My love affair with cinema started when I was a child. From the early 90s to the mid 2000s, animated films such as Disney movies were an event for families to gather and introduce their children to the big screen. Mine started with Beauty and the Best (1991), The Lion King (1994), and Hercules (1997) - my gay awakening. It was in 2001 that I discovered a slightly more mature adventure alongside Milo in Atlantis, The Lost Empire. This was probably my very first blockbuster experience. Mysteries, action packed adventure with unforgettable and funny characters, I knew I was made to witness spectacle.
I eventually had to grow up fast in a world that was unforgiving at the time, not wasting an opportunity to push me aside and isolate me from the rest of it all. What was a confused, queer kid from rural France supposed to do in his free and lonely time? Dream of a better world. Cinema is escapism, like an open window holding the promise of a magnificent and thrilling view. I was seduced, and I never looked back. I wasn’t ready for what was coming my way though, as I sat down in a fully booked screening of The Lord Of The Rings, The Fellowship Of The Ring. I hadn’t read the book and I knew nothing about the scale of the work of J.R.R Tolkien so you can imagine my jaw hadn’t left the floor throughout the 158min. Fun fact, I didn’t know it was a trilogy so when the credit started rolling I was outraged and told the people next to me what the actual fuck! So you can imagine I was the first one seated for The Two Towers and cried my eyes out for The Return Of The King. You bow to no one Peter Jackson!
What a time to be alive… Lord Of The Rings, Shrek, Sam Raimi’s Spiderman (number two remains one of the best super hero movie of all time), and of course, The Matrix trilogy. It was also a great time for disaster movies such as The Day After Tomorrow and later on the extremely dumb yet thrilling 2012. It was then that we were also introduced to a superior kind of blockbuster, those made by Christopher Nolan. Witnessing The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010) and Interstellar (2014) in IMAX was a once in a lifetime experience.
The one film that turned what I thought was a hobby into a desire to create for myself was a movie called Drive (2011) directed by Nicholas Winding Refn. I had imagined quite a lot of narratives over the years, fragments of stories and entire sequences filmed in my head. Drive was the first ever film that echoed what I had previously attempted to design. A slower pace and little dialogues to allow characters to contemplate and breathe, a gripping soundscape accompanied by an absolute killer of a soundtrack, whilst being matched by a raw, viceral violence and action that grips you by the throat and never fully let go. I walked home that night humming ‘real human being, and a real hero‘ by College. I couldn’t let go of what I had seen and felt. How was I supposed to resume my life knowing that deep inside I had all this creativity begging to come out? Two years later, I was a film student in central London, learning what makes cinema, cinema.
Even though I firmly believe that education should be free or at least affordable, I don’t regret going to university. I trust I have the skills and tools to make my own stories one day. But I am ashamed to admit that the process hasn’t been as quick as I had predicted. Not because of the work I had to provide while working another full time job and career, no. It’s taking me that long because I am self indulgent and I procrastinate a lot. The fact that I am a gamer doesn’t help my case either.
The question I’m asking today is simple. Why do we procrastinate? Why are some people not realising their potential? Why do we go back to our comfort zone so often when there are millions of things to do, taste, and explore? Because we live in an era where pretty much everything is accessible from your own personal devices. A phone, a TV or tablet. It is quantity over quality. When faced with thousands of options, you are more likely to feel overwhelmed because you are smart, therefore you want to ensure that what you’re picking isn’t crap but how can you be sure? This why I think that films should be seen in cinemas and not on streaming platforms. Those are great for TV shows.
Cinemas narrow down the selection to what, 10-12 movies at a time? Then you have to pay for it, which also removes the temptation to backtrack and change your mind. Cinemas are literally taking away the remote control from your hands, and it’s for your own good. Perhaps this society is no longer concerned about art but rather our obsession to control our surroundings? Smart homes you can switch on/off remotely, smart watches that tells you when to breathe, are we turning into the human characters from Wall-E? Yes. We are surrounded by companies who wants us to depend on their products, so we keep our Netflix subscription because duh, who doesn’t have one? and second of all, we all have serious fear of missing out, so to stay connected is to stay alive and current.
To be seated in a cinema auditorium is a political act. You are giving the middle finger to those greedy corporations who are releasing their movies one week later on their platform (I’m looking at you Viktor Franken-fucking-Stein and Knives Out), dissuading you from paying a further 20£ for it, and why should you? Your subscription is already nearly £20 a month, so why pay more? So they have the control, you don’t. For me, films are my religion and cinemas are my churches with better seats and treats. To be seated is to let go and shut down all of the noises from the outside. I can guarantee that if you have the option to pause a movie, you will pause it, and it is also highly likely that you won’t finish it. A movie would have to be on sterioids and deliver high octane action or steamy sex for you to be so gripped you can’t pull away. Some movies are like that, but many others aren’t, requiring patience and diligence to be rewarded at the end. This goes in line with today’s landscape where everything must be fast and available right now. Same goes with dating, everybody’s online and no one commits to concrete plans, yet you still spend time or even pay for apps because of that FOMO ‘what if I meet someone great?’. Art, cannot be rushed. Some ideas and concepts require time to sink its teeth under your skin and honestly, I want to be bitten. Slapped even, and knocked down my chair (i’m kinky like that); I want to feel things, I want to laugh, cry, feel sick to my stomach, push me to my limits, shock me, I dare you. I’m not a masochist, but when it comes to cinema, I expect thrills and wonders of all kinds.
Remember when I said that cinema was like an open window to other worlds? It feels like nowadays we have all gone through that window only to find ourselves sitting in a sphere made of glass, letting everything and nothing filtering through our nervous systems like unbearable pop up ads while browsing the internet. So how does someone pick a movie these days then? Well, they stay informed on what’s being released by checking their local/city screens and they make their way to the cinema.
