Inception

Menis the most recent release from Alex Garland , a creator who typically prefer for a reasonably confusing narrative to discuss theme that would otherwise feel too obvious . Enigmatic motion-picture show seem to be his specialty , especially when takingAnnihilationinto score .

With complicated plotlines and unreliable lineament , some movies are either by chance perplexing or design to disorient viewer . Sometimes the true import of the story is quite simple , but the way the   narrative is structure makes all the difference . Rather than doing something with the spare objective of bear something backbreaking to succeed , the most perplexing movies want to deliver a complex story from the primary character ’s peak of view , in a way of life the viewer are allow just as tangled up as the supporter in these tarradiddle so charmingly devoted to chaos . Which movies still baffleRankervoters ?

Note : Due to the nature of Ranker ’s ballot , these results may change . At the time of publication , this leaning is correct .

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Vanilla Sky (2001)

Vanilla Skyis a psychological drama starring   Tom Cruise in one of his   strange roles yet . He plays David , a ego - indulgent , openhanded man of capital wealth who , just after meeting the sexual love of his life story ,   is in a car fortuity that leaves him severely disfigured . The incident marks the start of a series of mysterious incidents that will make David wonder whether he ’s living inside a dreaming or not .

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Vanilla Skyisn’t the ceremonious story of a man who had everything and loses it all . Adding hints of science fable to the heavy drama , the story begins to take shape into something entirely different , just like David ’s life sentence translate after his car clangour . Vanilla Skyprovides a world where illusions and fragments of images are everything , which also reflects the materialistic lifetime David led before .

Split image of characters from Inception, Eraserhead and Donnie Darko

Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

After returning home from the Vietnam War , veteran soldier Jacob Singer starts to mislay his grip on reality . Plagued by hallucinations and disturbing flashbacks , he must unveil his past tense while trace the fragile reality around him .

Jacob ’s Ladderisn’t straightforward when it comes to its genuine , despair significance . Fans argue to this daytime whether or not the movie ends up being a strong   anti - war fib , a speculation on genial health weather condition , or both . Just like Jacob , viewers are catch up in his insubstantial perception of reality as the world and the people around him collapse into the unknown . leave a quite a little of room for version , Jacob ’s Ladderimpresses with its psychedelic visualsand creepy elements , particularly at the thought that the horror might be related to something much more run aground in reality than ab initio anticipated .

Lost Highway (1997)

Lost Highwayis the enigmatic story of a man accused of murdering his own wife . When an impossible transformation takes piazza inside a prison cellular phone , the life of two quality intersects in an ineluctable fate .

What makesLost Highwaysuch a difficult movie to sympathise is that   the main character are invariably being abruptly transmute into raw bodies , with new identities , at least in theory . all-important to the narrative , these shifts in identity tug the narrative to a young direction ,   until suddenly returning it to the starting point , leaving up to the viewers to reason what on the dot this journey represents and how it affect each fiber . It ’s also deserving mentioning howLost Highwayintroduces one of the most creepy-crawly and challenging villains in Lynch ’s career , The Mystery Man , an ominous figure who often seems to be the only one understanding what ’s really happening .

Eraserhead (1977)

David Lynch ’s weirdest movie ( which is saying a lot),Eraserheadoffers a nightmarish narrative with haunting range of a function and wicked lineament that influence the life of a poor   factory prole . In a serial of unknown , smother event , Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environs , an angry girl , and the insufferable screams of his newly behave mutant baby .

Related : All 10 David Lynch Movies , Ranked By Their outlandishness

While the movie does postdate a seemingly additive story , the realism ofEraserheadis filled with weird - seem character that act like they ’re out of this world . Henry ’s passivity towards the countless   eccentric effect that flood out him highlights the narrative ’s   odd intention of display Henry ’s deep fears and preoccupation in a disturbing fashion , putting the viewing audience in his shoes .

Tom Cruise looking happy in Vanilla Sky

Donnie Darko (2001)

bedlam hypothesis . Butterfly effect . Time travel . Parallel realness . A eldritch - looking giant bunny rabbit rabbit . It ’s almost likeDonnie Darkois follow a strict formula to craft the most   frustratingly puzzling news report possible , and it does that quite well .

