I watched (most of) Jaws again last night.  It really is a spectacularly good movie, with two standout scenes even by that high bar. The first is when Roy Scheider is sitting at the dinner table with his son and notices that the son is imitating him. So there’s this little scene where they are interacting that has no immediate narrative purpose; it’s pure observation. The second is the scene where Quint, Brody, andHooper are sitting around in the boat getting drunk and comparing scars & war stories. Both come from a type of filmmaking that seems to be out of style: the idea that even an action/SFX movie like Jaws should take some time out from directly and obviously advancing the plot to spend some time just watching the characters being themselves and interacting.

I feel like at the end of most movies these days, I can tell you the plot, I can tell you the motivations of the characters, maybe even their backstory; but I have no idea what it would be like to sit down with them. There is no time for anything that doesn’t directly advance the plot.