The Most Baffling Film You've Ever Seen

[KimberleyJane]

Something that left you in stunned confusion - maybe just after you first saw it, maybe you still can't fully work it out.

For me I suppose Last Year in Marienbad (1961), mesmerizing though it may be.
Others, I suppose would be silent shorts Un Chien Andalou (1929) and maybe Meshes Of The Afternoon (1943).

Ok. Now you smile .

 

[Peache5]

Idiocracy was the weirdest movie i have every seen...it was the most pointless movie ever!  

[RedWhiteBlack]

Oh good ol' Bunuel and Resnais... I remember watching Un Chien Andalou in my first year Film class and I remember being totally just stunned, especially by those first shots. We never really analyzed it in depth, so I don't really understand it.

Personally, Hiroshima, Mon Amour (another Resnais film) and L'avventura are two of the most baffling films I've seen. I still don't quite understand Hiroshima, but after writing a paper and doing some research on L'avventura I did find a new understanding and a new appreciation for the film. Though, I don't think I'll be looking up any more of Resnais's or Antonioni's films anytime soon; they annoy me to no end.  

[loIitoads]

Peache5

Idiocracy was the weirdest movie i have every seen...it was the most pointless movie ever!

How so? It beat you over the head with its message! A more needlessly didactic film I can't think of...

I didn't find Hiroshima, Mon Amour all that confusing, I adored it though, very nice cinema.
Un Chien Andalou was purposely obscurant, I'm not sure I liked it or L'Age d'Or, the full-length follow-up (which is free to watch on youtube for the interested).
I don't know that there's anything that I've found too obtuse, but there are plenty of films that bluff and blind, often needlessly or to cover up bad script-writing I find.  

[cteddiesgirl]

Hmm. I can't even remember the name of the most confusing film I've seen. Or tried to watch.

It was release somewhere between 1999-2002 and starred some blonde who was popular at the time. I dealt her basically ending up in 2 lives at the same time when she went to get on a subway train. On part of her got on the train and the other missed it. Then the story goes off on two different tangents. Eventually my BF and I couldn't follow it any more and didn't even finish it.  

[Quixotic Faye]

I had a hard time with Flight of the Red Balloon. To be fair though, I haven't seen The Red Balloon or any of Hsiao-hsien Hou's other work, and I don't know if that would help me understand it.

@ cteddiesgirl: You're thinking of Sliding Doors.  

[RedWhiteBlack]

Lolicat von Doom

I didn't find Hiroshima, Mon Amour all that confusing, I adored it though, very nice cinema.

Not exactly confusing, but just, baffling. I just could not wrap my head around the characters motivation (or lack thereof). I think I understand the mode of filmmaking it fits under, but as a piece of art, I think I need to watch it again. Actually, not only to understand it for my own personal satisfaction, but because it will be on my final exam this semester.  

[loIitoads]

RedWhiteBlack

Lolicat von Doom

I didn't find Hiroshima, Mon Amour all that confusing, I adored it though, very nice cinema.

Not exactly confusing, but just, baffling. I just could not wrap my head around the characters motivation (or lack thereof). I think I understand the mode of filmmaking it fits under, but as a piece of art, I think I need to watch it again. Actually, not only to understand it for my own personal satisfaction, but because it will be on my final exam this semester.

It's certainly not the best thing the French New Wave produced, but it's fairly good as an introduction, which is why it features on so many cinema courses. Plus it's from the Left Bank of the New Wave, making it infinitely cooler.  

[cteddiesgirl]

Quixotic Faye

@ cteddiesgirl: You're thinking of Sliding Doors.

Yep. That's it. I knew that the word slide was in it somewhere.  

[Travis III]

Southland Tales. It makes sense now that I've seen it about ten times.  

[JuilianFai]

Skeleton Key! I saw it in theatres and my friend and I left the theatre scratching our heads..and after sitting in the car discussing it for a while THEN we finally got the plot! I mean...it could have been told SO much better...but they get props for trying..  

[rocksteadyandbebop]

Mulholland Drive, I think I get it now. The movie box has a set of clues in it to use to figure out the movie and that didnt help at all.  

[loIitoads]

Travis III

Southland Tales. It makes sense now that I've seen it about ten times.

I just found Southland Tales exceptionally boring and didactic. The plot was needlessly complex, I guess, but it just felt like the director was trying to show off the whole time.  

[RedWhiteBlack]

rocksteadyandbebop

Mulholland Drive, I think I get it now. The movie box has a set of clues in it to use to figure out the movie and that didnt help at all.

I've always wanted to see that. I'm going through a David Lynch phase right now. I've only watched Blue Velvet and I'm only half-way through Twin Peaks, but I'm totally addicted to his work.  

[Atheist Guy]

The Machinist....
just wow the movie with Christian Bale (smexy) was so twist and turns witch was so good i love the movie my friends said it was pointless but that was my friends who said epic movie was funny...