The best way to describe Christopher Nolan's new movie, Tenet, is that it is the most spectacular divisive movie ever made. It is highly ambitious, a great big-screen experience and is proud of its original concept, that encourages a couple of revisits in a time when lesser people are visiting theatres. At the same time, it is one of Nolan's least-engaging films, with characters you find difficult to root for and a screenplay not very easy to follow. Tenet stars John David Washington, Elizabeth Debicki, Robert Pattinson, Dimple Kapadia, Sir Michael Caine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Kenneth Branagh. TENET Movie Review: Christopher Nolan’s Latest Is a Spectacular Puzzle That’s Also a Numbing Head-Scratcher!

Revolving around themes like inverse entropy and time travel (in a way), Tenet becomes a incomprehensible watch at times and needs you to concentrate hard on what is being told to. Or you can follow the wisest quote of a character in the film - 'Don't try understanding it. Just feel it.'

At least, the many action scenes and some WTF moments do give you an option to do so. Otherwise this would have been a complete mind-f**k movie! For there are some films in that genre that never give you the privilege to lose your mind with its bombastic visuals. In this special feature, we look at seven mind-f**k movies that demand that you NEVER leave your brains at home, in fact, you may want to keep them in over-work mode. And it includes one more Christopher Nolan movie too!

Mulholland Drive

A Still from Mulholland Drive

To try and understand this David Lynch movie is one hell of a task. The director is known for making some truly mind-bending films, and Mulholland Drive is one of the most-known works, where people are not what they seem, random situation pop out of nowhere, including a pretty good jump scare and nothing aims to make sense. Unless you are Lynch himself, you would be lying if you even get what the film is about in the first try!

2001: A Space Odyssey

A Still from 2001: A Space Odyssey

Monoliths have now become a rage after random structures are popping out at random places. But the one monolith that left many cinephiles still talking for decades now is the one that lands among the ape-men in the beginning of this Stanley Kubrick masterpiece. The movie is brilliant, path-breaking and has some fantastic visuals, but 2001: A Space Odyssey still gets us talking about what do those scenes really mean. Including that 'Star Baby' scene!

Donnie Darko

A Still from Donnie Darko

This totally mind-f**k film is known for being Jake Gyllenhaal's breakout film. Donnie Darko is the kind of movie that transcends genres - it can be a doomsday thriller, it can be a psychological drama or a horror movie. A teenager trying to save the world from ending with a strange man in a bunny suit hounding him may sound a ridiculous plotline, but it's the absurdity that makes Donnie Darko so fascinating.

Primer

A Still from Primer

Okay, so you think that watching Back to the Future or Avengers: Endgame or bingeing on Dark series made you figure out Time Travel? Think again! Or better, watch this indie flick and then return and answer my question. Shane Carruth's debut film is a genius take on the concept of time-travel that isn't very easy to decipher and is not at all audience-pandering. Like with Tenet, you have to carefully grasp to every word spoken, every scene conceived to figure out the dynamics of time travel in the film, and still you would be as ignoramus as you had been before. Tenet Ending Explained: From Robert Pattinson’s Neil to Dimple Kapadia’s Priya Singh, Decoding the Final Fates of Main Characters in Christopher Nolan’s Sci-Fi Film.

Coherence

A Still from Coherence

From time travel now to alternate realities, Coherence is a sci-fi psychological thriller about a group of friends who meet for dinner at one of the friend's house and strange things begin to happen. Realities begin to merge, multiple versions of the same characters cross each other and unexplained things keep happening. And if you expect the film to clear the mysteries easily, perhaps you forget why you are even reading this list.

Triangle

A Still from Triangle

A tragic accident messes with not just the mental state of the protagonist, but also with the viewer's perception of what they are seeing on screen. What is supposed to be some sort of a slasher flick atop a strange abandoned ship turns into a venture into alternate realities (again), as we wonder if the events are happening for real or is it an insight into the lead's broken mind. Your guess is as good as mine.

Memento

A Still from Memento

I could have had any of Nolan's other films in this list, but even if many have high concepts, they aren't really mind-f**k. Like, Inception may mess with the idea of a dream heist, but it isn't something that messes with a viewer's mind. Similarly, only the final half an hour of Interstellar is what becomes a total mind-f**k compared to the rest of the film. But Memento turns a simple revenge thriller into something so complicated told, to reflect its protagonist's confused mental state. Pitting one timeline against the other, one moving forward, other backwards (ohhh...so that's where he got the idea for Tenet), we have to piece every puzzle of this thriller along with Guy Pearce's amnesiac hero till we come to that shattering revelation. And you thought Ghajini was a good film?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 07, 2020 07:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).