A Word on [W/O] (Patreon)

I had a few minutes of downtime today, and I began thinking about [W/O]s. Now, this refers to a "walkout," a film that I watched at least a third of, but stopped (or if I'm in the theater, physically walked out of). As you might expect, the more films I see in a year, the more [W/O]s I have, although one year, 2007, I had only one [W/O] despite seeing as many films that year as usual.

I crunched some numbers. Since 2001, when I began keeping screening logs, I have walked out of (or turned off) 210 feature films. Of those 210, I eventually went back and finished 15 of them. That's right around 7%. In most cases, I went back to finish films that received some kind of acclaim, films such as The Assistant, Emily the Criminal, or I Killed My Mother. Once or twice, I've had to leave a festival screening due to an emergency or an ill-timed appointment, so I finished those. They include Tsai's I Don't Want to Sleep Alone and Varda's Cinevardaphoto.

I had thought that I returned to a lot more [W/O]s. But in fact, my judgment mostly seems to be final. And so, as an experiment, I wanted to open the floor to discussion on whether any of these films demand a second look. (There is one that is a fairly obvious candidate.) Here is the list, in reverse chronological order. (Films I finished will have an asterisk.)

2023

Full River Red (Zhang Yimou, China) (0:42)

It Is In Us All (Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Ireland) (0:35)

2022

*Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (Richard Linklater, U.S. / Netherlands) (0:30)

Children of the Mist (Diem Ha Le, Vietnam) (0:27)

*Emily the Criminal (John Patton Ford, U.S.)  (0:56)

Happer's Comet (Tyler Taormina, U.S.) [m] (0:40)

Hot in Day, Cold at Night (Park Song-yeol, South Korea) (0:34)

The Innocents (Eskil Vogt, Norway / Denmark / Finland / Sweden) (0:30)

Once Upon a Time in Calcutta (Aditya Vikram Sengupta, India / France / Norway) (0:42)

Petrov's Flu (Kirill Serebrennikov, Russia / France / Germany / Switzerland) (0:34)

Pilgrims (Laurynas Bareiša, Lithuania) (0:41)

The Severing (Mark Pellington, U.S.) (0:30)

Watcher (Chloe Okuno, U.S. / U.A.E.) (0:34)

White Building (Kavich Neang, Cambodia / Qatar / China / France) (0:40)

2021

Aleph (Iva Radivojevic, U.S. / Croatia / Qatar) (0:40)

Bad Trip (Kitao Sakurai, U.S.) (0:31)

Belfast (Kenneth Branagh, U.K.) (0:40)

C'mon C'mon (Mike Mills, U.S.) (0:59)

DNA (Maïwenn, France) (0:34)

Drifting (Jun Li, Hong Kong) (0:34)

Forest: I See You Everywhere (Bence Fliegauf, Hungary) (0:40)

The Good Woman of Sichuan (Sabrina Zhao, Canada) (0:25)

The Green Knight (David Lowery, U.S.) (0:29)

I Want to Talk About Duras (Claire Simon, France)  (0:32)

Landscapes of Resistance (Marta Popivoda, Serbia / Germany / France) (0:45)

Luzzu (Alex Camilleri, Malta) (0:49)

Memory House (João Paolo Miranda Maria, Brazil / France) (0:32)

Never Gonna Snow Again (Małgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert, Poland / Germany / Netherlands) (0:45)

*Suzanna Andler (Benoît Jacquot, France) (0:32)

We (Alice Diop, France) (0:35)

Yuni (Kamila Andini, Indonesia / Singapore / France / Australia) (0:35)

2020

Accidental Luxuriance of the Translucent Watery Rebus (Dalibor Barić, Croatia) (0:29)

The Annotated Field Guide of Ulysses S. Grant (Jim Finn) [m] (0:20)

*The Assistant (Kitty Green) (0:44)

The History of the Seattle Mariners (Jon Bois) (1:03)

Hopper/Welles (Orson Welles) (0:52)

The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers) (1:03)

The Midnight Sky (George Clooney) (1:02)

