I somehow rather queerly find second/third viewings more rewarding so yeah, 150 Bergman viewings (and probably a 150 more of the Faith Trilogy alone) will be enough to tide me through my life so yeah, I am pretty OK that Bergman has his peace now.
You don’t need to ration. I find, with Law, that subsequent viewings are often more rewarding than any first viewing. Usually I think of my first viewing of a film as a way for me to familiarize myself with it – just a chance to see what it is, and how I respond to it. Later, I find that I’m more able to appreciate the finer points of a given movie, and think about it more clearly.
What if you get hit by a train tomorrow?
I don’t ration like that – don’t tell anyone, but while watching sometimes I stop and think-off – so the film lasts longer
I just watched Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s 4 and loved it !
Robert – I was going to mention getting hit by a train (actually I was going to say bus but same thing). I know. I’m like that with everything though; a delayer of pleasures, save the best for last and all that.
“What if you get hit by a train tomorrow?”
there’s always the afterlife…food,women,art…why not? ;)
I guess I just do not have the will power to say Hmm Barry Lyndon is my last Kubrick film, I think I will wait 20 years. Also I see no point in that since I can now view that film many many many times and get something new out of it each time.
So no I do not ration.
No, I don’t ration fine movies or any other form of art. Here’s why…Tastes will evolve and you’ll discover more and more stuff as time goes by. Enjoy the greats now, when you feel passionately, and use them as a point of departure in the future. Who says that a particular piece will mean more to you at a later age? Maybe, maybe not.
There is plenty of stuff out there! I could spend every waking moment for the rest of my life just examining the works of Bach, for instance. Let it be a journey, not a dead set of ‘greats’ that you have a lifetime to discover.
I don’t have time to ration or to repeat my viewings. Too many movies to watch, too…many…movies…
“a delayer of pleasures”
I sometimes try to do this but then I find myself thinking about the movie I most want to watch while watching another movie I want to watch a bit less. This can hurt my appreciation of certain films so now I try to just watch what I’m most interested in first, without delay.
I kinda get where you’re coming from. I don’t really think of it as “rationing,” but when I’m getting into the work of a director or school of film making I tend to take my time. Like, I might watch the first movie I see in the line four or five times, get a sense of its rhythms (or anti-rhythms, in some highly notable cases) before I even want to watch the next one. I watched L’Avventura everyday for a week before I even considered watching La Note, and even then, I wanted to devote some “sinking-in-time” before I moved on; I like to pause between works of art, across media. I find that sometimes really mindful enjoyment takes a bit of space, y’know?
McBean
I’m just beginning to explore certain big name directors’ who are all dead: Antonioni, Fellini, Bergman and Tarkovsky to name a few. I’m rationing myself with their films to try to make them last longer – particularly with Tarkovsky as he only directed 7 full length features and I’ve loved what I’ve seen from him. I own 15 Bergman films, but have only seen 4 so far – Seventh Seal, Persona, Wild Strawberries, and Through A Glass Darkly, and loved all of them. The more I like what I do see of a director’s films the less I watch of them because once I’ve seen them all that’s it, because they’re dead. I consider it a decadent treat to watch a film by Bergman or Tarkovsky and only put one on once in a while and savour it to the full. It’s probably kind of weird I know. Does anyone else do this? And if so, which directors are you rationing yourself with?