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.
Palermo, Sicily, 1980. Mafia member Tommaso Buscetta decides to move to Brazil with his family fleeing the constant war between the different clans of the criminal organization. But when, after living several misfortunes, he is forced to return to Italy, he makes a bold decision
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
19 year old Isaiah Wright lives for basketball and video games. A year out of high school, he has no job, no plans, and no idea how to be a man. At odds with his single mother Cynthia, Isaiah is given an ultimatum - to step up or move out. Feeling the pull from his friends and th
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
The story of life on our planet by the man who has seen more of the natural world than any other. In more than 90 years, Attenborough has visited every continent on the globe, exploring the wild places of our planet and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder.
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
Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17-year-old Simon Spier, it's a little more complicated. He hasn't told his family or friends that he's gay, and he doesn't know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he's fallen for online.
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.
After decades apart, childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung are reunited in New York for one fateful weekend as they confront notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life.
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 postwar Rome, a working-class woman dreams of a better future for herself and her daughter while facing abuse at the hands of her domineering husband. When a mysterious letter arrives, she discovers the courage to change the circumstances of her life.
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 boy, bruised by life, finds his salvation through the love of his dogs.
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
Professor Gabriel Emerson finally learns the truth about Julia Mitchell's identity, but his realization comes a moment too late. Julia is done waiting for the well-respected Dante specialist to remember her and wants nothing more to do with him. Can Gabriel win back her heart bef
Exactly what distraction is supposed to be: a world complete enough to be in, undemanding enough to rest inside.
The bridge
After 12 years in prison, former high school football star Eddie Palmer returns home to put his life back together:and forms an unlikely bond with Sam, an outcast boy from a troubled home. But Eddie's past threatens to ruin his new life and family.
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
Shouya Ishida starts bullying the new girl in class, Shouko Nishimiya, because she is deaf. But as the teasing continues, the rest of the class starts to turn on Shouya for his lack of compassion. When they leave elementary school, Shouko and Shouya do not speak to each other aga
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
Japan, 1943, during World War II. Young Suzu leaves her village near Hiroshima to marry and live with her in-laws in Kure, a military harbor. Her creativity to overcome deprivation quickly makes her indispensable at home. Inhabited by an ancestral wisdom, Suzu impregnates the sim
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
The summer of his high school freshman year, Hodaka runs away from his remote island home to Tokyo, and quickly finds himself pushed to his financial and personal limits. The weather is unusually gloomy and rainy every day, as if taking its cue from his life. After many days of s
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.