Make no mistake:most moviesmake a good deal of sense. If you check out a movie you’ve heard was good, chances are that once it’s over, you’ll have digested most – if not all – of what it was trying to do narratively and thematically. Additional viewings may turn up more information and context, but it’s pretty common to at least get the gist of things after just one go-around.
On the other hand, there are also movies that make little sense on a narrative front, usually intentionally so (butsometimes, perhaps, by accident). Basically,if the way a movie makes one feel is easier to put into words than the story it tells (or chooses not to tell), then maybe it’s one that makes more sense emotionally than logically. And that’s okay, because the following movies all very purposefully evoke feelings, moods, and unique atmospheres, but can be challenging to summarize in the traditional/narrative sense.
1’Beau Is Afraid' (2023)
Directed by Ari Aster
Well, at least at first,Beau Is Afraidseems like a straightforward kind of thing narratively. The titular character is told his mother has just passed away, and he has to travel a great distance to attend her funeral. Problems arise because his anxiety is out of control, and he either perceives the world as being one that wants him dead, or the world does genuinely want him dead. Or a bit of both.
Or neither? What if it’s something else? By the end ofBeau Is Afraid, it’s hard to grasp exactly what is/has happened, which might make it even funnier for some people, or scarier for others.Again, it might make it funnier and scarier at the same time, somehow. Andthis is seemingly a horror/comedy hybrid, so, mission accomplished. Probably. This analysis is afraid.
Beau Is Afraid
2’Tetsuo: The Iron Man' (1989)
Directed by Shinya Tsukamoto
The most important thing aboutTetsuo: The Iron Manis that it’sthoroughly gross, loud, and intense. It is a particularly gnarly body horror movie, so you’d kind of expect it to be those things, and it’s also very striking as a work of science fiction, with the premise here mostly concerning a man who finds himself the victim of a curse that’s turning his flesh, slowly but surely, into iron.
The whole film is so non-stop, chaotic, and even headache-inducing… but it’s all those things in a good way, somehow.
That’s the gist ofTetsuo: The Iron Man, andmaybe that’s all you’re going to be able to get from it, since the whole film is so non-stop, chaotic, and even headache-inducing. But, like, it’s all those things in a good way, somehow. This is a singular film that provides a remarkably intense viewing experience, and the simple premise is all that’s really needed (the rest, on a story front, is just glorious noise).
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
3’Southland Tales' (2006)
Directed by Richard Kelly
It’s hard to know where to even begin witha movie as wild asSouthland Tales. It was directed byRichard Kelly, ofDonnie Darkofame, and while that film has some odd moments, you’re able to more or less get what it’s going for if you pay attention.Southland Tales, on the other hand, seems willing to avoid comprehension at just about every turn.
And the resulting film is almost glorious, and sometimes frustrating. But if you approach it as something that wants toreflect, in a hyper-real way, the 2000s, like some kind of twisted period piece more about capturing a mindset than a reality, it might work?It will put you in a state, make you feel baffled, and probably provoke some sort of paranoid feeling. It cares not aboutbeing good, bad, or nonsensical. It just is.
Southland Tales
4’Paprika' (2006)
Directed by Satoshi Kon
One ofthe most significant anime films of its decade,Paprikahas an engaging premise that explodes off into so many different directions, and dares you to keep up. You probably won’t. But that’s okay, because this entire movie is an odyssey into the mind and beyond, since at the center of it all is a device that lets therapists see the dreams of their patients, and lots of people want said device for various reasons.
There’s a lot of chasing throughoutPaprika, and it’s not always clear whether things are taking place in a dream world or in what could conceivably be called reality. But that’s kind of the charm of it all; that’s what makesPaprikaso striking and memorable.Trying to keep up with the story the way you might in a normal film is an exercise in futility, and it’s debatably also missing the mark.Paprikawants you to get lost and overwhelmed, and have fun at the same time. Kind of. Maybe. Probably.
5’The Lighthouse' (2019)
Directed by Robert Eggers
InThe Lighthouse, there are just two characters to keep track of, really. Further, they’re incredibly isolated, confined to just one small island, working there as lighthouse keepers. They only have each other to talk to, and eventually clash with. There’s madness initially, and that sense of things getting madder and more out of control only grows with each passing scene.
