How I Became Interested in Movies

Chris Stuckmann’s Norm of the North review seems like an inconsequential YouTube clip. A video of a 27-year-old man talking about a supposedly terrible animated movie shouldn’t be that special. However, when that video was recommended to me in early 2016, I watched it and became hooked on Stuckmann’s channel. I was impressed by the way he criticized films and wished that I could look at films the same way he did. How could a kid who had just turned fourteen possibly look at filmmaking with the same depth and wisdom as someone who reviews movies on YouTube as a job? After a while, however, I realized I was subconsciously picking up on the elements of movies Stuckmann would talk about: the acting, cinematography, direction, writing, editing, special effects, music, and storytelling, among others. I started reviewing movies on my own with monologues to myself about my thoughts on whatever film I had just watched. Since then, I have connected with a group of friends who also love the art of filmmaking, including another Chris Stuckmann fan. I started discussing and watching films with them, along with acting in short films they made. I still appreciate how cool it is that I've actually found people who love films as much as me. I now write full-fledged movie reviews on Letterboxd and even official articles for Stardust.

For me, analyzing films is only part of the fun. I love talking about films and discussing their filmmaking. Did the person I’m talking to love or hate a certain film, or did they think it was just okay? Do I agree with that opinion or not? If I don’t, do I at least understand where they’re coming from? Do I feel they have as much of a passion for films as me? Do they hate a certain film genre because it’s too scary or sad or slow-paced? It’s fascinating to see how different subjective opinions on movies can be. It’s also interesting to see who amongst my friend group sees films simply as a form of entertainment and who sees them in the same way I do: as a form of art, storytelling, communication, and expression, and as a medium that can absorb someone into a completely new world. It’s this love of film that made me realize I want a career in films, combined with a love of history and the idea of film restoration that specifically made me interested in film history. When I was a kid, I was mostly interested in animals and biology. However, as I grew older, I became interested in history and film as forms of storytelling: history as oral stories of the past and films as a form of visual storytelling. Watching videos and reading articles and books about filmmaking, behind-the-scenes stories of films, interesting and sometimes random history, and film analyses is one of my favorite things to do.

I still have a lot to learn in the fields of film criticism and history. There are a lot of historical events, particularly in European history, for which I have no background. Thus, when I watch a historical film, I sometimes get lost in the complexities of the history portrayed in the movie. There are many classic movies that I’ve never seen because I mostly watched animated movies until I was about fifteen. However, films have done so much for me over these past few years. They’ve enhanced my interest in history, which is also incredibly fun for me to learn about. They’ve helped me understand that every person has reasons behind all of their actions, no matter how crazy those actions might seem. They’ve even helped me connect with people I don’t think I ever would have otherwise. That Chris Stuckmann video was the spark for an intense passion that I am just as interested in learning more about now as I was back then.