How to watch arthouse and not fall asleep in the process: 6 tips for beginners

In the world of festival cinema, you can find films that will captivate you no worse than new Marvel films. It's just that such works act a little differently than mainstream tapes. Arthouse allows you to look at the process of getting to know the film from a new angle. Such a movie will help the viewer move away from passive contemplation and get fundamentally new sensations. And with the help of arthouse, you can understand the ideas and techniques that are used in many blockbusters.

Unaccustomed to it, it can be difficult to stand the test of films in which, it seems, all they do is walk from corner to corner and talk. To find truly captivating pieces, use these tips.

1. Start with your favorite genres and actors

To find ribbons you like, start with what you already like. Love horror? Then try watching old or even silent horror movies. It will be unusual for you, but definitely not boring. If you love Meryl Streep, then gradually get acquainted with her entire filmography. It can be useful to watch the work of established actors, as they usually have time to star in many festival authors in their lifetime. Even action hero Tom Cruise has worked with critically acclaimed directors and filmmakers such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, Franco Zeffirelli, Martin Scorsese and Stanley Kubrick. You may not like these films, and that's okay. But at least you will be curious to see your favorite actor in unusual roles.

While watching the filmography, you will probably be hooked by something else: a different actor, script, music or picture. Remember these sensations and continue the search, clinging to new objects of interest. You yourself will not notice how you master large layers of world cinema. So, familiarity with the early films of James Cameron, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, David Lynch and Woody Allen will allow you to add up a general idea of ​​the current "New Hollywood». Although you may not have known before that the authors of "Avatar" and "Star Wars" stood at the origins of an important phenomenon in the history of American cinema.

2. Forget about authorities, critics and awards

You may not like a movie, even if it has been praised by thousands of film reviewers. It says nothing about your intelligence or ability to understand art. Cinematography is not a museum with exhibits installed once and for all, but a living space. Here, new names are regularly discovered and old ones are reevaluated, and there are many rooms that few people reach. You may not be thrilled by the new Oscar winner, but you may actually enjoy a little-known teen comedy from the 1980s. And the second is much more important.

And you can safely ignore the lists in the spirit of "100 best films of all time." They already at the level of the name are crushed by authority. Lists whose authors you trust, or selections by genre and trend, will be useful. For example, by noir or pictures neorealism. They will help not to get lost in the abundance of names, but at the same time they will not impose a predetermined opinion.

3. See what is usually called "not yours"

“After a horror movie, I won’t be able to sleep for a week”, “old cinema is only for historians”, “pictures should not last more than two hours" - all these ideas close many doors and limit you in comprehending unfamiliar. There are enough exceptions to every such rule.

If the directors french new wave If they heard that their films are only suitable for critics, they would laugh - because at the heart of this aesthetic is the accessibility and fascination of paintings for the audience. It's the same with masters like Alfred Hitchcock or Jean-Pierre Melville: their genre thrillers and detective stories are aimed at a wide audience, not a bunch of intellectuals.

Horror films may not scare at all, but still keep you in suspense until the very end, like Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock. Silent movie filmed without intertitles, and Soviet paintings The 1930s are not only praises of the party and the leader, but also funny and sweet stories about trying to find a mate, like Alexander Macheret's The Private Life of Pyotr Vinogradov.

4. Give new genres and unfamiliar directors a chance

On the one hand, you don't owe anything to filmmakers or critics, on the other hand, tapes, in general, can also ignore your expectations. They can be anything: long, short, with such a quick installation that you will feel dizzy, or so slow that you fall asleep, unable to endure the scene where the hero just stares into window. At the same time, mainstream cinema hooks the viewer on standard solutions: a three-part plot structure, high tempo, exaggerated acting. Therefore, even a small deviation from a predictable scheme can be inconvenient. At this point, it is useful to think about why the director chose this solution.

For example, Andrei Tarkovsky for a long time showed algae in the river in Solaris not to infuriate the audience. So he tried to convey the feeling of a living house, from which the heroes flew away in search of an illusory new planet. And director Wang Bing, in his nine-hour documentary murals about the lives of Chinese workers, helps feel the hopeless monotony of meaningless labor, forcing the viewer to get tired along with their heroes. You can always brush aside such tricks, but art is not only for entertainment - it also allows you to experience new experiences.

5. Learn more about cinema in general

For a deep understanding of art, such as Renaissance painting, specialized knowledge is useful. People without them are able to get aesthetic pleasure from the paintings of Raphael, but sometimes you want to listen to a professional guide in the museum and get a more complete impression of what you see.

If you recognize that cinema is an art, then it is worth accepting that your knowledge and experience may not be enough to understand some of its manifestations. And this is a reason to look for articles, books or podcasts from experts on a particular director, era and artistic movement. Sometimes even a simple understanding of the context of the creation of a picture gives a more conscious impression. And it doesn't matter what you're watching: a comedy with Charlie Chaplin or a new movie Quentin Tarantino.

6. Don't Expect to Like All Arthouse Movies

Remember that there are no works that are required to fall in love with everyone. There's nothing wrong with not being hooked the first time by David Lynch's Eraserhead or Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man. Don't be afraid to drop boring movies in the middle or watch hours of epics in multiple sessions. If you don’t know who Ingmar Bergman is and how the editing of Sergei Eisenstein’s attractions works, there’s nothing to worry about either - you’re not in the exam. The main thing is not to lose your own interest, give yourself time and listen to your intuition.