About Into the Screen
Here, I use the word “film” quite broadly. Films are any stories shown on a screen. If you love this means of storytelling, you’re probably like Alice. You want to go to Wonderland. You want to see something new and exciting, something awesome. I’m your White Rabbit.
Francois Truffaut said he demanded that “a film express either the joy of making cinema or the agony of making cinema. I am not at all interested in anything in between.” My wants are not dissimilar.
Alongside the novel, film is the most advanced form of literature invented. If there were no libraries or bookshops, if there were no books on Earth, I would go to a cinema. Outside the pages of a book, the silver screen is the best plane on which to discover visions of another world. There you can find Humphrey Bogart watching you from a street corner leaning on a lamppost, trenchcoated in chiaroscuro shadows and lights, his moonish face hidden under his fedora but illuminated by the glow of his cigarette. Down the street is Marilyn Monroe behind the wheel of a pearl-white corvette with diamonds sparkling in her eyes, on her ears and around her neck as she speeds towards a red light. Here lives Sean Connery under the name of James Bond, 007, Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, and Christian Bale behind Batman’s mask. In this world, Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star, Liberty Valance is shot, and Victor Frankenstein can be heard screaming “It’s ALIVE.”
Inside this silver screen, you can find gods and monsters, heroes and villains, and angels and demons. Film can offer you fear and wonder. It’s why I watch them. It’s why I write about them. It’s why I read about them, and why I’m so often disappointed by what I read.
With some exceptions, most film criticism I’ve read either bores me or makes me sick. When not listing superficial details about a film, most film critics go to great lengths to read something into the film that isn’t there. For instance, that West Side Story endorses imprisonment. What opinions they give they do so without providing evidence. A critic asking you to believe that a film is thrilling or dull without providing their reasons why is like a scientists asking you to accept their conclusion that time travel is possible without showing you their evidence. Most critics are not interested in the magic of a film. Their interests consists of: judging it with the superficiality of a horny high school boy judging the appearance of girls, proving their own theories and prejudices that they’ve already convinced themselves are correct, and belittling anything or anyone that dares approach the stature of a superman.
The film criticism I write will be different. It will be the film criticism I want to read. I will take you inside the illusion and show you how it’s cast. I will judge the film, as virtuous or vile, and I will prove my opinion with evidence, without spoiling the film. If you haven’t seen the film, you can use what I write as a guide as to whether it’s worth your hard-won money and time. You can also hear someone else talk about a film you loved or despised. Hear them put into words what you might have only felt as a radiant joy or a debilitating disgust. If you’re interested in the mechanics of film, you can see them.
Now, let me take you into the screen.
William J. Barker
(I publish one post on this blog every week on Monday. I also publish one post every week on Monday on my other blog).
Email: william.barker2019@outlook.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-barker-087004204/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/William82912598
The website’s logo was designed by my friend Sara Sabateen. She can be found on Instagram at sarah_sabateen_design. The photo of me was taken during Grow Your Career Week at the University of Adelaide by the Careers Service Team.
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