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Regarding classic film-noir movies, I found "The Lady from Shanghai" by Orson Welles much more baffling, and also frustrating. The first time I watched it, I di
by lqet 5y ago
Regarding classic film-noir movies, I found "The Lady from Shanghai" by Orson Welles much more baffling, and also frustrating. The first time I watched it, I didn't really get the plot. As a big Orson Welles fan, I assumed it was my fault and consulted Wikipedia. The Wikipedia understanding of the plot was equivalent to mine and didn't answer any questions, so I watched it a second time, and a third time. There are massive plot holes. I really believe that Welles was not interested in a coherent plot, he just needed a vehicle for beautiful cinematography and great acting. But it is so frustrating if you try to follow a complicated plot, only to realise at the end of the movie that not even the director was able to understand it.
- WalterBright 5y agoThe "Lost" miniseries is enjoyable only once you accept that it simply doesn't make any sense. Just enjoy the moments. Though "Lost" was on to something with the dialog "it's a snowglobe!" They could have followed up on that, leading to a satisfying conclusion, but as with everything else, it just went nowhere.
- dragonwriter 5y ago> The “Lost” miniseries Is this different than the Lost series of 6 seasons and 121 episodes? Or is this just an unusual use of the prefix “mini-”?
- WalterBright 5y agoYes, that Lost.
- jcrawfordor 5y agoI've heard a joke along the lines of "I loved LOST, it's a shame they only made one season" from multiple people. Whether they allow one or two seasons of the show to actually exist in their memory depends on the person.
- asdff 5y agoI'm really surprised LOST still has that reputation years after release. Having seen the entire thing, I think the plot makes sense and there aren't very many holes. The writers omit a lot early on but I felt like it gets answered by the end as you learn more about the island. In the moment as it was being released year by year I can see how it was seen as confusing when you'd wait for a while to get an explanation, but these days you could binge the entire thing.
- WalterBright 5y agoHaving an "explanation" that it's all pointless magic is not an explanation. I suspect that the writers originally had a coherent story arc, but the show was so successful they had to extend, extend, extend it, which produced the incoherence.
- asdff 5y agoWell, it is one of the most highly regarded series in history by critics, so some people thought the explanations were sufficient at least. Abrams and the writers were planning from the outset to do that many seasons and wrote a story bible outlining all the lore and mythology referenced throughout the writing. Having story arcs over the course of years was intentional and a novel idea at the time when most TV series plots were written on a per episode basis.
- mattmanser 5y agoWhy do you think it's highly regarded by critics? Final season's got a relatively low rating on rotten tomatoes. It's referenced as a joke series in my circles, if you want to refer to something pointlessly convoluted with no pay-off. Personally, I stopped at the beginning of season 3 when I realized the writers didn't have a clue where to go with the plot.
- prawn 5y agoI dropped it at a similar point after working out how many hours I still had to go and asking myself if, later in life, I would view having seen it through as a good use of my time or not. It was then a very easy decision!
- anigbrowl 5y agoI don't remember enough about Welles' life and career without checking to be sure, but there's a good chance that the flaws are the result of welles' running out of money or having control of the film taken away by other producers due to his inability to meet deadlines.