Once And Never Again

 There are films out there that I've seen and been overwhelmed at how brilliant they are. Whether is it the story, the acting, the places or the subject matter, these all make for a great film, a masterpiece, but this doesn't mean I want to watch over and over again.

There are many people out there who may be disgusted by my film collection. I know they would ask 'why do you have so many, its not like you can watch them all the time'. This is true but I buy films for three reasons. One, I like the film dammit and I do want to watch it all the time. Two, I haven't seen the film and I am intrigued. Three, buying the DVD was literally the only way I could or ever would see the film.

BUT there are films I've seen and bought in the past and present that I've admired but have had a strong desire to never see ever again. Mostly because they were too depressing, too much in general or because I want to keep the menmory of seeing it for the first time. After reading Joseph Wade's post on The Film Magazine, I have written a short list of some of the films I never want to see again.

1. Blue Jasmine

 I do like Woody Allen films and I do enjoy Tennesse Williams' plays, particularly, A Streetcar Named Desire, so when Allen made a film inspired by said play I was very intrigued. The film is brilliant, the casting and story is just perfect. But overall, the film is incredibly depressing, Jasmine is a very disturbed character. Usually characters progress but none of the characters actually change, they learn no lesson.

2. We Need to Talk About Kevin

I don't think I need to explain why for this film, as anyone who has watched this can understand. A woman, so in love and happy with her husband has her world shattered by the arrival of her son. She knows theres something not quite right about him and so she never really bonds with him. She tortures herself thinking she's to blame for his action but some people are just born evil.

3. Requiem for a Dream

Another film that doesn't need explaining. I first bought this for 50p in a charity shop on VHS when I was in college. I did this a few times after classes before I started work at 4pm at the pharmacy. After my first viewing, I thought the film was ridiculously sad and brilliantly made, I saw it as a film about addiction. But after the second time on DVD, I vowed never again. It's a horrible presentation about drugs and how they ruin your life. But the characters who you get to know are just ruined by the end with no hope in sight. It's rather soul crushing.

4. Funny Games

This was a film I was reccomended to watch during my college days in Film Studies. Thinking back I cannot remember why I was told to watch this. The film is horrible. Director Michael Haneke even made a shot for shot adaptation. No one asked for it. Two young men terrorise a family staying at a cabin by a lake. It is revealed they have already done this to the neighbours and at the end they begin on the next house. There is no hope for anyone here and what makes it worse is the intruders break the fourth wall, addressing and looking at the camera.

5. Melancholia

The film is esstionally about the world potentially coming to end, that in itself is enough to not want to see the film again. I have a thing about the world ending, it freaks me out. There are two sisters as the leads, one of which is a manic depressive and she ruins her wedding day. Every unfolds slowly throughout the evening like slow moving tragedy. The second half is about the depressed sister accepting the end of the world and the other sister panicking, where as earlier she was normal and had everything in her life sorted.