By the end… well, a lot of what happens near the end ofThe Lighthouseis beyond comprehension, or straightforward analysis, but that’s got a lot to do with the filmdisappearing into the mind of one of its characters, as perhaps all good psychological dramas/thrillers/horror movies should do. You definitely feel like you’ve been on some kind of journey onceThe Lighthouseis over, even if much of it doesn’t make logical sense. Even realizing that the film feels like an odyssey despite it just being set on a tiny island is kind of head-spinning.
The Lighthouse
Directed by David Lynch
There are countless reasons to admire the work ofDavid Lynch, one of them being the fact that so many of his films are left up to interpretation, and the man himself stayed away from over-explaining things. He did this right from the start, with his first feature film,Eraserhead, which is mostly about a strange and monstrous baby, but also, there’s a lot more going on.
Or is there less going on?Maybe this singular horror movieis just that simple; maybe it’s all about saying that being a parent can be a unique kind of nightmare, and that’s that. Of course, then you might also have to worry about the Lady in the Radiator, andwhat’s up with her, or maybe it doesn’t matter. It’s justEraserheadbeingEraserhead. That’s all.
Eraserhead
7’Possession' (1981)
Directed by Andrzej Żuławski
With a title likePossession, you might think this 1981 horror film would be a straightforward kind of thing, but if you sit down and actuallytry to get through the whole thing, you’ll probably end up surprised. There’s a grounded story here, at first, about a marriage falling apart, with the intensity slowly rising and eventually becoming ferocious, at which point, things become more difficult to understand.
There are monstrous elements here that might well represent something, or be hallucinations, or they could be literal. There’s a lot of noise, screaming, distress, and intense unhappiness. It’s all quite an emotional rollercoaster, and distressing enough that most people might well be better off not understanding exactly whatPossessionall means. It’s a film thatseemed to come from a very dark place, andmaybe it’s reassuring, in a way, to be in a position where you can’t entirely relate to all of that darkness.
Possession
8’Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion' (1997)
Directed by Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki
The original run ofNeon Genesis Evangelionended on a very odd note, and so maybe there was some expectation that a feature film finale, calledThe End of Evangelion, could be a bit more direct,as far as endings go. For a while,The End of Evangelionis kind of what you’d expect. Compared to the show, the stakes are raised, the battles are bigger, the animation is more detailed, and the body count is higher.
And then the end ofThe End of Evangelioncomes around (well, let’s say the final act), and then things get even more baffling than the original series finale ever was. But that all feels quintessentiallyNeon Genesis Evangelion, andregardless of how much you understand,few anime films pack quite the same punchthatThe End of Evangelionultimately does.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion
9'8½' (1963)
Directed by Federico Fellini
One ofthe quintessential arthouse films,8½is a movie that disappears almost entirely into the head of its central character, Guido Anselmi, a filmmaker who’s pretty much a stand-in for the film’s actual director,Federico Fellini. His experiences, memories, dreams, and current projects all collapse into one non-stop blur of striking images, with the film ultimately being something that, as best as it can, captures his mindset and creative process.
It’s probably impossible to understand everything going on in8½, becauseFellini himself was a one-of-a-kind director, and this film seems like it wants to overwhelm, or maybe even drown the viewer in the mind it explores. Still, that experience is singular, and the whole film is a trip worth taking, not to mention itself just very trippy.
10’Suspiria' (1977)
Directed by Dario Argento
Suspiriais one ofthe best style over substance movies, since that style is so damn striking and all that really matters, at the end of the day. Like a few already-mentioned movies,Suspiriadoes have a premise that can be defined: it’s about a young woman who begins living and learning at a mysterious ballet academy. But so much that happens beyond that defies convention and/or logic.
And it’s hard to imagine wanting it any other way… but if you do want it another way, there is the 2018 version ofSuspiria, which feels a little more story-focused (but it also admirably tries to do its own thing, in other areas). Anyway,Suspiriais a contradiction ofa film, beingbeautiful, cozy, dizzying, bloody, dreamlike, and nightmarish, all at once, and without feeling like a bad kind of mess. It’s the right kind of messy, and there’s nothing else quite like it (again, not even the 2018 version).
