I think we need a term (say, "Bluff Cinema") for films that play at lofty allegory through muddled and opaque execution. A film that's built on this kind of contradiction is infuriating not because it's "challenging" in any meaningful sense, but because it attacks the audience while shielding itself from critique. Defenders can get away with claims that detractors "didn't get it," because the film's delivery is airy and vague enough to validate virtually any reading.

As a piece of…