Most confusing/convoluted plots of all time

“Dune”

 

Jacob's Ladder (1990)

 

Most any British detective series.

 

Three Days Of The Condor (1975)

 

Interstellar (2014)

 

The Number 23 (2007)

 

The Lady From Shanghai - starring, written and directed by Orson Welles.

 

TV show Lost, especially the final season.

Damn show sucks you in with the first season and then gets progressively weirder each season. But you are already sucked in and want to see it played out, only to be let down with the series finale, introducing more questions than having answers for previous questions and leaving you hanging with a dumb ending to top it off. Writers wrote themselves into a corner and had no way of getting out with a satisfying conclusion.

Other similar shows that debuted after Lost followed the same type of convoluted plots and subplots (too many to keep track of): Person Of Interest, The Blacklist, Designated Survivor, Revolution, Under The Dome

Even though I stuck with Lost to the end, the other shows I mentioned I gave up on after a few years (some didn't even last a season for me) since they were going nowhere. Now I refuse to invest my time into new drama shows if I feel they are going to follow a long arc with numerous plots and subplots. I prefer my shows to be episodic without long season/series arcs.


As for movies, there are a handful of them that I can't recall except for some of the ones already mentioned. Donnie Darko and Jacob's Ladder are two I agree with the most.

Also, even though I liked Inception and liked the visuals, I do agree somewhat about the convoluted multi-layers. Any movies that have "A Dream within a Dream within a Dream, etc." type of plots can lose the viewer really quickly if the viewer isn't closely paying attention. Even if they are paying attention, they can get lost very quickly if it was poorly written or too many things were introduced during the "Dream Dives."

Any movies that mess with your mind fall into this category. Mindf**k plots are what I call them (Donnie Darko and Jacob's Ladder are two of the biggest mindf**ks I've seen.) There are others that are similar that I can't recall right now.

I just thought of another movie that I thought was too convoluted: Vanilla Sky (Tom Cruise version.) That may have been the first movie I ever saw at the theater in which I said out loud "What the Hell did I just watch!" while walking out after it was over...and I wasn't the only one who said something similar. I heard at least 2 or 3 other people saying similar things while walking out.

 

Yes, John Le Carre adaptations can be difficult to follow. I was watching the recent BBC adaptation of Little Drummer Girl, and found myself rewinding back to several scenes to figure out what was going on.

 

I cannot understand how anyone can enjoy a show that they had no idea about what was going on. It just doesn't compute!

 

I'd argue the exact opposite for 'Person Of Interest' - it started out weak and confused and, honestly, a little unambitious and just got stronger and more focused as it went on. The final season brought almost everything into a tight focus. I don't think the writers knew what they were doing when they started, but they did by the end. So; basically the antithesis of 'Lost.'

 

I figure out the good guys and the bad guys and just let it happen. Go with the flow...

 

So far the sequel is starting to look like a real head-scratcher too!

 

2016 Election & sequel to you say....
Why i wonder would I be getting flashbacks to grade school days?

 

Lost was awful as an ending but really sucked you in until they set off the bomb. 12 Monkeys is another tale that never quite unravels after the end.

 

I loved this movie. I actually didn't find it terribly difficult to follow. My recollection was that it was actually extremely well-written and all of the time-travel elements were very well-done, and followed its own internal consistency beautifully.

 

Los Amantes del Círculo Polar both by Spanish director Julio Medem is exactely the same, a tricky plot with plenty of flashbacks and all for nothing. He must be one of the most pretentious film makers of all time.

 

Really? I think it's a really straightforward plot, if you had said Coppola's The Conversation...

 

Interesting...….I thought the Conversation was pretty straightforward, as I was able to follow the plot on my first viewing. Three Days Of The Condor took three or Four viewings to understand all of the nuiances…..The whole secret CIA within the CIA and who worked for who is a bit muddy.

 

As a fan of Charlie Kaufman I was left quite cold, confused and in the end just bored by Synecdoche, New York.

 

Great show. I miss it. I was thinking about it the other day ... actually, I was thinking about Paige Turco.

 

That's easily my most often watched film of the past twenty years.

 

I was just going to mention this. I agree... I've only watched it once, but although it seemed to me to have a lot to say, I can't say that I understood a lot of what was going on. I saw it several years ago, and always meant to give it another viewing, but I found it terribly depressing. And now that Philip Seymour Hoffman has passed, I really don't think I'd be able to emotionally handle sitting through it again.

 

Though I haven't seen it, Last Year at Marienbad is allegedly famous for being incomprehensible.