Films that are hard to watch..

branie2

Saving Private Ryan - the opening battle sequence is very harrowing

breezy1985

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

It was the among the best TV that has been produced in years, because it did stuff that absolutely no-one else would do. Amazing TV.

No one else would bother making it I reckon. Looked pretty but had no substance

Tony EH

igCorcaigh wrote: »

It didn't do much for me.
The scene where the people where burned in a barn was horrifying.

But for some reason, I couldn't relate to the main characters.

The problem with 'Come and See' is that it's really just a 20 minute horror movie that wrapped up in a long and pretty boring non-story about Flyora and Glasha running around doing nothing of interest.

Everyone knows what they're waiting for when they're watching the film, but the journey there is long and tedious.

igCorcaigh

Tony EH wrote: »

The problem with 'Come and See' is that it's really just a 20 minute horror movie that wrapped up in a long and pretty boring non-story about Flyora and Glasha running around doing nothing of interest.

Everyone knows what they're waiting for when they're watching the film, but the journey there is long and tedious.

Exactly my thoughts!

I think I carried bias to the film, as I had read so much about it beforehand.
Would probably have worked better for me had I known nothing about it.

run_Forrest_run

there is one scene in Under the Skin that is incredibly hard to watch (as a parent anyway).

Another mention for Lars von Trier...Antichrist was a tough one.

Kaybaykwah

Tony EH wrote: »

The problem with 'Come and See' is that it's really just a 20 minute horror movie that wrapped up in a long and pretty boring non-story about Flyora and Glasha running around doing nothing of interest.

Everyone knows what they're waiting for when they're watching the film, but the journey there is long and tedious.

They were chasing butterflies. That's what Russian kids did when the Noughtsies barged in.

Zaney

There are parts of Trainspotting that I find really really tough. I can’t help but think awful sh*t like that happens in real life and how much drugs destroy some people.

I've seen a lot of difficult to watch films down through the years. The ones I finished are some of my favourites. Requiem For A Dream has many tough scenes but it's a fantastic portrayal of lives destroyed by drugs.
Nocturnal Animals broke my heart. Gorgeous film though.
Hereditary I couldn't finish. Same with Killing of A Sacred Deer.
Brokeback Mountain oddly enough. Again one of my favourites but affected me.
Years and years ago I saw Deadman Walking and it really upset me at the time. I don't think it would have the same impact on me now but I struggled with the themes in it.

A few months ago I watched Castle Rock. It's not a film but a few scenes in it shook me. Sissy Spacek is in it and she is really incredible in her role.

I'm sensitive enough to the medium of film and television.

arcticmonkeys

Gasper Noes I Stand Alone. I haven't watched the movie in a few years but remember catching it on TG4 and remember it being a grueling watch.

grassylawn

Deleted User wrote: »

I've seen a lot of difficult to watch films down through the years. The ones I finished are some of my favourites. Requiem For A Dream has many tough scenes but it's a fantastic portrayal of lives destroyed by drugs.
Nocturnal Animals broke my heart. Gorgeous film though.
Hereditary I couldn't finish. Same with Killing of A Sacred Deer.
Brokeback Mountain oddly enough. Again one of my favourites but affected me.
Years and years ago I saw Deadman Walking and it really upset me at the time. I don't think it would have the same impact on me now but I struggled with the themes in it.

A few months ago I watched Castle Rock. It's not a film but a few scenes in it shook me. Sissy Spacek is in it and she is really incredible in her role.

I'm sensitive enough to the medium of film and television.

I usually try to immerse myself as much as possible in film, but not so with Hereditary - not while still troubled by Midsommar, the second film by the same director. I did the film-watching equivalent of staying two metres away, wearing a face mask and not making any bodily contact.

Mehaffey1

Struggling through Andrei Tarkovsky's Stalker.

1979, black and white, slow pace, Russian language with English subtitles and 2 hr 45mins long.

Have got through an hour of it, intend to keep chipping away at it as it's very highly rated.

HalloweenJack

Stalker is a great film to watch and some of the dialogue is brilliant. Unfortunately, I watched it with subtitles that were quite stilted and clunky so I don't think I got the full effect of the script because of the awkward translation.

