Our introduction to the world of film is always accidental – i will never know the reason my first movie was “Summer Holiday” starring Cliff Richard (but I suspect my mother was a fan of Cliff). I do know that in the pantheon of movies it will not be remembered kindly. But, then that is the movies – we all have individual favorites. My taste is not necessarily your taste. Many times I have recommended movies to friends, and been surprised when they didn’t enjoy them with the same passion I did.
The advent of the VCR and then DVD opened up new worlds of film to me, but like any newly born movie lover you end up overwhelmed by choice and limited by time. You may discover a few gems stumbling around, but you end up watching a lot of the unwatchable. I always loved to read and from that I always loved to write too. So I naturally navigated to the world of movie critics. I wanted to be informed, to find great movies I had missed, to understand movies that made no sense, to reaffirm what I thought was amazing. Finding your favorite movie critics is like dating, you find your favorites and learn to trust their judgement, but you are also disappointed when they love a film that you thought was terrible.
Then begins that long journey, through many genres and backwards and forwards. You find a movie you love, you watch the other movies by the same director or actor, you find what inspired them, you shift to a new country, you go from comedy to drama, you find great romances. It truly is a love of film. For all the terrible films that you see, the greatest films change you, they revisit your place in the world, how you live and see yourself. I have been moved, but I have also been shaken to my core. But, most of all, I have learned to love film, in its many styles and cultures and genres, and like all lovers I want to share my passion with you, so I can introduce to you the films that I love. I hope it opens your eyes to different types of movies you might not have considered before. The world is an amazing place full of interesting people.