Layout by: Casandra Bibon
Published by: Rose Ann Gatdula
Date Published: March 14, 2024
Times Published: 12:54 PM
Category: Prose
Theme: How harsh criticism kills the enjoyment of watching a film
The first way to kill a film is to look into the specs of dust on the main character’s forehead. The second way to kill is to brush through intricate scenes and dub them “off-putting”, “weird”, “cringe,” or even “a taste of shock value for shock value”. The third way to kill it would be because it’s a Marvel movie; everyone says Marvel movies are horrible.
My family has had the tradition of watching films since I was born. It was as if I came out of my mother’s womb in a theater. Countless movies flew past my head as I say I’ve watched at least five in one year, not counting the ones I watched with my friends online recently. Although I am not a film expert nor a critic, there are better ways to kill a movie than how much budget they put on a singular scene to make the sun shine a bit brighter on a shirtless man.
First, determine how can you advertise this movie to your friends and families. If you come out of the cinema saying at least two notable scenes, then that is a win. However, if there are no scenes to note, there is the first death. Most movies have scenes that you have loved the most. In the most recent movie I watched two scenes call out the most to me: the lie and the death.
The lie in the movie was revealed, and the main character was lying all along! The acting choice in that scene was great as the audience sees how the character physically makes himself smaller out of shame for being caught. And the scene of death’ three out of six characters sobbed their hearts out, mourning the loss of a brother; one out of six cried silently and hurriedly urged to cover the body; one out of six pretended that the dead was still alive, simply drunk; one of the six killed the dead, with his tears streaming down his face as he wore the dead’s aftershave; and one out of the six was dead, lying, cold, and unmoving.
Secondly, if you were to watch this movie again, would you notice something different? While not all directors go all out for detail, it simply goes to say how good a movie is if you have a different interpretation the next round you watch it on a marathon. Had the colours always symbolized death? Was the opening scene oddly similar to the last? Was that an easter egg or was the background actor just happy to see the camera? A great movie with depth would have many things to be found and other explanations to be revealed. It’s the best thing about stories, there are no right themes as there are no wrong interpretations.
Third, did you smile? If you did, congrats, the movie survives. Every video essay that starts with “How this movie made me feel disgusted”, or “How this movie is a waste of time” is almost, just close enough, to be a rant on Letterboxd with a 0.5 star. Film essays are starting to become less and less objective as people dissect a movie from the crumbs. The enjoyment of simply sitting down, eating popcorn, and watching a movie is forgotten. Everyone wants to find a flaw. Everyone wants to give the Film of the Year award. What is there left of a film if not the joy you felt watching it? The excitement?
For every person on the internet who dubbed a movie “bad”, I watched it with my family and excitedly told my friends about it. People forget that joy in the cinema is what makes a movie great. If it made you laugh, feel the characters, and have a story to tell once exiting the theaters, that’s a good movie. Even a great one if it had you looking for other movies the main character was in. The only three ways to kill a movie can be shortened to just one question—did you enjoy watching it?
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