Burning Questions: Repeat Viewing Discoveries
Monday, September 17, 2012 at 12:02PM 
Michael C here. Now that Toronto has kicked the Fall movie season into high gear it’s useful to remember that for most of these films February’s impending Oscar ceremony is the beginning of the story, not the end. An Academy Award is a great leg up when it comes to securing a film’s legacy, even if it’s only as a footnote, but the real test of a film’s shelf life will be its ability to stand up to the gauntlet of repeat viewings. The test of time is much more accurate measure of a film’s worth than awards season's five month carnival of hype.
You only need to look back to recent movie history to see how the years can build up some films while grinding others down without mercy. I cannot recall the last time I’ve read a film lover reference a great scene from former big event films like Babel or The Queen. Yet the reputations of other less celebrated films from that time period like Eastern Promises or Let the Right One In grow with every passing year.
So this leads me to the question I’m curious to have answered:
Which recent films are coming alive on repeat viewings?
I’m not talking here about complicated films which reward repeat viewings. Yes, dense films like Gosford Park and LA Confidential play better with a foreknowledge of the story, but their quality was clear even when lost in the weeds of the initial viewing. No, I’m talking about films that hit us as average or even so-so the first time around but which linger in the memory and nag at us and then – BAM – sucker punch us with their previously unseen strength when revisited.
This happened to me recently when I was struck to realize that I had watched the Coen brother’s True Grit no less than half a dozen times. I had a positive, if somewhat underwhelmed, reaction to the western in theaters. It was the usual A+ stylistic Coen brothers job, but hit me as an unusually straightforward genre exercise from them. I wouldn’t have even bothered to picked up the DVD if not for the fact that my parents wanted to see it and the only way to get them to watch a movie is to personally interrupt an episode of NCIS with it.
Once I owned it I was surprised to find True Grit become my go-to feature. I now understand that the Coens did with True Grit what Tarantino did with Jackie Brown. Tarantino says he wanted Jackie Brown to be a hangout movie. The sort of film you watch first for the plot but return to for the downtime between the big moments, just to spend time with the characters. I realized that on repeat trips to Grit I wasn’t looking forward to the big set pieces as much as I was anticipating the odd little encounters like the unexpected run in with a bearskin clad backwoods doctor who wants to bargain for the teeth from a corpse Mattie cut down from a tree. Or the way the film's main heavy, Barry Pepper’s Lucky Ned, turns out to be unexpectedly reasonable when they finally catch up to him. (Admittedly it also helps to know in advance everything Bridges is saying) I suppose I should have known better than to trust my snap judgment when it came to the Coens, whose Big Lebowski is one of the great repeat viewing success stories of the last twenty years. I suppose it’s time I gave Burn After Reading another spin.
Have any of you had any recent repeat viewing discoveries? Do you see a consensus emerging around any titles that flew under the radar in theaters? Let me know in the comments.
Follow Michael C. on Twitter at @SeriousFilm. And read his blog Serious Film.
Burning Questions, Coen Bros, True Grit
Reader Comments (19)
The United States of Leland was like that for me.
It's funny you mention True Grit, because I feel the same way you do about it having only seen it once; liked it but not in love with it. I've been meaning to go back, now I think I will.
For me, the movie that fits this bill is probably Adventureland or Coraline.
Death Proof. In retrospect, I think it's Tarantino's best film. There's love in every frame.
Not at all recent, but "Jerry Maguire" was definitely a movie I grew to love through repeat viewings after being initially underwhelmed. When I saw it the first time I thought it dragged and found the happy ending too glib/pat, but after seeing it again, I came to appreciate the wonderful textures of the performances and the dynamics between the characters. Renee Zellweger was so damn good in that movie, whatever you think of her career since then.
Beau -- i've never risked it again because I LOATHE that film... though I've heard it was a huge disservice to play it immediately after Planet Terror's high energy humor and absurd thrills.
I'm trying to think of a film that does this for me but I don't rewatch a lot of movies.
White Oleander perhaps?
Beau - I always happy to QT a second look but Death Proof was an example of a film totally confirming everything I thought the first time around. The stuff that was good (Kurt Russell, the car scenes) was still good. The stuff that was flawed (The pacing, dear god, the pacing) was still flawed.
David O. Russell's Three Kings, for me, is a movie that offers a little more (depth, heart, beauty, performance) every time I see it, and as you put it, it's become a go-to feature. And because it so handily describes both the difficulty in communicating modern war to the people fighting it, and a ton of aspects of network journalism (Nora Dunn is fantastic here), it's always prescient.
Every Coen film improves with each viewing. I recently watched "Blood Simple," again for the first time in years and I saw things I never had before. Of course, that was at least 15 years ago!
I LOVE the pacing of Death Proof. It's marvelous to see a Grindhouse movie that plays like s Rohner's moral tale, all talk and fun. Love it. I could watch it even if it had four hours. Or ten. Love it.