*Orphea (Alexander Kluge and Khavn, Germany / Philippines) (0:22)

Redoubt (Matthew Barney) (0:36)

Saturday Fiction (Lou Ye, China / France) (1:05)

The Viewing Booth (Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, Israel / U.S.) (0:37)

2019

Aquarela (Viktor Kossakovsky, U.K. / Germany / Denmark / U.S. / Greenland) (0:35)

Before You Know It (Hannah Pearl Utt) (0:28)

Clara's Ghost (Bridey Elliott) (0:38)

Jupiter's Moon (Kornél Mundruczó, Hungary / France / Germany) (1:04)

Never Look Away [Werk ohne Autor] (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Germany / Italy) (0:59)

Now something is slowly changing (mint film office, Netherlands) (0:45)

2018

Adriana's Pact (Lissette Orozco, Chile) (0:42)

Angels Wear White (Vivian Qu, China) (0:35)

Azougue Nazaré (Tiago Melo, Brazil) (0:40)

Bitter Money (Wang Bing, China) (0:40)

Distant Constellation (Shevaun Mizrahi, Turkey / U.S.) (0:35)

Duck Butter (Miguel Arteta) (0:40)

Future Language: The Dimensions of Von LMO (Lori Felker) (0:30)

Manto (Nandita Das, India) (0:40)

The Old Man & The Gun (David Lowery) (0:27)

A Special Day (Homayoun Asadian, Iran) (0:33)

2017

Ana mon amour (Călin Peter Netzer, Romania / Germany / France) (0:40)

Boundaries [Pays] (Chloé Robichaud, Canada) (0:31)

Dawson City: Frozen Time (Bill Morrison) (0:45)

The Dragon Defense (Natalia Santa, Colombia) (0:47)

Embrace of the Serpent (Ciro Guerra, Colombia / Venezuela / Argentina) (0:32)

Finding Kim (Aaron Bear) (0:40)

First They KIlled My Father (Angelina Jolie, U.S. / Cambodia) (0:41)

I don't feel at home in this world anymore. (Macon Blair) (0:30)

Ingrid Goes West (Matt Spicer) (0:33)

Menashe (Joshua Z Weinstein) (0:39)

Miss Kiet's Children (Peter Lataster and Petra Lataster-Czisch, Netherlands) (1:00)

2016

The Apostate (Federico Veiroj, Spain / France / Uruguay) (0:20)

The Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour)  (1:12)

Counting (Jem Cohen) (0:32)

*The Handmaiden (Park Chan-wook, South Korea) (1:15)

The Magnificent Seven (Antoine Fuqua) (0:45)

Noces (Stephan Streker, Belgium / France / Luxembourg / Pakistan) (0:43)

Shadow World (Johan Grimonprez, U.S. / Denmark / Belgium) (0:20)

Swiss Army Man (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) (0:51)

time/OUT OF JOINT (Caspar Stracke, U.S. / Germany) (0:22)

Window Horses: The Persian Poetic Epiphany of Rosie Ming (Ann Marie Fleming, Canada) (0:18)

2015

Blue Strait (Jon Jost) (0:45)

Fort Tilden (Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers) (0:26)

Let's Kill Ward's Wife (Scott Foley) (0:28)

Northern Soul (Elaine Constantine, U.K.) (0:37)

The Pearl Button (Patricio Guzmán, Chile / France / Spain / Switzerland) (0:26)

2014

Afternoon Delight (Jill Soloway) (0:28)

[Bad] Neighbors (Nicholas Stoller) (0:30)

Calvary (John Michael McDonagh, Ireland / U.K.) (0:28)

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (Ned Benson) (1:08)

The Double (Richard Ayoade, U.K.) (0:20)

Enemy (Denis Villeneuve, Canada) (0:22)

Félix and Meira (Maxime Giroux, Canada) (0:35)

Genesis: Sum of the Parts (John Edginton, U.K.) (0:40)

Hellion (Kat Candler) (0:17)

A Long Way Down (Pascal Chaumeil, U.K. / Germany) (0:22)

