How to watch a film

The first step in watching a film, is to make it like a new year's resolution. Select carefully, and make sure you are going to follow through. Granted some movies can be so bad you'll leave them before they're done - but if you're careful, you can figure out which ones are good enough to stick through to the end.

The next step is to realize that what you are seeing was first a book or a play - something written down and imagined. This part is important, because some of the most beautiful elements of many books and plays are those imagined by the reader. The director and the producer take an enormous leap of faith and artistic skill to attempt to bring these images to a kind of common language - but first and foremost, they exist as a part of your imagination - not theirs. Let yourself enjoy the film completely - but remember that it's up to you , ultimately, to knit together the missing pieces and solve the open riddle. Every film will have them. Alfred Hitchcock movies, perhaps more than others.

Next, you should realize that you don't have to watch the film when everyone else does - and more importantly - whatever anyone else is saying about the film isn't really something that will bring much to bear upon your watching it. Your experience, like your life - is both unique and vivid. A director seeks to find a common language with his or her audience - but ultimately he or she will create a film that they think is subjectively beautiful and there isn't really a final say as to whether or not it really works. They have made the film for you to enjoy, but they make film because they enjoy creating art.

Sometimes, the best way to watch a film is at first - not to watch it. Let yourself daydream about it, a bit. The book is invariably always better than the film. It doesn't matter if you read the book first, or if you read it later. You will enjoy it just as much. Nothing that you read off the net, or hear from anyone else - can ruin a film. Again, the exception being certain films by Hitchcock.

Alot of the film will, after you've watched it - remain in your memory as if you've experienced it. That's ok. This is literacy. When I say "Now folks here's a story 'bout a man named Jed.." and you can hear the "Beverly Hillbillies" tune, and can relate the next line.. the effect is no different than if we were alive in the 14th century, and I had quoted The Rubyaat of Omar Khaayim. Literacy is a form of symbolic abstraction - a way of communicating images and thought. World of Warcraft is a literary work. The Beverly Hillbillies, is as well.

So feel free to use it. Enjoy saying "Leelu Dallas Multipass" as much as you want. Kid around with someone using lines from your favorite film.

But as you watch the film, keep the background noise down to a bare minimum - try to keep light on the room. Your eye wanders as you see the screen - and it will wear out if the room is very dark. Make it so the room is half lit. Sit comfortably, and spend two hours of your life. Chances are they will be well spent.

For there are stranger things, that we see or seem. There is a really funny new yorker cartoon.. two people are driving in a car down rodeo drive... and one says to the other... "I had the strangest dream sequence last night".

Treat film well. It's a great medium for art and education. And it's a gateway to Opera. That said, it's not like I'm an expert.

Are there any films you've seen lately, that were really good. I mean. I'm not saying I'm looking forward to watching Resident Evil:Afterlife in 3D.....but... I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.