Ever walked away from a film feeling confused? A little brain food once in a while is a good
thing - cerebral movies films challenge our intellect. They�re a necessary component
of a balanced cinematic diet.
But some movies are so opaque they need several viewings to be understood, like the entries
on our list of 10 movies that you need to see twice to understand. Spoiler warning!
Memento
If you wouldn�t listen to Pink Floyd backwards, then watching a two-hour movie that begins
at the end and ends at the beginning probably sounds unappealing. That�s the sum total
of Memento, a story told in reverse by an unreliable narrator. �
It�s a mind-bender like most of his movies, but the clues to unraveling Memento are woven
throughout its structure. Since Memento�s release, Christopher Nolan has become Hollywood�s
go-to guy for brainy blockbusting.
The Fountain
The story of Darren Aronofsky�s The Fountain is easy to comprehend: a neuroscientist named
Tom is bent on curing cancer to save his dying wife, Izzi. But his story plays out alongside
the tales of conquistador Tomas and space traveler Tommy.
That�s much less straightforward than a medical drama. Aronofsky ties these disparate
threads together with the repeated casting of Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. He also
uses a common motif: The tree of life, which symbolizes the interconnection of life and
immortality. It�s the key to solving Aronofsky�s puzzling genre-blending movie.
12 Monkeys
Time travel is always a tricky concept. Even very good time travel stories stumble over
their own continuity. Terry Gilliam�s 12 Monkeys avoids the worst pitfalls of the genre
by keeping it simple, relatively speaking.
Plagued by cryptic dreams, prisoner James Cole is sent back in time to prevent a viral
outbreak that wipes out most of humanity. The movie comes full circle, and we learn
that as a boy Cole saw his older, time-traveling self gunned down in the airport where the
climax occurs. By trying to save the world, James walks into his inevitable doom.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick is a legend in the movie world, and his most widely recognized film, 2001:
A Space Odyssey, is every bit as iconic as he is. It�s an homage to mankind�s evolution
throughout the eons and arguably the best movie about space exploration ever filmed.
It�s also long and complicated. 2001: A Space Odyssey clocks in just shy of three
hours and packs so much detail that you can�t watch it once and grasp everything. You�ll
understand the film (apart from its divisive ending), but you won�t totally �get�
it, either.
Inherent Vice
Paul Thomas Anderson�s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon�s 2009 detective yarn plays like
a glib, stoner-influenced riff on a Carl Hiaasen novel. That�s pretty much the life of hippie
private eye Doc Sportello in a nutshell.
Doc leads a hazy life, he takes on three separate cases that end up intertwining. What do a
missing real estate mogul, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, and a supposedly dead musician
have in common? Nothing, but also everything. Make sure to block off time for multiple consecutive
views on Blu-ray.
Fight Club
If you�re a Fight Club devotee, beware; we�re about to break its first two rules.
When the time comes for the big reveal in David Fincher�s adaptation of the Chuck
Palahniuk book, everything theoretically makes �sense.� The unnamed narrator and Tyler
Durden are two sides of the same disassociated coin.
The moment we learn the truth of Tyler�s true existence, Fight Club unhinges. What,
exactly, is going on in Norton�s scenes with Brad Pitt throughout the whole movie?
Flashbacks hint at the narrator�s lunacy, but try watching the film with the truth in
mind; every moment Norton and Pitt share on screen becomes even more interesting.
The Tree of Life
There aren�t many directors in the world who make movies like Terrance Malick. The
director�s flicks are enigmatic. Even his most straightforward movies, Badlands and
Days of Heaven, require extra viewings.
In The Tree of Life, Malick tells the story of Jack (played by Sean Penn), a middle-aged
man reconciling his childhood memories. The plot takes viewers all the way back to the
Big Bang, tours through the Cretaceous period and eventually arrives at the present in Waco,
Texas. How does the birth of the universe and the extinction of dinosaurs shape the
meaning of Jack�s existence today? The moments show the dueling paths of grace and nature
but the connection isn�t apparent in a single viewing.
Eight and a half
Federico Fellini began his filmmaking career shooting movies that captured authentic life
experiences. So his 1963 masterpiece, the dreamlike 8 & ?, represented a surreal change
of pace for the director.
But truth is stranger than fiction. Fellini takes flights of fancy in 8 & ?, but he includes
autobiographical notes, too. The story of Guido Anselmi is similar to the story of Federico
Fellini. Guido�s struggles in his latest project, a science fiction picture, as well
as his marital woes and mental strife, often reflect Fellini�s own personal troubles.
Mulholland Drive
David Lynch originally envisioned Mulholland Drive as a TV pilot, and repurposed it for
the big screen after television executives rejected the show. The story feels episodic
but that, along with its weirder elements, make the film difficult to understand at first
glance.
The world of Mulholland Drive is littered with amnesiacs, assassination attempts, romantic
interludes, and waking nightmares that lurk around the corners of our worst fears. What
all of these things add up to in the end is all in the eye of the beholder. Good luck
figuring it out in a single sitting.
Primer
Unpacking Primer requires a handful of viewings plus several hours consulting the Internet.
Even if you put in that footwork, you still might only achieve a sliver of comprehension,
because this is one of the most complex time travel films ever made.
But the lessons taught in Primer are clear, even when its approach to time travel is confusing
- traveling through time is a bad idea. Protagonists Abe and Aaron start out as pals but slowly
work to out-scheme and outmaneuver each other when Abe comes to realize that time travel
is dangerous. Bad way to end a friendship.
These are just our 10 movies that you need to see twice to understand. Have your own
mind-bending movie to share? Tell us yours in the comment section and don't forget to
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