With rare exceptions, I only watch movies once.

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I could never understand people who like to watch movies several times. Even two times is too much for me, but 5, 10, 20, 50 times -- it's just mind-boggling to me.

Here's my reasoning when it comes to a movie: One of the main pleasures I get is NOT knowing what's going to happen next, and having it just unfold in the moment and being pleasantly surprised to one degree or another.

Of course this applies the most perhaps to the thriller genre or the murder mystery, but it also applies to pretty much any other genre, since there's always new developments around the corner in any genre that are part of the interesting things that unfold in the story.

There have been times when I wasn't sure if I had seen a movie before, it could have been 10 or 20 years in the past (or some season of a series I really like, like Dexter or Burn Notice or Bosch, or whatever) and so I pop in the video cassette or the DVD or click on the streaming service and sit back with my figurative popcorn and my literal glass of whiskey and start watching... Then it dawns on me as the time goes along, slowly I start noticing things that are familiar -- "Oh no, I've seen this before I saw this all this stuff before, I've already been through this!" As soon as that happens I abort mission and find something else to watch that I have not seen.



I could never understand people who like to watch movies several times. Even two times is too much for me, but 5, 10, 20, 50 times -- it's just mind-boggling to me.

Here's my reasoning when it comes to a movie: One of the main pleasures I get is NOT knowing what's going to happen next, and having it just unfold in the moment and being pleasantly surprised to one degree or another.
Do you ever listen to the same song more than once?

Do you ever make love to the same person more than once?

Do you ever order the same dish more than once?

Kenneth Burke notes the handing of the pipe to Guildenstern in Hamlet as a great moment for the audience, because they know what comes next. Hamlet coyly hands his friend a pipe and asks him to play and his friend protests that he cannot. They continue to talk and Hamlet continues to push the issue, leaving Guildenstern exasperated. And it is only then that Hamlet makes his meaning clear.
GUILDENSTERN I know no touch of it, my lord.

HAMLET It is as easy as lying. Govern these ventages
with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with
your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent
music. Look you, these are the stops.

GUILDENSTERN But these cannot I command to any
utt’rance of harmony. I have not the skill.

HAMLET Why, look you now, how unworthy a thing
you make of me! You would play upon me, you
would seem to know my stops, you would pluck
out the heart of my mystery, you would sound me
from my lowest note to the top of my compass;
and there is much music, excellent voice, in this
little organ, yet cannot you make it speak. ’Sblood,
do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?
Call me what instrument you will, though you can
fret me, you cannot play upon me.
The audience revels in this moment, because they know what is about to happen. Burke compares it to a rubber band being stretched--the audience takes please knowing that Guildenstern is about to be snapped. In this case, the greater pleasure comes from knowing what is about to happen and not in the surprise (much as we rejoice in the chord change the we know is coming in a song that offers a satisfying resolution).



Do you ever listen to the same song more than once?

I forgot to mention that this predilection of mine seems to only apply to movies. Of course I like to listen to the same songs multiple times, and I have gotten pleasure reading the same fiction multiple times as well. I'm not sure what the difference is except it probably speaks to the other thread concerning how film is unique, even unique in comparison with stage plays which it resembles. It's that aspect of realism perhaps. I don't know what it is but I just have an aversion to remembering that I have seen something before and then sitting through it again. To me the paramount thing in a movie is not an individual actor's performance or some funny or scary or exciting things that the characters do in a scene, it's the totality of the presentation including the plot and the meaning.For that, I need not to have seen it before. Or on rare occasions it's been so long and my memory is so vague, that I will give a movie at second Chance and I will keep watching it as long as I don't start remembering stuff too vividly.



With fiction writing it's interesting why I don't have the same problem, but that's again the medium. With fiction writing I'm mostly deriving pleasure from the way the author is a wordsmith, and only secondarily in plot. If there were a moviemaker who made movies purely for experimental aesthetic purposes rather than plot and meaning and character development, and if he was good at it and did interesting stuff, I probably would consider watching that more than once.



