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[proximoception]

Thinking about movies I should revisit - ones I disliked or underliked but was maybe wrong to.

I'm not rewatching Virgin Spring, Throne of Blood or Herzog's Nosferatu, as those are confirmed dislikes. Two strikes is out in a 70 year lifespan even for the big guys.

But these I never saw again:

Hour of the Wolf
The Bad Sleep Well
Inland Empire
The New World
The Bride Wore Black
Breathless
Notorious
Mirror
The Searchers
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Barry Lyndon
Spirit of the Beehive
The Fly

Again, didn't find all of these merit-free, in most cases quite the contrary, but I at least didn't entirely understand what the smitten were seeing.

And they weren't like Black Swan and There Will Be Blood where the dislike felt ... thorough, eternal. Where any wrongness on my end is likely undislodgeable.

I wonder if I could give O Brother Where Art Thou a second chance, even. Romney liked it. Or Across the Universe? Ech, probably not.

What would you put in the "I suspect I was missing something" category?

Comments

[proximoception.livejournal.com]

I feel like I know where the praise is coming from, with that one - the kind of person who would love it, why they'd be that way. Most Best Picture nominees hit where they were aiming.

People mostly respond well to great art but mostly don't know why. Leaving them vulnerable to two ignoble reliefs: less great art where they do know why they like it, not at all great art that's hard to understand but signals that it's great. The latter's a relief because there's no real challenge, and I suspect people sense that, are grateful - we all get to pretend we've experienced the good, grown up experience and can move on.

I worry most about the latter because it can look so much like what it's dangerous to miss: great art someone where I don't yet see the great. Which troubles not just because there's only so much great anything in life, but that what makes you miss one thing may make you miss swathes of life.