Difficulty Following Movies?

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I am sorry if this has been discussed before, I could not find any threads on it.

I have always had a weird relationship with movies. Long after other kids could comprehend and follow the plot of a film, I still couldn't tell the difference between the good and bad guys. This is particularly bad for live action films where the characters change clothes and appearances with almost every scene. For this reason, I have always enjoyed watching animated/children's films because characters are more distinctive and don't usually change.

I find most movies boring. Oftentimes I don't understand what is going on, because I missed something extremely important (I will literally not read things like signage, or see symbols, because I didn't know it was important to understanding the movie. If I ever go to see a movie now, I read a summary about it online ahead of time so I can know what to expect in the film. If I do this, then I can enjoy the movie.

Lastly, watching films in theatres can be upsetting. When I was 12 and saw Titanic in the theatre, I felt unsettled, upset and queasy for the rest of the evening - as though I could "escape" the feelings created by watching the film. This began to happen with every movie except comedies and documentaries, which are now my favourite genres.

It is important to note that the same thing does not happen with television series, because watching the same characters over a period of weeks or months allows me to remember faces, mannerisms and names.

Has anyone else with AS experienced this?

Can't watch 'em but this is an ADHD trait as well. I can watch comedies because they generally move quickly or have a constant flow of information. I cannot watch movies with huge amounts of charcter development or complicated plots. I just can't get into it, I don't want to have to figure out the character's intentions.

Once in a great while I can get away with it, I have to be in rare form. It's MUCH easier in a theater, nearly impossible to watch movies at home.

I don't care for movies. I think a lot of it is because I have a hard time telling characters apart. I have to hope that everyone has distinctive hair styles, because that is what I go on more than faces. I much prefer television, because the first episode introduces the characters and the story. It's more comfortable. With movies you are just expected to get the characters and their motives right away, which is difficult for me.

This has been brought up before (once since I've been here) and someone said something interesting that I didn't know. Apparently the filmmaker will leave out chunks of information because the assumption is the viewer will intuit the rest. I am always confused by the middle of a thriller or a mystery. I have no idea what's going on; I have to wait til the end of the movie when they start to wrap things up.

Yes, I have this problem. I focus too much on the details. I absolutely cannot follow complicated plots without subtitles on, and even with the subtitles, I often miss important points. I usually end up going online and reading summaries during or after the movie.

Wow, I did now know that.

Yeah, same here. I have difficulty understanding characters' intentions, especially in the first 10-15 minutes of the movie. Something that has actually helped me a lot in that regard is making sure I always watch the trailer ahead of time so I have the gist of what the plot is going to be about. Reading a film review works, too. Also, it helps me figure out what the names of the characters are--for some reason, miss names frequently. Which probably means I'm missing a lot of other things, too.

I am going to start trying to turn the subtitles on, when possible. Others have commented that this is a big help for those with auditory processing issues.

It also helps to watch films of quality, with good acting.

Thank you to all for your input. It feels amazing to find out that I'm not the only one who experiences this. It makes it awkward to go to movies with friends. It's happened more than once that in conversation after the movie, I have incriminated how badly I misunderstood the whole thing ("You mean he was the evil guy?", "That's what those people were trying to do!", "But why did she want to get revenge on him?") I eventually stopped going to movies with people!

Don't stop going to movies, just maybe refine your tastes a bit more. Some kinds of movies are easier to follow than others.

yes, i have trouble understanding the "big picture" of movies. i often can't keep track of the overall plot or see the objective of the film. luckily i get the jokes and understand the characters' intentions.

The only movie that I had trouble following was Sweeney Todd. The first time I watched it, I missed out on a lot of things that only made sense after I had read detailed descriptions about the characters on different websites. For some reason, I also had a lot of difficulty following the words they were speaking/singing. I could understand the beginning and ending of verses/sentences but tuned out the middle so that the words sounded like gibberish. The best comparison I can think of is the sound the teachers make when they talk in Charlie Brown movies: "Wahh wahh wahh..."

yes. sometimes i just give up and look at it without even trying to figure out what's going on.

subtitles help but if i really want to follow something, i have to replay scenes a lot. action movies are impossible.

I have the exact same issues! Plots are hard to follow, characters sometimes hard to recognize, yet negative emotions come through loud, clear and overwhelming (like you mentioned with Titanic.) I will not watch sad or horror movies, period.

Being old, I have not always had such a hard time following movies. Compare 'classic' movies to today's. Today, things move faster, more is left to inference and body language, and there is less dialogue. In other words, movies, like society, are becoming more NT-centric.

I love movies but it can take me a really long time to watch them. Like a few days in some cases.

I often get lost or confused by the plot and have to rewind and rewatch parts of it. Which is one reason why I hate watching movies with other people, and also why I don't generally go to the movie theater. There are exceptions though, if a movie captures all my attention right from the start.

I also have to do some light research on a film before I watch it. If I don't know anything about it before watching, I find it harder to get to a point where I understand what is happening. Also, pre-watching research lets me know if a movie is likely to keep my interest and be worth the time it might take me to watch it. I have nearly mastered the skill of judging a movie by it's cover and rarely pick out bad movies from the rental store.

I understand, totally. When I was a kid, I loved animated films. Cartoons, except for some musicals. I loved certain musicals but would get bored with songs in others. When I tried to watch certain shows on television, or certain movies, I would confuse the characters with the same hair color and very non descript faces. I couldn't tell who was who. I still do it, sometimes, now, but rarely. Mostly, I just lose interest and change the channel, at home. Once, I went to see a movie, had no idea what it was about but liked the title. As soon as I found out what genre it was, I walked out and went someplace else. I couldn't even make myself sit through it!


That is an awesome idea! Read about it first and find out what the plot is. It's a great way to compensate for not being able to focus in and it allows you to tell if you will find the genre and plot interesting before buying a ticket. I do the same thing.


I didn't see Titanic in the movie theatre, just on DVD and I thought it was spectacular and it arroused my interest in the story of the doomed liner. I had heard about it before, of course, but was never that interested until after I saw the Cameron film. I did get really upset while watching the film.
I do tend to focus in on sitcoms and series better than films. I have a hard time with series such as Twin Peaks.

video games too. there's too much going on. i like the old Atari games like Frogger.
exception is Guitar Hero which i love.

Same here!! ! For me, most movies consist of multiple scenes where people say stuff... it's hard for me to connect the dialogues together and get the general idea of the plot. Maybe that's why I find most movies and TV dramas boring, coz I naturally see too much detail which paradoxically makes it harder to understand what's going on