A Million Ways to Die in the West (Seth MacFarlane) (0:23)

Run & Jump (Steph Green, Ireland) (0:22)

Le Week-End (Roger Michell, U.K. / France) (0:55)

2013

The Canyons (Paul Schrader) (0:35)

The Company You Keep (Robert Redford) (0:40)

The Dirties (Matt Johnson, Canada) (0:18)

Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler) (0:41)

Gimme The Loot (Adam Leon) (0:45)

Girl Most Likely (Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman) (0:20)

A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (Roman Coppola) (0:38)

The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann, Australia / U.S.) (0:44)

Jug Face (Chad Crawford Kinkle) (0:32)

The Lifeguard (Liz W. Garcia) (0:45)

*Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley, Canada) (0:38)

Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (Peter Hyams) (0:45)

Warm Bodies (Jonathan Levine) (0:30)

Wrong (Quentin Dupieux, France) (0:32)

Zero Charisma (Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews) (0:33)

2012

As If We Were Catching a Cobra (Hala Alabdalla, Syria / France) [viewed w/ French subtitles]  (0:44)

Beauty (Oliver Hermanus, South Africa) (0:32)

Bullhead (Michael R. Roskam, Belgium) (1:10)

Headshot (Pen-Ek Ratanruang, Thailand) (1:05)

LOL (Lisa Azuelos) (0:52)

Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (Matthew Akers) (0:51)

Nature Calls (Todd Rohal) (0:36)

Nuit #1 (Anne Émond, Canada)  (0:35)

*Our Life (La Nostra Vita) (Daniele Luchetti, Italy) (0:34)

Premium Rush (David Koepp) (0:53)

A Royal Affair (Nikolaj Arcel, Denmark) (0:33)

The Sheik and I (Caveh Zahedi, U.S. / United Arab Emirates) (0:36)

Thursday Through Sunday (Dominga Sotomayor, Chile / The Netherlands) (0:50)

Whores' Glory (Michael Glawogger, Germany / Austria) (0:32)

2011

Ajami (Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani, Israel / Germany)  (0:35)

The Cinema Hold-up (Iria Gómez Concheiro, Mexico) (0:32)

Don't Be Afraid (Montxo Armindaríz, Spain)  (0:22)

Free Men (Ismaël Ferroukhi, Algeria / France) (0:33)

The Guard (John Michael McDonagh, Ireland) (0:42)

Guilty of Romance (Sion Sono, Japan) (0:53)

Higher Ground (Vera Farmiga) (0:37)

*I Killed My Mother (Xavier Dolan, Canada)  (0:28)

The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd, U.K.)  (0:22)

The Lottery (Madeleine Sackler) [v] (0:40)

My Week With Marilyn (Simon Curtis, U.K. / U.S.) (0:38)

Nénette (Nicolas Philibert, France) (0:33)

Red State (Kevin Smith) (0:28)

Self-Referential Traverse: Zeitgeist and Engagement (Sun Kim, South Korea) [v] (0:25)

Soul Kitchen (Fatih Akin, Germany)  (0:45)

Spring Fever (Lou Ye, China / France)  (0:40)

Sucker Punch (Zack Snyder) (0:26)

Tyrannosaur (Paddy Considine, U.K.) (0:47)

*Wuthering Heights (Andrea Arnold, U.K.)  (1:00)

2010

Freakonomics (Heidi Ewing / Alex Gibney / Seth Gordon / Rachel Grady / Eugene Jarecki / Morgan Spurlock) (0:38)

Inception (Christopher Nolan) (0:31)

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (Tamra Davis)  (0:27)

Mamma Gógó (Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Iceland) (0:23)

Motherhood (Katherine Dieckmann) (0:40)

Salt (Phillip Noyce) (0:24)

Shrek Forever After (Mike Mitchell) (0:14)

Soul of Sand (Sidharth Srinivasan, India) [v] (0:45)

Udaan (Vikramaditya Motwane, India) (0:32)

2009

Amreeka (Cherien Dabis, U.S. / Canada) (0:47)

