A Twitter thread started by IMDb this week on the most confusing movie threw up some common answers. Many responses agree that Christopher Nolan's time and mind-bending films are hard to follow; three in particular were named - Inception, Memento and Tenet. David Lynch appears to be a close second to Christopher Nolan with Mulholland Drive and Eraserhead invoked more than once. People were also perplexed by Jake Gyllenhaal's breakout film Donnie Darko, 12 Monkeys starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt, Nicholas Cage's Adaptation, and Stanley Kubrick's film of A Clockwork Orange.
Inception and Memento were bad enough, Tenet was worse:
Inception, a load of pi$h, idea stolen from the matrix, Robert Jordan's wheel of time concept of Tel'aran'rhiod (unseen world, world of dreams) and a sci-film that starred Keanu reeves Johnny Mnemonic
— Rebel Scot (@Ind3pendent7) November 24, 2021
Christopher Nolan's films.
— Catwoman (@4rosesfour) November 21, 2021
Memento, Inception , Tenet. pic.twitter.com/GDdGpDXGQw
Inception... the final scenes make my head hurt trying to figure it out. Would love to pick Christopher Nolan's brain about it and Tenet.
— Laura Jean (@laurarichwhit) November 22, 2021
I've watched Tenet twice and still have no idea what I watched.
— Circuit #BLM #NoHate (@Circuitkilla) November 21, 2021
Psychological thriller Mulholland Drive is considered David Lynch's finest work but is clearly so confusing that the Internet abounds with several explainers attempting to demystify the events of the film. It was cited several times in the IMDb thread as was Mr Lynch's horror film Eraserhead.
Hands down. And David Lynch never explained what happened in the movie. pic.twitter.com/BvYDFneyxo
— Internet Sucker(He/Haw) (@internetjeevi) November 24, 2021
I mean.. "Mulholland Drive explained" comes second pic.twitter.com/tt8x6L6Ry2
— Malamadre (@benibisalinbee) November 22, 2021
I have no idea what the hell this was about but it scarred me for life anyway. pic.twitter.com/Lfdq6kF7TV
— EllerySixEdits (@ellery_six) November 24, 2021
Eraserhead.
— Ross of Ottawa (@ottaross) November 24, 2021
Was going to add a pic from one of the scenes but it's bedtime and I don't really need big-cheeks radiator girl visiting me in my dreams. pic.twitter.com/0cTqbbNg67
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar and David Lynch's Blue Velvet also showed up on the thread:
Interstellar- it felt like someone was telling me a dream they had after eating some magic shrooms pic.twitter.com/vCeq985Z8A
— Mrs. Sunny Spice (@SunnySpice1024) November 24, 2021
Maybe I was too young and need to try it again, but Blue Velvet would be it for me. pic.twitter.com/hTgaenxgco
— Linda K (@cheetahweb) November 25, 2021
Jake Gyllenhaal left viewers confused in two films - Donnie Darko, which features a monstrous rabbit predicting Doomsday, and Ebeny, in which Jake plays a double role.
— The Original "BuJ" (@JDi3seL_) November 21, 2021
All those people saying inception and tenet clearly haven't seen other movies, I was waiting for this movie to start explaining things and all of a sudden it just ended
— Manan Hingorani (@manan_hingorani) November 24, 2021
'Dark' series on Netflix in also confusing (only the 3rd season)
'Predestination' is also another example. pic.twitter.com/FZoPWiY95R
These 2. If anyone would like to explain either one to me it would be greatly appreciated. pic.twitter.com/wpCrdyPzOd
— Zach (@zachlikesmovies) November 24, 2021
— Carolina Rodegher (@CarolGaucha) November 21, 2021
Some were stumped by quite a few films and their lists included several of the aforementioned movies:
Eternal Sunshine of spotless mind
— Tanishq D Agrawal (@tani_shq) November 22, 2021
Shutter island
Interstellar
Prestige
Seven
Prisoners
Sixth sense
Memento
Inception
Tenet
As far as just plain WTF...
— vanillag0rilla (@vanillag0rilla) November 24, 2021
Climax for sure.
As far as "what i going on?" in the first watch. But layers reveal on 2nd watch
Memento
Natural born killers
Donnie Darko
Fight club
Being John Malkovich
12 monkeys
The game
Clockwork orange
In the mouth of madness pic.twitter.com/5qSjm16McI
However, there was a clear winner for most confusing film watched - this one, which was cited in many, many responses:
This is hands down the most infuriatingly confusing movie I've ever seen pic.twitter.com/7VtbrwEaVU
— (@bimboyugari) November 24, 2021
Speaking for ourselves, Inception was great and Jake Gyllenhaal is a perennial favourite. What we would like someone to explain to us is the decades of super-cringe movies mass-produced by Bollywood through most of the Eighties, Nineties and much of the 2000s. Now those are explainers we'd sign up to read.