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How many times does it take and how does a person approach a viewing?

posted 8 years ago by ejc15
1 reply | jump to latest

I hope I can make sense of my problems with movies like Seventh Seal. I try to watch as many movies as possible from all different genres. I’d say some of my least favorite movies alltime of which I respect include:
• Mirror
• Last Year at Marienbad
• Holy Mountain
• Play Time
• Amarcord
• Alice’s Resturaunt
• Seventh Seal
• Salo
• Stalker
• La Dolce Vita
• Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

To exaggerate the point yes I like Transformers better.
My question is how do you approach a movie such as the above? I assume with these movies the following:

• They don’t necessarily have a story and if they do it has little to do with the meaning.
• Every scene, all dialogue, even the items in the scenes have far greater importance than what is first apparent.
• There are ideas and concepts in play that take deep thought to make sense of the movie

So if something happens in the first scene, when do you have time to think it through before the next scene happens. If scene 1 makes me think about deep concepts I will day dream through the next scene and then be lost throughout the movie. Do you keep rewinding the movie if at home, and how can you do it in a theatre

How can you analyze the symbolism of some item on a table without missing the next scene. On and On and On.

How many times do you expect to watch a movie to get the full breadth of it?

I have tried Seventh Seal several time. I try to watch with a straight sit through in fact when possible I don’t want to know what a movie is about in advance. Is there a better way to approach/

[–] Steadybox 8 years ago

I'd say try not to get fixated on trying to catch every little detail of a film while watching it. Any detail may have significance, but it's not necessary to notice and understand every one of them in order to comprehend a film as a whole. Maybe you are not seeing the forest for the trees?

They don’t necessarily have a story and if they do it has little to do with the meaning.

Note that sometimes a film might not really have a (definite) meaning at all. (Last Year at Marienbad for example)

Every scene, all dialogue, even the items in the scenes have far greater importance than what is first apparent.
There are ideas and concepts in play that take deep thought to make sense of the movie

Pieces of dialogue and items in a scene may have great importance, but usually the general ideas should be inferable without analyzing every little detail to death.

So if something happens in the first scene, when do you have time to think it through before the next scene happens. If scene 1 makes me think about deep concepts I will day dream through the next scene and then be lost throughout the movie. Do you keep rewinding the movie if at home, and how can you do it in a theatre

Just watch the movie as a whole without pausing or rewinding. You'll have plenty of time to contemplate the details after the film. Concentrate more on the mood the film tries to make you feel and enjoy the cinematography. Study the visual compositions and editing and how they affect the mood and how they try to communicate ideas to you.

How can you analyze the symbolism of some item on a table without missing the next scene. On and On and On.

Oftentimes you can't analyze the symbolism of something right away. You need to understand the context, which may become apparent only later in the film.

How many times do you expect to watch a movie to get the full breadth of it?

I don't expect to get a perfectly full breadth of a movie. How many times ever you watch a film, there will always be some things you didn't notice and some connections you didn't make.

I try to watch with a straight sit through in fact when possible I don’t want to know what a movie is about in advance.

I think that's the best way.