You need your hands full. That is all. You need something that takes up the right amount of space in your attention, that keeps the quieter frequency from surfacing, that gives you somewhere to be that isn't inside the thing you are working around. These films are designed for exactly this kind of watching: present enough to hold you, undemanding enough to let you rest inside the story without having to perform your engagement. They will do the work. You just have to stay in the room.
At a tiny Parisian café, the adorable yet painfully shy Amélie accidentally discovers a gift for helping others. Soon Amelie is spending her days as a matchmaker, guardian angel, and all-around do-gooder. But when she bumps into a handsome stranger, will she find the courage to b
It holds your attention at exactly the right level. Demanding enough that the loop cannot find a foothold, generous enough that it does not feel like work.
Full hands, quiet mind
In Casablanca, Morocco in December 1941, a cynical American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.
Full enough to keep the front of your brain occupied. The thing you are working around will still be there later, but later is not now.
Keeps the front occupied
Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.
The right kind of busy. This film puts something in your hands and keeps it there until you are ready to set it down.
Right level of demanding
In a near-future Britain, young Alexander DeLarge and his pals get their kicks beating and raping anyone they please. When not destroying the lives of others, Alex swoons to the music of Beethoven. The state, eager to crack down on juvenile crime, gives an incarcerated Alex the o
Exactly what distraction is supposed to be: a world complete enough to be in, undemanding enough to rest inside.
The bridge
Full enough to keep the loop from finding you. Just.
An intriguing and sinful exploration of seduction, forbidden love, and redemption, Gabriel's Inferno is a captivating and wildly passionate tale of one man's escape from his own personal hell as he tries to earn the impossible--forgiveness and love.
It holds your attention at exactly the right level. Demanding enough that the loop cannot find a foothold, generous enough that it does not feel like work.
Full hands, quiet mind
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and may be too late to correct his mistake.
Full enough to keep the front of your brain occupied. The thing you are working around will still be there later, but later is not now.
Keeps the front occupied
In 1999, a teen girl keeps close tabs on a boy in school on behalf of her deeply smitten best friend - then she gets swept up in a love story of her own.
The right kind of busy. This film puts something in your hands and keeps it there until you are ready to set it down.
Right level of demanding
Jessica knows exactly what her life is supposed to look like and where it takes her. But then she meets Danny. He has a complicated past and could confuse all their plans. Jessica has to decide.
Exactly what distraction is supposed to be: a world complete enough to be in, undemanding enough to rest inside.
The bridge
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried
It holds your attention at exactly the right level. Demanding enough that the loop cannot find a foothold, generous enough that it does not feel like work.
Full hands, quiet mind
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
Full enough to keep the front of your brain occupied. The thing you are working around will still be there later, but later is not now.
Keeps the front occupied
A reclusive English teacher suffering from severe obesity attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.
The right kind of busy. This film puts something in your hands and keeps it there until you are ready to set it down.
Right level of demanding
A woman married to a former politician during the 1971 military dictatorship in Brazil is forced to reinvent herself and chart a new course for her family after a violent and arbitrary act.
Exactly what distraction is supposed to be: a world complete enough to be in, undemanding enough to rest inside.
The bridge
Hands full, head somewhere else. That's the whole goal.