Voir

Didn't know much about this when looking through new Netflix content. Watching episode one, I enjoyed a Cinephile's musings, coupled with familiarity and shared experiences, such as the thrill of watching Jaws as a young girl. My interest picked up and I became tachycardia when in episode two I suddenly recognized a familiar voice... Could it be? Yes it could... TONY ZHAO!! From the still terrific "Every Frame a Painting" webseries along with his equally talented partner and co-creator of EFAP Taylor Ramos (who is a also a skilled animator), they now helm a new series continuing dialogue on cinema while also narrating two episodes, spanning 6 separate segments. An enjoyable and informative series of video essays on wide ranging topics. The topics are not always ones familiar to me, and the opinions differ from mine, which is why I enjoyed this so much--opens up my internal dialogue a bit and provides me with wider perspective.

Billed rather grandly as a series of video essays some offer genuine insite into movies and some are just an axe grinding excercise or a requiem for disfunctional childhoods. Skip the first episode. My favourites were episode 2 which examines revenge movies, episode 3 which looks at unlikeable protagonists and episode 5, a discussion of the difference between movies and TV. Episode 4 is about animation, so kid's stuff.

There was a time when to discover any thoughts on film you had to go to a book store and find a book by a director or actor or writer. Maybe you'd go to the nearest shop that sold movie mags and bought every single one, every month, religiously. Maybe you spent every single piece of currency you earned, or were given, on VHS rentals and later on DVD sales. Sometimes your choices of what to watch came from total chance, fate and luck. Maybe it was late night tv. You'd stumble upon something you loved, it spoke to you in a way that you felt nobody else understood and you realised you couldn't articulate those feelings. Now you could point at that film and say "That, that's how I feel". I realise that I am showing my age, for me this series was incredibly nostalgic. I understand that there is a lot of information that flys by. Use the pause button. Write down every single film and watch them all. Use the privilege of the internet and digital media. Before you criticize a few people's opinions on movies form your own opinions on them and learn to accept the differences there in. I'd imagine that's what the intention of the film makers was. Inspire the love they have for films in others. For me they succeeded.

While decent in concept, I would rather hear from directors rather than critics because it all just kind of sounds like semi pretentious ramblings from a critic, heck I can get more nuanced thoughts from YouTuber film fans.

If you're a fan of video essays than this is an obvious choice. I'm pretty used to settling down to a nice hour plus long video essay with dinner but was pleasantly surprised with these 20 minute bite sized episodes. The editing and visuals really carried it for me and kept me watching. It really felt like the narrators and visuals told a story together instead of, as so often happens, the visuals being secondary to the discussion.

A large part of the appeal of online visual essays is the personal touch of the writer and narrator. Something which could be lost when switching to a platform like Netflix. I was pleasantly surprised to find that most of these stories hold on to that important personal element. When someone really loves a topic it shows and grabs your attention.

If your thinking of checking it out, pick an episode that sounds appealing and try it out. If you can't choose I recommend episode 3 "But I don't like him" narrated by Drew McWeeny. Villains are a favorite topic of mine so this was an easy one to start out with.