Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen host Filmspotting, a podcast and
syndicated radio program. Their lists this week were movies with
unreliable narrators. I liked how they distinguished between this and
movies just with plot twists. While there can be a plot twist, the unreliability of the narrator is a key driving force moving the movie forward. There are plenty of plot twists without unreliable narrators.
https://www.filmspotting.net/episodes-archive/2026/3/6-1055-unreliable-narrators-rashomon
They don't discuss tv, but we do. For me, the biggest unreliable
narrator is Dexter, although that got retconned. We all have terrible impulses but Dexter insists he cannot control his "dark passenger", only channel him. Originally, the audience was supposed to believe that
Dexter being "born in blood" didn't create his dark impulses and that
Harry could have helped him keep it in check. Instead, Harry created an instrument of vengance before Dexter initiates it. In later season and
tne spinoffs, Dexter got Harry to go along with his impulse to kill.
Anthology shows like Night Gallery used plenty of stories with an
unreliable narrator.
What's your choice?
The classic examples are, in movies:
FGNTR SEVTUG
...and, in books:
Gur Zheqre bs Ebtre Npxeblq
(rot13, as anti-spoiler lip service.)
Iirc, both Hitchcock and Christie caught some flak for it.
rec.arts.books added to the newsgroups line.
Verily, in article <10ohu59$1pqmv$1@dont-email.me>, did
nobody@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
The classic examples are, in movies:
FGNTR SEVTUG
...and, in books:
Gur Zheqre bs Ebtre Npxeblq
(rot13, as anti-spoiler lip service.)
Iirc, both Hitchcock and Christie caught some flak for it.
I don't know about Hitchcock, but Christie did. In fact, it's one of a
few reasons why some people who aren't familiar with her wider work
think all she ever did were cheaty, rulebreaking endings.
It definitely spun my brain around, but in a good way. It's good to push
the boundaries. "The butler did it" has been a cliche for decades, but
once it was a violation of a rule that servants don't count.
On 3/7/26 12:11 PM, The True Melissa wrote:
rec.arts.books added to the newsgroups line.
Verily, in article <10ohu59$1pqmv$1@dont-email.me>, did
nobody@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
The classic examples are, in movies:
FGNTR SEVTUG
...and, in books:
Gur Zheqre bs Ebtre Npxeblq
(rot13, as anti-spoiler lip service.)
Iirc, both Hitchcock and Christie caught some flak for it.
Rot13 is annoying for everyone who don't have
decoding for rot13. We're supposed to number
each letter and then add or subtract 13 to find
the answer one letter at a time? That's worse
than morse code.
On 3/7/26 12:11 PM, The True Melissa wrote:
rec.arts.books added to the newsgroups line.
Verily, in article <10ohu59$1pqmv$1@dont-email.me>, did
nobody@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
The classic examples are, in movies:
FGNTR SEVTUG
...and, in books:
Gur Zheqre bs Ebtre Npxeblq
(rot13, as anti-spoiler lip service.)
Iirc, both Hitchcock and Christie caught some flak for it.
Rot13 is annoying for everyone who don't have decoding for rot13.
We're supposed to number each letter and then add or subtract 13 to
find the answer one letter at a time? That's worse than morse code.
But to the point, are narrators ever reliable? They seem to exist to mislead.
I don't know about Hitchcock, but Christie did. In fact, it's one of a
few reasons why some people who aren't familiar with her wider work
think all she ever did were cheaty, rulebreaking endings.
It definitely spun my brain around, but in a good way. It's good to push
the boundaries. "The butler did it" has been a cliche for decades, but
once it was a violation of a rule that servants don't count.
On 3/7/26 12:11 PM, The True Melissa wrote:
rec.arts.books added to the newsgroups line.
Verily, in article <10ohu59$1pqmv$1@dont-email.me>, did
nobody@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
The classic examples are, in movies:
FGNTR SEVTUG
...and, in books:
Gur Zheqre bs Ebtre Npxeblq
(rot13, as anti-spoiler lip service.)
So to ROT13 this again it's
STAGE FRIGHT
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
But does the titles alone identify the works?
With the book and movie publishing world heavily
promoting remakes the title alone isn't enough
and should have a (YEAR) appended to the title,
to narrow it down.
On 2026-03-08 07:34:38 +0000, Pluted Pup said:
On 3/7/26 12:11 PM, The True Melissa wrote:
rec.arts.books added to the newsgroups line.
Verily, in article <10ohu59$1pqmv$1@dont-email.me>, did
nobody@nowhere.com deliver unto us this message:
The classic examples are, in movies:
FGNTR SEVTUG
...and, in books:
Gur Zheqre bs Ebtre Npxeblq
(rot13, as anti-spoiler lip service.)
So to ROT13 this again it's
STAGE FRIGHT
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
But does the titles alone identify the works?
With the book and movie publishing world heavily
promoting remakes the title alone isn't enough
and should have a (YEAR) appended to the title,
to narrow it down.
Now let's do pig Latin for the kids.
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