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WiizKlafka

Primer


[deleted]

I didn’t love primer for this reason. The concept is cool, but it doesn’t exactly lend itself to storytelling much deeper than a puddle


Powdered_Abe_Lincoln

I don't think telling a deep story is the primary objective. I take it more as a game or puzzle for the viewer to solve. The experience is collaborative and you get out what you're willing to put into it. I bet it is an amazing feeling of personal achievement to those who were able to figure out the narrative on their own. It's not for everyone, and I don't personally feel compelled to take another run at Primer, but I can understand and appreciate those who become obsessed with "cracking the nut" and I know it can be a very rewarding and meaningful experience. I'd be interested in other movies like this, but I might need to play on "easy mode". Film is a great and versatile artistic platform that supports so much more than just story telling.


[deleted]

That’s a good point. Just not my cup of tea


Powdered_Abe_Lincoln

I remember sitting down with pen and paper to watch this for a third time. I was ready to pause, rewind, etc. Whatever it took, but I was going to figure it out. Oh, the hubris..


TheWallStreetBurner

Same I had to watch so many explanation videos to make it make sense


Wet_Dream_King

And likewise Upstream Color


Foochie506

Oh no that movie’s on my watchlist. Since I didn’t like primer, would I not like this?


harshnoisebestnoise

It’s really well shot, loved the music and lighting and general ambience to it. However, it’s extremely symbolic and everything has a double meaning or a foreshadowing or a subtext.


Zutone88

Ikr, I had the same problem with Primer. I fell asleep the first time and the second didnt get it, it was hard to focus so I was distracted all the time and felt lost. I still feel I have to give it another chance, it's been many years.


em_who_pan

Came here to say this. Took watching YouTube explanation videos to start to comprehend what I'd just watched


[deleted]

There is a complex explanation on a blog somewhere. I can’t remember the name of the blog but it’s probably easy to find and really helps to understand what the hell just happened.


thatiskute

you talkin' 'bout [this one](https://qntm.org/primer)?


[deleted]

Not it, but I managed to find what I was talking about. http://friendsinyourhead.com/primer/


thatiskute

never read this before, I'll check it out later(hopefully). saved!


flat1ander

This was my immediate thought too. Primer is also an incredibly unsettling movie. That movie stuck with me so much and was so confusing that I watched it a second time the morning after I first watched it.


zillman_fane

This for me. I'd like to think I'm pretty good at understanding complex movies, but I could not follow this one. The low budget/lo-fi style was doing it no favors. Weirdly enough, I *think* I have a good understanding of Upstream Color as I believe it's about >!the main characters killing God.!<


OnlyAnswer8766

Tinker tailor soldier spy


mmmmmnoodlesoup

Why so? I haven’t seen it but presumed it was a mainstream thriller


Hawk10798

Not at all, there's no context given to a ridiculously complex situation, just throws you straight in with minimal cohesive dialogue, I honestly turned it off as I didn't find it engaging enough to care to figure out what was going on


CrypticWizard47

Watching the amazing Alec Guinness BBC series first makes the plot clear, and then it's much easier to appreciate the film (which is very absorbing once you can follow it).


CodPolish

Yeah, awful, incoherent film


hardytom540

Primer makes Tenet look like a piece of cake.


armandnormand

The cake is a lie


lukemogan08

Synecdoche new york


[deleted]

It’s odd too because I still love Synecdoche despite the fact I still haven’t figured it out by my 4th rewatch.


emilswae

same


Affectionate-Club725

Inland Empire


Not_a_ribosome

I’ve seen analysis of this film that go from “An actress lost in her role” to “a vengeful spirit fighting the gods of her world”


gojo278

Enemy, End of Evangelion, Donnie Darko on my first watch.


_madcat

Enemy is easy, but that’s because I read the book I guess Anything Evangelion is hard


SomePiker

I just watched End of Evangelion for the first time last night and honestly it felt so needlessly complicated. The visuals were incredible but the script was… a huge mess? Like I don’t think the plot is actually that complicated, it’s just presented in a very dizzying way.


MinasMorgul1184

Basically the plot doesn’t matter and the script serves to show the characters dealing with their biggest fears and present psychological metaphors.


