Any fan of Charlie Kaufman knows that his cinematic puzzles aren’t really meant to be ‘solved’. That’s especially true of his third film as writer-director: a surreal drama about a young woman going to visit her new boyfriend’s parents that pulls closer to Lynchian territory than anything he’s done before. Again, it’s best that you don’t try to untangle the story’s many knots – it will only frustrate. Give yourself over to the experience, though, and it’s like a dream you can’t dislodge.
Let’s face it: the last few years have turned most of us into passive movie watchers. When the pandemic forced all of our ‘cinemagoing’ to take place from the couch, we all got a little too comfortable throwing something on Netflix that would end up background noise to our endless social media doomscrolling.
It’s about time to fix that habit – and all it takes is a good mystery movie. After all, what better to draw you in and force your attention than a film with a big, glowing question mark at its centre? Whether it’s a classic whodunnit, a psychological thriller, or a story so strange it defies easy understanding, a mystery engages our wits and our eyes better than just about any other genre. The Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion, is on its way to the platform, but there are plenty of other cinematic mysteries on the streamer demanding your attention right now.
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