Watch the clues. Watch yourself.

Solving a mystery and enjoying one are different pleasures. This selection includes a whodunit, stories built around uncertain memory and films more interested in obsession than tidy reassurance. The useful question is not always “who did it?” Sometimes it is “why did I believe that?”

Start with Knives Out if you want a busy household, competing accounts and the pleasure of watching people explain themselves. The Prestige makes a good next stop for a different kind of competition: rival magicians turn performance into a way of withholding information. Pay attention to the audience each character thinks they are addressing.

Memento makes the act of keeping track part of the experience. Its arrangement of events asks you to work with incomplete information rather than merely wait for a reveal. The Others narrows your knowledge in another way, keeping you close to a household governed by strict rules. Avoid detailed synopses for these two.

Zodiac and Se7en move toward darker territory. Zodiac follows the accumulation of leads and the consuming work of interpretation; Se7en uses an investigation to sustain a much harsher atmosphere. Both involve disturbing material, so this is not a shelf of light detective puzzles.

For a useful discussion afterward, each person can name one assumption they made early and the scene that challenged it. You do not have to agree about the solution to talk about how a film directed your attention. Keep any revealing explanations behind spoiler warnings when you post.