Martyrs is one I can think of which gradually got harder and harder to watch, though it was an interesting story.

Begotten is one I've tried a few times but I've never managed to watch entirely, not so much becuase of the content but because of the repetitiveness and the way it was shot.

Mother was one I saw fairly recently that wrecked my head, from the surrealness and disconnection of the story to the claustrophobic, anxious feel leading up to the climax. Its great filmmaking when it can have such an impact but I won't be in a rush to watch it again.

Jequ0n

I have to admit that I don’t get Martyrs at all...it’s one of those films which left me wondering what the point was. I don’t want yo derail the thread but if someone can explain it to me I’d appreciate it

StringerBell

ixoy wrote: »

'Nil By Mouth' would fall into this. It's a very tough depiction of poverty, violence and addiction and there's far too much in it of the sort of events that I know must happen but that I'm otherwise, thankfully, oblivious to until I see it portrayed.

Thought that was a masterpiece, depicting very realistic, though obviously brutal and shocking times and lives.

My own addition to this thread would be A Serbian Film, would not watch a second of that again.

A lot of films have had moments here or there that were tough to get through but that entire film could have never been made and I'd be happier.

corcaigh07

Holy moly, read through a few of the user reviews on IMDB for A Serbian Film.

Properly harrowing stuff, won't be watching that even once.

thehairygrape

Agree with Irreversible. Hot it ain’t.
The original Funny Games with Urlich Muhe.

silverharp

Sadler Peak wrote: »

The Captain ( Der Hauptmann ) 2017

WW2 movie. Based on a true story.
Last days of the war on the Western Front a German deserter poses as a Luftwaffe captain and presides over the slaughter of prisoners.

The soldier was only 22.

I watched that over the weekend, what got me with that one , a bit like Downfall was the sheer absurdity of bureaucrat types continuing to do their jobs when their structures have largely disappeared and the war would be over in a few weeks.

Player 2

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" bored the hell out of me. I struggled in parts to keep watching, but, when it was over and the credits rolled, I thought to myself "actually, that was a really good film".

Ciaranis

Surreptitious wrote:

I have that recorded. Would i need to be fairly in good mood to watch it?

Do watch it. It's an outstanding film. I wouldn't worry too much about your mood going in.

HalloweenJack

Jequ0n wrote: »

I have to admit that I don’t get Martyrs at all...it’s one of those films which left me wondering what the point was. I don’t want yo derail the thread but if someone can explain it to me I’d appreciate it

It's been a while since I watched it but what I took from it was a condemnation of experimenting amd the brutality of humanity for selfish gains, inflicting all that suffering on others to see if it'd be worth it for yourself.

Although I could be giving it too much credit...

flasher0030

HalloweenJack wrote: »

Stalker is a great film to watch and some of the dialogue is brilliant. Unfortunately, I watched it with subtitles that were quite stilted and clunky so I don't think I got the full effect of the script because of the awkward translation.

Martyrs is one I can think of which gradually got harder and harder to watch, though it was an interesting story.

Begotten is one I've tried a few times but I've never managed to watch entirely, not so much becuase of the content but because of the repetitiveness and the way it was shot.

Mother was one I saw fairly recently that wrecked my head, from the surrealness and disconnection of the story to the claustrophobic, anxious feel leading up to the climax. Its great filmmaking when it can have such an impact but I won't be in a rush to watch it again.

Awful muck. I read about the religious imagery afterwards. Still was pure muck.

El Gato De Negocios

A Serbian Film is pure dung. Ive watched it a couple of times. When it first started doing the festival circuit around 2010/2011 and build up some infamy i was able to get my hands on a screener. Watched it and shrugged my shoulders. Watched it again a few years later and shrugged my shoulders. Watched it again about 18 months ago and again, shrugged my shoulders. It is an exercise purely and simply about getting objectionable content on screen, nothing more and nothing less. Other than the sterling special effects work its a hollow piece of crap.

Anyway. My own picks that have not been mentioned.

Cannibal Holocaust - purely for the real animal deaths. Ive seen it a number of times and it still packs a punch.

