Almost clever

Rating: Null/10 (27 June 2004)

I don't like film noir for the same reason I don't like modern art. Modern art is cool because it is incomprehensible, providing the illusion that indulging confusion is somehow deep. I've always thought this sort of thing was a kind of joke where the artist laughs quietly at our efforts to inject chaos with false genius. Or maybe I just don't get it.
To be incomprehensible because of intellectual prowess may be admirable, but to be incomprehensible due to little more than obscure confusion is annoying.
The problem with this film is that the plot is simply not resolved. Whether or not this is intentional, I honestly cannot tell. We are given an explanation in the penultimate scene that is presented in a manner that simply invites us to ask more questions which ultimately go unanswered and leaves the audience to make up their own mind. If possible.
Honestly, this little trick was old a long time ago and has not become less annoying with age.
I will say, however, that the film is captivating. I desperately wanted my answers and enjoyed the highly experimental sequencing. But the director owes me an answer. He owes me a story. He owes me a conclusion.

And we never get one. Or maybe I just don't get it.
If you want something that's different and kind of cool in the end, watch The Sixth Sense or Fight Club. You won't lose sleep trying to figure them out because they actually have a conclusion.