Help me watch movies

May 26, 2024 6:40 PM

I'm a big film buff, but I'm finding it harder and harder to focus on movies and it's really affecting my ability to enjoy them. I've always had trouble with complicated plots, but now I feel like I can't follow anything.

If I'm watching something casually, I always end up looking at my phone, but even if I turn off the lights, put my phone in another room, and try to give something my full attention, I always start thinking about something else halfway through. I find it a bit easier to focus at the cinema, but even then, sometimes I just completely lose track of what's happening, and I feel like I haven't really seen the film I just sat through. Does anyone have any tips for improving my concentration, and keeping track of plots?

posted by Chenko to Media & Arts (18 answers total)

You might consider watching with someone, or even just chatting with someone via text who is watching the same film. There's a bit of pressure to watch closely and discuss (or ask - wait, who is she again?).

To that end you might look up a few films that reward close attention, or ones recommended as particularly interesting or influential for their time. Make it into a little film club type thing. It may be that an accountabilibuddy is a way forward for you.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:46 PM on May 26

I watch a lot of movies! But I also pause quite a bit and look at my phone. That's OK! Just let yourself do that.

Part of the joy of watching movies at home is that I get to pause them.

Also, it's OK if you need to divide some movies into two parts. Some movies are so long!

Watch movies in the way that's best for you. It's good whatever you choose.
posted by edencosmic at 7:02 PM on May 26 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I had this problem after a couple of years of the pandemic and the only way I got my concentration back was to leave my phone in another room, plan breaks and force myself to take paper notes on the movie in-between them. I then compared my notes to available synopses to make sure I'd captured the main elements.

After I was confident I was getting the most important points most of the time, I gradually increased the amount of time between breaks and then simplified my note-taking. It felt silly but it worked, although it did take about three months of weekly screenings to get there. Even now, if I find my mind wandering in a movie, I'll pull out pen and paper to get myself back into the groove.
posted by rpfields at 7:03 PM on May 26 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Do something with your hands. A fidget toy, cats cradle, etc, something that keeps your fingers busy but doesn't require active thought. When my hands have something to do my mind doesn't wander.
posted by phunniemee at 7:29 PM on May 26 [17 favorites]

What kind of movies are you watching ? Maybe start with simple dramadies with only a plot plus one sub plot, and not based off a book or series. I find mission impossible movies impossible to follow since the very first one when I was a teenager. Same with bond movies, dystopian movies based on books and so on.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:20 PM on May 26

Back in the day, there was a local TV show that divided each week's classic movie into four parts and showed them in half hour episodes from Monday to Thursday. I still find this a useful paradigm that I apply to my streaming to this day.
posted by fairmettle at 8:21 PM on May 26 [2 favorites]

Oh also some times I have to force myself to look at each actor's face carefully and just stop the film to remember who this person is, how they relate to everyone else and what they want.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:37 PM on May 26

are you already using captions? that helps me a ton.
posted by mullacc at 10:39 PM on May 26 [9 favorites]

I recently had a conversation with my mom where we talked about how she is totally fine with having commercials in netflix, but it drives me crazy. Then I realized that she just needs to get up and do something every 15 0r 20 minutes - commercial breaks actually help her focus - some people just need to do something physical every 20 minutes or so. Get the cheap netflix! have a little run around on commercial breaks! get that energy out of your system regularly.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 11:45 PM on May 26 [1 favorite]

Best answer: To me, this reads much more like a phone addiction/habituation problem than a movie problem. Maybe work it from that angle, just by taking a deliberate daily break from touching or looking at your phone that starts at 15 minutes and stretches by one minute per day? Once you've practised that enough to wind the break length out beyond an hour and a half, try using it to sit through a movie and see how you go.
posted by flabdablet at 1:59 AM on May 27 [4 favorites]

Movies are often ridiculously long. If it’s longer than a tight 90 minutes I absolutely break it up into chunks, and sometimes shorter than that too. For me, 45-50 minutes seems to be the longest I can really focus on a movie, and if it has bad pacing with nowhere to breathe or is crammed full of detail all over the place or has the now-typical shitty sound direction it’s much more difficult. I think a lot of contemporary movies are made with commercial breaks and streaming in mind, and thus less attention is paid to these pacing things over all.

