Twenty movies in a day

Why?

I’ve had insomnia for a month or so, so after waking up a few hours into sleeping at around 10 PM, I decided to spend the following day watching movies.

When I log films on Letterboxd (or Trakt before it), the day I finish them is the day I record them. This explains how Manchester by the Sea squeezed in as the first movie, as I finished it at 12:07 a.m.

As for what counts as a movie, I only wanted to watch feature films, using the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ and the American Film Institute’s runtime minimum of 40 minutes.

Well, let’s go through the films…

The Films

1. Manchester by the Sea (2016)

Starting this one before the day began, it was fantastic. Just the weight of grief while trying to keep moving forward.

2. Tour de Pharmacy (2017)

Funny!

3. 7 Days in Hell (2015)

Not funny.

4. Toby Dammit (1968)

I don’t know what to say. It was a trip. Maximum vibe.

5. Lux Æterna (2019)

I actually loved this, it was great. I felt Climax went on a bit too long, but this was just the right length.

6. Fear and Desire (1953)

Everyone’s got to start somewhere I suppose…

7. The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

Read the story and saw a few clips of the film in middle school, was really disappointed once I finally saw the whole film. Not that I was expecting too much, but it was so meh.

8. The Kid (1921)

The police work for the rich, beating down the poor. In the end though, it’s the involvement of the rich that gives us a happy ending.

9. The Blood of a Poet (1932)

I don’t know if I’m a fan of fully surrealist works, this just didn’t get my attention.

10. Daisies (1966)

I thought this would be incomprehensible, but was a lot more coherent than expected.

11. The House of Secrets (1936)

They couldn’t decide on a genre so they put everything in there.

Pirates! Ghosts! Insanity! Burglars!

12. 13 Assassins (2010)

Wow, that was a long fight. What a marathon.

I wish I had watched this next, it could’ve been the thirteenth film.

13. Gray’s Anatomy (1996)

I was so engaged by a guy talking for an hour.

The filmmaking elevates his already great storytelling.

14. Working Girls (1986)

I like “labor” movies, where it’s just people doing their jobs.

15. Autumn Sonata (1978)

I actually cried, one of the best movies I’ve seen. Ingrid Bergman is sooooo good in this.

16. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)

Began slower than Sherlock Jr. but went nuts at the end. It’s unbelievable how impressive it is.

17. The Hand (2004)

💦😭💦😭💦

18. The Killing (1956)

Actually good, Sterling Hayden was fantastic in Dr. Strangelove, so seeing him in an earlier Kubrick film was fun. However, the end felt a bit neutered by the Hays Code.

19. 12 Angry Men (1957)

Henry Fonda is fantastic (of course), but enjoyed seeing Lee J. Cobb (from The Exorcist and On the Waterfront) and Martin Balsam (from Psycho and debuted in On the Waterfront).

Should’ve watched it before 13 Assassins.

20. House of Games (1987)

Joe Mantegna is so cool in this, actually unreal.

Reflections

When I started, I thought I’d get burnt out or distracted, but neither really happened. Sure, films I didn’t like became a slog, as I wished for them to be over. These were rare, though, and I would’ve likely felt the same in more ordinary circumstances.

I was concerned that I might stop emotionally connecting with the films, or that an especially powerful one would overwhelm the next. Surprisingly, I was able to keep them mostly contained, though there was some emotional whiplash between Autumn Sonata and Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Would I do it again? Well, I hope my sleep is never so disrupted that this would seem reasonable. That said, it was actually a great experience. Many people have told me that watching multiple films together hurts your ability to appreciate each one enough, but I rather enjoyed it.

So, I wouldn’t do 20 films again, but 4 in a day doesn’t seem too unreasonable, does it?