Last night I watched A Serious Man, which ends with lots of loose ends that haven't been tied up. I was startled and annoyed at the ending. Why do filmmakers do it? 1) If you know you're not going to resolve the film's ending, as a director your incentives change. You can make it as complicated and then just leave everything for the viewer to figure out. 2) The filmmakers know how the story would end but just aren't telling us, which is condescending. 3) It's possible that I just don't like it because I'm not expecting it and if my expectations change I will like it more. 4) Not having the movie end is a device to allow filmgoers to signal their artyness, and also shut off the movie to the large majority of the population.

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