How To Broaden Your Cinematic Horizons - Opinion
From Shane Conto
As we grow older, many things about our tastes change and grow. This is certainly true about art and specifically film. When I was a kid, I used to watch a lot of cartoons from Disney, Pixar, and Don Bleuth. Most of my movie collection was made up of Star Wars, James Bond, Indiana Jones, and Rocky. We all have those films we loved when we were younger and realize now that they might not be the best (like Paul Blart and Delta Farce). But there are so many great films out there to experience from around the world, under the rug, and in the past. But how do you find them? This can be an extensive process of expanding your cinematic horizons.
Let’s start with something structured. If you are still in school, take a class! I took a cinema class in high school and that opened a lot of doors for me. Cool Hand Luke and The Fisher King were a pair of films that impacted me greatly in that time. I did not appreciate all the films we watched when I was 15-years-old but it opened the door for me to rediscover them later. Case in point, Raging Bull. When I was 15, I just thought it was an obnoxious film about two Italian guys yelling the F-word for two hours. That assessment is partially true but now I know there is so much more to Martin Scorsese’s films. I took a course called Great Performances on Film back in college too. It got me out into the theater to see films like The Artist and The Descendants which I would never have watched on my own. Or you can even join a club. Rider’s Alternative Film Club helped open my eyes to a whole world of independent, foreign, and classic film. My love for the Coen Brothers started at my first meeting when we watched Burn After Reading.
But you don’t need to pay for college to find a whole new world of film! You could just pay for some select streaming services. Depending how hard you want to push yourself, there is a good range of streamers to explore. The most cinephile-focused one that you can find to force yourself out of your comfort zone would be Mubi. Each day, they have a handpicked independent, foreign, or classic film for you to sink your teeth into. This is a great opportunity to become more open to all types of films and just take a leap of faith. Next up you have the great central hub of cinephiles, Criterion Channel. Criterion is the most significant brand for all filmlovers. They highlight the best-of-the-best of cinema. They even highlight themed collections that can help you dive into specific themes, genres, actors, or filmmakers. Structure is always helpful to smooth out the risk of putting yourself out there. But what if you don’t want to dive into the deep end of cinematic streamers? Focus on MAX. They have a great variety of Warner classics. They also have Studio Ghibli which would be an amazing way to expand your experience with animation. But they have an awesome mix of Criterion films (specifically from arthouse distributor Janus Films) as well as Turner Classic Movies. Special shoutout to Kanopy. With a participating library membership, it opens the world to so many classic, foreign, independent, and documentary films.
I mentioned structure earlier but streaming services aren’t the only way to give yourself some structure. What do people love? Lists! We all love lists and checking things off a list. Luckily, cinephiles everywhere love lists. One specific place to start would be getting involved on social media. Sure, do you need ANOTHER social media account? If it is Letterboxd and you love movies then yes! You can see all of the films that your friends and favorite reviewers and influencers are checking out. The diary function is fantastic to look into what everyone is checking out. But the “Lists” function on the service is top notch. For cinephiles everywhere, the Letterboxd 250 is becoming legendary. The 250 highest rated films on the app. There are so many great films with great variety to sink your teeth into. But you can look at other sites like IMDB which has its own Top 250. But there are some most renowned lists out there as well. The American Film Institute is famous for its AFI Top 100. Sight and Sound just released their most recent Top 100 as well. So many other media centers want in on the action so you can check out Rolling Stone, Variety, Empire, and even more. These lists are there to highlight the greatness of film so take advantage.
Do you love to read too? If you are a bibliophile along with being a cinephile, there are a lot of great books that can expand your film horizons as well. One of the most famous of all is “1001 Films to Watch Before You Die”. This is such a large and comprehensive collection of films that it will keep you busy for a while. Film criticism icon, Leonard Maltin, also has his “Movie Guide”. You can find some solid theme specific books as well! Are you interested in the winter holidays? Check out Alonso Duralde’s “Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas”. Chris Stuckmann has a great anime-focused book “Anime Impact”. Something similar…but a bit different…you can find some great collections on YouTube. CineFlix on IGN has fantastic Top 10 lists which provide a wealth of honorable mentions to the point of having dozens of films to check out by the end. There are some great podcasts as well including the greatest film podcast of all time (according to my opinion) “The Cine-Files”. John Rocha and Steve Morris tackle plenty of great films and you can watch along with them week to week.
But what is the most important element? You. Figure out what you love about film (genres, actors, filmmakers, etc.) You can find ways of engaging your interests. One of my favorite ventures on my YouTube Channel has been “Welcome to the Wasteland”. I decide on a director and watch every single one of their films until I complete their filmography. You can join up with some movie friends and make a fun routine out of it. I developed “The Movie Club” during COVID where a group of my friends pick a film once per month, we all watch it, and we meet at the end of the month to discuss. You can all bring your tastes and perspectives to the table and have some influence from your friends as well. Lastly, I hold a monthly movie marathon with my friends with each month being a theme. Find excuses for yourself to watch different films and have fun with them!
There are plenty of ways to shake things up and find new wonders of film. These might not all interest you but hopefully one of these suggests or ideas stand out for you. Pick one and enjoy a new venture deeper into the world of film.
