As a crazy movie lover, I watch a lot of movies, and when I say a lot, I really mean it. For me movies are way more than just a way of spending my free time, it is my favorite form of art, because it contains all other forms of art in it. Of course, sometimes I watch something that turns out to be a complete disappointment, but I wouldn’t say it happens regularly. Now I would like to share a little of my experience with you.
Not to get lost in the perpetual world of cinematography, I often have recourse to some movie blogs that I follow. I would not call them professional critics, but their opinion has great influence on me when I chose what movie to watch. Film Okja by acclaimed South Korean director ingenious Pon Joon-ho (the director of Parasite and Mother) was warmly received and got rave reviews both from my favorite bloggers and my friends, but unfortunately I was disappointed after watching it. I think the main problem was my high expectations, but this is what happens when the director gets an Oscan and is much spoken about, you set high expectations. I expected to see a deep, multi-layered movie infused with metaphors, but in fact the idea lies on the surface, and all the metaphors are plain and straightaway. I don’t like it when I understand a movie when I first watch it, I want to have space to explore it, to interpret the meaning on my own, and not when the director chews everything and places it right to your mouth. Anyways, we percept art through the prism of our own life experience and knowledge, so the meaning that seem obvious to me might not seem so to other people and vice versa, and it’s totally ok.
The same situation happened when I suggested my friends and I watching La La Land together. I’m a crazy fan of this film, I had watched it at least 10 times when I suggested it, I thought it would be perfect to watch with friend. Amazingly as it is, they fell asleep after watching less than a half. I was bummed and frustrated. Well, I thought that it was not the right time and not the right place to watch it and I let it go. But I was genuinely surprised when my grandmother, a great lover for musicals, turned it off too! As I have already said — many man, many minds, so I wasn’t pissed off (well, maybe just a little).
Normally I don’t watch movies which I think I wouldn’t like, but I give them a try once in a while, because sometimes pure masterpieces pass by me just because I don’t like the trailer or the soundtrack. The same was happening to the Silence of the Lambs for a couple of years. I didn’t like neither Anthony Hopkins nor Jodie Foster. I thought the movie would be rather dull and nerdy. How happy I was to discover that I was completely wrong! Silence of the Lambs is now one of my top 10 movies. It is truly ingenious and it deserves all the accolades. The moral of the story is: owls are not what they seem :).