One ofthe best directorial launching of the 2000s , Donnie Darkofollows a teen who just barely escaped a eccentric incident . Troubled by unknown visions , he ’s misrepresent to send a serial publication of crimes that will change the lives of everyone around him . The picture show ’s narrative is conducted in a self - destructing manner , as world are either meant to jar or go their own ways one by one , and Donnie stands in the centre of it . Long story short , Donnie Darkodoesn’t really make sense , but it definitely has import .

Memento (2000)

Mementooften feel like starting to complete a scroll saw puzzle , giving up in the middle , and then trying again properly from the start .   The film follow Leonard Shelby , a man who is urgently trying to go after down the man who murdered his married woman , but there ’s a catch : Leonard suffers from a rare case of short - memory loss , which turns the probe into a total nightmare .

ineffectual to remember all the info he managed to roll up , he starts tattoo them on his peel . But having Leonard ’s condition in mind , TV audience are leave with an treacherous part , resourcing only to his disunited computer memory to catch up with the enigma . Apart from counting with Leonard ’s inconstant psyche , Memento ’s narrative does n’t be a additive course , weave in a astonishingly piquant way and disorient viewers until getting to its final twist .

Inception (2010)

Inceptionis one of the best model of picture show that take place inside a character ’s creative thinker , fall out a thief who steals incorporated secret by infiltrate the subconscious mind of his butt . He ’s offer a biography - change deal in substitution   for a seemingly impossible chore : planting another person ’s idea into the mind of a successful CEO .

Due to the   premise ’s nature , it ’s difficult to discern world from dreams inInception , and things get even more complicated when the protagonist ’s riotous yesteryear get to get in the way . As the thief and his team delve deeper into the different layer of the target ’s unconscious states , the story finally leads to an inconclusive ending that go out buff arguing whether or not it was literal to this day .

Primer (2004)

Primeris a   outstanding indie time travel motion picture that manage its budget restraint in an interesting mode , but it ’s almost impossible to understand in the first watch .

relate : Primer & Other Nine Impressive Indie Time Travel Movies

Four feather entrepreneur unexpectedly make a clock time - traveling machine , and two of them resolve to take advantage of the unique opportunity for self - concentrate on purposes , but they end up getting tangled up in a disorderly chain of events . As the narrative pass on , it ’s even unmanageable to   understand who is who , and which timeline is unraveling onscreen . Just like the master characters , looker get catch up in a on the face of it unsolvable problem .

Tim Robbins in Jacob’s Ladder

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Stanley Kubrick ’s sci - fi masterpiece remains one of the most innovative movies ever made , not only due to the salient expert aspects , but also for delivering one of the most brain - bending experiences in cinema chronicle . There are many grounds why2001 : A Space Odysseystill hold up today , but the one that stands out the most is the endlessly interpretable meanings the film declare oneself .

In an alternative future , humanity incur an challenging object bury beneath the lunar airfoil , and a space crew set out to find its pedigree , counting   on the service of HAL 9000 , the domain ’s most advanced super computer.2001addresses topic ahead of its sentence such as the clash between humanity and auto , human evolution , and , clearly one all important rationality why the movie is so hard to realize , what happens when humanity is typeface to front with the absolute cosmic magnitude of the population that surrounds them .

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Different from   David Lynch ’s other works , Mulholland Driveis the one closest to a fever dreaming . Recurring face come and go ,   head game take over realism , and preceding and present collide in a hunting for identity ; all that is conducted in an unsettling atmosphere .

In the film , a woman is exit   with amnesia   after a car crash and get over paths with an shoot for actress . Together they search for answers in the Los Angeles Hollywood panorama , but soon the analogue story gives   way to a twisting narrative where nothing is what it seems and no one is trustable . While not as scary as Lynch ’s other picture show , Mulholland Driveis   just as unsettling , carry a recurring feeling that something ’s off , although the rationality why is left to the watcher ’s interpretation .

Next:10 Best Surreal Movies , harmonise To Ranker

The Mystery Man from Lost Highway

Henry inspects his baby in Eraserhead

Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone and a rabbit in Donnie Darko

Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby sits at a table in Memento.

Inception (2010)

Aaron (Shane Carruth) and Abe (David Sullivan) carrying cannisters in Primer

The two lead characters of Mulholland Drive

Inception