What Movie Is Smarter Than You?

02.08.13 | and
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Have you ever walked out of a movie feeling like maybe you were just not smart enough to “get it”? Like there was actually something there, but it eluded you? Thought a plot was simply too complicated for you to keep pace? (The Big Sleep doesn’t count. Everybody knows by now it literally makes no sense)

Movie Irv fesses up:

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Be not proud. Admit your shortcomings in the comments and tell us what film got the best of you. Bonus points if you name something other than Kubrick’s 2001.

  • Wayne P.

    Ok, Irv & George…I promise we wont be revisiting SK’s 2001 in this post…but, unfortunately, I will also have to confess that possibly other films of his qualify as well ;) . If I had to choose just one, though, it would have to be his last or what was to me a very interesting but unsatisfying effort: Eyes Wide Shut. It was very entertaining, which is Stanley in spades! But…how does one begin to get his meaning behind this one? On the other hand, maybe its just a ‘me problem’. It’s sufficient to say he didnt survive to edit it and give the movie a necessary sense of direction and/or completeness…does anyone know for sure (besides Google?:)…am just going on speculation but it seemed more like a compilation of A Clockwork Orange and The Shining or something else perhaps (I would still be interested in asking him why he changed Dr. Strangelove to a satire instead of another one of his trademark anti-war pieces)…Regarding EWS, he mightve known the end was near and wanted to turn back the page…Oh well…if only hed lived to make AI (Artificial Intelligence) as was his next plan; now, that wouldve been one to look forward to…I still cant bring myself to see Spielbergs creation but at least he wanted to do Lord Stanley proud…we can still enjoy any film regardless of whether we even partly understand it as that may ultimately be a matter of getting into the Creators’ head; for now, its truly more fun to guess!

  • Masterofoneinchpunch

    There is enough avant-garde (Wavelength, much of Stan Brakhage for example) that is so oblique it can easily fit in here. But a better example of a released film by a major filmmaker that fits your criteria (and is also a good film) is Luis Bunuel’s The Milky Way. Very few films delve into esoteric ecclesiastical studies where you feel like you need a guidebook for many of the Catholic references.

  • frankiedc

    I am not sure this movie is smarter than I am or just ineptly made by pretentious filmmakers. I was certain I was going to enjoy Prometheus as a prequel to Alien Certainly, part of the eerie atmosphere of the earlier movie was captured, and there were similar slimy looking things living in a cave, but that is where all resemblance stopped. I still dont know who that muscled superman was at the beginning of the movie and what was accomplished by his dive into a body of water, Supposedly, the movie was about a search for the meaning of life, but that message fell into a morass of unexplained special effects and some truly disgusting images. Who was that ancient man hidden away on the ship? What or who was Charlize Theron? How the devil did Naomi Rapace, who had just given herself an abortion and could barely walk, outrun the collapse of the ship while a healthier and more energetic Charlize Theron dies. And what was the robotic Michael Fassbinder all about and what exactly were his motives?

    I left the movie feeling ignorant and insensitive.. Later, when I talked to other people who saw this movie and felt the same way, I decided the fault was not me, but the people who made Prometheus.

  • Stargazer

    There are two. The ending of Once Upon A Time In America and ALL of Mulholland Drive. Oddly enough, I enjoyed both films, especially DeNiro & co.

  • ganderson

    I suspect few of us are enthusiastic about admitting we were outsmarted by a movie, and I can think of only a handful that even got close. But I have to admit that I had no idea in the blue-eyed world what “Inception” was about. Not that I didn’t try – I read reviews and story summaries both before and after and I’m still lost.

  • fbusch

    After watching Avatar a couple of times to absorb all the cgi and other special effects, It finally dawned on me that it was only a cowboy and indian western where the indians win. I have also seen several films where while building towards what should be a logical climax, the movie just ends. oddly these films don’t even make enough impression to even remember their names.

  • Blair Kramer

    I’m not sure it’s a legitimate question. Like it or not, “2001″ perfectly fills the bill to illustrate my point. If you believe in God, you may well be moved by “2001.” But if you’re an atheist, you may find it boring. Heck, it might actually go over your head! If I’m watching a mystery and I’m able to pick the “guilty” party, does that make me smarter than the screenwriter? And if I can’t spot the culprit, does that make the screenwriter smarter than me? A while back, I actually figured out the surprise ending, and picked the guilty party, of a particular murder mystery by simply WATCHING ITS TRAILER! That’s right! I’m not kidding! I figured out the whole thing by watching its trailer! I turned out to be absolutely right when I finally saw the entire film! Here’s the bottom line: The notion that a film may actually be “smarter” than you is probably meaningless. A physicist may well experience a cosmic insight during the viewing of a Mickey Mouse cartoon! I think it probably comes down to this… What’s your mindset when you’re watching a movie, ANY movie?

  • http://twitter.com/LarryCox6 Larry J. Cox

    Once when I felt intellectual I went to see The Tin Drum–yes, it was about a mentally challenged kid’s look at the Nazi era, but I kept thinking “I am missing something or am unworthy of Gunther Grass.” And don’t get me started on Zabriskie Point, or Fellini Satyricon; i am really too dumb to understand both films.

  • JD

    Anything by David Lynch. I’ve seen better film on teeth! And the over-rated and disgraceful “Close Encounters” with all the hubbub and scurrying about in the last scenes but with no intro or explanation of how it all was supposed to have come about. The mother ship looks like the chandelier at a low class catering hall. “Plan 9″ actually made more sense. Blecchh!

  • Joseph23006

    Kudos to the reviewer who recognized the PC ‘Avatar’ for what it was with a little Hollywood anticapitalism thrown in, how they would make movies without a little capitalistic backing? Mine was ‘The Magus’ with Anthony Quinn which I think must have disintegrated in its own magic never to heard from again. The novel I came to terms with, the movie, after some forty years, never made any sense.

  • Phyl

    Quick and easy, THX 1138. I’m still left with ?????!

  • Jon DeCles

    I really loved “The Milky Way.” But the film that left me feeling kind of stupid for years was “Metropolis:” right up to the point where they found all the missing footage and the very clear and logical plot emerged and it became linear and accessible. The director was not trying to be obscure, it was the exhibitors who were messing with the movie. One wonders what else might turn out to be ‘easier’ if the person who made the film was left in charge.

  • Robert Chalmers

    “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” was too deep for me.
    :)

  • Jim Buck

    The Magus with Michael Caine and Anthony Quinn.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=709558049 Bill Weeden

    “Syriana” moves too fast for anyone except someone with a doctorate in polticial science to keep up with. And “Synecdoche New York” is just too pretentious and self-important for anyone to WANT to keep up with.

  • Gillian

    I don’t get “A Clockwork Orange.”

  • laustcawz

    One word…”Primer”.