Goodbye Uncle Tom / Mondo Cane / Africa Addio - only watched them once, pure exploitation masquerading as documentaries. Incidentally, they are partly responsible for inspiring Deodata to make Cannibal Holocaust.

Possum - exceptional and criminally underseen horror from a few years back. Nothing particularly shocking from an imagery point of view but there is a palpable sense of discomfort throughout the entire movie. If you haven't seen it Id highly recommend it.

Cutting Moments - clocking in at just 29 minutes, this is a disturbing look into a devastating family breakdown.

Titicut Follies - 60s documentary about a mental hospital, shocking to this day.

DanielGuigui

Only re-reading some of the titles already invokes the same feeling of uneasiness and nausea some of these movies made me feel while watching them :-(

From the more recent movies, I'd definitely agree with the picks of:
- Hereditary (just being so formidably weird and disturbing)
- Midsommar (from the same director as Hereditary)
- The Lighthouse (just overall strange and not pleasant to watch)

Older movies that still give me the creeps are:
- Requiem for a Dream (because why not show your audience some deeply disturbing images?)
- Donnie Darko (for just being so confusing that I don't even know if I'm spooked or not)
- American Psycho (the combined power of capitalism and psychopaths)

grassylawn

El Gato De Negocios wrote: »

A Serbian Film is pure dung. Ive watched it a couple of times. When it first started doing the festival circuit around 2010/2011 and build up some infamy i was able to get my hands on a screener. Watched it and shrugged my shoulders. Watched it again a few years later and shrugged my shoulders. Watched it again about 18 months ago and again, shrugged my shoulders. It is an exercise purely and simply about getting objectionable content on screen, nothing more and nothing less. Other than the sterling special effects work its a hollow piece of crap.

Anyway. My own picks that have not been mentioned.

Cannibal Holocaust - purely for the real animal deaths. Ive seen it a number of times and it still packs a punch.

Goodbye Uncle Tom / Mondo Cane / Africa Addio - only watched them once, pure exploitation masquerading as documentaries. Incidentally, they are partly responsible for inspiring Deodata to make Cannibal Holocaust.

Possum - exceptional and criminally underseen horror from a few years back. Nothing particularly shocking from an imagery point of view but there is a palpable sense of discomfort throughout the entire movie. If you haven't seen it Id highly recommend it.

Cutting Moments - clocking in at just 29 minutes, this is a disturbing look into a devastating family breakdown.

Titicut Follies - 60s documentary about a mental hospital, shocking to this day.

Looked up Possum. The first interesting thing I saw was the big discrepancy between 5.7 on imdb and 90% on RottenTomatoes. The second interesting thing I saw was that it was written by the guy who did Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, which is a spoof horror series starring Matt Berry. It was funny and they nailed the tone iirc

Capt'n Midnight

Blood Simple




Krzysztof Kieślowski's Ten Commandments - TV series but each episode could have been a film. Two were expanded into films including A Short Film About Killing

Bleak doesn't come cose.

El Gato De Negocios

grassylawn wrote: »

Looked up Possum. The first interesting thing I saw was the big discrepancy between 5.7 on imdb and 90% on RottenTomatoes. The second interesting thing I saw was that it was written by the guy who did Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, which is a spoof horror series starring Matt Berry. It was funny and they nailed the tone iirc

Genuinely couldn't recommend it highly enough, very reminiscent (for me) of Eraserhead in terms of visuals and use of sound but imo infinitely better.

fryup

any Black & White movie (unless it's Laurel & Hardy)

French Toast

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Seems to me like it's one of those films who's DVD was always on sale for €5 in Tesco/Dunnes/etc.

Very hard to watch. To be expected I suppose.

emo72

There's another one that hasn't been mentioned "Man Bites Dog". It must have been out in the 90s about a tv crew who follow a serial killer around doing his trade. I remember a few funny scenes, then it gets out of hand when the tv crew start helping him. Actually I can't remember if it's a horror or comedy.