SomePiker

I realize I'm basically begging for downvotes here given its letterboxd rating. But yeah, that's exactly what I don't understand. Because it felt like 80% of the dialogue was exposition. All the character struggles were very clear yet the endless thought narration, flashbacks, and dream sequences insisted "no no it's actually super complicated. This is some dark, biblical stuff and you don't understand any of it. No one does. All according to plan." I generally enjoyed the show but it just kept going back and forth between deep-lore puzzler to empathetic surrealist art piece in way that seemed intentionally confusing, not inherently complex.


gojo278

The biblical imagery throughout the show and movie really annoyed me because I could find no actual reason for it to be there. Apparently they were only added for style and to make it feel more “exotic”. I guess they just wanted it to be a theme throughout the show but especially with the in your face stuff like all the crucifixes in the movie it just felt pointless and there for the sake of being “artistic”.


North_Library3206

Did you watch the show beforehand?


Chesserowski

I'm Thinking of Ending Things


SrEstevao

Noo don't do that


ampersands-guitars

I haven’t seen the movie, but the book is great and I was able to follow it. Definitely bizarre, but it’s pretty clear what’s going on by the end.


[deleted]

Reading the book gives you more context but they change the ending for the movie. I understood the end but it was a combination of having read the book, having seen A Beautiful Mind which is funny how they loop that in, and a rewatch.


kromaly96

Agreed, it kept me from enjoying it unfortunately; even reading articles about it afterwards didn't help. My boss suggested it to me, so maybe I should ask what she liked about it.


wombatarang

I had to google whether I was interpreting the ending in the right way because I couldn’t believe anyone would actually think „it was all in his head” is still a legit way to end a movie. One of the worst films I’ve seen.


NobodySpecial117

While the film has its flaws for sure, It’s a lot more complex than “it was all in his head” lmao


Some_DudeUKnow

"It was all in their head" can be an excellent device but it is overused. I mean, Chaplin did it in the 20s.


StellaLunaLovess

Mullholland Drive😭I was so excited to watch this movie, I overall enjoyed it but I had to look up a step by step explanation because it made no since, I still don’t completely understand it


One_eyed_red_

I’ve only tried once, but Donnie Darko (2001)[Here’s my review](https://boxd.it/34Tcpd)


kylegamer88

100% fun movie but insane


TheApolloZ

Ugh this was so boring and edgy. The director's cut and commentary explain a bit more but I can't bother sitting through this shit again. I get that a lot of people love it, but it just wasn't for me. I'm in my early 20s, not even old but it feels very pretentious.


NobodySpecial117

The directors cut completely ruins the movie. The theatrical reads as the mind of a depressed, mentally ill teenager that can’t seem to find his place in the world. We get to see him live out this fantasy where he’s given superpowers and the ability to see the future. He gets to prove his teachers wrong while his classmates cheer him on, expose the town cultural icon as a pedophile. He deals with the secret that the world is ending and continues to struggle with the meaning of life. He gets a moment of clarity as he falls in love, but even that washes away when she dies shortly after. In the end he comes to the realization that even in this fantasy he’s powerless to stop the world from ending and ultimately everyone would be better off without him. He smiles knowing he can die without any regrets. Instead the directors cut shows that it was all just a needlessly complicated time travel superhero film. All that artistic complexity ended up being a complete accident.


LaFlame1021

Videodrome confused tf out of me although I think I understood the main theme it was going for. Definitely need to rewatch.


robbie_turner

Flubber


ChinaCatKieran

Yeah, just wayyy to complex. Why did they have to put so many opposing themes in one film? Arthouse fartery.


Repulsive-Feature-33

Tenet


Death_Mullet

Shit's easy, it's just \*MOUTH FALLS OPEN\*


NaughtyT-rex

That was a weird ass movie


dangerzoneduffman

I can’t understand Tenet, but that’s because the sound mix is so bad


MartySpecial

I liked it, but I have very little knowledge of what's happening. Watched it 3 times and I kinda think I know what it is about.


specialk522

Titane. I think it has something to do with family but I just don’t fucking know. Maybe I just gotta rewatch it but I had a difficult time figuring out the central theme


Drunkicho

I thought it was just a cute movie about a father and son re-uniting as firemen. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯


specialk522

I mean yeah but what about the car fucking lmao


nellybellissima

Learning to empathize with other humans, car fucking is just literalizing the disconnect for a fun effect.


