How Do You Even Film Buff?

Monday is about movies and/or TV. Today it’s about being a film buff, or film bluff. Is there even any difference?

Over the last two weeks, I’ve watched a lot of films. And I’ve watched them all over the place. And in various places. I have been to six movies on the big screen - five of them have been good/brilliant, one of them was Ferrari. I’ve enjoyed The Holdovers and Dream Scenario - and most of last week’s run which I wrote to you about - that being the first four films in as many days:

But I’ve also watched Scary Movie 2 and 3 and Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I’ve had a big dose of Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain, Fando y Lis, La Cravate) and I’ve caught up with a bunch of films I had meant to see (Dune, The Creator) and some I’d never heard of (Puzzlehead, The Nest). Often the ones you were meant to see aren’t as good as the ones you just take a punt on, and that was certainly the case here.

I’m home alone while the rest of my family is still on holiday. They’re watching a lot of movies too - rewatching Saltburn and Promising Young Woman and Mean Girls and seeing some of the same films as me on the big screen (Poor Things, Anyone But You) as well as making the mistake of paying to see the new musical remake of Mean Girls. (I won’t be doing that). But it is fair to say I’ll watch many things - almost everything. (Currently, I’m watching Enter Zombie King…And The Legion of Doom - and, er, loving it…)

Over the ditch and on FaceTime, Oscar and Katy mentioned they were becoming quite the film buffs. And we talked briefly about how it’s actually very easy to do. There’s no trick to it at all and only one great skill required: You have to turn up. It’s actually the secret skill that binds the universe - it’s the ‘thing’ behind all things. Turning up is the start of doing the work, whatever the work is. And in this case the ‘work’ is watching the film. And then the next film. And the next.

I’m not saying that being a film buff is aspirational (nor is it inspirational) but it’s something anyone can do if they dedicate a portion of their time to visiting the cinema, to downloading the latest app for the latest streaming, to visiting the last video store standing, or getting their films on a flash drive from their friend.

I use all of these techniques - and more.

And it might sound like some insatiable urge, bordering on the maniacal, the unstoppable - but I’ve always loved movies. And that love grew with greater access. When I was a kid there was one or two ‘kid’ movies at the cinema a year. And a few other ‘family’ films. We’d get taken to a few films that were slightly above our pay-grade too - sometimes. And I was always grateful for this.

We weren’t early adopters to the VHS but then we caught up. And in my final years in high school I had a TV and VHS player in my room and hundreds of videotapes -mostly concerts and classic TV shows like The Young Ones. But there were some films as well.

In my first year at uni, I’d host Sunday night film screenings in my hostel room; a dozen of us huddled around a 14” television to rewatch Once Were Warriors, to double-feature Jackie Chan films, to start the early (but obsessive) Tarantino re-watching…

And of course being in Wellington there were more movie cinemas and film choices than I had been used to. I’d go and see Double Dragon and Under Siege 2 in and around vintage screenings of A Clockwork Orange and Jazz On A Summer’s Day. My main rule: It was all grist for the mill.

I also wasn’t first off the block when it came to DVDs. In fact, a friend of mine would unplug his giant early-adopter DVD player and drive over with it, and I’d help him carry it in from the car for midweek screenings of The Man on The Moon and Truman Show. But when I did, finally, get my own DVD player it coincided with me working in a music store - and that music store had just decided to go all in on the new fad: DVDs. So I bought all the Pink Panther films in a box set, and Martin Scorsese’s box of documentaries about the blues, and a half a dozen Bjork concerts, and, well nearly everything…

Of course, after a while you sell off the DVDs you’ve collected up - because who wants to be a mad collector-type forever, and because space is indeed the final frontier. Also, there’s Netflix and AppleTV and Disney+ and Neon and Tubi and Prime and Shudder and we have the lot. And, Jesus, fuck, this weekend I put the WWE network back on so I could watch up all the early Wrestlemanias one more time, and so I could catch up on all the Royal Rumbles I’ve missed…

I was going to watch Barry Lyndon - because it’s the one Kubrick film I’ve yet to see. And many people tell me it’s great. And of course it’s going to be wonderful…

But it turns out, it will be the first screening at The Wellington Film Society this year. The film is nearly 50 years old - and so am I - and we’ve never intersected previously, so I decided I could wait an extra month. And I joined the film society. Monday nights are going to be my new time where I must Turn Up.

I’ll go to other cinemas on other nights, and watch my DVDs and streamed content and files on old hard drives on other nights. But Mondays between February and November are going to be reserved for the Wellington Film Society.

Does any of this, or all of this make me a film buff? Sure, I hope so - and why not? But also, who cares, and does it matter, and never mind.

I’ve said this before, and very nearly meant it: I am more into movies than music. I felt that way even when I was writing music reviews for half a dozen publications - and sneaking them into the Herald under the pen name Mark Reid as well. Actually, “Mark Reid” had the best gig because ‘he’ was mostly writing film reviews as I recall. A few album reviews and interviews on the side, but his main gig was to see a film or two every week.

I loved that - and miss it - but I’ve also enjoyed watching films and reading about films and collecting film soundtracks for the pursuit of happiness and comfort, rather than for any paid employment, hobbyist writing or ‘respect’ as either critic or, yes, film buff. My main ‘fun’ from seeing movies is talking about them with people. That, and everything you learn about humanity from watching thousands of films.

It’s just something I do. Something I’ve always done. Something I couldn’t be without. And my favourite thing about it is that anyone can do it - and so many of us are. There is no barrier of entry - beyond access to seeing the films. You don’t need to be a cinema goer, you don’t need an archival DVD collection. Those might almost be affectations, they might certainly weigh you down - emotionally if not literally or metaphorically. You just need a working internet connection - and almost everyone has that these days.

It’s a huge privilege - if you decide to find the time. But the more you turn up, the more you watch, the more you start to notice; the more you can make connections and see consistencies and follow bodies of work, and see patterns and puzzles and make your own lists of must-sees, your own rankings, your own outrageous favourites. And the beauty of all of this? It’s not hurting anyone.

That’s the sort of pastime we should be serious about pursuing.