Trouble following films?

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I have to concentrate reaaaaly hard to follow a moderately complicated film.
I was wondering if any of you think this is to do with autism.

My mind wanders off frequently, I suspect I have add traits too.

I think if there is too much dialogue, my mind processes the social aspects of the film, slightly slowly even if I am paying full concentration,

Hmm.

Me too. It might be just because I lose interest. (Though I only see about two movies a year now, sometimes less, e.g. when visiting my kids at Christmas)

I think if I concentrated hard I could work out what I was "supposed" to see, but I just see a bunch of actors doing unrealistic stuff, and if it's a big Hollywood movie I see highly paid committees deciding what will work with each demographic.

The last movie I saw was the final Harry Potter. I found it very hard to care. Though I did enjoy the 3rd one(?) - the one with the foreign director and the great scenery.

The one before that was Fantastic Mr Fox. The whole thing was an ad for how great it is to be NT. The bad guy gets the girl and nice guys are wimps. Thanks, I needed that. I felt bad though because my daughters loved it and showed me because they wanted me to love it too. I tried, and only said positive things, but they could tell I was stressed as usual, and my eyes were usually on the edge of the screen.

Hmm. Another post about "me me me." I suppose that's why they call it aut-ism.

While I consider myself a movie fan - I do have trouble following films and also working out what is about to happen/what a character is about to do... Sometimes what is obvious to others surprises me.

I often rewatch films and research them to find out more about them.

The film which I had this issue with and researched most was Donnie darko, although this is one of my favourite films!

Most people have a problem with Donnie Darko.
If they figured it out well the first time, then they are either extremely smart or lying I think.

Re: Donnie Darko, I don't know that it has any one specific meaning.. and there is also the Director's Cut, which basically changes the plot completely. That said, I do greatly enjoy the movie and my interpretation of it

As far as movies in general, I used to have more problems when I wasn't aware of all the social stuff that people do on a regular basis. Now that I've been exposed to it more, movies make more sense, although most of them still strike me as really boring.

That's why I ask "why are they doing this again/what is happening?" to my family member/friend... That's how I figure it out.

Yes, I have trouble following films, even though I'm a broadcast & film student at the moment.

The trick is to remember that people on the spectrum are better visual learners than NTs. I'd say most Aspies are incredibly visual and they get lost in their own mental "images".

It doesn't mean you're slow if you have a hard time following one really long dialogue, but it does mean you process information differently.

I find it easier reading a dialogue than hearing it.

I'm sure most ADHDers, Aspies, or what have you, benefit from visuals more than dialogue.

Yes, I have trouble following films with at least slightly complex plots. Mostly films with "agents" or "espionage" or "CIA" or "corporations" or any of those sorts of movies where there are conversations involving big words and somewhat complex interactions/relationships between the characters/groups. I think perhaps my mind sort of glazes over these conversations, but what I feel is that I haven't understood what they were saying. I then get lost and have to ask what is going on. I've always thought it was because I just don't understand the concepts, but it may be that I just don't know how to pay attention to what they are saying.

I also have a lot of trouble with shifts in time. Donnie Darko was difficult partly for that reason, and I remember struggling greatly with Pulp Fiction.

I'd really like to get more info on this as it is the first "odd" thing my ex noticed about me, and commented on. He says he finds it puzzling that I am so intelligent in some ways, yet I can't even follow a movie plot sometimes.

Do others feel that your issue is more to do with understanding, or attention?

I find I get a lot more out of films if I watch them with subtitles on.

This is a common problem with autism. The theory behind it is Weak Central Coherence (WCC). People on the spectrum often have problems with WCC. What that means is that they see details easier than they see the 'bigger picture'. This can make following films and books difficult because working out what's going on generally from the specifics they see/read is hard work.

I don't, I often find them predictable, although attempting predictions can be fun when it's challenging, in many genre's it isn't.....at all. But I do follow what is supposed to be known at particular points in almost every case.

Generally what I find confusing are just the movies that are designed to be that way (Inland Empire, Inception, etc.) and you can't really complain about that.

I'm like that as well. I mean, I can follow complex films but I have to actually try and concentrate really hard. If I don't try and process what I'm watching and hearing than I wont know what's going on.

I agree with the OP here, that is how I am. I get lost in many films. It's like here we are five minutes into a Harry Potter movie and my wife and kids already know all these things going on I'm trying to figure it all out. Lord of the Rings was an absolute nightmare for me. And I missed a lot of the subplots and stuff in all the Star Wars movies. It's like who is good and who is bad? I tend to miss these underlying storylines that drive so many of these films.

Let me share a few movies and TV shows I followed without problem that I dearly love:

Jaws
Duel
What About Bob?
The Long Long Trailer
A Mighty Wind
Star Trek (television)
Twilight Zone (television)
most old horror films
most British comedy

I have to concentrate pretty hard too, and I'm always missing bits and bobs and don't quite grasp the general plot of the film and get confused by scene changes. It's probably due to being easily distracted in general, having a low attention span and having a 'one track mind'. It's a bummer really as I love watching films and I'm often very interested in the films I do watch, and enjoy them thoroughly, but others always discuss details of the film that I've somehow missed, not just minor details either but things that are seemingly essential to the storyline.

I've often heard of and read about people with ASDs "focusing on the details but not taking in the whole", but when I watch films it seems to be the other way round - I take in the general essence of the movie but my mind always skips over the details. I'm like that with lots of other things too.

Yeah I think I agree here. For example, I would understand who the bad guys are and that there is some sort of conspiracy going on, but I would fail to understand the details of the conspiracy itself. This happened with The Sum of All Fears, so the second time I watched it I tried to pay more attention. I got to the end of a conversation between Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman's characters and realised I hadn't really heard what they were saying. I skipped back and listened properly and heard all these details I had missed - but it took a lot of effort to listen and understand what they were talking about.

Focus is not that much of a problem. I do miss some things when watching a film. But what is much more frustrating is not being able to see hints. Because I don't remember most of what happens in a film. Well, I only remember vaguely what happens.

I can remember all films where this was worst for me. I have felt so embarrassed. Because I didn't know what I was doing wrong. And people usually are amused because they understood what was going on and I didn't. I know people don't intend to be mean, but I feel bad about myself. Things like this are the reason why I thought I was completely stupid all my life. Because that's the only explanation I had.

The ironic thing is that the same people who were amused by my inadequacies tried to tell me that I was not stupid at all. It didn't make sense. People have always been annoyed by things I didn't get or that I didn't get immediately. And I never made any real "progress" - this is many people's favourite term.