While I've loved watching films since I first laid eyes on one of the classic Disney animated films as a toddler (must've been either "Bambi" or "Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs"), it wasn't until about high school that I started considering making films the centre of my life. I blame Peter Jackson.
And "The Lord Of The Rings" film trilogy.
Actually, no. I blame whoever directed and edited the making-of featurettes and documentaries on the DVDs. Top-notch job there, people: A whole generation of wannabe filmmakers born from your efforts.
Like me, they saw the cast having a whale of a time, joking and bonding together. They saw the crew and all the effort and passion they put into creating the awe-inspiring set-pieces, shots and visual effects. They saw Peter Jackson commanding troops of horsemen to ride in the field for a big sweeping shot, then the post-production crew as they increased their numbers digitally.
And like me, they told themselves: "Yes, this is it. This is what I want to do."
And from then on, it's either during or after film school that all these hopes get dashed to shreds as we learn the hard truth about working in cinema, either from the mouths of our teachers, from disillusionned struggling artists or ex-artists or from first-hand experience.
In my case, it was more or less the latter, in that my experience working on end-of-year short film projects taught me that I couldn't direct worth a damn. No sense of space. No authority. No way with people.
It was no big deal though. I had an ace up my sleeve. Something I always liked doing but hadn't seriously put in practice: Writing. Also, hours spent in class trying to absolve the mechanics of film analysis. And no, I'm not talking about the idiotic "nothing-is-accidental" approach that essentially consists of looking for hidden symbolic meanings in every shot of the film, down to the colours of the character's clothes. But rather a more objective approach, consisting of simply describing everything you can see, without giving an opinion, and then how the scene or film affects you. And then figure out the connections: How does the way this is shot/edited/acted make me feel this or that emotion? Is it the correct emotion? Is there even a correct emotion to feel?
It was a challenge at first. I resisted it initially. I racked my brains trying to make sense of it, until I did. And eventually, I figured it out: I had to be a critic. To voice my opinions and feelings on film. What I love. What I hate. Why I love, why I hate. What's overrated, what's underrated, etc., etc.
So, to cut a long rambling short, this is what this blog is going to be: A collection of reviews and essays of sorts, in which I talk about films I have seen. While I will occasionnally address some of my favourite films, I'd rather focus on films that haven't been endlessly talked about and dissected by far more intelligent and educated people than myself. I will also provide mini-reviews for virtually every film I watch, just a few words to sum up how I felt.
Thank you in advance to whosoever had the time and patience to read all this. I hope my writing skills improve.
It goes without saying that all film screenshots and posters are properties of their respective owners, none of which include me.
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