The Graduate
The Graduate is a love story finished off with an incredible warning. When Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) starts an affair with his older neighbor, he promises not to fall in love with her daughter, Elaine. Unfortunately, he can’t keep his promise.
In the end, Benjamin ruins Elaine’s wedding, and they run away together, ready to start a relationship. When they board a bus, however, reality sets in, and the two characters look highly unhappy with their impulsive decision. It’s a clear warning to think before you act, as the consequences might not be worth it.
Solaris
The 1972 film Solaris follows Kris Kelvin during his time on a spaceship that orbits the strange, somehow sentient planet, Solaris. The planet has the ability to see into an astronaut’s memory and create clones of people based on what they desire.
Knowing that it’s all the more confusing when, at the end of the film, Kris walks into his childhood home and reunites with his father. While the moment has the potential for a happy ending, Kris is still on Solaris, choosing to live in the fantasy the planet created rather than the less-appealing reality.
The Fountain
With three separate timelines included in the film, The Fountain is bound to be confusing. This 2006 movie prompted viewers to demand an explanation for the many bewildering elements when they first saw it.
However, director Darren Aronofsky refused to ruin the symbolism of the film by giving a clear answer. He stated, “It’s a film that’s a journey, and it’s a trip, and it’s an experience throughout the meditation of a lot of these questions.” If you look at the movie through that lens, you can see that it’s about the process of coming to terms with one’s mortality.
The Machinist
The Machinist follows a gaunt, sickly insomniac named Trevor, who believes that he’s being tortured by a man named Ivan. Much like Memento , however, the movie includes a shocking twist at the end.
It’s finally revealed that Trevor and Ivan are one and the same. Trevor created his own tormentor in an attempt to punish himself for a previous hit and run that resulted in a child’s death. That’s why no one around Trevor has ever seen Ivan. If there’s a character no one else can see, you can pretty much guarantee that they’ll be part of a big twist.
After Darkness
In After Darkness , the world faces a disaster of epic proportions – the sun is burning out. Raymond Beaty is trying to escape the crisis and find a way to survive with his wife and two children. However, the ending of the movie shows the Beaty family falling asleep together without any hope for help, only to emerge into a restored world the next morning.
Unfortunately, the ending scene likely isn’t real. Instead, the Beaty family passed away together after eating some poison berries, and the sunny morning was simply symbolic of their afterlife.