What is This Blog About?

Before actually starting to post new articles, I thought it would be interesting to clear out what this blog should be about, not to mention useful for those who want to know whether my content is for them, or not. I believe it is important to set up even a few clear guidelines beforehand, although it would be even better to have a more strategic plan, because it allows you to achieve what you set out to do, and get to the exact place you wanted to reach.

The First Thing I Learned About Blogging

Although blogging is supposed to take on a personal approach, the biggest mistake a blogger could make is focus solely on themselves and what they like, without ever wondering whether others might be interested in the same subjects as well. In my case, I want to talk about classic movies, which I may define so rather differently than others, because in this term, I also include new, independent, or cult films that I believe deserve that status for one reason or another. This means there are definitely other people out there who should be interested in what I have to say; the question is: can I make my content valuable and unique enough to attract them? Everyone knows and watches movies, it's the most common thing to do, the most common subject to discuss. So my focus should be on coming up with an original approach, whilst trying to provide information that might be useful to my readers.

What Are Classic Movies?

I was always the type of person who would say: the movie is never better than the book, or all books are always better than all movies! I loved movies even then, and thought I knew enough about them to think that a film can be very good entertainment, but will never challenge your imagination too much, or provide you with the same information or education as a book. Later on, discovering masters like Ingmar Bergman, Carl Theodor Dryer, Federico Fellini, Robert Bresson, Luis Bunuel, Pier Paolo Passolini, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Andrej Wajda, Roman Polanski and others, I realized that the power of a movie can extend much further. You get where I'm going with this - these directors didn't just make movies, they formed, transformed, molded and helped expand the art of cinematography into something that exceeds mere story-telling. Classic films can be just as profound in meaning, subject, and approach as literature, painting or music. And my biggest frustration with this is that lots of people nowadays have never even heard of them, or would never give them a chance due to misconceptions like: new movies have to be better than old ones, because the industry has evolved, and new media technologies are developed and perfected every day.

Yes, new movies are better produced, in fact they are so perfect you can barely see the stitching (or the plot); but that has nothing to do with the actual art of cinematography and what it can do for you. Color or 3D aren't always the best option for a movie, which is why some directors still employ the black and white screen for their movies - see the more recent and popular The Artist (2011, dir. Michel Hazanavicius). Now this is a quite rotund film that references and pays homage to Silent Era films, and I know everyone was absolutely amazed with this "unique" approach. But did you know there are other directors who have been using these techniques for decades now? I challenge you to try the films of Canadian director Guy Maddin (I'll definitely dedicate an entire post to his work later).

Why Movies Versus People?

From this standpoint, Movies versus People can be taken as an attack on the senses that I am trying to make; I would like my (possible) readers to challenge themselves and try movies they would never go for. I have done that many times, and trust me, I would never have accepted that I might like a zombie movie; but guess what, I managed to find an entertainment factor in Night of the Living Dead (1968, dir. George A. Romero), which was coupled with my curiosity for low-budget, independent films, where I like to try and observe how a director with little funding finds ingenious results which otherwise cost Christopher Nolan millions of dollars. And while I am still not a fan of zombie movies, I give them a try now and then, always thinking back to Romero's film, which is a cult classic even if it doesn't match my own preferences. Why would you trust me to recommend you a movie? So far, nothing more than my own personal experience authorizes me to share a few suggestions or guidelines here and there, but I also believe simple discussion can lead to great ideas and recommendations; tell me who you are, and I might just know the film for you!

Until you want to challenge me to a movie talk, I'm just going to keep throwing them at you, hoping something might catch on; but my expectation is to broaden my own knowledge of movies as well, by receiving feedback from others and even starting group discussions. So remember folks, keep it classic!