Hard to Watch

We live in a true golden age for movies and television. With the advent of streaming services and video-on-demand, we no longer even need to go to a library or video store to access a vast store of treasures. For just a few bucks a month, we're able to pipe solid gold directly into our living rooms: classic cinema from all periods of Hollywood history, inventive television series from all across the world, and audacious new works that expand the possibilities of modern film. Yet, given the chance, most of us barely scratch the surface of what's available. And this makes a certain kind of sense. At the end of hard day, would you rather watch Ingmar Bergman's five-hour family drama Fanny and Alexander, or queue up another episode of The Office? Nonetheless, as Matthew Strohl explains in this witty and engaging book, we're doing ourselves a disservice by overlooking so-called "difficult" movies and TV. Hard to Watch is a joyous celebration of works that might seem boring, pretentious, or offensive at first glance but that offer their own distinctive pleasures when we give ourselves over to them. Writing with infectious enthusiasm--and a total lack of condescension--Strohl covers everything from the films of directors like Terence Malick, Andrei Tarkovsky, and David Lynch to such disreputable works as the Saw movies and I Spit on Your Grave, evocatively showing why they're worth the time to engage with, and how to get the most out of them. Whether you're a film buff looking to up your game or just someone who's bored with Netflix, Hard to Watch is a brisk and accessibly guide to expanding your horizons.