One thing that would make this whole pursuit of a sustainable cinema ecosystem for ambitiously authored work, work a whole lot better, is… if we spoke up more about what we all liked. As simple as this is, we need to understand why it isn’t happening anymore, and what we can do about it. Our silence has become an epidemic.
My sister said to me recently, “no one talks about movies anymore.” It broke my heart because she’s right. I am sure you noticed it too. 2023 was a great year for movies… and a terrible year for discussions about movies. It makes no sense, even when we see it clearly. She’s a movie fan but she hasn’t been to the movies in too long. Why? Because of exactly what she said: no one talks about movies anymore. That’s always been the special sauce: word of mouth. And that sucks that it has evaporated.
Unfortunately, WOM — word of mouth — is the sort thing that helps it all work and stick together. It greases the flywheel. When you let it evaporate, everything else deteriorates exponentially.
But we can change that easily, right?
Talk is cheap but yet we don’t use it enough. Seems like many folks just gave it up. Now, some of that is because we have relegated it to our phones, or rather: the things we call our phones. They’ve killed everything. They are why no one has sex anymore. They are why teens don’t hang out with each other anymore. And they are why we don’t talk about movies. I’m going to grow a beard and get a robe and a sign that “Phones have ruined our lives”. Yeah, I am going to do that and shake my fist at the clouds simultaneously.
It’s kind of ironic that we still call them phones because they are the things we don’t talk on. They are the things that are really just our mainer to the vein of information and surveillance. And when I say we relegated movie discussion to our phone, I mean we put it in a box, on social media, online, and then we think we are done and move on; we didn’t blab – we clicked, typed, and swiped.
Let’s recognize that all of that is a massive fail. And that’s now the old way. We don’t really even do that anymore, that swiping, typing, click thing anymore. You stopped using twitter. Or at least cut back. And who uses Facebook anymore? Twenty years in, it is surprising it lived so long. Social media is now dead, haven’t you heard?
We know that we had the dream that once we were all connected, good things would happen. But it was something else. It was the Skinner Box. The Surveillance Machine. The data mines to distance us from the results of our actions. That old shit don’t work no more. And there is something oh so much better. Of course, there always was; we just got distracted by the shiny new object – like we always do.
Lean into the discourse. Speak. Yup, we need to talk about it. That’s it, right? We. Need. To. Talk. About. It.
And we need to do it with an open ear. An open heart too. We need to enjoy our differences. We need to encourage them. Even give them room to breathe.
Have you noticed how folks seem more hesitant to share their opinion than they used to? Or at least until they know their opinion is also the opinion that someone else nearby them shares? People are hesitant to open their mouth because they suspect others will jump down their throat the instant they do. We have opted for two modes. You agree or you don’t, and I want us to leave this black and white world behind and instead demand that technicolored ballot instead. Disagreement is good. Hear and be heard. Change your mind. Give up the safety net and fly into life’s mystery. Live in the experiment and stop trying to provide the proof. Walk into the unknown lands. There is no place to fall, just room to roam and play.
Remember when it was fun? Or at least so much was fun? Or more fun?
Fun. Good clean fun. Everybody wants some. The exploration of the unknown. The contemplation of what could otherwise be. The beauty of complexity. The pleasure of ambiguity. Like candies in box, once it seemed the things we could count on disagreeing over was offered up as delights. Tender morsels. Now instead of such carefully constructed complexities, I am fed explosions and programmed responses. I don’t want us all to feel the same way so why is that what they are serving? I prefer not. If that’s the ballot, I vote none of the above.
Yeah, I am talking about the need to bring talking back in vogue. Basic human conversation. The kind we don’t do just with our family and loved ones, but with the neighbors and acquaintances we don’t know so well. It may seem like a silly thing to shake my fist at, but I do think it is also the thing. I have a whole list of things needed to build a better business model for the kind of cinema I love most, but in the end, it is this simple thing we once did so well that is most needed.
We all need to get out and talk a lot more. Take a walk with new one you met. Go sit at the bar and mention the film you just saw. Spread the word. Bring back the world of word of mouth. The world of WOM. WOWOM. It was a technology that truly worked well.
I feel increasing the discussion of cinema should be an easy problem to solve, but I am a bit stumped. Do we need to model the behavior we hope others will emulate? Do festivals need hold public discussions about the movies we watch, so we can remember how to talk about them? Would you listen to a podcast with smart people talking about what they loved in a way that recognizes how the film fits into our current cultural context? Remember when that is what critics did? Remember when there were critics?! Should I mourn the fact that now I generally just go to the NY Times and the New Yorker for film reviews? Does that make me a snob?
