Day 3 of 4 – NYC 2024, Pt. 2

Dolores Claiborne (1995) has as quality that I call “infinite re-watchability”. This is (for me) highly unusual for a movie with such heavy (often depressing) subject matter. The more times I watch a movie I tend to notice things that would NEVER be picked up on the first or even second viewings. These pickups are going to either enhance or distract from the experience.

In Lethal Weapon (1987) Murtaugh and Riggs are both naked in their respective introductory scenes. This was a deliberate choice by the filmmakers and something that for sure registered in my subconscious, but took 30 years and 30 viewings for me to actually notice. Finding hidden treasures like this one is a way of recapturing a small part of the wonder experienced the first time you watched a beloved film. Because during that first time, everything was a surprise.

But it’s also the absence of distractions. This is not to say the giant fake ear in Wrath of Khan (1982) ruins the movie. I can’t unsee it (obviously) but I had to be told it was a giant fake ear because every time I saw it I was reacting to the overt horror of what was happening to Chekov.

For me, watching Dolores Claiborne (1995) there are way more positive pickups (enhancements) than there are negative (distractions). Part of this stems from the time that passes between viewings. I gotta be in a certain mood to watch this one (it’s not exactly a dance around the maypole) so I don’t return to it very often and this distance helps with the pickups (both good and bad).