so, so hard about the philosophical nature of what the director, Terrence Malick, wanted to say. Again, my brain cells seeped out and I felt like I had the IQ of 7. I hate pretentious films and find all of these films are just that...pretentious.
Which films confused the hell out of you?
Hi, Birgit!
ReplyDeleteI am sitting in the balcony with you "At The Movies," dear friend! Pass the popcorn, please.
I haven't seen any of these WTF? confusing films. I will address them one by one, starting with Ingmar Bergman's Persona. Hi there, Persona!
You wrote:
<< One plays a famous theatre actress who suddenly stops speaking. Every test is done so they figure it is a mental issue. >> Did they ever stop to think that maybe she just didn't have anything to say? :) Shady sez nothing good ever happens in a secluded cabin. Just ask the gang at Camp Crystal Lake. Question: Do the actress and the nurse smooch? That would be hot. If they smooch, I wanna see it! In 1966, when Persona was released, artsy foreign films with sexual overtones were buzzworthy and sold lots of tickets in America. I can tell by the trailer and your review that this one takes itself much too seriously and begs for a parody by the SNL players. The footage could be used in Calvin Klein commercials.
I am not a big fan of the cyberpunk/sci-fi action genre, and haven't seen any of the Matrix films. Watching good guys and bad guys exchange continuous gunfire during high speed chases with motorcycle and car stunts and explosions while loud music amps-up the excitement, is not my thing.
I totally agree with you about Tree of Life. Without having seen it, I am already turned off by the pretentious trailer that uses grandiose orchestra music and the obligatory eerie sound of a gothic choir to make us believe we are seeing something really important. Give me Pee-Wee's Big Adventure any day!
I am confused, but delightfully so, whenever I watch films made by director David Lynch. Mulholland Dr is a great example, as is Fire Walk With Me, the motion picture prequel to the TV series Twin Peaks.
Thanks, BB! I hope you enjoy the rest of your week, and I look forward to meeting you again here on the blogging playground.
Yes, I had a feeling she had nothing to say any more. The Matrix likes to think they are ultra cool...ughh. I have not seen Mulholland Drive and have no desire to see it either.
DeleteFunny that this is the topic. My sons and I were just talking Tuesday night about seeing Total Recall when they were young. I still have no idea what was going on and I saw it twice!
ReplyDeleteHaving read the other comments, the movie Memento jumped into my head. My son and I had seen it and were both confused. When the DVD came out, I purchased it, we managed to find the Easter egg that allowed you to watch the scenes as they happened without the flashbacks, and we were still shaking our heads, lol.
DeleteI actually like Total Recall with Arnold and Memento but it is confusing and don’t ask me to tell you what it means.
DeleteI thought the third Matrix movie was better than the second. I enjoyed them though.
ReplyDeleteMost confusing and weird movie I have ever seen - Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Even more weird than Eraserhead.
I saw all 3 and came to appreciate the first one more than when I first saw it. But couldn’t stand the remakes. I have not even heard of Tetsuo and have yet to see Eraserhead.
DeleteI've seen all three of your picks! I love Persona, I 100% agree with Tree of Life..what was that? I'm still baffled by the love that movie gets. I remember exactly one thing from both Matrix sequels, so that's where I'm at with those. lol
ReplyDeleteHey...glad you saw all 3. I just don’t get Persona and Bibi’s character annoyed me.
DeleteI haven't seen Persona, but the Matrix sequels were a mess and Tree of Life... I'm just going to say it is a pretentious film and I'm not into pretentious films. I can't believe how many people love that film.
ReplyDeleteThe Tree of Life I think is the Emperor’s New Clothes. No one wants to say that it really is a piece of shit.
DeleteWith Persona it did take a lot of concentration to glean what was going on and it is far from my favorite Ingmar Bergman film but I ultimately did like it. But it isn't one I'll be going back to.
ReplyDeleteI hate, hated the original Matrix, even a second watch didn't help so I avoided any follow-ups.
The Tree of Life seems to be very divisive, taking that into consideration and the fact that its long I've never been drawn to seeking it out despite the cast. Your description isn't doing anything to make me think that was the wrong choice.
I had heard praise for my first two before I saw them but I thought they were scrambled and diffuse. The last is just a jumbled mess.
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!
Late but I’m here...if you see this. I can deal with the original Matrix now but I don’t go out of my way to see it. I just have no feeling at all for Persona. Tree of deathly boredom is more like it. I actually really like Brazil which is out there for sure. I have not seen Eraserhead and not sure I want to. I think I will pass on Liquid Sky
DeleteI've seen The Matrix et al, but not the other two. With this topic, the movie that came to my mind was Time Bandits. I was like 10ish when it came out, and it was incomprehensible to me. I haven't seen it since. I just remember how I had no clue what it was about.
ReplyDeleteI'm also not a fan of movies where the main character is crazy or in an alternate mind and the movie tries to portray that. For example, Jacob's Ladder (although, I never saw that whole movie; what I saw of it was enough to make me turn it off and never go back).
I love Time Bandits and even had a great dream about it. I heard about Jacob’s Ladder but never seen it and don’t know anything about it.
DeleteI really enjoyed The Matrix! Then they had to go and ruin it with those 2 sequels that made zero sense to me! I like to pretend that The Matrix is still a standalone film lol
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Matrix needs to just stay on its own even though I am not a fan of any.
