movies you like but don't understand what they are about

[Flick James]

El Topo, I know, is mostly impossible to understand as it has meaning specific to the director which he didn't even try to make clear to the audience.  Which is pretty stupid in my book. 

I agree that EL TOPO has a meaning specific to the director and it's not clear to the audience.  I don't agree it's a stupid method, however.  To me it's like looking at an old religious text where the precise symbolism, which would have been understood by someone in the ancient culture, is lost on you, but you can still feel the poetry in the words.  Like the experience I would have trying to read the Bhagavad Gita, and even most of the Old Testament.

Or David Lynch films, for that matter. Lynch NEVER tells anybody the meaning of one of his films when asked. He operates from his subconscious alot.

Mulholland Drive, for example, is a film that he says tells a coherent story, but doesn't reveal anything when asked because it's a mystery, and besides, isn't it more fun to figure out the mystery for yourself? That, and he welcomes alternate interpretations of the symbolisms and clues.

**SPOILER ALERT**

The general consensus of Mulholland Drive seems to be that the first half of the movie is the central character's dream, and the second half is her rather depressing real life, but the two blend with and influence each other.

**END SPOILER**

But aside from that, it's all open to personaly interpretation of the clues. I personally have an interpretation of the film that makes sense to me and is satisfying, but when I share it with others they don't agree. And there are still things about that movie that I don't understand, like what is being revealed at Club Silencio. I'm still not sure. DL enjoys hearing different interpretations, but he never reveals is on a silver platter, and I hope he never does.

This is my favorite DL film, by the way, but Blue Velvet is about a gnat's eyelash behind in second place.

Alot of DL is being offered in this thread. Methinks DL would be pleased.

[Allhallowsday]

just as the title says.

La Strada (1954) for comes to mind to me instantly. Something tells me that the director was trying to do more then depict the lives of circus performers.

LA STRADA translates literally as "The Street" but figuratively you should think "the road".  The whole film is summed up in the very last scene: Zampano on the beach, gazes at the stars, and breaks, having an epiphany.  He must live with himself for the rest of his life, and the universe is implacable. 

[ChaosTheory]

Any David Lynch movie.
VALHALLA RISING - unless "Christians suck" really was the only message they were trying to convey. 
One movie I thought I got the point of, but hearing interviews with the director regarding it now I'm not so sure, was Cronenberg's CRASH. 

[Silverlady]

INCEPTION.  I thought I knew what was going on at the beginning, but mid way I was lost.  Still entertaining film and great visually.

[bob]

I didn't fully understand 2001: A Space Odyssey at first viewing, but loved it anyways. I like to think I understand most of it now, though.

I think it is about the beauty of space and how far mankind has come from the time that apes ruled the planet

[voltron]

Return To Horror High was a real headscratcher for me.

[Flick James]

Police Academy. That one blows my mind. It's not wonder they made so many sequels. They had to resolve all the unanswered questions from the first one.

[bob]

INCEPTION.  I thought I knew what was going on at the beginning, but mid way I was lost.  Still entertaining film and great visually.

my favorite movie ever made 

the team goes into a the three-layered shared dream to Robert Fischer

[crackers]

Return To Horror High was a real headscratcher for me.

Absolutely. I thought its was a straight forward film, then it just went nuts. Im still not sure what happened. I need to watch that again. SOBER.

Another film I kept getting lost in was Enter The Void overall I loved this film and would recommend anyone to watch it (especially my fellow Lynch fans)

[Jim H]

El Topo, I know, is mostly impossible to understand as it has meaning specific to the director which he didn't even try to make clear to the audience.  Which is pretty stupid in my book. 

I agree that EL TOPO has a meaning specific to the director and it's not clear to the audience.  I don't agree it's a stupid method, however.  To me it's like looking at an old religious text where the precise symbolism, which would have been understood by someone in the ancient culture, is lost on you, but you can still feel the poetry in the words.  Like the experience I would have trying to read the Bhagavad Gita, and even most of the Old Testament.

The difference being the Bhagavad Gita or the Old Testament at one point could have been understood by an audience.  It's fine if you want to make a deeply personal film, which is very difficult to understand but you can get some sort of idea.  I feel that's pretty much what Lynch does. 

I feel that Jodorowsky goes beyond that, to making a film that is more confusing than actually intriguing.  I don't know.  Just not for me I guess.

[Rev. Powell]

El Topo, I know, is mostly impossible to understand as it has meaning specific to the director which he didn't even try to make clear to the audience.  Which is pretty stupid in my book. 

I agree that EL TOPO has a meaning specific to the director and it's not clear to the audience.  I don't agree it's a stupid method, however.  To me it's like looking at an old religious text where the precise symbolism, which would have been understood by someone in the ancient culture, is lost on you, but you can still feel the poetry in the words.  Like the experience I would have trying to read the Bhagavad Gita, and even most of the Old Testament.

The difference being the Bhagavad Gita or the Old Testament at one point could have been understood by an audience.  It's fine if you want to make a deeply personal film, which is very difficult to understand but you can get some sort of idea.  I feel that's pretty much what Lynch does. 

I feel that Jodorowsky goes beyond that, to making a film that is more confusing than actually intriguing.  I don't know.  Just not for me I guess.

Fair enough.  But I like surrealism, so the fact that Jodorowsky makes movies that play like surrealist features but are actually full of private symbolic meanings doesn't bother me.  The movies play better when I don't know Jodorowsky's interpretations and can use my own instead.

[Skull]

I didn't fully understand 2001: A Space Odyssey at first viewing, but loved it anyways. I like to think I understand most of it now, though.

lol... Agree here... the movie would make so much sense without the 20 minutes of classical music, the apes and a girl walking upside down, on the other hand the movie would then suck cheese without those visuals.

I tend to believe the guy (lead character in the end of the movie his name escapes me) dies in space. But instead of showing us a floating corpse we see his mind dreaming an endless dream.

[bob]

up until the ending I thought I understood this

the ending left me incredibly confused

[muckhappy]

Donnie Darko.  I dont get it, but i will watch it everytime i see it.  I sort of understand the technocrat thing but still...

[Mofo Rising]

Police Academy. That one blows my mind. It's not wonder they made so many sequels. They had to resolve all the unanswered questions from the first one.

You and me both, brother. I think I finally got a handle on those films when I realized the concept was implicit in the title. Police ACADEMY. The films, properly understood, are a delicate exploration of the state that lies between being and becoming. It's a shame they never finished the planned 11-film cycle. It's so frustrating to be denied the answers to all life's questions that could have been. Would of made Schubert's Unfinished Symphony look like a pile of puke.

Donnie Darko was mentioned. I like that film, but think it is a much better film when the literal explanation is unexplained. There's a director's cut, where the sci-fi elements are much more clear cut. There is a fairly prosaic literal interpretation of the film, pretty well explained on many websites, but I think the film suffers because of it.

It's very similar to most Lynch movies. There are literal explanations for almost of all of them, but to find them out would ruin the magic. It's like a magician telling you how his tricks work. You don't want to know because it will make the elusive and ephemeral concrete. No fun at all.