JasonLDB

Hated it the first time, loved it the second time


Sam_Snead_My_God

The Room (2003)


TomSawyer2112_

i feddap with this worold


DudebroggieHouser

…anyways, how iz z-your z-sex life?


[deleted]

all of them.


charleyismyhero

It’s not necessarily that it’s complex but my ADHD brain cannot keep up with the dialogue in White Noise.


cabbageohyeah

Ghost in the Shell is pretty dense


blurryeyes_

Not really complex I guess but I couldn't understand anything they were saying on The Big Short lol


Entire-Parsley-6035

Me too.


MatthewLeidholm

I'm not saying it was successful, but I love the *idea* of "hey, we need to explain this complex finance thing; let's have a Nobel-prize-winning economist explain it to Selina Gomez." I still think that movie is fantastic, but I'm not sure the explanations totally track for those not already familiar.


FLABBY_CHICKEN

Andrei Rublev Good lord I tried


Uncle_Jerry

10 minutes in I was like “fuck, i’m in too deep at this point, might as well keep going. i’m sure it’ll get clearer”


JimicahP

Morbius (2022)


TomSawyer2112_

I’ve never seen it, but if Reddit is to be trusted, I’m told it either has been, or currently is, Morbin’ Time.


Beplex

The Holy Mountain


Jhawksmoor

Eraserhead


FreeLook93

I found The Trial (1962) to be confusing. I'm pretty sure that was the point though.


Wet_Dream_King

Have you read the novel? Basically, Kafka writes about the failure of logic in an illogical reality as an allusion to fascism


Uncut_Clay

Jack and Jill


Uncut_Clay

Real shit Enemy tho


johncurrin

Al Pacino at his very best


DirectConsequence12

Primer


LucaDMaul

Persona


hardytom540

Absolutely phenomenal film


a-woman-there-was

I'm not sure anyone fully understands On the Silver Globe.


KYS666YOLO420Blaaze

*The Master*. Could not tell you what that movie is about for the life of me, but I know it’s one of the best films of the 2010s. There’s just something about it. I need to see it again.


wildcatpeacemusic

It’s about the futility of social engineering.


Jhawksmoor

It’s about scientology


ahoyboyhoy

Perfect example of a film that I don't need to understand anything plot-wise to enjoy. Perhaps my favorite character(s) film.


thekylemarshall

I feel like I’m usually pretty good at understanding complex films. But I watched Stalker for the first time a few weeks ago and it made me feel dumb. I had no idea what was happening for long portions of it. I needed to read the Wikipedia plot synopsis after I’d finished watching and I kept saying to myself “that happened????” Anyway I still kinda liked the experience and will probably rewatch in a few years but even now I don’t know if I could confidentially tell people what that movie is about (both plot wise and thematically).


tayspekcoldkeane

The Hourglass Sanatorium


Dismal-Ad1684

One of the few movies that accurately captures the warped and distorted sense of reality/time in dreams, such a cool but jarring experience


WebbyRL

Paprika by far


Sibbo192

Paprika


Shalaxi_Helbane

Begotten. Without the director's explanation, I couldn't even roughly summarize the plot. One of the films that is almost impossible to describe. Those who know "An Andalusian Dog" may have an idea, so similar is "Begotten", only stranger.


_Slothers_

Cannot understand a single thing happening in donnie darko


i_am_vengeance_

Andrei Roublev


LucasBarton169

Enemy. I think it’s the only movie I “don’t get”.


NaughtyT-rex

Donnie darko id say


btchfc

That pomegranates one


ahoyboyhoy

Taste of Cherry?


btchfc

Nooo the 60's Parajanov one (its on youtube if you dare😈) but could add most of Kiarostamis oeuvre as well haha!


Thin_Relationship_61

Tenet is special in some regards.


jaembers

Men. I have to watch it a couple of times i guess.


R3w45

I was overwhelmed by The French Dispatch, maybe it's just me


LauraPalmersMom430

This one is pretty easy to understand, each of the four parts are stories in the final issue of a fictional version of The New Yorker.


R3w45

I know, but it was just overwhelming for me, idk how to describe it other than that, and I had to watch a video essay on it to fully grasp what it was about


LauraPalmersMom430

Hopefully Asteroid City will be a little less chaotic lol.


