I am a movie lover, not a movie buff. I say this because I don’t guzzle down 4-5 movies a week. I haven’t seen all the so called ‘great’ works of cinema that have become a perquisite of calling yourself a ‘movie buff’. No. I watch what I want to when I want to. Just because I watched a David Fincher classic the previous week doesn’t mean I’ll stop loving ‘Love Actually’.
The truth is there is nothing I can say about cinema that hasn’t already been said by millions. Which is why I don’t claim to. What I will talk about, however, is how I feel about them.
I completely agree with the critic Roger Ebert when he says – “I’m wearying of movies that are for ‘everybody’- which means, nobody in particular.”You either connect with a film or you don’t. This is why I believe that every film shouldn’t be made for everybody. The best films, the most honest films are those that are made to tell a story, made for their own sake. Those that are tailor made to be liked by all usually succeed in being liked by all but they are (truly) loved by none. Cinema is great because of its power to move people, to make them feel- sometimes lively, at other times, sleepy. Some open up the land of dreams, others, the world of realities. But every film is great because of its ability to connect with someone.
I am surrounded by some hard core movie buffs. And all they talk passionately about Mann and Fincher and Scorsese all day. Surely they can’t all love all the ‘great’ directors equally. But when they truly connect with a film, even one that they know to be cinematically mediocre, the passion with which they defend that film or just describe it to you is unrivalled. That is the magic of movies. I have seen one such movie buff talking about ‘Udaan’- a film not nearly as ‘great’ as the other movies he regularly consumes – with such passion! It was because he had seen a reflection of himself in the film’s protagonist; he had really felt the emotions of the film. A middle aged man I know, who lives on a steady diet of fast- paced Hollywood action and thriller movies got inspired by the philosophy of a film like ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaraa’ to love openly and live life to the fullest.
One budding movie critic worships the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, counted among the greatest trilogies of all time. And yet, he knows that his love (bordering on reverence) for the films as nothing to do with the film’s rankings. He knows that the connection and the loyalty are emotional, not rational.
And that in my eyes is what the beauty of cinema is. That is what is required to make a ‘mediocre’ film ‘great’. In fact the World’s Top 100 Greatest Films are also on the list because a large number of people happened to connect with them. This connection doesn’t mean they have to relate to the film personally. It is simply the film’s ability to make people feel – it can be anything from uplifted to uncomfortable. Therefore it is true of all films- some people connect with it, some don’t. The great films are those that connect with many people. And yet they are never those that are created with that purpose.
