Near the end of every year, film critics, journalists, online magazines, and wannabes like myself compile a list of “their favorite'' or “best” movies of the year. With how many movies are released in a calendar year, it’s exciting to see what type of films touch a moviegoer. Especially film critics. They see more movies than anyone! Yeah, there will be some overlap with films like Todd Field’s, TÁR, Martin McDonagh’s, Banshees of Inisherin, and Jordan Peele’s, NOPE, headlining many of these lists, but it’s the films that haven’t tapped into the channels of daily conversation between our peers that seem to cause the most raucous. Joanna Hogg’s, The Eternal Daughter, or Charlotte Wells’, Aftersun, are appearing on more and more of these lists as they start to spring up. Although the frustration by some isn’t guided at these movies specifically, they’re being disregarded by many casual moviegoers who haven’t heard of these films, films like them, or wonder how their favorite movies of 2022 could possibly miss the top 10. Smash hits such as, Top Gun: Maverick, The Batman, Everything Everywhere All at Once, have missed a handful of these lists conducted by popular film critics, and the frustration boils over. Fists soar into the sky, tweets erupt in less than 250 characters, anger is misguided or ill-informed, and these people have gained absolutely nothing from this. For how many people claim to be moviegoers, watchers, aficionados, and buffs on your social media platform of preference, it is astonishing how many of them actively ignore the scope of contemporary cinema. In the least condescending manner possible, you need to watch more movies.
It seems like a joke that this type of conversation is reignited year in and year out. It’s almost like the first two weeks of December are an annual celebration of being upset about who ranked what films near the top of their list. In the wake of Sight and Sound’s Top 100 Films of All-Time, this feels like adding insult to injury. We spent last week having to endure listening to people groan about “slow” cinema, or the inclusion of contemporary films being canonized by a list that evolves by the decade. Including the fact that every recent addition is a beloved piece of work. It’s all arbitrary anyways, and when you designate a roster of 1,000+ critics, curators, and filmmakers to rank their own list of ten, based on their own metrics to reflect their tastes in the scope of film history and what is meaningful to them… it’s pretty credible. These are people who are incredibly passionate about the form. In case we forgot. There’s a reason why these people generate traffic, clicks, attention (without caving to click-bait), for a living. They know something most don’t because they’re paid to do it. You think they made it big because they watched less than ten movies a year? Doubtful.
No disrespect to anyone who was moved by Everything Everywhere…, Maverick, or Batman, they’re all fine movies, and I’m glad they may have made the top of your list of however many movies you watched in 2022. It’s really cool that anyone can connect with something enough to say, “Wow, that might be the best thing I’ve seen all year!” The constant with these movies (besides the fact that they all made a ton of money), is that a lot of these poor takes on critics and lists are rooted in the adoration for these films specifically. There are a handful of takes that wonder how a movie with as many box office receipts as Maverick could possibly miss the highest marks of a critic that watched 200+ movies. “Well, if it made money, surely it must be one of the best movies of the year!” If you think like a producer, you’re right. If you think like a viewer, you’re wrong. Everything Everywhere… took audiences by storm this past Spring. Its A24 branding was enough of a selling point for teens and film school students, but the concept, execution, and comedy was enough for people to not only go back and see it again, but bring their friends too!
It’s awesome that movies can ignite enough passion to do that.
These fans, budding with frustration, gear their attention to these year-end lists, and it's a different story altogether. Did you watch the movie? Isn’t there some sort of blanket, easy-out statement regarding the ability to express kindness as the foundation for intergenerational communication between mother and daughter? The entire emotional crutch of the movie? Where is that message in your speech? In your acknowledgement of how film itself is a tool used to communicate an idea, message, theme, or purpose that could be applicable to our own reality? One of the co-directors, Daniel Kwan, took to Twitter to try and alleviate the base that was engulfed in world ending flames because it hasn’t been recognized by enough high profile publications (despite most publications giving it a rave review) and critics. It’s difficult to say it worked, but when a director of your new favorite movie steps in to temper the misguided love, that says so much about how people watch movies right now.
Someone else’s list, however arbitrary, meaningless, it might be, is not a compiled list of films meant to validate you as a viewer.
Your own justification for its greatness is all that matters in the conversation. If a film communicated enough with you to move you on an emotional level, I can understand slights or snide comments made towards the film when unprovoked. I empathize with that, but your unfamiliarity with the majority of a high profile list should inspire you, not alienate you. Too many people perceive it that way, and then they insinuate there is a gap between critics and casual moviegoers that is increasing the size of the supposed rift. Think about how ridiculous it sounds to claim that critics are the reason there is an “issue” with what is being recognized. It’s not them. It never has been. It’s you and only you. Bottom line; you’re not watching enough movies. This alienation is by your own design because you’ve elected to watch less movies than there are days of the week. You’ve chosen to be upset about movies you’ve never heard of because you’re not willing to step out of your comfort zone. You’ve settled with high-profile, mainstream, straight to the theater nearest you, with enough showtimes to bury everything else in the cineplex, and the critics are wrong? Please.
