Friday, August 26, 2011

Fast Five Friday: Mind-benders

Meg and I went to see The Tree of Life this summer. That was one crazy movie. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I can appreciate a piece of art that challenges me, but The Tree of Life is a little too out there for me to fully embrace. Don't take my word for it, even Sean Penn told a French magazine he didn't get it. He thought a more conventional structure would have served the story better, and I would have to agree.

The Tree of Life is the latest example of mind-bending cinema. Mind-benders are movies that defy logic, stretch reality, embrace the absurd. Some of the best movies are mind-benders. Some don't quite hit the mark. This week's Fast Five shines the light on 5 mind-bending films.

5) Mulholland Drive: There are certainly other trippy David Lynch movies, but I'll go with the last one I saw. I enjoyed this movie, although I will admit to generally not knowing what the hell was going on.

4) Memento: This is a movie I highly recommend. Talk about nonlinear storytelling. The movie starts with the final scene and works backwards. I read recently that you can watch the movie in chronological order on the DVD. I'm gonna have to do that some time.

3) Being John Malkovich: I really enjoyed this one. A man, a puppeteer no less, walks through a door into the mind of John Malkovich. He then begins charging $200 a pop for the experience. Charlie Kaufman has written a number of mind-bending scripts, but this is my favorite.

2) Inception: This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I dig the whole dream within a dream within a dream within a dream - thing. I just let the this one come to me, and when it clicked into place, it was movie nirvana. Needless to say, I am a big Christopher Nolan fan.

1) Synecdoche, New York: Next to The Tree of Life, this may be the strangest movie I've ever seen. Charlie Kaufman not only wrote the script, this was his directorial debut. The movie is about a guy who stages his life as a play in a warehouse, blurring the line between reality and art. I hate to say it, but this was a dud for me. The best thing I can say about it, is that I'm glad we still live in a world where people thought putting up their own money for this was a good idea. Kinda how I feel about The Tree of Life. Glad it's out there, just not my cup of tea.

What are some other mind-bendng movies you loved? How about some that just left you scratching your head?

11 comments:

  1. I've been waiting for your Tree of Life post. Somehting told me it was coming. I feel sorry for Hollywood actors faced with directors who want to dig deep and run mentally crazy.

    Of your five...I have enjoyed all of them for their depth of creativity while still being accesible more than I enjoyed Tree of Life. Synecdoche, New York I think is still beyond me, but the other four I really love for their challenge and technical compsition.

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  2. Inception is the only one of those I've seen, and I thought it was great. I lose patience with stuff like this quickly if it feels too self-indulgent. If I can see a reason for the weirdness I'll stick with it, but sometimes I think people are just tripping. :)

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  3. Well the best one is Pulp Fiction. I couldn't get into Inception. I liked Adaptation, about Charlie Kaufman. Can you imagine being in HIS head?!

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  4. The only one of these I saw was Being John Malkovich. I am need "easy breezy" movies to keep my attention. Perhaps, this proves the point that my IQ resides at basement level not attic level.

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  5. I think I'm the only person in the world that didn't like Inception. Maybe I need to give it another try. Haven't seen Synecdoche, but I don't think I'll rush to see it now. ;)

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  6. I love Memento and Inception. The trippiest movie I think I've even seen though is "The Fountain." I watched it with my best friend and his brother. After it was over, we all sat in silence for probably a minute. Finally, I turned to my buddy and said, "I think I liked it." "He turned and said, "I think I did too." Then his brother turned to both of us and said, "You're both idiots." It was great.

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  7. I've seen all but Synedoche, and like Julie... You didn't inspire me to see it.
    I have seen most of David Lynch's films and believe he is at his best when he is constrained by his medium or his financiers... Twin Peaks was awesome. In Mulholland drive he took way to many liberties and lost the story, without being interesting. Not sure if The Sixth Sense meets your definition of mind-bender... but it is one of my all-time favorites.

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  8. Inception was amazing because it messed with you head on so many different levels. I loved it. And I even loved the ambiguity at end. If you wanted to think he was still in the dream, you could make your case. But if you were looking for a HEA, you could also make your case.

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  9. Black Swan & anything by David Cronenberg.

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  10. I didn't enjoy Tree of Life, but I did enjoy Mulholland Drive after I saw it four times. I watched it that many times to be sure that I thought I knew what it was about. I just wasn't going to admit defeat at a David Lynch movie.

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  11. Haven't seen #1 or #5, so I'll certainly be checking those out. Fun topic.

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