Had a friend tell me 'long takes are boring' and now I'm rethinking my favorite shows

I was talking to my buddy Dave last week about slow burn dramas and he said he skips any scene that goes longer than 2 minutes without a cut. He called it 'dead air' and said shows like Better Call Saul are unwatchable because of the lingering shots. At first I got defensive because I love that stuff, the tension and the silence... but then I thought about how many people I know who can't sit through The Americans without checking their phones. Maybe I've been gatekeeping what 'good' TV is based on my own patience level. Has anyone else had a taste shift after someone called out your favorite show's pacing?

3 comments

3 Comments

sageross17d ago

Tell Dave he's missing the whole point of building tension.

william_jackson6514d ago

Nah Dave's totally wrong about that. I've sat through movies where the first hour feels like nothing's happening and then the last twenty minutes hit you like a truck because of all that quiet buildup. There's this one crime drama I watched where the first act is just a guy driving around listening to police scanners and you're like "when does something happen" and then halfway through you realize every single thing he heard in that car matters for the ending. Skipping the silence is like only eating the crust off a pizza and wondering why it tastes plain. The tension doesn't work unless you earn it first.

phoenix_carter17d ago

@sageross I feel like they get it but maybe from the opposite direction. The thing is, is a long take actually dead air if it's saying something with the silence? Like, Dave skipping those scenes means he's never seeing the payoff because he's not sitting through the setup. How do you explain to someone that the boring parts are the whole point when they've already decided they're boring?