Feel - Not Understand Them

It’s been 3 years since I chose to take up film and with all the classes I’ve taken I’ve started to see movies in a different light. Every time I see new scenes I follow what I’ve been taught, understanding the choice of angles, the tone of the scene, the dialogue, the key lights, and what they’re highlighting.

It’s come to the point that I can’t see movies the same way. It was until I came across an interview of Christopher Nolan, an acclaimed writer-director, best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear storytelling and recent film Oppenheimer. In an interview he was told that most of his audiences leave his movies not fully grasping it, so what should they do? His answer surprised me, “I want the audience to feel my movies not understand them.” When he said this I smiled forgetting how movies are meant to be watched. Movies aren’t meant to be dissected the first time you watch them.

When I look at his film Oppenheimer I completely understand what he means. He told the story in such an interesting way. I was simply in awe at the sound design. The sound design carried the whole film and helped give off the intensity of the dialogue even if you couldn’t understand what was being said. Recalling what he said reminded me to sit and just watch the movie. I can tell you honestly I was glad I told myself to just sit and enjoy the film, I sat in marveling at how the story was told. So now I do my best not to dissect films too much especially when it’s my first time watching it, I sit allowing the directors and their team to take me into a new world for that hour.