Gigante (Adrián Beniez, Uruguay / Argentina / Germany / Spain) (0:46)

Julie & Julia (Nora Ephron) (0:40)

Max Manus (Espen Sandberg / Joachim Roenning, Norway / Denmark / Germany) (0:33)

Observe and Report (Jody Hill) (1:01)

Passing Strange (Spike Lee) [v] (0:20)

Uncertainty (Scott McGehee and David Siegel) (0:33)

2008

The Burrowers (JT Petty) (0:35)

Dioses (Josué Méndez, Peru / Argentina / France / Germany) (0:35)

The Memory of Angels (Luc Bourdon, Canada) [v] (0:24)

Teza (Haile Gerima, Ethiopia / Germany / France) (1:35)

Two Legged Horse (Samira Makhmalbaf, Iran) (1:15)

2007

The Bird Savior, Clouds and Wind (Istvan Szaladjak, Hungary) (0:33)

2006

Babel (Alejandro González Iñárritu, U.S. / Mexico) (1:32)

Dans les villes (Catherine Martin, Canada) (0:28)

*Daratt (Mahamet-Saleh Haroun, France / Belgium / Chad / Austria) (0:46)

Falkenberg Farewell (Jesper Ganslandt, Sweden / Denmark) (0:33)

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (Dito Montiel) (1:20)

*I Don't Want To Sleep Alone (Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan / France / Austria) (0:23)

Lower City (Sérgio Machado, Brazil) (1:08)

Pride & Prejudice (Joe Wright, U.K.) (1:23)

Transylvania (Tony Gatlif, France) (0:35)

Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait (Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno, France / Iceland) (0:40)

2005

Bangkok Loco (Pornchai Honggrattanporn, Thailand) (0:18)

A Child Love Story (Ben Diogaye Beye, Senegal) (0:27)

Cold Showers (Douches froids) (Antony Cordier, France) (0:35)

Familia (Louise Archambault, Canada) (0:32)

Hank Williams First Nation (Aaron James Sorensen, Canada) (0:25)

Melinda and Melinda (Woody Allen) (0:30)

Thumbsucker (Mike Mills) (0:30)

Time Off (Paréntesis) (Francisca Schweitzer and Pablo Solís, Chile) (0:32)

2004

Carandiru (Hector Babenco, Brazil) (0:27)

A Day Without a Mexican (Sergio Arau, U.S. / Mexico / Spain) (0:22)

The Hunting of the President (Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry) (0:25)

In America (Jim   Sheridan) (1:20)

Love Object (Robert Parigi) (0:22)

Shadows of Time (Florian Gallenberger, Germany) (0:17)

Spider Forest (Song Il-gon, South Korea) (1:06)

*Ydessa, The Bears, & etc . . . (Agnes Varda, France) [m] (0:25)

2003

Alexandra’s Project (Rolf de Heer, Australia) (0:32)

Dreamcatcher (Lawrence Kasdan) (0:58)

Eliana, Eliana (Riri Riza, Indonesia) (0:35)

Greendale (Bernard Shakey) (0:38)

2002

Between Strangers (Edoardo Ponti, Italy / Canada) (0:32)

Inch’Allah Sunday (Yamina Benguigui, France) (1:15)

Nine Queens (Fabián Bielinsky, Argentina) (1:14)

*Paradox Lake (Przemyslaw Reut, U.S. / Poland / Germany) (0:25)

Pilgrimage (G. R. Kannan, India) (0:46)

Sex and Lucía (Julio Medem, Spain) (0:58)

Swimming (Robert J. Siegel) (0:42)

Unfair Competition (Ettore Scola, Italy) (0:38)

The Weight of Water (Kathryn Bigelow) (0:28)

2001

The Beaver Trilogy (Trent Harris) [v] (1:05)

Jan Dara (Nonzee Nimibutr, Thailand / Hong Kong) (1:45)

Sex, Shame and Tears (Antonio Serrano, Mexico, 1999) (0:58)

Songcatcher (Maggie Greenwald) (0:17)

THE FLOOR IS YOURS.