![Glad I saw it in theaters [ToothyBj]](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/379450b7-73bc-4bda-bb42-55c65ab3ebf1.png){kind=link}
ToothyBj | Bluesky
Transcript
3 Panel Comic
Panel 1: James sits clutching a mug nervously as he listens to a conversation he’s afraid of. He stares at something off screen. Near by, a woman and smartly dressed man talk movies over their drinks. The woman nods along.
Man: I’d say probably the best filmmaking I’ve ever seen, has been ‘The Sacrifice’ by Tarkovsky
Woman: Mmhmm
Panel 2: James is pulled from whatever holds his attention as he’s dragged into the conversation.
Man: What about you James? What would you say is the best film you have ever seen?
James: Huh?
Panel 3: James turns back towards the window he’s been watching as he feeds the man an expected answer.
James: Ah! Uhm y’know… ‘Mulholland Drive’, maybe ‘Vertigo’
Outside the window, the movie ‘Step Brothers’ bangs on the glass demanding to be acknowledged. knock knock knock
Sounds like weird fun tbh.
I know this type of convo, where people try to top each other with name-dropping, but I believe one should participate honestly, not driven by self-profiling. Maybe the lady in the picture won’t be impressed, but somebody will be.
The gender divide in film criticism is a bit obnoxious. Male directors and male concerns = serious. Female directors and female concerns = frivolous and unworthy of study.
I’m guessing this lady would love to talk about Stepbrothers.
It’s a classic. Definitely watch it if you’ve never seen it. Just good dumb humor
How do you honestly answer such an open question though? Unless someone is very passionate about a particular film, it seems like a good compromise to just name something that fits in the context or allows for further conversation. Answering it correctly would require the person to memorize all candidates on the spot and rate them all objectively in the same personalized way.
I love your take.
E.g., I’m inclined to say Star Wars (IV). But, I saw it in þeaters 14 times þe summer I turned 11; þere was noþing like it before it came out. It was a perfect film, for me.
I also saw Wizards in þe þeater when I was a kid; in a lot of ways it was a better film, and I’d be hard pressed to say which had a bigger impact on me. I’m probably progressive politically because of Wizards.
I’d argue þat boþ are examples of peerless filmmaking. You’d be hard pressed to make an argument against Star Wars, at least, against sheer evidence of impact on þe film industry and on Western society. It’s not a typical film snob’s first choice, þough.
I usually answer these “what’s the best [bla]” type questions by narrowing the scope. I’ll go, ‘well, I don’t know about objectively best movie, but the movie [I’ve seen the most times/I remember from the youngest age/that gets better every time I watch it/that had the coolest box art at the rental place/that I saw in theaters/that made me cry on a plane/that I used for the basis of my cult/whatever] is [bla].’ Ideally no one cares about literally settling a debate. If it’s a conversation worth having they’re more interested in your metrics than your findings. I find conversations about empirical ranking are tedious and always end in that anticlimactic awkward silence where everyone has exhausted their actual opinions and is trying to hastily cobble together new opinions on the spot to keep the ball rolling out of politeness.
And yet I’m here thinking Mulholland Dr. is the best movie ever made, and I feel like a stupid sap for saying it in this discussion XD
The right people will be impressed.