While scrolling Twitter the other day, I came across a post that caught my eye. It was a screenshot of a column Alex Lei wrote; the screenshot showed that Lei didn’t watch a fair share of popular movies that’ve been released this year. They include The Odyssey, Primetime, The Drama, and You Can See Everything. His reasons for not watching those films was the buzz and popularity they’d received. All of this was said in the first paragraph of his Splice Today column, and it caused an uproar on Twitter. Many accounts called him pretentious or said he wants to be different; others said, “bruh do you even understand movies?”
I’m a reactionary person, so I agreed with what these accounts were saying, calling it “anti-art” for not wanting to interact with films and not talk about them. After reading it, I agreed with many of the points he made on how film discussions are held today. I do want to engage and see things that’re generating buzz. Regardless of the discourse surrounding it, good or bad, I want to see for myself why it has everyone speaking on it and then form my own opinion.
However, there’s an obsession where we have a constant loop of the same topics brought up for the same movie. There’s a way to semi-avoid this: if you’re online, you have no choice but to see discourse on popular films. Lei didn’t see any of the films he mentioned because he curated what he wants to watch. We can avoid these films by keeping ourselves busy with other unknown gems. Lei knows what he likes; when he goes to festivals, he finds those gems, those non-buzzy films. Perhaps we can do the same, tapping into our local indie film scene, supporting films that won’t fall victim to the social discourse we find on Twitter or TikTok.
Obsession is a film that’s a victim of this endless loop of discourse; was it a good? I’d say so. I found it entertaining, a good win where a low-budget film gets that kind of attention. When I logged into “that” app, it was just endless discussions of the same regurgitated sentences and propping it to be some misunderstood masterpiece that hides its plot unless you rewatch it repeatedly. The same argument of “Nikki was a victim” being propped up to be as if the film didn’t make that clear enough was becoming overbearingly tedious, making it impossible to even hold a conversation regarding the movie. There wasn’t any hidden subtext or secret to it; it was in your face.
Try to have a discussion with someone online, and you’re met with one or the other. On the one hand, you have someone who can discuss things where both parties discover different angles; it’s something so basic, yet it is lost in today’s modern and online era. The attempt of sharing your opinion is met with what may seem as a personal attack of someone, where they try to dig up something you said or might even take it as far as doxxing all because you said you didn’t enjoy their little film. In an era where we’re supposed to be more open, it gets muddled with only the self-interest of others who aren’t open to a discussion. For instance, I love Spider-Man; since I was a kid, he’s been my favorite superhero. I haven’t been much of a fan of the recent iteration of the character and the arc the writers have decided to give him, so when Brand New Day was released, I was cautious of what I was stepping into. I was disappointed. I think there were some good ideas there, but wasn’t a fan. When I told my friends what I thought, and my reasoning behind those thoughts, I was told, “You don’t like anything.” Like Lei, I know what I like.
We’ve entered a phase where a multitude of people and accounts hold themselves on a pedestal of moral high ground. Like Lei’s post, there was another account that was getting a bashing all for showing his Top Four on Letterboxd; the films getting bashed were The Godfather and Ran. Why are we judging someone’s Top Four? Calling Ran basic is absurd; the accounts that dwell in the cave of “film twt” live in this bubble, where they feel the need to show everyone how different they are.
There’s no middle ground in the discourse; you’re either a braindead “normie with basic taste” or “pretentious.” I was speaking to someone, and sent them my Letterboxd account, thinking they’d say “nice top 4” while in the middle of speaking about a movie I was told I was basic too. Really nice to be told that when you hold four films so dear, especially those you find comfort in and rewatch. When trying to speak with this person about why they think it’s so basic, the conversation wasn’t beneficial or caused us to have a good outlook on the subject. Instead, I was met with “I have not seen any of his work because everyone knows about it.”
The responses to Alex Lei aren’t fair; most haven’t read his full column. The very thing they claim he’s doing, which is being anti-art for not watching certain films, is what they’re doing by not reading his column and reading his reasons for doing so. Others, like me, see his point of view and agree with it. His column is a great read that allows us to see a different perspective on how we approach films and discuss them. It’s important to step outside the online world, and love what you love without the fear of being judged.