I saw Syriana the other day. It was very enjoyable and thought provoking, I hope we see many more politicly-charged films like this in the future. I really like the whole Participant Productions ethos and I hope we see a similar institution setup here in the UK... anyway... that's not what I'd like to discuss right now...
...I'd like to discuss why Syriana was confusing. I know for a fact that I found it hard to follow and I've been led to believe that other people were also confused by it. The way I see it, there are three possible reasons for the confusion:
1) The film was perfectly coherent but me and my friends are a bit stupid
2) The film was slightly incoherent because the director and/or writer screwed up
3) The film was slightly incoherent because the director and/or writer wanted viewers to come out of the cinema thinking "er, what exactly happened there?"
Did you find it confusing? Was it supposed to be confusing to accurately reflect the confusing and complex nature of the subject matter? Many directors attempt to "build worlds" for their audience... if you were directing Syriana would you want to build a deliberately confusing world in order to accurately portray the confusing nature of the subject matter?
Is it ever legitimate for a director to deliberately leave their audience confused or is an essential part of story telling to present a coherent account of events (sure, of course it's legitimate to confuse people during your film... but is it ever legitimate to leave your audience confused?)
Why would a director want to deliberately make a film confusing? At the very least, a confusing film will often provoke more water-cooler discussion than a simple film. Perhaps confusion could encourage some people to re-watch the film?
I remember seeing Mulholland Drive and leaving the cinema feeling very confused. A few days later, I noticed that part of the advertising campaign for Mulholland Drive strove to get people to re-watch the film. Is it possible that David Lynch deliberately made Mulholland Drive confusing in an attempt to boost box office sales by getting people to re-watch it to quench their confusion?


Cyril
11 Apr 2006 - 18:49