Jequ0n

emo72 wrote: »

There's another one that hasn't been mentioned "Man Bites Dog". It must have been out in the 90s about a tv crew who follow a serial killer around doing his trade. I remember a few funny scenes, then it gets out of hand when the tv crew start helping him. Actually I can't remember if it's a horror or comedy.

It’s a fantastic film

grassylawn

emo72 wrote: »

There's another one that hasn't been mentioned "Man Bites Dog". It must have been out in the 90s about a tv crew who follow a serial killer around doing his trade. I remember a few funny scenes, then it gets out of hand when the tv crew start helping him. Actually I can't remember if it's a horror or comedy.

I remember watching that with my friend after the effusive recommendation of the woman in the video library.
We both thought it was stupid.

Jequ0n

emo72 wrote: »

There's another one that hasn't been mentioned "Man Bites Dog". It must have been out in the 90s about a tv crew who follow a serial killer around doing his trade. I remember a few funny scenes, then it gets out of hand when the tv crew start helping him. Actually I can't remember if it's a horror or comedy.

The transition from comedy to “horror” is the actual gem in it. Apparently the viewer gets slightly more uncomfortable as the film progresses and is unsure if it is still acceptable to laugh, or if the mark has been overstepped. It’s less about the protagonist’s actions than about the viewer’s moral compass because you are an inactive participant in everything.

Tony EH

^
I haven't seen it for years, but I think 'Man Bites Dog' is an example of a film that strays too far from its intended point. Up until a certain scene, the film is mildly shocking but errs completely on the humorous side. Then it just turns nasty and it ceased to work.

Tony EH

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Blood Simple

What's so hard about 'Blood Simple'?

Plan 9 from Outter space

Ted 2

Mehaffey1

Player 2 wrote: »

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" bored the hell out of me. I struggled in parts to keep watching, but, when it was over and the credits rolled, I thought to myself "actually, that was a really good film".

Exactly my experience of the movie as well. Have it saved in the Classics Folder to break out another time and not many movies make that cut.

The J Stands for Jay

Player 2 wrote: »

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" bored the hell out of me. I struggled in parts to keep watching, but, when it was over and the credits rolled, I thought to myself "actually, that was a really good film".

I would've posted this if I could've remembered the name. I gave up watching maybe halfway through due to boredom. It's a beautiful film, but the slow moving of the plot was something else.

otnomart

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days by Mungiu
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1032846/

otnomart

Session 9 with Peter Mullan
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0261983/

otnomart

Frances with Jessica Lange

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083967/

Capt'n Midnight

Tony EH wrote: »

What's so hard about 'Blood Simple'?

The bit where they are burying yer man. It was nightmare fuel for a while.

the purple tin

Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099763/

Import Export.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0459102/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Greedy Guts/Little Otik
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0228687/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

silverharp

The boy in the striped Pyjamas , I dont think its a film that needs a rewatch

BabysCoffee

appledrop wrote: »

Manchester by the Sea.

Amazing film but the emotions are so raw in it I couldnt watch it again.

I'm actually nearly crying here just thinking about it.

Oh god that film was such a tough watch

Tony EH

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

The bit where they are burying yer man. It was nightmare fuel for a while.

Ummm. Ok.

Don't watch 'Casino'.

thehairygrape

otnomart wrote: »

Frances with Jessica Lange

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083967/

Tough one alright. Based on Frances Farmer, who was a real person. Jessica Lange is outstanding in it, but I agree it wouldn’t be one I’d watch twice.

THIS IS IT

last movie featuring Michael Jackson.

patronizing and schmaltzy but some seams of interest.

dubstepper

I care a lot. Hated the protagonist.

arcticmonkeys

dubstepper wrote: »

I care a lot. Hated the protagonist.

Yea I watched that movie a couple of days ago got me thinking of another movie I'd seen maybe 10 years back Neil laButes The Shape of things staring Paul Rudd. You want a movie which people have a strong reaction on watch that one. The hate for Rachel Weiz character made me genuinely concerned for her in real life lol. LaBute was known for causing controversy early in his career before making a mockery of the Wicker Man.

dalyboy

I can’t watch chitty chitty bang bang.
That child catcher still has a huge effect on me 40 years later.