Comments on: Why Watch? http://blog.spout.com/2005/11/21/why-watch/ Daily coverage of what is truly interesting in the film world Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:38:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: dvd http://blog.spout.com/2005/11/21/why-watch/#comment-84 dvd Wed, 23 Nov 2005 03:36:14 +0000 http://blog.spoutblog.com/2005/11/21/why-watch/#comment-84 Although I know all too well what it's like to have too little time on one's hands, I generally disagree with the practice of turning off a film. If one were to go into every film blindly, with no expectations, then it would be a different matter. But don't we seek out films by Bergman, Bunuel, Kubrick and Cassavetes because we've heard these great things about them? Hasn't their worth been validated to a certain extent by third parties? When I'm watching a film and it doesn't grab me in the first twenty or thirty minutes (which is all the time, because I have trouble watching films on small screens), I'll generally give it the benefit of the doubt. I know that it means something to someone - or, most likely, a great many people - and I want to understand what that meaning is. Curiosity conquers boredom - curiosity inverts boredom. And even if I'm not ready to accept an idea or the film that presents it, I need to see the whole film to understand that idea, and how I might relate to it. I've seen too many pictures that change drastically and alter the audience's perception of them mid-course to think otherwise. But of course, I'm a bit of a hypocrite - if someone turned off Aliens Vs. Predator halfway through, I wouldn't blink an eye. Although I know all too well what it’s like to have too little time on one’s hands, I generally disagree with the practice of turning off a film. If one were to go into every film blindly, with no expectations, then it would be a different matter. But don’t we seek out films by Bergman, Bunuel, Kubrick and Cassavetes because we’ve heard these great things about them? Hasn’t their worth been validated to a certain extent by third parties? When I’m watching a film and it doesn’t grab me in the first twenty or thirty minutes (which is all the time, because I have trouble watching films on small screens), I’ll generally give it the benefit of the doubt. I know that it means something to someone - or, most likely, a great many people - and I want to understand what that meaning is. Curiosity conquers boredom - curiosity inverts boredom.

And even if I’m not ready to accept an idea or the film that presents it, I need to see the whole film to understand that idea, and how I might relate to it. I’ve seen too many pictures that change drastically and alter the audience’s perception of them mid-course to think otherwise.

But of course, I’m a bit of a hypocrite - if someone turned off Aliens Vs. Predator halfway through, I wouldn’t blink an eye.

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