When I saw it as part of Grindhouse, I told my friends 'That has to be the best bad film I've ever seen.'
On its own two feet though, it's a director taking everything he's ever loved about the movies and bringing them together. No expectations, no pressure. Just fun.
I watched it hesitantly one day with the roomies. Over the next week, I watched it five more times. It became my go-to film.
I also really disliked Death Proof and haven't seen it since it's theatrical release, but with the news of that QT Blu-Ray set coming soon, I think I'll pick it up and give it another go.
Two films immediately come to mind pretty recently. First is another Coens film, Fargo. Everyone and their momma goes on about this movie like it's God's gift to cinema, I guess you go in there expecting to be blown on your ass by it's awesomeness, when it's really a small crime drama where everybody talks funny. I enjoyed it, but I kinda shrugged my shoulders when it was over. Well, fast forward months later and now that I know all the words, it just clicks. I'm quoting everything as I go along, and everything makes me smile. "Where is pancake house?" "Oh, you betcha, yaaah" "We're not a bank, Jerry!" "oooooh geeeez". And it's such a beautiful film, too. I love the scene where Steve Buscemi goes to burry that money, and he looks around and it's just...white snow, far as the eye can see. He puts this little pathetic stick in the ground to mark where it is, then runs off bleeding. The movie is hysterical, black comedy mixed with thriller. I don't think it's as good as No Country, but it does re-enforce my love of the Coen Bros.
Another re-watch from "eh" to "BRILLIANT!" was Michael Mann's Heat. My first watch I thought it was slow, meandering, with not enough plot to warrant the 3 hour runtime. Now I see what Mann was doing, and that all those 3 hours are needed. Nothing happens in Heat without a reason. Every scene, every line, every little detail builds this world of cops and robbers, the similarities and their differences. There's so much stylish atmosphere you could almost choke on it, but it's backed by wonderful character work and great acting across the board(cringe-worthy "GREAT ASS" Pacino interrogations aside, he's mostly restrained in the film). So many great shots, like the silent goodbye between Chris and his wife, with the visible wedding ring, or the blue of the ocean reflecting back on Neil and his stark, furniture-less apartment. I believe Heat to be not only Michael Mann's masterpiece, but one of the greatest American films of my lifetime. Full stop.
So yeah, that's quite a turnaround!
Jeremy -
You talked me into it. Gotta rematch Heat now.
I have a very same feeling with Fargo, just think it's an okay movie at first, now I enjoy every moment of it.
The first film that comes to mind is The Royal Tenenbaums. I remembered after the first viewing, my install reaction was "maybe it's good, but not for me"; then something from the film that make me keep coming back. The second time I still feel it's odd and not a great movie. Then I was attracted to those little details and little moments (and how richly they are), and from those details and moments I actually feel like I understand these characters, and feel like living in that world. Now I just enjoy every single second of the film.
I remembered the first time I watched Badlands I absolutely HATED the film. I hate how Sissy Spacek's character behave (come on, he killed her father, and she's okay with that????). But then the lavish images, sweet score gotten into me. When I re-watched it I was surprised how much an impression /opinion can change from one viewing to another.
of the last couple of months the number 1 hang out movie for me had been due date- believe it or not. It wasn't anything noteworthy when i first saw it, but i never have trouble watching at least a half an hour of it while it's on t.v.. Say what you will about the overall movie, but Galifianakis and Downey Jr. are fully committed to their absurd characters.
What tombeet said about The Royal Tenenbaums is doubly true for me. The first time I saw it, it was off-putting, but it satyed in my mind and on repeat viewings all those lovely little details really stick out. It's now absolutely one of my favorite films.
Actually, I'm one of those who didn't watch Babel while it was hyped and it's one of my favourite films. I think it's fantastic.
But I get what you mean about those "acclaimed" films that are soon forgotten after the awards season (127 Hours, just an example) and also the pearls that get better or more appreciated with time. Wasn't Blade Runner one of those, and even Pulp Fiction? Personally, I don't really have any of those movies... my first impression of a movie often stays the same, or just changes a little.
I'm late to this one, but for me it's Almodovar, especially "Volver" and "Flower of my Secret." They both show Almodovar at his best -- gorgeous shots, high melodrama mixed with genuine humor, strong women, absurd situations. And the two films share a special plot link made all the more clear upon repeat viewings. I actually remember randomly re-watching "Flower of my Secret" soon after seeing "Volver" in the theater and discovering this brilliant connection... and if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm not going to ruin it for you!
My best friend always makes fun of me for loudly announcing my hatred of THE GOONIES for years...and then sitting down to watch it senior year of high school...and again freshman year of college...and whenever I visit home...and now I stare aghast at people who make the same proclamations of hate that I once prided myself on. What can I say? The score is great, the chemistry between the actors is palpable, and the writer-director of Burlesque plays the rich kid bully. IT'S AMAZING.