The Ambitious Cinephile

Don't waste the gift of obsession

Ignore the bullshit. Discard your phone. Do the reading. Watch widely. Go to the cinema. Obsess. Learn the history. Learn the craft. Learn the theory. Study technology. Be bored. Challenge your taste. Watch silent movies. Watch old movies. Watch foreign movies. Watch B-movies. Write. Write. Write.

Stop moaning. Don’t be a cynic. Don’t indulge the cynics. Study acting. Study form. Study editing. Explore animation. Distinguish schlock from slop. Read interviews. Read modern critics. Read classic critics. Fight nostalgia. Respect the canon. Fuck the canon. Pinpoint tone. Take notes. Read Bordwell. Be wrong. Change your mind. Change it back. Be a nerd. Be an aesthete. Be a snob. Be a populist. Keep writing.

Make the time. Stop watching television. Stop playing Xbox. Ignore awards. Listen to soundtracks. Have a watchlist. Find community. Collaborate. Proselytize. Persuade. Make trade-offs. Don’t comment on commentary. Support your local cinema. Upgrade your home set-up. Rewatch. Cherish your favourites. Be genre blind. Be a genre obsessive. Go to the cinema alone. Go to the cinema late at night. Find a bigger screen. Find a louder sound system. Write. Write. Write.

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For some strange, cosmic reason, this still-young Frankenstein’s monster of an art form has chosen us to be its acolytes.

We can’t choose our passions, but we can choose what we do with them. Don’t waste the gift of obsession.

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