Watching all nine and a half hours of Shoah during a weekend was probably one of the most “passive” powerful experiences I’ve ever had, but I was emotionally drained afterward, and couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. And the movie was mostly just people talking. I think I could watch most of the other movies again that you’ve already mentioned if they were shown in some sort of academic setting. I think dissecting a movie scene by scene would allow enough emotional distance. But not with Shoah.
The Departed. Intense and suspenseful, but I can’t bear to watch it knowing how it all comes down.
American History X was good but can’t do it again.
I’m going to agree with Brokeback Mountain as well. Heartbreaking.
Two of Todd Solondz’s films Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse. I thought they were both good movies (Welcome to the Dollhouse, probably even great. But, since I don’t want to go back and check we will never know. Does an unwatched movie flicker?) Both movies are so dark and depressing I can’t bring myself to go through with it again.
Do The Right Thing is an excellent movie, but it is so intense real and angry that I can’t ever watch it again. I watched it when it came out and then 4 or 5 years later I had a group project to work on based on the movie. I had to work on misty memories and a refusal to watch it again. Please don’t tell the professor or the rest of the team.
You should keep trying. Newman has a few scenes later that make me breathless–literally, I couldn’t breathe. He’s just so gorgeous and intense and gorgeous. And the movie does pick up a bit, I think. I remember I had some trouble getting into it, too, but I’m really glad I stuck it out. Really, really glad (did I mention Newman was gorgeous and intense and gorgeous?).
As for the OP, I can think of several movies I won’t watch again, but I can’t think of any I stopped watching.
I won’t watch any movie based on the Holocaust. I just know that eventually I’m going to see piles of scrawny dead bodies and I just. don’t. want. to.