I’ve Watched Over 200 Movies This Year: Here’s How They’ve Rewired My Brain
An observation on the art of filmmaking and its ever-evolving nature.
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It all started when I realized how despite calling myself an avid movie watcher, I haven’t come close to sniffing the glorious number of 1,000 films to my viewing credit. I know more about movies as a concept than as an experience. Most of my knowledge comes from books and the goddamn internet. A similar realization about music last year resulted on an exploration of the many music genres I listened to. The results were a newfound appreciation on the art and its history, and it was with the success of this in mind that I decided to embark on this visual journey of what the auteurs call cinema. The goal is to watch 1,000 films by the end of the year; with 200 already on the board, I can either continue this aggressive focus or mellow down a little for what will amount to a big push come Summer. Can’t say I’ve decided what to do yet, but the clock is always ticking. I figured that in the meantime I can take a moment to reflect on the endeavor.
No matter how much you read about a certain subject, there comes a point in time where the only way to continuously expand your knowledge on any given field is practical experience with the material. The scope of what’s available in theory will never compare to the capabilities outside it. I say this as a man who enjoys theory and its constructions, but maybe a little too much. Years of reading never prepare you for what’s in front of you. You can read about theme, style, and substance all you want, it is only when you watch them flow in a visually stunning narrative that you truly come to appreciate what it all means. It’s the same reason people are attracted to colorful and wonderfully organized meals or the splendor of a newly constructed building. A craftsman understands these ideas better than the academics who see the medium as either high or low art, and that is precisely why he crafts them and the others admire.
Watching these many movies in such a short period of time has had on odd effect in the way I see the world. They ranged from all sorts of genres from practically every decade. Film has fascinated me for practically my entire life for many reasons — the process, the effort, the…
