Second Chances

Yet again I was home sick for whatever godforsaken reason this time.  There’s not really much you can do when you’re sick aside from sleep and watch TV.  Naturally I think it’s a great time to watch something on my Netflix queue.  Well it’s always a great time to watch anything on Netflix. 

It’s been about I don’t know 2 or 3 years since I completed my goal of watching all 100 of AFI’s top 100 films.  There’s a backstory with that, but I’d rather not get into it.  Anyway I still have not been able to understand why some of these movies made the list.  I mean they were just torturous to watch- particularly the very last one I had to watch.   I still have not been able to get over the awfulness of the film.  I mean my mind has been perpetually warped after seeing it.  Some of the other movies were awful but I could understand why they made the list.  This one, maybe because it was the last one I watched, and I was burnt out, I have not been able to justify.  So when I saw it on Netflix I felt obligated to watch it again.  Maybe I missed something?  Maybe I was just in the wrong mood?  Maybe my mind wasn’t ready to handle it yet?  Maybe I was being closed minded?

So I re-watched it, completely determined to like it, and after 95 minutes I concluded- that yes this movie was and still is weird and is simply not for me.  Yes I guess now I can see why it’s acclaimed given some of the dialogue and camera angles and lighting, etc, etc. I think at the time- it was considered revolutionary given drug use being such a large part of the film.  But from a 2014 audience perspective it was mind-blowingly odd and pointless.  Imagine watching Finding Nemo in its entirety, then Nemo finally being reunited with his dad, then a shark comes by and eats Nemo,  and then closing credits.  Except you're not really that sad about Nemo dying because his portrayal in the film wasn't that likable.  

If I were a movie critic sure maybe I’d love it.  If I were in the 70s right now maybe I’d love it (actually I think it took place in the 1969, but close enough)  If I had an interest in doing drugs maybe I’d love it.  But none of the above is at all applicable.

So the moral of this story is stick to your guns and go with your gut.  Not everything deserves a second chance.  If something didn’t go well or work out as you wanted the first time- it probably won’t the second time.  You may not get it.  You may never understand it.  But accept it and move on.