The Baby Film Buff

Dear Friends,

The title of this post does not refer to my efforts to become an enthusiast about baby films; it’s about my recent efforts to get interested in cinema. In high school, there were few alternatives to seeing movies, at least until I got into punk rock and got a driver’s license. I usually saw one every weekend, and often watched more than one. In college, I saw fewer films but they were better. The U of C film society Doc Films had an incredible calendar of movies, arranged by theme, with blockbusters and Oscar bait on the weekends. With the exception of Star Wars and LOTR franchise blockbusters, I saw very few movies after college. I have even resisted Brook’s efforts to get me to see more/better movies. I eschewed art films in favor of action movies and Black comedy franchises.

There was a reason for this. Art films, to me, are intended to evoke strong feelings, and strong feelings are something I’ve been trying to avoid most of my life. Why would I willingly allow myself to be swept away in sadness or anger by a story? I’d rather read such a thing, where I could control the pace and censor the images. This was my stated reason and not something I realized through therapy. I did not want to experience feelings that were induced by external stimuli.

Of course, that’s mainly what feelings are. And I’m old enough that it’s probably time to examine this a little bit.

That might be a bridge too far. Might it not be easier to learn to manage my feelings by experiencing them under controlled circumstances? That’s what occurred to me when I was watching the Oscars last month and had seen very few of the nominated films. I saw Oppenheimer and Barbie and that’s about it. I felt a little culturally stupid, and I resolved to watch a few more of the nominated films when the awards roll around next year.

Oh wait, I also saw American Fiction in the theater, and I really liked it. Not just the film, but also the feeling of laughing and enjoying a story about grownups by grown-ups. Maybe watching movies wouldn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.

With that in mind, I made a list of Oscar nominated movies (from this year and year’s past) and wrote it on the whiteboard in our mudroom. See above. I invited Brook to initial the ones he also wants to see, and we can tackle those on the nights when we don’t have something else to watch. Then I started on the list. The first two were The Holdovers, which was fine, I guess, and RRR, which was nothing short of amazing. It’s so good. (It is probably also problematic in a nationalist way, but I invite more information about that and in the meantime, I will uncritically promote it to other people).

My list is obviously retrospective and I will need to stay current on what’s coming out to be ready for next year. But I’ve made a mid-year resolution to see one new movie a month, preferably in the theater, in order to prepare. Suggestions welcome and anyone who also wants to become a film buff is invited to come along, in person or in spirit.

Now excuse me, I need to go see Dune 2 in the theater with my family.