I love films – to escape with, to debate over, to analyse and to berate. But there is nothing that kills a great discussion like the pompous ass who self-righteously imposes his highfalutin intellectualisms onto the discussion. Differing opinions keep life interesting and when art is concerned, there will always be dissention. I agree that there is some kind of ethereal standard that separates the great movies from the good movies and the good movies from the poor ones. And subjectivity cannot be absolved from the standard – it’s the human condition. I guess my point is this: in the great conundrum of human existence, who actually cares about the so-called standard of greatness or which movies win awards or which films are intellectually and stylistically superior? Joe Queenan (guardian.co.uk journalist) says it best:
“Our favourite movies are never the ones that are shown out of competition at Cannes. They’re the ones you can’t wait until your kids are old enough to see. They’re the ones you always recommend when a friend calls up and asks what film she should watch to cheer her up and you cannot, cannot believe that she has never crossed paths with Johnny Utah and Bodhi. They’re the ones that if someone told you they didn’t understand their appeal, you would terminate the friendship on the spot. They’re the ones that make you feel that the stars on the screen will always be young, and always be right there in the DVD rack when you need them.”
Sometimes, most times in fact, the connection I have with a film is something deeply personal and often seemingly random, which makes it so difficult to articulate in words – primarily because it is an emotional response. And this is the key: emotional response. I am well aware that my mind and my heart are often waging war on one another – my brain may appreciate a film to which my heart expresses indifference and visa versa. So when I discover a film that appeases my emotion and my intellect, then I revel, unashamedly, in a state of indulgent film bliss. It is often the films that evoke an emotive response in me that aren’t the ones that are critically acclaimed. The characters I identify with and who resonate in my being for eons (for whatever reason) are not necessarily the Oscar winning performances. It is that indefinable thing contained in a look, in a tone, in an interaction, a scene, a set design, a word, an image (you get the idea) that will make me fall in love with performances, characters and films. And then it gets even more complicated: a song accompanied by an interaction and an image, all in aid of the creation of one perfect moment (horrific, dramatic, humorous or other)… and I am head over heels. The existence of that indefinable ‘thing’, which is largely illusive and enigmatic, is different for one and all. Although our responses can never be pure, our mere existence in the world has made sure of that, our core emotional reaction to art is what makes it a beautiful entity.
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What makes a film ‘favourite’?
“Our favourite movies are never the ones that are shown out of competition at Cannes. They’re the ones you can’t wait until your kids are old enough to see. They’re the ones you always recommend when a friend calls up and asks what film she should watch to cheer her up and you cannot, cannot believe that she has never crossed paths with Johnny Utah and Bodhi. They’re the ones that if someone told you they didn’t understand their appeal, you would terminate the friendship on the spot. They’re the ones that make you feel that the stars on the screen will always be young, and always be right there in the DVD rack when you need them.”
Sometimes, most times in fact, the connection I have with a film is something deeply personal and often seemingly random, which makes it so difficult to articulate in words – primarily because it is an emotional response. And this is the key: emotional response. I am well aware that my mind and my heart are often waging war on one another – my brain may appreciate a film to which my heart expresses indifference and visa versa. So when I discover a film that appeases my emotion and my intellect, then I revel, unashamedly, in a state of indulgent film bliss. It is often the films that evoke an emotive response in me that aren’t the ones that are critically acclaimed. The characters I identify with and who resonate in my being for eons (for whatever reason) are not necessarily the Oscar winning performances. It is that indefinable thing contained in a look, in a tone, in an interaction, a scene, a set design, a word, an image (you get the idea) that will make me fall in love with performances, characters and films. And then it gets even more complicated: a song accompanied by an interaction and an image, all in aid of the creation of one perfect moment (horrific, dramatic, humorous or other)… and I am head over heels. The existence of that indefinable ‘thing’, which is largely illusive and enigmatic, is different for one and all. Although our responses can never be pure, our mere existence in the world has made sure of that, our core emotional reaction to art is what makes it a beautiful entity.
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