Advertisers want to give us answers, all of our confusion beaten into sell-able pulp.

Christian Dior selling purses.

Movie trailers are the same.

Baz Luhrman’s “The Great Gatsby”

All of it so simple and pornographically direct. The failure is in their intent, attempting to answer everything, give our lives a clear, cohesive narrative, when it is just the opposite.

Spike Jonze’s “Being John Malkovich”

Real questions don’t do well under the spotlight; they wilt and are never clear. Sudden and enigmatic, they only offer a glimpse, making us stop and think, “Wait. What was that?”

5. Being There (1979, Hal Ashby) Chance watches cartoons in a limousine.4. The Thin Red Line (1998, Terrence Malick): American soldiers walk by a local in Guadalcanal.

3. Punch Drunk Love (2002, Paul Thomas Anderson): A car crashes in an empty street.2. The Graduate (1967, Mike Nichols): True love is realized…and then what?1. Aguirre, Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog): In the end, only monkeys are left for the revolution.

Who is with me?