MovieChat Forums > Don't Look Now Discussion > Film frustrates viewers who yearn for th...

Film frustrates viewers who yearn for thriller/horror conventions.

posted 13 years ago by Jacob_Dunstan_Autumn
6 replies | jump to latest

The reason many people are bored or turned off by this film is that is doesn't bombard them with obvious narrative and tired modern horror film techniques or provide them with satisfactory and conclusive plot devices and/or cinematography. People are so accustomed to a standard set of conventions that they get frustrated and confused when a film takes a far subtler, restrained and psychological approach. In short, you need to watch a lot of films and diversify your taste and appreciation for different styles in order to wholly appreciate the meritorious filmmaking behind Don't Look Now.

[–] stringpickin1 13 years ago

Some people love to take the time to adapt themselves at liking or loving, say slimy ol oysters... or cow brains...
Just because people don't want to invest lots of time into watching different movies that are "boring" and slow and don't keep ones attention doesn't mean that they have no taste... It just don't taste good to them now, so many say why waste any time trying to acquire a taste to something that don't taste good do now.
Some people seeing that as being narrow minded, some people see it as being sensible...
To me time is valuable. If I watch a movie that bores me to tears and the only way I am ever going to like it is by watching a hundred other movies that bores me to tears, than I see that as a colossal waste of time and life..
Not trying to jab at you Jacob. But really, confused?? come on. how could that movie be confusing. It was just boring. Just sharing my take on this.. Meritorious is a matter of acquired taste in my opinion...
The movie is like oysters... something I never acquired the taste for... and won't invest any time into trying to acquire the taste for this particular movie. One viewing was more than enough to know what it tasted like... Not nearly as shocking as my one taste of oysters though. Might have been better if it would have been.. lol
Anyway... it takes all kinds to make the world go round. I am just as weird to you as you are to me... Hard to understand how anyone could think this movie is deserving of meritorious mention. Probably very hard for you to understand how I could possibly disagree...
I am a woodworker... I have seen works of art made of wood that literally astounded me on the time and the technique it took to make that piece of art. But the labor and technique to produce it doesn't necessarily mean the end product is wonderful or meritorious other than for one fact. The methods and technique like this movie the ones that rave about the editing methods and linear this and that... If it makes life pass at a snail’s pace, and tells a story that is really quite dull, and keeps one waiting for something to happen out of pure boredom than all of the technique in the world is the only thing the film is meritorious for... And hey if that is what floats someone's boat than awesome...
I just dislike the tone from many, which are the stuffy, we are film critic fabric and you are obviously a Steven seal movie watcher, and have no taste nor education or understanding of etc. etc. etc... That really makes me sick... bunch of arrogant arses... that’s all I can say about that.

[–] NickameNotAllowed-1 12 years ago

"If it makes life pass at a snail’s pace, and tells a story that is really quite dull, and keeps one waiting for something to happen out of pure boredom than all of the technique in the world is the only thing the film is meritorious for..."

A lot of people who admire the film admire it for a lot more than that and actually find it very involving. On first viewing I admired the editing, and thought the film itself pretty disappointing and overrated. I was compelled to go back to it years later (I'm not suggesting you should), and it was like seeing a totally different movie of incredible emotional power. Now it's something I can watch again and again, and I don't find it in the slightest bit dull - it's a fascinating and endlessly moving film to me.

And a lot of people are dismissive of anything that requires an attention span these days, so the assumption that viewers with little patience have no taste isn't entirely without merit. Some films and books require the reader or viewer to bring more than an 'entertain me' attitude to achieve their effects, which are often more rewarding than what you get from a simple boredom killing machine - in fact, I find a lot of films that are wall to wall with glib, video-game inspired violence to be as boring as a month of Sundays in church.

[–] L0GAN5 12 years ago

I think part of the problem for modern audiences is that films just aren't made this way any more. Films these days are very plot driven, have musical cues to generate an emotional response and expository dialogue so you know what to think and when. Don't Look Now doesn't make any concessions like that: it works with minimal plot, so if you are just waiting for plot developments then you are going to find it a largely frustrating experience. Most of its story is told through the occurrence of images, the associations between objects, patterns and colours, and the authenticity of the characters, and it's a richly rewarding experience if you are able to digest a film of that form.

[–] NickameNotAllowed-1 12 years ago

"Films these days are very plot driven, have musical cues to generate an emotional response and expository dialogue so you know what to think and when."

In other words, they're boring.

That's why I don't have much time for most of the drivel that gets released nowadays. Not that I'm against escapist entertainment - but most of it ISN'T entertaining, because such films tend to be made by people who don't even know the difference between a proper movie and a video game (looking at YOU, Zach Snyder).

[–] abstractutility 11 years ago

I disagree wholeheartedly with this attitude.

I think it's sad that so many people don't seem to be able to appreciate the best efforts of contemporary pop art, while simultaneously being able to enjoy and understand more complicated, oblique artistic endeavors.

I think it is dismissive to use terms like "escapist entertainment".

[–] NickameNotAllowed-1 11 years ago

'I think it is dismissive to use terms like "escapist entertainment".'

I wasn't being dismissive of escapist entertainment by calling it that - most great cinema IS escapist entertainment. I would even go further and defend good trash as being better than bad art.

I'm being dismissive of YOU, however, for getting your panties in a knot about it, and for attempting to defend contemporary popular culture against (gasp!) opinions you don't agree with. It appears we've raised a generation of Special Snowflake Don Quixotes (with no taste outside of their mouths, usually) charging valiantly at internet posts that bear the whiff of the critical. You people make the Greatest Generation look positively gutless the way you remotely jump into the fray to defend... comic books and stuff.

If I say that most of the pop culture swill we're seeing these days bores me, it's because it bores me. Period. My collection is full of pop-culture junk that DOESN'T bore me, and I don't value it any less than the high art in there, and I don't need to pretend it's better than it is, either, to justify liking it.

When people who aren't me try to second-guess my reactions it's usually because my reactions make them feel insecure for whatever reason I don't feel the need to guess at. And that's just asking for it, because the best thing anyone can do for the hypersensitive is to help them develop a thicker skin and to knock over the veiled self-importance common to people who feel threatened by opinions.

Insecure people are definitely on the rise side by side with fannish, wish-fulfillment laced, STULTIFYINGLY derivative and (I'd swear it) DELIBERATELY unchallenging "entertainment." Those "best efforts" you talk about are pathetic and feeble, if not actually degenerate, to anyone with a sense of pop culture history. What do you call, for instance, professionally produced so-called music that completely eliminates any element requiring actual musical TALENT? (Besides "garbage," I mean.)

You're welcome to your opinion, just not the illusion that anyone else has any use for it.