If you can indulge me a little bit, I don’t mind projecting the idea that most people who saw Top Gun: Maverick don’t really understand what they watched. Jets ripped through the sky, bombs detonated, and Tom Cruise resurrected the Summer blockbuster thrills, but it’s all military funded propaganda anyways. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with that, and it isn’t a harsh enough criticism to detract from the merits of the film, but that is what that movie is in a real world sense. It isn’t escapism or “non-woke” cinema, it is a film deeply (deeply) rooted in the political fundings of the United States. That’s a very real reflection of how film can be funded by a specific organization to craft an image that is meant to inspire people to apply for a job within the parameters of what world they’ve created. We’ve seen it before, we’ll see it again, and it’s important that you can recognize something like that because it could contradict with your own feelings about current events. The only way to get there is to not only study film and its avenues of history worth walking down, but by watching more movies.
Movies are a reflection of our world, politics, movements, evolution of voices and identities that have the ability to tap into the most emotional recesses of our mind. Which is why it baffles me when anyone would be openly against the idea of experiencing something new and unheard of. There are thousands and thousands of movies out there, and you’re choosing to limit yourself to the boundaries of multi-billion dollar IP generators and sequel teasers? Watching a single A24 movie doesn’t distance yourself from the crowd either. I’m not trying to be rude, I’m just asking us to get real about the situation and tell it like it is. I know many don’t view the medium as an opportunity to unearth the inner dilemmas of self in relation to a world under political duress, but that is the fundamental truth to what movies are. Choosing to rob yourself of the chance to discover something new about you, your friend, a loved one, a family member, someone you lost, a culture, creed, identity, politic, nation, or ethnic group is a disservice to you as an individual. I’m not asking you to watch everything, I’m asking you to try and understand what you’re watching so that you can find some inspiration elsewhere. Whether you like hearing it or not, it is out there, and it is real. You just have to look for it, and not enough of you are looking. You’re just watching a movie without trying to communicate how it approaches bigger ideas that could pertain to the emotional swings of life you may be experiencing. Curiosity will drive you to understanding this, and decrying the heads of critics and publications because it doesn’t favor your narrow view of cinema is unbearably frustrating. It is a product of your incuriosity as a viewer that is sheltering you from experiencing what the medium can accomplish. What a shame.
Popular movies are a great starting point for anyone. They’re accessible, easy to find, easy to be won over by, and easy to talk about because they give you all the answers. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with that, but when you limit your understanding of what film can offer to that mindframe, you are reveling in ignorance. By electing to ignore a majority of the films being made, you are depriving yourself of the proper information about film to have a conversation about it. This won’t apply to some people, but there are far too many out there who flex that they’re a film buff, but only watch the movies everyone and their mother sees. Sorry, you’re not a film buff. That isn’t gatekeeping either. Just be better and challenge yourself as a viewer. Don’t get comfortable with the morally stagnant pieces of art, the movies with the easy answers, and the movies with stacks of box office receipts. There’s an entire world out there if you look in the right places, and it starts with looking at yourself. You’re the curator of your own tastes and potential. Find that inspiration in your favorite blockbuster and find something like it. Engage with it and talk about it. Don’t just watch it, look at it. It’s incredible what you’ll find.
Before I run too long, I’m probably overly passionate about this, but the conversation around films has reached a point that is so negative and negligent of the history and the contemporary. Between the Sight and Sound Top 100 and A.O. Scott’s list of 2022’s best movies, now is the prime opportunity to start being blunt about the facts of the matter. You’ve got accounts with thousands of followers who have no idea what they’re talking about, people with less agreeing with them and flexing about something they’re absolutely not, and even Elon Musk, everyone’s least favorite billionaire, contributing with another bone-headed, mindless remark about the NYTimes going “woke” because of Top Gun: Maverick’s absence. How unpleasant of a reality it is when the most notable people of our time are comfortable with ignorance. Although most people don’t want to hear it, watching more movies is the same as studying in any other field. Maybe even your own! The more knowledge you gain from learning about it, from it, and applying it through a modern filter and projecting it onto our reality, the easier it will be to communicate with each other about film. Why would you deprive yourself of that opportunity? It’s foolish to spend time berating people who absolutely know more about a topic than you do. It’s why the phrase “everyone's a critic” is ridiculous. That’s not true, because if it were, then everyone would be passionate enough about film to explore the history of film and how it inspired what we’re seeing today. Most people don’t even want to do that because it was made before they were born, is spoken in a different language, or because they genuinely don’t care. Which is fine if you just want to be entertained, I have no beef with that, but surely you could find reason if you’re a reasonable person. Reasonable people would watch more movies if they cared enough about it as much as they said they did.
It’s important that I vented about this. Although less people will see this than I would like, the pent up frustration that has peaked in the last week deserved to be applied to this. I’ve reached a stage where being nice about how harmful most of the discussion has become in regards to the artform was no longer an option. I’m not trying to be an elitist or a pesky gatekeeper, I want you to be better, all of us to be better, because of how special cinema can be, but when I tire of seeing personalities without a clue dominate the conversation, something needs to be said. Curiosity and creativity are fundamental in driving healthy conversation about film. Ignorance by way of being incurious is not.
Watch more movies. Period. Your curiosity will peak. Creative thought will be inspired. A whole world of color, people, identity, and self will be explored and brought to vivid life in a manner that is applicable to so many nearest to and farthest from you. What a wonderful tool that film is when people know how to use it. Be better.
If curiosity killed the cat, then what does being incurious do to the ignorant?