City of Pirates (La ville des pirates)

Lacking any visible plot, Ville des Pirates meanders from episodes that are alternately comic or dramatic, gross or non-sequitur, capricious or outrageous, all in the name of a murder mystery. A hard sell to anyone who is not a student of the avant-garde or the history of cinema, most audiences will want to focus more on their popcorn than the screen in this inscrutable cinematic offering from prolific, exiled Chilean director Raul Ruiz.