Hollywood Puzzle Films

<p>From <i>Inception</i> to <i>The Lake House</i>, moviegoers are increasingly flocking to narratologically complex puzzle films. These puzzle movies borrow techniques—like fragmented spatio-temporal reality, time loops, unstable characters with split identities or unreliable narrators—more commonly attributed to art cinema and independent films. The essays in <i>Hollywood Puzzle Films</i> examine the appropriation of puzzle film techniques by contemporary Hollywood dramas and blockbusters through questions of narrative, time, and altered realities. Analyzing movies like <i>Source Code</i>, <i>The Butterfly Effect</i>, <i>Donnie Darko</i>, <i>Déjà Vu</i>, and adaptations of Philip K. Dick, contributors explore the implications of Hollywood's new movie mind games.</p> <p>Introduction: Ambiguity, ontological pluralism, and cognitive dissonance in the Hollywood puzzle film<b> </b><i>Warren Buckland</i><b> Part I: Narratology and systems theory </b>1. Complex narratives - <i>Jan Simons</i> 2. Puzzled Hollywood and the return of complex films - <i>Maria Poulaki</i> <b>Part II: <i>Inception</i>, the archetypal Hollywood puzzle film </b>3. Unravelling the puzzle of <i>Inception</i> <i>- Geoff King</i> 4. ‘Show, don’t tell’: Considering the utility of diagrams as a tool for understanding complex narratives - <i>Elliot Panek</i> 5. ‘Pain is in the mind’: Dream narrative in <i>Inception</i> and <i>Shutter Island</i> - <i>Paolo Russo</i> 6. Modular spacetime in the ‘intelligent’ blockbuster: <i>Inception</i> and <i>Source Code</i> <i>-</i> <i>Allan Cameron and Richard Misek </i>7. Complexity and simplicity in <i>Inception</i> and <i>Five Dedicated to Ozu</i><b> - </b><i>William Brown </i><b>Part III: The science fiction Hollywood puzzle film</b><i> </i>8. Philip K. Dick, the mind-game film, and retroactive causality - <i>Thomas Elsaesser </i>9. Fourth dimensions, seventh senses: The work of mind-gaming in the age of electronic <i>reproduction - Garrett Stewart </i>10. <i>Source Code</i>’s video game <i>logic - Warren Buckland</i> 11. The image of time in post-classical Hollywood: <i>Donnie Darko</i> and <i>Southland Tales </i>- <i>Bruce Isaacs </i><b>Part IV: The drama Hollywood puzzle film</b><i> </i>12. Re-viewing <i>Vantage Point - Paul Cobley</i> 13. <i>The Butterfly Effect</i> upon its Spectator - <i>Edward Branigan</i> 14. Solving suicide: Facing the complexity of <i>The Hours</i> - <i>Lucy Bolton</i> 15. Knowledge and narrativity in <i>Premonition</i> and <i>The Lake House - Gary Bettinson</i></p>