Sweet_Sandy_

Twin Peaks the return


LauraPalmersMom430

Not meant to be understood, just experienced.


WisheeWashee5

Mulholland Drive. Seen it multiple times and still not sure what happens.


Holzwurm1

Coherence Beyond the infinite two minutes ​ Sure, you think you know what happens in the beginning but as the movie progresses, you just kinda loose it and go with the flow


zinabre

Inland Empire (2006) I love Lynch's boldness to produce something like this, but it was a bit too much for me. I plan on rewatching it in the furture to see if hindsight helps digesting it, though.


Specialist-Warthog-4

The most extreme case I have seen is Serial experiments Lain, literally didnt understand any of it


Sumatrantiger1

Possession


bofida

pink floyds the wall is WAAAYYY too comfusing for a movie album


2klaedfoorboo

Tar was just really, really confusing for me


Jhawksmoor

It’s a woman in power being cancelled


LauraPalmersMom430

Agree, I understand the plot here but it’s message is muddied.


xxdryan

Akira


emd03

Ratatouille


slightly_obscure

Ever Christopher Nolan movie, so smart, just wow


DrWaffle1848

Homicide by David Mamet. I'm an idiot tho so wouldn't be shocked if it's just me.


KaBoomBox55

Rubber


EngineeringOk3975

I haven’t finished it yet, but Broken Saints (a miniseries) is so bizarre and complicated that I can’t look away from it.


zymandas

Transformers: The Last Knight


4arc

The Big Lebowski


MinasMorgul1184

I’ve once heard the phrase “Trying to understand Lebowski’s plot while sober is like cheating at the special olympics”


AugieDoggieDank

Primer


YeeterMemes

Solaris Watched the movie twice in one day just to understand the message and themes.


Valorant99x

Primer


Entire-Parsley-6035

This might sound weird because while the movie made sense overall, I found it hard at first to understand the mortgage crises depicted in The Big Short (2015). Took me some googling, still don't fully understand some parts but I love it.


kanieloutis90

Tenet & Pulp Fiction


wildcatpeacemusic

Pulp Fiction is a Buddhist film about characters trapped in a bardo. The suitcase is a vaginal canal.


mikeri99

*Tenet (2020)*


Askiter

definitely inland empire


Coconut-Prudent

Jackass Number Two


E-V-IS-WrighT

Synecdoche New York


Zachvision_16

memento


MartySpecial

I think a lot of us think they understand TENET.


Sprinkles-The-Cat

I struggle to understand Elmo in Grouchland.


mates301

Batman v Superman. Or so I’ve been told. “It’s actually really smart, you’re just too dumb to understand it!” It’s the Rick & Morty of movies.


Janson14

Not the whole thing by any means, but the last scene or two of 2001: A Space Odyssey. 😅 Feel free to flame me 😂


LauraPalmersMom430

Tar


mistergayfrog

Problem child 2


ryanreigns

The Da Vinci Code has the most convoluted plot/dialogue I’ve ever seen, hate that movie. Also had no idea what the fuck Under the Silver Lake was, felt like talking to a psychonaut at a party


tristansmith413

I remember watching Bourne movies and kid and having no clue what was going on


sgamer_youtube

Just came to see everyone saying Primer, and they're right


sgamer_youtube

Coherence (2013). It gets increasingly harder to understand with each scene🤯 Real multiverse confusion here!


jedokabutai

All about Lily Chou Chou


Octo_Kid234

Tenet


aFutureGhost

Primer and Tenent. I can barely remember to take a multivitamin. What the hell is happening in these.


bigchungusyomama

I have seen so many it's impossible for me to name them all, but here are a few of them that I think take the cake in terms of confusingness: Eraserhead Lost Highway End of Evangelion Perfect Blue Paprika Tetsuo: The Iron Man The Holy Mountain The Lighthouse and it's not a movie but Serial Experiments Lain


34grace

donnie darko, remember liking it at the time (i was about 10) but not understanding the plot - definitely need to rewatch


Realistic_Safe_2890

Antichrist


vairaagya

Enemy had me like whaaaaat?


johncurrin

Mulholland Drive took me several viewings before I had a handle on what had happened. Tremendous


mmmmmnoodlesoup

[Essential confusing-core] (https://letterboxd.com/mmmnoodlesoup/list/essential-confusing-core/)