I could never understand people who like to watch movies several times. Even two times is too much for me, but 5, 10, 20, 50 times -- it's just mind-boggling to me.
I'm sorta in the one watch per movie camp, though I do rewatch films from time to time but only if it's been years since my last viewing. I could never watch a film 50 times and yet I've heard people say they've seen their favorite movies more times than that. If I was forced to watch a movie that many times I'd quickly end up hating it. Though in my case it doesn't have to do with being surprised or knowing what's next.

... I pop in the video cassette or the DVD or click on the streaming service and sit back with my figurative popcorn and my literal glass of whiskey and start watching...
Video cassette? How old are you? Maybe that's in part why you don't like to rewatch films. When I was a kid there was no DVD or VHS and so as a kid I didn't watch movies over and over and I never got the habit of movie watching as comfort food.



Video cassette? How old are you? Maybe that's in part why you don't like to rewatch films. When I was a kid there was no DVD or VHS and so as a kid I didn't watch movies over and over and I never got the habit of movie watching as comfort food.

The streaming Internet technology now post-VC/DVD makes it easier to re-watch, just as the VC/DVD eras were easier to re-watch than having to go to a movie theater.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I could never understand people who like to watch movies several times. Even two times is too much for me, but 5, 10, 20, 50 times -- it's just mind-boggling to me.

Here's my reasoning when it comes to a movie: One of the main pleasures I get is NOT knowing what's going to happen next, and having it just unfold in the moment and being pleasantly surprised to one degree or another.

Of course this applies the most perhaps to the thriller genre or the murder mystery, but it also applies to pretty much any other genre, since there's always new developments around the corner in any genre that are part of the interesting things that unfold in the story.

As someone who watches a lot of movies multiple times, I think it just depends on the movie. Some movies, like comedies, rom-coms, and musicals, are easy to watch multiple times, but other movies, like mysteries, thrillers, and some dramas, aren't the types of movies that some people would want to watch more than once.

If a movie relies on figuring out what happened, or it has a surprise ending, it might not be as good the second time, (unless I'm trying to figure out some of the clues that I might have missed, like in The Sixth Sense). Or some movies that are great movies, but they're hard to watch, (like Schindler's List), are usually one-time watches for me.

But comedies that are just fun movies, or rom-coms that are usually predictable, and in most cases have happy endings, are movies that I can watch over and over again. Musicals are also great to watch over and over again as long as I like the songs. It's even better than just listening to the soundtrack. Usually these types of movies just make me happy, or in some cases even sad movies are great to rewatch because they bring out strong emotions.
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Also answers to Jabba
There are numerous reasons to rewatch a film.Your own perception and tastes change over time, especially as you expose yourself to more films. So no two viewings are identical, provided enough time has passed between them. Even mysteries that are based on a third act reveal can have rewatchability if there is enough subtle foreshadowing which you couldn't identify unless you already knew how the story resolves (Fight Club is a prime example of that).

Finally, there are films that by definition are so complex and layered that they require multiple viewings to be somewhat understood, usually after you have read a bit more about the era, themes and circumstances surrounding their creation.

All in all, although I don't understand myself how some people can watch the same movie multiple times is a short span of time, there are many occasions in which multiple viewings are not only warranted but even required to get the full experience of a film.



As someone who watches a lot of movies multiple times, I think it just depends on the movie. Some movies, like comedies, rom-coms, and musicals, are easy to watch multiple times, but other movies, like mysteries, thrillers, and some dramas, aren't the types of movies that some people would want to watch more than once.

If a movie relies on figuring out what happened, or it has a surprise ending, it might not be as good the second time, (unless I'm trying to figure out some of the clues that I might have missed, like in The Sixth Sense). Or some movies that are great movies, but they're hard to watch, (like Schindler's List), are usually one-time watches for me.

