u/sinecdockey239

The movie I Love Boosters is in US and Canada theaters this Friday

Alex has said movie (Sorry to Bother You) in his Letterboxd watchlist

Recently, I’ve felt burnt out watching movies. There's some scattershot observations that I think contributed to this, so I put them in a list below to ask: what advice do you have to get over these factors? You don’t have to address every single point. Point 6 has spoilers for No Other Choice

Observations

1. Finding a movie underwhelming and then having it grow over time. I assumed most arthouse/foreign movies were like this or went into them with the understanding that this may happen*
2. Grasping for straws looking for praise worthy elements. A lot of arthouse/Criterion movies are like this. I can see that there’s exceptional filmmaking elements, but the overall experience doesn’t feel satisfying because the great elements feel far and few between.**
3. Other dissatisfactions: For a genre movie, I go in wanting to shut my brain off, but the movie doesn't do a good job of doing that effectively.
4. For "so bad it’s good movies", I go in expecting that kind of experience but then the movie doesn’t deliver in this regard.
5. Getting overwhelmed by the endless possibilities out there. How do you pick what to watch, knowing you won’t get to every one?
6. >!Desensitization: I didn’t love the “music” scene from No Other Choice because my brain was thinking of similar scenes of happy/upbeat music contrasted with a horrible situation from other movies (ex. A Clockwork Orange, Oldboy, American Psycho). Not trying to say that Park Chan-wook was just checking a box off a list during this moment, but rather that’s how it felt in the moment because my brain was just reminded of similar scenes while watching it.!<

* The idea that for one arthouse movie, you need to be in the proper mood to watch it and give it time to simmer. I feel like that effect gets nullified if I watch a decent amount at once (but at the same time, there’s the urge to expand the kinds of movies I see)

**I know that some movies are meant to frustrate or confuse you. Often times, the movie either doesn’t do a good job of achieving these emotions or the experience is unsatisfying, outside of this intent, that it’s not worth it to feel these emotions (since there are other movies that may achieve these goals and provide a satisfying experience)