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Ambiguous endings

3,696 Views | 24 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Garrelli 5000
TX AG 88
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9:24p, 12/16/23
AG
So sick of stories with no climax or denouement. Go ahead, call me a mouth breather, but the classic story pattern worked for centuries.

Just finished "Leave The World Behind". After 2.2 hours of a fairly intriguing story, it just quit after the most trivial "conquest" by just one of the characters. Everything else left hanging. Horrible trend, which seems almost the norm now.

"Wow, really makes you think" is (i guess) the desired reaction, but I just want to punch the creator in the nose.

F*** Netflix
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An L of an Ag
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10:35p, 12/16/23
AG
Seriously! Monty Python: The Holy Grail falls into this category as well.
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Enzomatic
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In reply to An L of an Ag • 10:55p, 12/16/23
An L of an Ag said:
Seriously! Monty Python: The Holy Grail falls into this category as well.

You don't like cop out endings?

Not the same as ambiguous endings…
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An L of an Ag
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10:57p, 12/16/23
AG
No. No I don't.
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REMARCH11
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11:11p, 12/16/23
AG
Yeah, the wife and I watched it last night. She hated the way it ended, personally I didn't mind it. Left a lot to the imagination. I think the I overlying sentiment was the breakdown of humanity.

Overall, 8 thought it was OK.
God,....I really hate the sips!
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aggiebonzo
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11:52a, 12/17/23
AG
I think if done right it can be good. Departed comes to mind with the rat on the windowsill…
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Fenrir
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In reply to aggiebonzo • 12:15p, 12/17/23
Yeah there a decent amount of great movies with ambiguous endings. They can be very thought provoking.

Inception
American Psycho
The Thing

All are great movies. I think sometimes the "ambiguous endings" is used because they can't figure out a way to conclude the story. It can be ambiguous but it needs to still feel like a conclusion.
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The Porkchop Express
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1:43p, 12/17/23
AG
Blair Witch is a good one.
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Brian Earl Spilner
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1:53p, 12/17/23
AG
Inception
2001
Cast Away
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agdoc2001
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3:02p, 12/17/23
AG
Memento
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MaroonStain
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5:10p, 12/17/23
AG
The Fountain. Took a date and after the move, we both went WTF. Did get lucky that night and checked the box for tu pom pom girl.
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AggieArchitect04
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7:04p, 12/17/23
AG
Usual Suspects did it well.

Wasn't entirely ambiguous I suppose, but allowed the story to continue beyond the screen.
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Decay
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8:06p, 12/17/23
AG
Yeah I think there's a difference that makes it better or worse.

Lazy writing can use it when a concrete ending is too much work or they've backed themselves into a corner and don't want to rework the rest of the movie.

Sometimes it's less about ambiguity and more about not force feeding the audience. They lived happily ever after but don't really spoon-feed it to you. Could be ambiguous until you really catch the details of the movie.

Then there's the real task of intelligently making an ambiguous ending. You can challenge the audience, but don't let them feel cheated.

I remember the audible groan at the end of Inception. Everyone was so into the scene. But in retrospect the whole point is that it's not really ambiguous. Since the character doesn't care so you don't need to either. Great ending.
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BJM1781
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In reply to MaroonStain • 8:24p, 12/17/23
AG
Username checks out…
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Capybara
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8:27p, 12/17/23
Ambiguity gives life meaning. Who wants a lifeless movie?
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The Marksman
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8:31p, 12/17/23
AG
The Little Things comes to mind when discussing ambiguous endings
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aTmAg
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8:39p, 12/17/23
AG
There is a difference between ambiguous endings and being to lazy too have an ending. Inception, The Thing, etc. are examples of the former. Damn good movies, that don't spoon fed you the answer, but give you all the clues to figure it out yourself.

Leave the World Behind is clearly in the latter. I'd put Sopranos in there too. At least if you go with what Chase says on "the ending doesn't matter" horsecrap.
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9:15p, 12/17/23
Stupe
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9:35p, 12/17/23
S
Just finished watching it.

As soon as she said she cared for the characters, I said out loud how it was going to end.

It's so common that it isn't surprising.
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HummingbirdSaltalamacchia
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11:41a, 12/18/23
AG
Couldn't disagree with the OP more. Those type of endings usually stick with me more. More thought provoking. Leaves me wanting more. The perfect ending movies usually don't have that level of staying power.

And like a previous poster mentioned, not only is there a difference between a mentioned, not only is there a difference between ambiguous and lazy endings, of which there are plenty, But I will also say, there's a difference between ambiguous and open ended.

For example, In the Chris Nolan world:

Inception- Ambiguous. Is he back in reality or no?

The dark knight rises- open ended. We assume Bale gets free of the Batman mantle and we assume JGL takes it.

But so many great films that didn't tie up neatly in a bow at the end (and I would argue THAT, many times, is the laziest way out)

Some more great ambiguous endings:

Pans Labyrinth
Prisoners
Total Recall
The wrestler
Black swan
Shutter island
The graduate
The Grey
No country for old men
In Bruges
American psycho
Blade runner
Ex machina
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ttaggie
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8:35p, 12/18/23
AG
A.I. to this day is the worst movie of all time because of its stupid non ending.

I HATE movies with non endings...it's simply lazy writing. Anyone can come up with a crazy story if it doesn't have to make sense or have a logical end.
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MooreTrucker
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In reply to An L of an Ag • 8:45p, 12/18/23
AG
An L of an Ag said:
Seriously! Monty Python: The Holy Grail falls into this category as well.
That was the greatest ending!!
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MAROON
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In reply to HummingbirdSaltalamacchia • 9:59p, 12/18/23
AG
HummingbirdSaltalamacchia said:
Couldn't disagree with the OP more. Those type of endings usually stick with me more. More thought provoking. Leaves me wanting more. The perfect ending movies usually don't have that level of staying power.

And like a previous poster mentioned, not only is there a difference between a mentioned, not only is there a difference between ambiguous and lazy endings, of which there are plenty, But I will also say, there's a difference between ambiguous and open ended.

For example, In the Chris Nolan world:

Inception- Ambiguous. Is he back in reality or no?

The dark knight rises- open ended. We assume Bale gets free of the Batman mantle and we assume JGL takes it.

But so many great films that didn't tie up neatly in a bow at the end (and I would argue THAT, many times, is the laziest way out)

Some more great ambiguous endings:

Pans Labyrinth
Prisoners
Total Recall
The wrestler
Black swan
Shutter island
The graduate
The Grey
No country for old men
In Bruges
American psycho
Blade runner
Ex machina


Add Lost in Translation.
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Head Ninja In Charge
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7:52a, 12/19/23
AG
Lost in Translation had the best ambiguous ending ever. The story was wrapped up, they go their separate ways, only thing that wasn't explicit was what he said to her, but in the end - that didn't really matter. Just a note between the two characters that didn't affect the plot.

I always laugh when people bring up No Country for Old Men too. The story was over. It was just a hard cut to a black screen. If it would've faded to black, I don't think people would have had as much of an issue over it. TLJ basically saying he's not about that life anymore and doesn't know how to make sense of it all and that's that.
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Garrelli 5000
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9:02a, 12/19/23
AG
Id rather an ambiguous ending (hello Sopranos) than an ending like the AppleTV's Suspicion.

Suspicion was a good fun series then on the very last episode the liberal twit writers realized they needed to guarantee their invitations to the next round of liberal twit cocktail parties...and turned the entire series into 1 women bent on stopping?big oil? from continuing the destruction of the world via climate change.

I was angrier than Ralphie when his decoder ring is nothing more than a crummy ovaltine commercial.
Staff - take out the trash.
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