But comedies that are just fun movies, or rom-coms that are usually predictable, and in most cases have happy endings, are movies that I can watch over and over again. Musicals are also great to watch over and over again as long as I like the songs. It's even better than just listening to the soundtrack. Usually these types of movies just make me happy, or in some cases even sad movies are great to rewatch because they bring out strong emotions.
That all makes sense to me. Of the movie genres that I could watch more than once or twice it would be musicals or com-roms. With those it's all about the fun they generate as we know the boy will get the girl and everything will come up roses and daffodils in the end



Even though I don't share your overall posture, and have watched and enjoyed many movies many times, I will say this part makes sense to me:

Here's my reasoning when it comes to a movie: One of the main pleasures I get is NOT knowing what's going to happen next, and having it just unfold in the moment and being pleasantly surprised to one degree or another.
The desire to know what happens next is the primary propulsive force for me with almost any story. It is most acute when I'm reading, and in fact I'd say I have the same reaction to most books (with a few small not-really-exceptions-but-technically-exceptions) that you do towards movies. So I definitely get this.

By way of explanation for why I rewatch movies anyway, I have two responses, one that speaks directly to what you like about them and one that doesn't (or may not).

First: a lot of films have layering and hidden details that are not immediately evident. Or, if they are, you'll simply miss them, because they're complicated or you're human or both. So even if your primary reason to watch is to KNOW, there are, in films that are not even necessarily all that great, still things yet to know that you will only know by rewatching. Especially if we expand "know" to mean something more like "understand on a fuller/deeper level."

Second: there is an unrelated pleasure that can come from rewatching, more akin to enjoying music. The first time you hear a great song, the ways in which it twists and turns and surprises you, teaches you its pattern, is pleasurable. All other times you listen to it, you get the almost completely different pleasure of hearing it unfold, even though you know how it will. That predictability and order is pleasurable in and of itself. You come to admire the timing and the construction of the thing without the surprise. If you've ever watched or listened to a comedy routine more than once, it's the same idea. First you enjoy being surprised, then you enjoy, in retrospect, all the subtle details that went into that surprise. You appreciate how this pause created an expectation in you without you realizing it the first time, and now you enjoy noticing how it did that instead.

In short: the first time you enjoy the punchline. The second time and beyond, you enjoy the setup.

Our first experiences with things we appreciate them as an audience. Our experiences beyond that allow us to appreciate it from the perspective of the creator, in a sense. It is a pleasure borne from craftsmanship rather than manipulation.



I don't rewatch movies as much as I used to, but I still try to do it every now and then. In regards to already knowing the plots when you rewatch films, I think it's important to understand that what a film makes you feel is the most important part to a film. Plots are fine and there are a couple exceptions here and there (Memento sticks out as one), but you don't need to rewatch a film to be able to recall what the plot is. If you forget some details, you can just check the Wikipedia or IMDb plot summary and remind yourself of it in 5 minutes. It saves you a lot of time. The only way to be reminded of what a film made you feel though is if you actually rewatch it. I know the plots of my favorite films, but I don't watch them to be reminded on what their plots or stories are. I rewatch them to be reminded of the emotions they made me feel which caused them to land in my favorites list in the first place.
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What about films that are almost impenetrable on first viewing? Something Lynch's Mulholland Drive or much of Tarkovsky's body of work? I would add stuff like Carruth's Primer and Upstream Color, as well - any film that contains a tremendous amount of allegory or complex concepts or a large amount of material to unpack and consider.

On a more mainstream tip, I recall wanting to immediately watch Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, just to see how he set up the clever scenes and audience manipulation. I use this film as an example because many would say it almost entirely relies on its twist and sense of surprise at the end, but watching it again puts it in an entirely new light.

Additional viewings of any film also let's you focus more on say the technical aspects or the cinematography instead of the dialogue and narrative.

Personally, I just like returning to old favorites, because as other's have said above, the film is the same, but I am different, and my perception and interpretation will be different. Perhaps I have experienced life events that have changed me on a fundamental level, and I get something completely different out of the viewing this time around.

