I've fallen behind on my movie blog reading in recent days, so now I'm catching up on some good stuff. Like this, from girish:
I’m curious about the nature and degree of re-viewing practices. I tend to re-view films a lot. I noticed that last year, about one out of every four films I saw was something I had seen before.No qualifiers necessary for "Frantic," girish -- I love that movie. It's Polanski's "North By Northwest" and it's almost as funny, perverse and thrilling.One reason for re-viewing is to get closer and deeper into films or filmmakers whose work we already feel a strong degree of comfort and familiarity with. These are works whose cinephilic pleasure is more or less assured. Our previous, pre-existing response to the work is not likely to be seriously questioned. But these repeat visits are nevertheless valuable. They take us further, each time, into the work and its constituent details (its very ‘molecular structure’), allowing us a greater intimacy and thus fluency in thinking and talking about it. For me, some examples here might be: Hitchcock, Hawks, Renoir, Fassbinder, Lang, Lubitsch, Demy, Wong, Wes Anderson.
Sometimes, this can be taken to obsessive extremes. There are films one has watched more times than one really needs to, chiefly because their pleasure-giving capacity is endless, even if (at this point) each subsequent viewing yields diminishing returns in terms of critical insight. Nevertheless, these films are evergreen, hard to tire of. I know I’ve probably done this with: e.g. Demy’s "The Young Girls of Rochefort," Sirk’s "All That Heaven Allows," Wong’s "Happy Together, "Hartley’s "Surviving Desire, "and (idiosyncratically) Roman Polanski’s "Frantic."
I have certain movies I never tire of watching over and over again, mostly because they're always fun and exhilarating experiences for me -- the aforementioned "North by Northwest," Lubitsch's "Trouble in Paradise" (a perfect movie), "Ball of Fire," "Stop Making Sense," "Do the Right Thing," "Waiting for Guffman," "Dazed and Confused," "The Big Lebowski" and (yes) "Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy," for example.
And there are others I return to because I find them endlessly renewing and I always discover some little detail or connection I hadn't picked up on before: "Nashville" and "Chinatown" (of course), but also "Vertigo" and "Barry Lyndon." The last four (and the Lubitsch) are among my very favorite films, and even after all these years I don't consider them "easy" viewing. I'm fully engaged with them every time, because they're alive to me. I can fasten onto one thing -- a color, or a character, or a visual motif -- and watch each of them from a whole new angle for a change, so that I never feel like it's exactly the same experience as the last time I saw it (no matter how much I love to sing along with every nuance in every song in "Nashville" -- especially Haven Hamilton's).
Still others I've watched repeatedly because I want so much to appreciate them more than I do, and I keep waiting to discover some unifying Eureka! vision that will lift the veil between me and the movie and allow me to see it as the masterpiece others claim to see. I had this experience only the second time I saw "Eyes Wide Shut" (my initial viewings of Kubrick movies since "A Clockwork Orange" have often been unreliable or self-deceiving). I've seen "Blade Runner" (in all its various versions) umpteen times and (although the versions have improved) it's never cohered into the masterpiece I've always wanted it to be. But it is gorgeous, even if it doesn't quite hold together. Am I repeating the same behavior expecting a new result? Maybe. But Ridley Scott says he's got a definitive director's cut of the movie coming out this year...
Jim -- The Lubitsch might just be the most reliably joy-inducing film I have *ever* seen. Every single time. And many on your list above are also frequent-visiting favorites of mine. For no good reason at all, I've seen "Nashville" just once (loved it) but have never chanced to revisit it. (I certainly will soon). I saw "The Big Lebowski" in the theaters 9 years ago, didn't get into it, then watched it again on DVD last year and wondered what the heck I was thinking back then. And thanks for recommending "Brain Candy", which I've never seen...
At the top of my re-viewing list: "Rear Window," "North by Northwest," "The Trouble with Harry," "To Be or Not to Be," "Age of Innocence," "Roxanne," "Batman Returns," "Dazed and Confused," "Manhattan," "Hannah and Her Sisters," "All the President's Men," and "The Hudsucker Proxy."
