Films have always been a significant
part of my life, but until this year they had uncomfortably played
second fiddle to my love of reading. I was a casual viewer who
fancied themselves pretty knowledgable about films: I was slowly
working my way through Steven Jay Schneider's 1001 Movies You
Should See Before You Die,
crossing a new film off the list about once a month; I was not averse
to subtitles, thought Black and White was (and is) beautiful, and
thought myself pretty cool for having seen around 10
silent films (mostly Chaplin ones).
Then
one day I stumbled upon a spreadsheet I had started when I was 16. It
was a list of all the films I had seen, though I hadn't updated it
for seven years. After adding the few hundred I had seen in the
meantime I was suddenly struck by how small the number was: just over
600.
No,
that couldn't be right. I mean, 600 is not a bad number, but I've
spent hours watching films, there are several hundred DVDs in our
house! Surely it's more than that!
That
was the catalyst for a huge change in my life this year. I have how
started pursuing films: I use my library card to borrow
ten DVDs at a time (compared to two or three books), scour the TV
guide for movies to record, and have joined the film club at my local
art gallery. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, I rarely go to the
cinema (in Australia you don't get much change from $20!).
Not only have I started watching a
large number of films, I have begun exploring film history. Though my
knowledge is still rudimentary, I can at least place a film into a
vague genre, and think about the historical influences on its
production. I am now far more interested in who is behind the camera
than who is in front of it, and how the camera is even positioned and
why.
I have started this blog in order to
connect and discuss these things with like-minded people, as well as
to put forward my own thoughts about these films. I am not entirely
sure what approach I will take on this blog (just reviews? Analyses?
Comparisons? Rants?), but expect a lot of talk about lists (the
longer the better!). Also, I have not entirely abandoned reading, and
have been interested in book-to-film adaptations since high school;
therefore expect many musings on what makes a good movie adaptation.
It has taken me ages to get around to
starting this blog. It is largely due to laziness, but also an
uncertainty about the credibility of my ideas. But if I don't share
them, I will never know.
Oh, and the number of films I have
seen? Up to 780 in three months.
Welcome! If you're going to do movie lists of some kind I would simply suggest starting with a shorter one - perhaps a Top 100 - and working on that. Trying to start out with a list of 1,000+ films on it can get discouraging when it feels like not much progress is made. And also, if you can, try to watch movies that sound interesting that happen to be on lists, rather than watching movies only because they are on a list. Take it from someone who has finished off his share of official lists.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I stopped doing recently was just as you said, watching films that are only on lists. Now I just watch anything that takes my fancy.
DeleteI've seen 250 from my edition of 1001, which isn't bad, and I have seen about 50 of those this year, so that is encouraging, but your point is a good one.