Select[ION] – Issue 74

MOVIES

A movie that should only be seen once isn’t necessarily a bad movie, just like the movies we watch over and over again aren’t necessarily good ones. All it means is that for some reason something about it makes for unpalatable second viewing, even if it might be an important film or one that we initially enjoyed. If you’ve only seen these movies once so far, consider yourself warned against second viewings. If you haven’t seen them at all, you probably shouldn’t read this because this short list might actually spoil your first viewing in some cases too.

[1] 2001: A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick’s masterfully crafted film about the nature of human achievement and search for intelligent life in the universe is an undeniable classic. I love to come back to it every now and then in small doses. I’ll always watch a scene or two if I walk by it playing at an HMV or on TV. It was a huge technical achievement that introduced the genre to a headier, more philosophical approach. It also featured visuals that are unrivaled even by films made nearly 50 years later. That said, I can watch it for about as long as I can look at a painting, which is appropriate because the film only strives to be as engaging as one. I might give it coffee table book status if I was in a generous mood, but the film certainly doesn’t earn its 141 minute running time.

[2] Amelie It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Amelie but I remember that the first time I saw it I was oddly moved and thought it was delightful. When I saw it a second time and its artifice became a little more apparent, I was overwhelmed with how hard this movie was working to be adorable. It was sickening in the same way as a little kid that’s just figured out he can get what he wants from his mom if he talks in a baby voice. To this day I can’t look at Audrey Tautou without becoming slightly nauseous.  Fun fact - Mathieu Kassovitz, who played the adorable nebbish love interest, went on to direct Vin Diesel movies in Hollywood.

[3] The Blair Witch Project Maybe a more topical example of this type of movie would be Paranormal Activity, but I wouldn’t know because when that came out I just thought to myself “I’ve already seen The Blair Witch Project, I don’t need to watch it again in someone’s bedroom.”

That The Blair Witch Project only needs to be viewed once isn’t really a strike against it. It knows exactly what kind of movie it wants to be, and it offers a gimmicky thrill that, when it came out, had everyone raving about it for 15 minutes. It has the makings of a great horror movie; tension, ambiguity, elements of the supernatural and realism. However, because of the deliberate stylistic constraints the film puts on itself as a “documentary” assembled entirely of found footage, it has no re-watch value. The plot is driven entirely by the question “what’s happening?” Once the film provides that answer, there’s no point coming back to it.

[4] Requiem For A Dream This movie is hard to watch. The first time you see it you assume that’s a reaction to the dark territory the film graphically explores; addiction, prostitution, amputation, loneliness, mental health… it’s a real trip. The second time you watch it you realize it’s actually because it’s a movie starring a Wayans brother and Jared Leto (Elen Burstyn and Shooter McGavin are slumming it in this one). The film doesn’t even have the decency to make its nihilistic self-destructive characters colourful or charming in any way, like say, Trainspotting. It’s a visual achievement, and it has an amazing score by Clint Mansel, but once that wears off the lack of depth becomes aggravating.

[5] Any Star Wars movie made after 1989 (including special additions, prequels and sequels) I’m not even going to bother explaining why these movies aren’t worth watching twice. They aren’t worth watching once! But they could make 9 more Star Wars movies, film them all in a day starring Kate Hudson as every character, and if you’re like me you’d have to see them all. No matter how bad you’d be able to guess the movie was going to be, no matter how bad the track record was at that point, you would still see it at least once. Because if you’re like me, you can’t deal with the uncertainty of not knowing exactly how you might feel about a particular Star Wars movie. Sprinkle that desperate curiosity with the slightest bit of hope that somehow, some way, it might manage to be as special one of the original films and you’ve got a recipe for the audience equivalent of enslavement.

- Kellen Powell