I just wrote about rewatching Vertigo and the little things I notice each time. The latest? In the first museum scene, watch as Scottie turns to go find the museum employee -- for one moment it seems his face and eyes are in the exact same position as that of Carlotta's in the painting.
Usually my rewatchable favorites are light and shallow (in the Zoolander league), but as a surprise to myself, Eyes Wide Shut is one of my most revisited films. I enjoy it so much that some weeks it's the movie I go to sleep to (usually I sleep to episodes of Seinfeld or The Office, so EWS is definitely out of left field).
girish mentions that one out of every four films he watches is a re-view; unfortunately, I think I'm almost the opposite. For all of the new things I watch, I probably rewatch 3 times as many old things.
In many cases, I re-watch films that I found to be "strange" (the meaning of that term changes with each film). I watch them again, just so I can understand why they're so "strange" to me. And in the process of re-viewing and re-re-viewing, they become less "strange". Examples have been:
Blood Simple- The first time I saw it, I wasn't paying 100% attention to it, so I got lost. A lot of significant moments are done in a low-key fashion, which makes the movie great- for example, when Dan Hedaya hides away one of the pictures Emmett Walsh gave him in the safe, perhaps for insurance purposes.
Lost Highway- Like many Lynch films, it's a hard film to decipher. I've watched it several times...yet I still don't understand it. But I'm still entertained by it, so I don't consider it a chore to sit through it again and again.
Reservoir Dogs- A strange pic, because the main action- the heist- is never on screen. It's like having a jigsaw puzzle, and only getting the pieces that form the contour of the subject. I watched this film once a day for about five days straight, just to form the robbery of the jewelry store in m mind. (the standoff at the end was pretty wicked too!)
The King Of Comedy- One of my top five Scorsese films, I re-watch this because my interpretation of it changes each time. There's a lot of transitions from reality to fantasy, and back to reality, in this film. I think to myself "What really didn't happen?"
Memento- The ending (or beginning?) seems open-ended, so I re-watched the film several times just to see if there are any clues that prove whether or not Teddy is right. Eventually, I did find those clues, and since then, I haven't seen the film. Kinda odd how that worked out, since I can't say that I don't like the film anymore (I still love it). It just seems that I've exhausted all of my interest in it.
I contributed a few comments to girish's wonderful post, so I don't have much to add here except one of my most recent experiences in which re-seeing a film actually turned me around 180 to a movie's good side. That movie, in fact, was one of your apparent all-time favorites, Jim, Miller's Crossing. I saw it for the first time a few months ago in a class and found it distant and off-putting, as if the Coens didn't really care all that much about their characters except as part of their Hammett-influenced plan. But when I was forced to watch it a second time---this after watching a few more Coen brothers films, including O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which I loved---somehow it clicked for me, so I felt more of the humanity and affection beating underneath. Maybe it's just that I've gotten used to the Coens, but now I'm pretty much on the "love it" side as far as Miller's Crossing goes; personally, I'd take it over Fargo (which I've seen twice, both eliciting blah responses) any day.
I can't really recall any other movie in which a second viewing was quite as revelatory. (Maybe my second viewing of Wong Kar-Wai's underrated Fallen Angels, although I knew going into the second viewing that there were things about it I couldn't get out of my mind based on my first viewing; with Miller's Crossing, I went into my second viewing expecting to be as indifferent towards it as I was the first time, and of course came out of it wonderfully surprised.) It's proof that re-viewing movies truly can be a beneficial and pleasurable experience.
The Coens certainly have a way with the rewatchability. I went through a faze when I watched "The Big Lebowski" almost every day, and a few years later I discovered that many people did the same. The film really rewards multiple viewings, and has become a classic since its DVD release. Like Kubrick and Altman's best work, more and more details emerge with each viewing.