Turning on subtitles will often help me keep track of a movie with a ton of characters or complicated mystery plots but because I used to edit (anime) subtitles they kind of throw me off, too, because I get snippy about timing and typos and display style and other finicky things that take me out of actually watching the thing. If it’s in another language I can turn that part of my brain off much more easily though.

Fidget toys and hobbies can help but I will get sucked in by those if they are a tiny bit more interesting than the movie in any moment. I crochet when I watch tv shows but often have to pause them - if I crochet while watching a movie I’m watching it in at least four chunks. Simpler unproductive fidgets like textural toys, clickers or spinners are better but they don’t keep my brain from trailing off when the movie reminds me of something.

Try watching some movies from different eras and genres that have built-in down time and pacing, like a Bollywood musical, or a Hitchcock film, or movies that have really good sound design like anything by Robert Altman, and see if your focus sustains. That will help you figure out if it’s a phone habit issue or more a problem with what you’re watching.
posted by Mizu at 2:29 AM on May 27 [1 favorite]

We do subtitles so we don't miss any parts of the plot to bad sound direction, and we check in with each other regularly to see if we're getting too tired or distracted to continue. I bemoan the lack of formal, planned intermissions in anything longer than 90 minutes. We often watch movies over two days, sometimes not even consecutive days.

I don't think it's that my ability to focus has gone away, because some movies are riveting and we'll sit right through them, it's that 1) my body has needs, 2) the pacing does sometimes suck, and 3) i have a limited amount of time each day among the other activities I need to accomplish, like exercise, sleep, socializing, exploring my city, work, eating, etc.

TBH we watch a lot more K-drama than movies these days because the episodes are 60-75 minutes long, tightly paced and plotted, and that's just about the perfect amount of time for us to commit to watch a thing all in one go.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:27 AM on May 27 [1 favorite]

I approach films through what I call film projects and I find this helps with my engagement. So I'll watch a specific director country, or sub genre over the course of a year, month or week. I may also read related books on the subject. And I use Letterboxd.com.
posted by Ashwagandha at 8:59 AM on May 27 [1 favorite]

Same with me, and with books, too. I've never been able to keep track of ALL the characters; now that I'm older and forget stuff so easily, I don't even try. In the vintage films I favor the guys all look the same anyway; I just keep my attention on the protagonist so I can 'get' the story.

force myself to take paper notes

I once received instruction in reading which suggested using any book's end-papers as your note-space. Write down each character's name as they appear and some identifying data, etc. I hardly ever do this, but I've heard of film reviewers taking notes in the cinema with a flash-light, during the show. Hate to sit near them!
posted by Rash at 9:21 AM on May 27

Best answer: If you are thinking about other stuff during movie watching all the time, I would check to see if you have enough down/unstructured time in your life to just sit and think or walk and think, and add some of that. If watching a movie is the only time you put distractions like your phone aside, it makes sense to that you would find a bunch of thinking about other things coming up while you are sitting in a quieter space trying to lose yourself in a film.
posted by lizard music at 1:21 PM on May 27 [5 favorites]

Try some weird, classic foreign films with subtitles. You won't be checking your phone during a Fellini film, between reading the subtitles and all the crazy stuff happening onscreen.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:27 PM on May 27

I like watching slow, old, subtitled and experimental movies but I also get distracted and bored. I find that drinking some wine or smoking some weed gets me in a more receptive state for viewing.
posted by latkes at 3:00 PM on May 27

Off the wall recommendation: see if your Public Library has a free streaming app that you can use on your TV. We use Kanopy. I say this because it is broad and strangely curated (sometimes) and I have been exposed to so many films I just wouldn't have normally paid to access via on streaming service or another. It has helped me enjoy finding and watching films again.
posted by zerobyproxy at 1:55 PM on May 30