The Attention Span Awards

[AndyC]

What would you consider the greatest display of an attention span while watching a movie.

On Wednesday, my wife, who had the week off, watched Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. This is Canada's first feature-length motion picture produced entirely in the Inuit language, by an Inuit cast and crew, about an Inuit legend. It runs about three hours, the cast has a number of first-time actors, there is no music, and the story is a little hard to follow if you're not familiar with the legend.

While it does have its good points - amazing scenery, some cool fight scenes, and ancient Inuit culture presented with almost a documentary feel - I still found it exceedingly difficult to watch.

Now comes the amazing part. My wife is still not entirely familiar with the DVD player. She watched two hours of this before she discovered how to turn on the subtitles. She wasn't aware that there were any. She assumed the story was meant to speak for itself. Funny, she said she didn't get much more out of the subtitles - just a slightly better idea of the characters' relationships.

So, there is at least one person who will probably enjoy Mel's Aramaic Jesus picture.

Any other amazing feats of attention?

[Scott0]

Watching most any made-for-TV movie is a feat of attention span for me. Most of the time the movies are so dull and uninteresting, it's a waste of energy to even watch it. How I sit through some of them is still a mystery though.

Scottie

[Johnny Blister]

Dreamcatcher demand a long attention span.

Otherwise,you just can´t see it properly.

[Squishy]

I used to watch anime before it was popular outside Japan--when geeks would sit for hours in a basement, watching "Arrivederci Yamato" or "Dirty Pair" or "Nausicaa" or "Urusei Yatusra 2" without subtitles. HOURS. WITHOUT SUBTITLES. And if no one in the room knew Japanese--and I was just beginning--everyone had to pay attention and analyze everything on-the-spot, or be lost. Five hours later, everything--eyes, buttocks, brain--was on fire.

Now I stop in the middle of a "South Park" rerun to jog around the Internet or clean the sink.

[AndyC]

That's what I'm looking for. Not just getting through a slow movie, but enduring a marathon session of tough watching. An attention span much longer than the norm.

I think Squish has the lead at this point.

[trala-log]

my vote would be for titus...all i can say is DAMN that movie is hard to follow...plus it is 3 1/2 hours long.  its cool but the dialogue is so dense it gave me a splitting headache

[AndyC]

What was it in my question that made people think I was looking for titles of movies they found hard to watch?

[Conrad]

I managed 50 minutes of "Moulin Rouge".  Does that count?  I also sat and watched the entire Russian version of "War and Peace" as a teenager (390 minutes!) when it was shown on BBC 2 at Christmas.  Strangely, they have never shown it again.

[AndyC]

Six-plus hours of Russian literary movie! Jeez! I hope there were subtitles.

I couldn't even make it through the original Solaris - my only real experience with Russian cinema. The subtitles were very badly done on the copy I rented - tiny and shown too quickly.

[trala-log]

you said hard to pay attention to so yeah... whats the problem buddy?  do i have to meet a list of stringent requirements before i reply to your thread?  next time i'll have my posts checked out by the united nations to make sure they fit the bill, will that make you feel any better?