Butler and Jordan Are Crockett and Tubbs in Miami Vice ’85Doosra trailer: Anil Kapoor and Rohit Sharma are already soldFlags of Our Fathers at 20: How Eastwood Recreated Iwo JimaSibling stories that actually feel like familyHansal Mehta begins filming Prime Video's small-town heroin drama9 Things You Didn't Know About Jack Reacher: Never Go BackButler and Jordan Are Crockett and Tubbs in Miami Vice ’85Doosra trailer: Anil Kapoor and Rohit Sharma are already soldFlags of Our Fathers at 20: How Eastwood Recreated Iwo JimaSibling stories that actually feel like familyHansal Mehta begins filming Prime Video's small-town heroin drama9 Things You Didn't Know About Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

Films where you can’t trust the telling

From Andhadhun to The Usual Suspects, eight films with narrators who lie, memory that slips, and twists that demand a rewatch.

Films where you can't trust the telling
Watchlists06 Oct 2026
ScreeningOctober 6, 2026 Running time3 min read ReviewerFilmybuff Desk
# Film Language Where to watch
1 Andhadhun (2018) Hindi Netflix
2 Pizza (2012) Tamil —
3 Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) Hindi —
4 Vikram Vedha (2017) Tamil —
5 Lucia (2013) Kannada —
6 Memento (2000) English —
7 The Usual Suspects (1995) English —
8 Shutter Island (2010) English —
Films where you can't trust the telling: the list

Some films don’t just tell a story—they let the telling itself become the mystery. This list is for those nights when you want to be played, fairly, by a film that knows you are paying attention.

I’ve kept it spoiler-light because the fun is in the shift: the moment you realise the narrator is hiding something, or can’t trust their own memory. These are stories that lie to you, and I love them for it.

Andhadhun (2018)

A blind pianist in Pune gets pulled into a crime that keeps folding in on itself. It is a black-comic thriller where every retelling bends the truth a little more. I had no idea whose version to believe, and that is exactly why it belongs here. Watching it feels like being led through a maze by someone who keeps changing the walls.

Pizza (2012)

A late-night pizza delivery in Chennai turns into a ghost story—and then into something much slipperier. It uses the horror frame as a doorway rather than a destination. I finished it immediately wanting to reorder the clues. The film feels like a puzzle that snaps into a new shape once you realise what it was doing all along.

Karthik Calling Karthik (2010)

Farhan Akhtar plays a man whose late-night calls offer the self-help fantasy he seems to need. The voice on the line sounds like the perfect mentor, until it stops being comforting. The film keeps you inside his head while slowly making you question who is telling this story. It feels intimate and unsettling in the same breath.

Vikram Vedha (2017)

A cop and a gangster tell the same story in different shades. The film turns perspective into plot, letting each version challenge what you thought you knew. I kept switching sides as the two versions unfolded. It feels like a duel of narratives where the truth is less important than who is speaking.

Lucia (2013)

It cuts between a lonely insomniac’s dream life and his real one so fluidly that the two begin to blur. The film doesn’t just question reality—it makes you stop trying to separate the layers. It belongs here because it asks you to trust a mind that will not stay still. Watching it feels like being inside a lucid dream: beautiful and quietly disorienting.

Memento (2000)

The backwards storytelling places you inside a man whose memory resets every few minutes. It is a puzzle that respects your intelligence, asking you to piece together what the protagonist cannot hold onto. The structure is not a gimmick; it is the experience. Watching it feels like grasping at a clear picture that keeps slipping just as it forms.

The Usual Suspects (1995)

A survivor tells an interrogator a story that may be hiding something. The film builds its power through what is said, what is left out, and how much you want to believe it. When the story lands, you will want to rewind immediately—that is not a warning, it is the fun. It feels like a slow con that suddenly shows its hand.

Shutter Island (2010)

Two marshals investigate a disappearance at an island asylum where the case keeps slipping sideways. Scorsese leaves just enough doubt for the ending to land like a slow wave. It belongs here because the telling is soaked in memory, trauma, and misdirection. Watching it feels like walking through fog that only thickens as you get closer.

What are your favourite films where the telling can’t be trusted? I’d love to know which ones made you rewind, relitigate, or sit in silence when the credits hit.

Film images from TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

FD
Filmybuff Desk

Writes for Filmybuff. Buys tickets.

Have your say