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who *is* Keyser Soze?
I just watched The Usual Suspects with my brother. (well, I watched and sewed; he fell asleep halfway through. But I think he said he'd seen it many times already.) Damn, that was a really wacky ending. I think I get it, but it took me about twenty minutes after the movie mentally reviewing things and checking the IMDB trivia entry for it to be sure of what I thought.
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Definitely one of my favorite films. It is definitely one that has different levels of enjoyment upon rewatch. The recent film Memento is another somewhat similar type of film. On the original DVD version (and perhaps also on the 2-disc set that's been recently released), there's an IFC interview with the co-writer and director Christopher Nolan in which he mentions that he likes films that one can watch over and over again and still pick up new details and story angles. I think he also mentions that the astute viewer should be able to determine the "surprise" ending by using clues throughout the film. I believe that it's these clues that make the film more fun to watch the second time around. For instance, the last sequence of The Usual Suspects no longer plays as a reminder of the clues that helps clarify the truth. Instead, it is a celebration of how Keyser was able to play with the authorities.
And, there are a few stylistic element that help make the movie even more cool to me. The first is that it's presented as "Bryan Singer's film" in the opening credits, instead of the more usual "A film by Bryan Singer". The second is the location title, "San Pedro, California - last night". And the third is the shadow trick when Keaton and crew are looking in on Kobayashi and Edie.