What Kind of Movies Do You Like? An Essay

 

     People often ask me, "Greg what types of movies do you like?" I traditionally have come up with two answers. One of which is, "Good ones." The other equally acerbic response is, "Yes." But what does this mean when I refuse to divulge any information? Let's dive in to what it means.

     Genre to me is such a dull categorization of film. Yes different types of movies are created to evoke different emotions. For example, horror movies are designed to make you scared. Comedy movies are crafted by writers with the hopes of making you laugh. Many films only have one layer or purpose. They are only designed to create one emotion within you. Martin Scorsese was correct in the criticism of Marvel and other blockbuster tent pole based movies. They are are simple escapism that are usually entirely formulaic. This isn't me saying they are not cinema. I wouldn't dare to try and create such a gate-keeping position for myself as a critic. What I am here to say is that the greater layer of cinema evokes much more of the human experience, and that is my favorite genre.

     A great film to me, is one that is designed to evoke the full range of human emotion within its runtime. A recent film I watched that was designed for this purpose was Charlie Chaplin's The Kid. Within a 54 minute run time, I laughed my ass off, wanted to cry, was taken off to a dreamland, and became angry at inequality. This is the reason that we still speak of such films almost 100 years later. There's a certain realm of the human experience that will always be timeless.

    A perfect example of a vastly different humanity within film is John Water's Pink Flamingos. The film is laced with pure shock horror moments, including sexual interactions with live chickens, a prolapsing asshole montage set to Surfin' Bird, a pornographic incest scene,and the infamous scene where Divine eats a dog turd. Though shock is the first emotion within the heart for this movie, it also repeatedly speaks to the rebellious nature within all of us. There is a interior filth and trash that Pink Flamingos can bring to the surface. That is why the film has such strong, visceral reactions to this day.

     A truly great film is one that can defy genre. Films like Casablanca are every categorization of film within one, which is why it was voted the greatest screenplay of all time by the Writers Guild of America. Before I answer the question at hand, I can tell you what I hate. What I truly cannot stand in film is anything derivative. Though critics and moviegoers lauded films like Joker and Midsommar, I found them entirely derivative of other, greater works. If you have taken the time to see The Wicker Man, Taxi Driver, or The King of Comedy, you would realize you are viewing an entire rip off of the same film. To finally answer the question, there is no "kind" of movies I like. The only term that can be used to define the cinema I enjoy is originality.  Movies that can create something jarring, inventive, or even odd typically are the ones that are my favorites. When you have seen as many movies I have seen, you realize that the ones that stick out in your head and remain memorable are truly your favorites. 

     "Good" cinema is hard to come by. For every one movie I love, there are probably fifty that I hate. I sort through these films for everyone I know, just to try and raise the level of cinematic education among my friends and family. It's honest work, and someone has to do it. Cinema for me is my life, and those experiences that I have with it I would not trade for the entire world.