I want other reviewers to read, and I try, but a reader’s relationship with a critic is built over time and numerous reviews. You have to know where to turn. I used to look forward to picking up the Village Voice and the other free weeklies when they put them in those red plastic boxes for us to take. Flipping to the film reviews first. Deciding what I would see that coming week. Those days are gone. Those reviews were also a conversation guide. Where do we get our guidance on what to see now? I must confess I still haven’t found a podcast that does that for me. Print is my preference, and it is all but a desert now.
Other than relying on critics, festivals, and podcasts, what can we do to reinvigorate word of mouth for ambitiously authored cinema? Well, it probably requires getting a head start. Get them while they are young. This pertains to all the cultural art forms in addition to cinema. We have to double down and teach the kiddies to live a bit more. To engage in this world. To rejoice in the feels and wonder. To love being human. Yeah, it is hard when we have allowed our world to go to shit, but still you know you want them to grow up to be something other than good workers and shoppers. Where is that traveling screening festival for youths, for teens, and tweens? Wouldn’t you swear allegiance to whomever sponsored such joy? And couldn’t we have or make some awesome hosts?
Or maybe hats and t-shirts are just the answer to everything. A few good phrases emblazoned across the back and you know where we would be at. Somewhere better that here that’s for sure. But one this is a given, we have to be driven to spread the word. Get out there and evangelize. Give the gift that keeps on giving. Double down and spread the word. Cinema baby. Everyone loves it… once they see it… and share it. To make this work we have to form habits and all I am saying the old technology worked best: conversation, the kind that happens IRL.
Do You Rate/Review Movies Online, And If So Where? A 3 Second Poll
Hi Dear Readers. Could you answer this for me?
Twenty Two Years Ago Tomorrow, We Gave It All Away
That is we sold Good Machine then. So long ago. A different time.
“I came to the realization that I had no desire to build an empire,” says Hope. “I felt hampered by the responsibilities of feeding the machine and running a corporate enterprise, and that distracted me from what I enjoyed most, which is making movies.”
Check out the article “Ghost Of The Machine” Anthony Kaufman wrote for the Village Voice back then on that End Of Indie, twenty two years ago.
It’s NOT Coming To A Massive Consumer Streaming Platform Near You Any Time Soon!
See INVISIBLE NATION in a theater now while you still can. Although we can’t do any more Q&A’s — and they have been truly moving — you still can see it in Los Angeles at Laemmle’s Royal this week. And soon in other cities. Check out and sign up for our website to get the latest. Our weekend shows have been packed, but there are plenty of seats all weekend long. Thanks!
Let's do a tshirt together that says, "SEEN ANY GOOD MOVIES LATELY?"
Wellllll, okay, hold up. About your poll: I used to rate and review movies religiously across IMDb, Amazon, a place called Movielens that I believe still exists but was once a research project run by the University of Minnesota, and on Mubi back when it was a film discussion board and not a streaming service. I assembled over 1000 movie reviews and even considered self-publishing them into a book before I got busy and lost interest (I wouldn't even try assembling such a book today because I've basically forgotten most of the movies I watched, go figure).
But today I clicked "I rarely do" and that's because I don't think the Yelp-ification of movies is a meaningful use of my time anymore. I even looked into Letterboxd and immediately got just exhausted by the number of amateur comedians attempting to create the funniest hot take to whatever A24 movie is now in the docket (no shade against the actual movies themselves).
I think what you're saying about talking about film in public, person-to-person conversation is very real. There aren't even discussion boards anymore. Honestly the closest I get to a real good online film discussion community is the Incredibly Strange Films group on Facebook, that set knows what's up, but like you mentioned, I don't use Facebook much anymore, it's now relegated to a quick check on Saturday mornings to see if I've been invited to any events or if anyone's messed with my profile or something.
I do post Movie Recommendations to my Substack that are explicitly not reviews or film criticism, they're sincere attempts to get people excited about a movie I really loved. I don't have a whole lot of reach, but probably higher than I have in the day to day life. The problem is that working in film, means when you start recommending movies in conversation you then in turn get a dozen recommendations back, and before you know it everyone has a list of hundreds of movies they simply can't keep on top of. My actually written down recommended-to-me list is literally over 700 movies, I've kept it for years :) .
Anyway so in your post I see two different things: people talking about movies and then people adding their data and metrics (dollar votes) to the movie social media of places like IMDb or LetterBoxd. These are not the same thing. I would argue the latter is one part of what depresses the former, we can't have an honest discussion about movies we enjoy because people are just looking for what movie can give them the best punchline for likes and shares.