My Venture into Film Analysis

In response to curious questions about my participation in the “Film Critics Program”, here is a brief account of my venture into the field of film analysis.

When I enrolled in the program I had actually been writing movie reviews for quite some time already and had, in fact, derived immense pleasure from it. My fondness for movie viewing all began two years ago when I was first recommended a film in Cinematheque.Passion. It was ‘Fukushima, Mon Amour’, one of the films selected for “German Film Festival 2016”. I was much attracted by its genre, which I found to be greatly different from that of most of the mainstream movies. I wrote something about the film. And that was my very first movie review. 

That movie viewing experience was followed by more and more others. Gradually, I have come to know that there is far more in movies that we can appreciate than their mere elements of entertainment. And now it is no longer for seeking entertainment that I go to movies. I enjoy digging out hidden ideas behind the scenes and making guesses about the director’s intention by analyzing certain shots that seem to be out of the usual pattern. I even go so far as to consider how the story plot could be reorganized to make the ending more impressive to the audience.

It is often with bountiful thoughts on my mind that I leave the cinema. On returning home, I can’t wait to put the thoughts into words before they are lost. This way I have written a number of movie reviews over the past two years. The joy is twofold: it satisfies my passion for movie viewing as well as extending my interest in writing.

Knowing that I had been writing nothing more than personal reflections, thus lacking in intellectual depth, I enrolled in the “Film Critics Program”. I am glad to have gradually acquired some of the useful techniques. Of course, there is far more about film analysis that Mr. Kaming, our lecturer, would have liked to share with us than he actually managed to during the six monthly modules. We are to explore further on our own and acquire experience through frequent practice. Mr. Kaming has also kindly offered to make himself available any time we need his advice.

As mentioned in my previous posts, I have learned a lot not only from our lecturer but also from my classmates, young people with a passion for movies and for writing. I thank Cinematheque.Passion for organizing this excellent course and look forward to another program as informative and enjoyable in the near future.