Must I Be Grabbed by the Lapels?

A few nights ago a group of us from work went out for a great evening of dinner and an outdoor movie under the stars. The movie was Hitchcock’s classic “Vertigo”. I thought I had seen it before, but quickly discovered that it was unfamiliar. (My memory for movies is vanishingly small.) The experience prompted me to indulge in some self-reflection afterwards.

Some context. While I appreciate movies, I am not an aficionado. My tastes are rather basic and I’m drawn to escapism. Growing up, if I saw a classic movie on the tube, I’d turn the channel; I had no curiosity about them. For trips to the cinema, films ranging from “Stripes” to “A Few Good Men” were in my wheelhouse. As of 1994, “The Shawshank Redemption” became my favorite movie, which made me think myself somewhat more respectable.

I get into phases where I feel I should invest time to gain an appreciation for movies that are slower and less escapist to see if I could mature my tastes. I started to collect titles in my Netflix queue from movies that critics loved and I felt for sure I should too. And I sampled them… infrequently. Most have left me bored, not rapt. But I kept trying.

I experienced what I viewed as minor progress when I watched “Lost in Translation” in 2003, a film loved by critics and for which Sofia Coppola won an Academy Award. I rented it and really paid attention. It was work. It plodded. I looked at my watch a lot. By the end, however, I believed I experienced a payoff. I felt an emotional tug and a whiff of appreciation for all the fuss.

Despite such occasional journeys into movies with dimension, I am still an escapist guy. Give me action-adventure and comedies. I want to be taken for a ride at night; I do enough work during the day.

Back to Vertigo. It had been years since I had last watched a Hitchcock movie. It was part of a late 90s spree during which I thought I “should” get up to speed on the Hitchcock phenomenon. I remembered his movies were suspenseful, which I generally like. So I was looking forward to it. As I was reminded, he is willing to build suspense slowly. He’s patient. I was at the end of a tiring week, so I was less so. It was harder work than I anticipated. I did look at my watch a lot. But as is his wont, he delivered. The movie did crescendo and engage me. There was indeed a payoff.

But then – the reflection. As a fellow viewer and I noted, at the start we were actually a little bored… At the beginning of a Hitchcock movie? What? How can that be? For my part, have I grown too used to early-and-often shots of adrenaline in modern mainstream movies? Must I be grabbed by the lapels to enjoy a film? I gave myself a break and decided “no”. As with much in life and in work, balance helps. At the end of a trying week, maybe I need more of an energy injection than a mental investment. But in general I still want to poke at the edges of my comfort zone. I remain curious, want to learn and still need to explore my Netflix queue.