I have a thing for comedies:"Sherlock, Jr.,""Some Like it Hot," "The Lady Eve," "Bringing Up Baby," "Singin' in the Rain," "Young Frankenstein," "After Hours," "High Fidelity," "Punch-Drunk Love."
"Primer" effectively works in its first viewing, but requires a couple more sittings to truly create a sense of its dizzying storyline.
Then there are films that I saw severl times in the theater because I knew that they wouldn't be the same on DVD: "Magnolia," "Moulin Rouge," "The Dreamers," etc.
I re-watch a lot of Wes Anderson.
I still crack up during most of Rushmore. I can't stop watching, The Royal Tenenbaums, whenever it's on. The death in Life Aquatic still hurts.
I could watch "The Hudsucker Proxy," "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou," "The Apartment," "Fight Club," "Sweet Smell of Success" or "The Fountainhead" (thank god it's finally on DVD) any day. And I second your praise of "Brain Candy" -- a highly underrated movie. Unlike similar films from, say the SNL crew, this one is a real movie, with a plot, characters and something to say. (And it's damned funny.) The other movie I'll watch again and again is one that I don't even think I like -- in fact, as I watch it, I pick it apart in my head: It's "Vanilla Sky," and it mystifies me more and more. Each time I watch it, I find a few scenes I like, but many more I think are laughable. And yet I keep watching it. Do I need help?
Just a few of the most replayable movies in my life, off the top of my head:
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Dr. Strangelove
Chinatown
Lost in Translation
The Terminator
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Fight Club
Brazil
Vampyr
Day of the Dead
Inland Empire
Blade Runner
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [Extended Edition]
Miami Vice
The Last Temptation of Christ
Assault on Precinct 13
GoodFellas
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
2001: A Space Odyssey
The interesting thing here, I think, is the fact that a number of my most favorite films don't come to mind, somehow indicated those whose appeal benefits from greater exposure and those whose suffers. I wouldn't dare watch The Blair Witch Project more than once a year, as part of it's allure for me is the aimlessness by which it's characters find themselves in such terrifying situations. Likewise, I wouldn't want to temper with Being John Malkovich's trippy down-the-rabbit hole antics by over-familiarizing myself with them.
Then there's something like Inland Empire, which I've seen three times so far - each subsequent viewing finding it more rewarding than the last - and feel like I could watch it every day for the rest of my life.
I forgot one...considerably down the ladder of aesthetic and artistic quality, yes, but I will defend it to the death as a satirical send-up of our cultural norms and television culture...."Anchorman." Will Ferrell's straight-faced stupidity never fails to rescue me from what would otherwise be a long, torturous night for the soul.
My favorite rewatches are the ones with large casts of vividly drawn characters, so that rewatching a film is like going to hang out with a group of friends you haven't seen in a while. So I like High Fidelity, Jackie Brown, Out of Sight, Wonder Boys, and The Godfather.
I have two groups of films that I tend to rewatch -- there are complicated films, but there are also what you might call "comfort films", films that I know well, that I enjoy watching, even though I'm not necessarily making any insights, or even trying to. It's just good to see it again. Some fit into both categories (such as The Big Lebowski), but my "comfort film" category is pretty strange. For instance, Thirteen Days. What about this would make it a good "comfort film"? Certainly not Kevin Costner's accent. Certainly not the plot (or maybe it is, knowing that something so terrible as this could be resolved through intelligent, thoughtful people in high places resorting to diplomacy -- these days, I tend to forget that's possible, ha). It doesn't make sense to me, but I watch it fairly often. Not all of them are even especially good movies (e.g., The Stupids). And yet, can a movie be all that bad if you want to watch it over and over?
I saw INLAND EMPIRE twice this weekend, two days in a row, and it only got better. I could have gone today, for the third time in as many days, but I figured I'd save the money and wait to see it with a friend again, instead of solitary like the first time. Aside from being scary as shit it's also really funny. There's so much at play, I think you ought to see it at least twice. Also, it kind of immediately pole-vaulted up my "all-time" favorites list.