DeleteHaven't seen any of the 3 and if you didn't like them, I'm glad I didn't see them.
ReplyDeleteWishing you fairies and angels watching over you:)
Yeah...skip them all. I hope my mom watches over me
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGreat list! I honestly didn't understand the Matrix sequels either. I don't know why they made them in the first place.
ReplyDeleteHere’s my Thursday Movie Picks!
Ronyell @ Rabbit Ears Book Blog
Although I appreciate the first one more than initially, it needs to stand alone and screw the remakes.
DeleteI've also not seen any of the films that made your brains drip. Glad I didn't and never will, but I love how you describe them. Now it's time to plug in to something fun and sane!
ReplyDeleteI so agree with you
DeleteI'm with you on The Tree of Life. That movie made no sense and wasn't at all interesting. Sean Penn said he asked Malick what he was supposed to be thinking about during one scene and Malick couldn't tell him. Movies directed by David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick tend to fall in this category.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
That’s so funny that the director couldn’t tell Penn. Lynch is on another dimension. I like Kubrick’s films more.
DeleteBelieve it or not, a couple of Cary Grant films...
ReplyDeleteBringing Up Baby
Arsenic and Old Lace
There's nothing challenging in the narrative structure or anything like that. But the truth is, I find both movies difficult to watch. They "do my head in" as the British would say. Maybe it's just a bridge too far in terms of the sense of humor. I find them stressful!
More conventionally confusing would be Guy Maddin films in general. I'll go with The Saddest Music in the World.
I am reminded of one of my favorite Hayao Miyazaki stories. The master director readily admits that he doesn't know what his masterpiece, Spirited Away, is about. It's universally hailed as one of the greatest animated films ever made and the man who created it doesn't fully understand it. I love that!
I love both of those Grant films but he is manic in both which puts my brother off both films. I heard amazing things about that animated film but I have not seen it.
DeleteBIRGIT ~
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic in this round.
The first two things that came into my mind were...
1) It's not a movie, but the conclusion to the TV series 'THE PRISONER' (1968). Within the next two weeks, I'll be watching that final episode for the third time, and maybe the third time will be a charm. Because I can tell you that the first two times I saw this final ep, I had NO IDEA what I was seeing, what the story was saying. For me, it was the biggest letdown ending to any TV series that I had watched and enjoyed, up until the finale.
2) 'FOOTPRINTS ON THE MOON' (1975)
I saw this movie for the first time very recently. I kept waiting for the big payoff at the end, which would tie all of these oddities together and make sense of it all. Alas... it was just more horrible, pointless pretentiousness. (I have a very, VERY low tolerance for any form of pretentiousness.)
Two of your earlier commenters reminded me of a couple other things, as well...
Bringing Up Baby
Arsenic and Old Lace
I don't find them difficult or stressful to watch, nor do I find them confusing, but you can add me to the small list of folks who don't care for either of these "classics". I like Cary Grant pretty well, generally, but I have NEVER been able to find out what people think is so wonderful about these two movies. I've seen 'em both twice (in case I missed the great *"it"* the first time around) and they do nothing for me at all. Maybe I chuckle once or twice in the course of each movie, and that's just not much of a return on so-called masterpieces of the Screwball Comedy genre.
Mulholland Drive
Due to Lynch's artsy-fartsy pretentiousness, I went into this one figuring I probably wouldn't like it and, boy, was I ever right. It was one of only a small handful of times when I actually turned a movie off in the middle and gave up on it, knowing that it had already gone way past any point of redemption.
Birgit, I've not seen any of the three movies you mentioned, and I have no intention of altering that situation. I own 'The Matrix', but just the idea of doing a sequel to that movie seems stupid to me. I really can't stand watching Sean Penn (prick that he is), and the only Ingmar Bergman movie I've liked was 'Wild Strawberries'. The rest of his stuff was just too pretentious for me. If I want pretentiousness, I'll watch 'Frasier' and laugh my way through it and at it.
~ D-FensDogG
I love ...love The Prisoner but the last episode is cryptic and I, think, it is supposed to bring to mind when he played Secret Agent Man. I have not see that other film you mentioned and doubt I will.
DeleteI love both Grant films but, in both, he is very manic which is what, I believe, puts some people off. I can’t think of other films where he plays someone as neurotic as those 2 characters. I know my brother finds the characters irritating.
I have not seen any Lynch films and am not sure I will but I do want to see Blue Velvet one day. I actually love Bergman’s film, The Seventh Seal and want to get it on DVD. I’m surprised you own The Matrix but never see the sequels. I don’t mind Sean Penn but he needs to ...smile and not take life so seriously. I do think he is a bit of an ass.
Thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteYou are a sweetheart
DeleteI'm with you on not enjoying pretentious films. I want great escapism I can settle right in to.
ReplyDeleteHope you're having a pain free day.
I so agree with you but I do love films that make me think and equate it to a great work of art like something from Rembrandt or Durer but these pretentious flicks remind me of art we see in museums that are white with a Red dot and we are supposed to say it’s brilliant when a 2 yr old could do it.
DeleteI only saw the first Matrix movie. I think I saw that too young, I remember not getting it and didn't bother with the other two.
ReplyDelete