Plenty of reasons to watch films more than once, including some I haven't covered here.
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“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ― Thomas Sowell



Every morning the sun rises. But just because I know what it is going to do, doesn't mean I have no reason to look at it.


As usual it seems to be that concessions can be made to listen to songs multiple times or look at paintings more than once, but for some reason it is felt there is an expiry date on the value of a movie experience.


I wonder why (cough) this could be


*rifles through entire posting history to see if maybe I've supplied an answer to this strange anomaly*


'AHA!'


*immediately shot dead by a conspiracy of screenwriters*



As for the idea of wanting to know what happens next as the propulsive force in a film, I obviously get that. You can only have that particular experience once and, especially with ingeniously plotted films, it can mean the first viewing might always be the best.


But (there are always buts) I'm more often than not relieved to learn everything that happens in a movies storyline so I can get to actually just watching it as a piece of film. I can have all of its plot points living already known at the back of my head, and focus on how it presents itself to me as a piece of art. Figure out, or at least ruminate, on how it works its magic on me (or if there is any magic at all). Try and determine who this artist is and what they were saying overtly or by mistake with this knotted collection of artistic decisions. Pay closer attention to smaller scenes, or smaller technical details.


Most films contain universes to think about. I often wonder about just choosing one movie to watch over and over until the end of my life until I've understood it from as many angles as possible. Experienced it in every frame of mind....and I'm not even talking about a good movie. Any movie that has any kind of personality would suffice


That of course would be a kind of madness, and so I haven't yet gotten there.



On the plus side, you don't have to spend much money or storage space on a movie collection.



On the plus side, you don't have to spend much money or storage space on a movie collection.
Now there's an interesting premise. Just how much space does a digitally stored movie actually take?



First: a lot of films have layering and hidden details that are not immediately evident. Or, if they are, you'll simply miss them, because they're complicated or you're human or both.

I'm sure I've experienced that as well, I just can't think of a movie where I went back to see more details I missed.



Second: there is an unrelated pleasure that can come from rewatching, more akin to enjoying music. The first time you hear a great song, the ways in which it twists and turns and surprises you, teaches you its pattern, is pleasurable. All other times you listen to it, you get the almost completely different pleasure of hearing it unfold, even though you know how it will. That predictability and order is pleasurable in and of itself. You come to admire the timing and the construction of the thing without the surprise. If you've ever watched or listened to a comedy routine more than once, it's the same idea. First you enjoy being surprised, then you enjoy, in retrospect, all the subtle details that went into that surprise.

I can understand it with music. I will listen to the same song dozens of times and always enjoy hearing the same thing even if I find nothing new in it. I don't know why it's different with films & TV shows for me.



I think it's important to understand that what a film makes you feel is the most important part to a film. Plots are fine and there are a couple exceptions here and there (Memento sticks out as one), but you don't need to rewatch a film to be able to recall what the plot is. If you forget some details, you can just check the Wikipedia or IMDb plot summary and remind yourself of it in 5 minutes. It saves you a lot of time. The only way to be reminded of what a film made you feel though is if you actually rewatch it.

Yeah but to me, it bothers me when I see the same scenario that made me feel something the first time. It doesn't work its magic the second time; it only annoys me.



What about films that are almost impenetrable on first viewing? Something Lynch's Mulholland Drive

I might make an exception for some of Lynch, because he operates on a different level than other filmmakers.



Additional viewings of any film also let's you focus more on say the technical aspects or the cinematography instead of the dialogue and narrative.

Yeah I can see that, but it's not really the same movie-watching experience; it's more like homework.


Personally, I just like returning to old favorites, because as other's have said above, the film is the same, but I am different, and my perception and interpretation will be different. Perhaps I have experienced life events that have changed me on a fundamental level, and I get something completely different out of the viewing this time around.

When I was a kid, I was enthralled by a 1964 movie "That Man From Rio" starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, and how this hapless ordinary guy gets tangled in international intrigue without knowing why and starts going on the run from a Bond villain's henchmen. Many years later I thought I'd see it again as an adult, and most of the magic was missing.