JIM - Did you go see it at the Neptune? I'm pretty jealous of that... The California in Berkeley is decent but it kind of lost its charm in the renovation a couple years ago. Basically, the Landmark chain in Seattle is WAY FUCKING BETTER than the one down here in the Bay. Plus, you guys got the Cinerama.
Ryland: I saw "IE" at the Cinerama, when Lynch was here with the movie. I haven't had a chance to see it a second time, but I still haven't stopped thinking about it and I'm looking forward to seeing it again.
PS I'm revising something I'm going to send you for The Lynch Mob....
My re-viewing favorites are either bottomless works of artistic genius or damn good times (sometimes both), or ragged, imperfect gems:
Cassavetes' "Shadows" and the whole run from "Faces" to "Love Streams"
"Ali: Fear Eats the Soul"
"Dazed and Confused"
Herzog's "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" and "Stroszek"
"Au Hasard Balthazar"
Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" and "Martin"
"Pee Wee's Big Adventure"
most Tarkovsky
"Celine and Julie Go Boating"
"Fast Times at Ridgemont High"
"High Hopes"
"What Happened Was"
"Two-Lane Blacktop"
"Mikey and Nicky"
"Taxi Driver" and "After Hours"
"Out of the Blue"
"Duck Soup" and "Horse Feathers"
"My Own Private Idaho"
"Twin Peaks" (movie and series)
"Contempt"
"Dead Man"
"River's Edge"
"It's a Wonderful Life"
"Heavy Metal Parking Lot"
"Kids in the Hall," "Mr. Show," and "The Office" (British version)
All non-Tenenbaums Wes Anderson
Some minor revelations of re-viewing:
1) I was left cold the first time I saw Jarmusch's "Mystery Train," but on second viewing, it became one of my favorites.
2)"The Big Lebowski" seemed like a fun but inconsequential goof-off the first time through and now it's my favorite Coen Bros. film.
3) I agree wholeheartedly with a comment on your blog I can no longer find about "American Beauty" seeming great the first time through and decidely mediocre on repeat viewings.
4) I can't wait to add "Inland Empire" to my re-viewing list.
I can't believe I forgot to put any Howard Hawks films on my re-viewing list. You can add almost his entire filmography to my list. I particularly cherish a home viewing of "Hatari!" the day after some heinous oral surgery while I was doped up on codeine. It seemed to go on forever, and I didn't mind one bit.
Me? I love "Bladerunner". I do feel in some ways it's flawed, but it was the first film that revealed to me a full fledged universe and engulfed me into it. It was the first film that show me how literary and intelligent something could be. I was thirteen when I saw it - sitting there by myself at 2am, my cousins having fallen asleep around me after my first viewing of "Evil Dead 2". I've seen Bladerunner" on the screen several times, and every time I find it showing, I inevitably race to buy tickets.
A few others are:
"Seven Samurai" ... I think I watched "Rashomon" four times in one day, I kept driving from one friends house to another's to show them this gem of a discovery that i didn't think anyone had ever seen.
"Andrei Rublev" and "Solaris" I've seen many times.
"Ghostbusters" is almost always watchable.
In fact I have a bookshelf full of films I can rewatch, anywhere from "Die Hard" (my favorite Christmas movie) to "Seven" to "The Life of Brian" to "The Godfather" or "The Conversation" (both of which as films become more and more brilliant to me as time passes.)
Ha! Right there at the (current) end of the posts, Phillip, you snag the movie which kept surfacing in my mind as I read girish's post and all of the comments: I bought "The Conversation" years ago based solely on an Ebert review and my uncritical love of anything Hackman does, and I watched it alone one day (couldn't get my wife or anyone else interested in it). And then I had to watch it again, almost immediately; and then my father-in-law and I watched it, and then I twisted my wife's arm a bit ("young Harrison Ford!" helped), and then . . . I think I've seen "The Conversation" ten or twelve times by now, and I love it more every time. I'm devastated every time. It's funny every time, and Harry's journey into paranoia drags me along every time. I'm not sure why that is, exactly . . .