If you’re in the mood for a cross-genre mindbender some night, do get hold of British direct Guy Ritchie‘s uncategorizable 2005 flick Revolver. That is, if you’re also in the mood for graphic torture, editing that sometimes looks like it was done in a food processor, seriously twisted egomaniacs, mucho gun battles, and hearing yourself saying “Huh?“and “What the…?” a lot.
The double-entendre tagline is Your mind will not accept a game this big (it becomes a double-entendre after you’ve seen the flick), and the plot involves a con job so pervasive and subtle that even you, innocent reader, are implicated. Plus it’s got voice-over and i lo-o-ove voice-over — though this may be the first time voice-over turns into a plot device.
The film becomes completely impenetrable early on, but your perseverance may be rewarded. I thought it wrapped up neatly, if ham-fistedly, but methinks one either gets it in spades or not at all, depending on one’s metaphysical bent. Critics savaged it. Roger Ebert gave it a rare one-half star in a review that begins,
Guy Ritchie‘s ‘Revolver’ is a frothing mad film that thrashes against its very sprocket holes in an attempt to bash its brains out against the projector. It seems designed to punish the audience for buying tickets….
You’ll have to watch this one twice. But not, dear God, on the same night.
Kudos to Ritchie and his actors for artistic guts. His other films, better received, include Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Thanks to the inimitable Jonesie (wish there were still an active link) for telling me about it: Ego, riding the human experience for some purpose of its own, worried sick about losing its horse.
Greg Blee 
Dang! I thought i was being clever coining the word “enlightentainment.” But punch it into Google and you get 792 hits, including http://www.enlightentainment.com (a disappointment).
Guess i’m not the big-ego genius i always hope i am.