A weekly nudge to live a better life through cinema, written by Paul W. Rankin
Three films every Sunday, following a thread
My perspective on cinema is that just like you can choose to fill up on junk food or keep a healthy diet, you can spend your time with the latest throwaway Netflix series or with a film that will nourish your soul.
Bart, some philosophers believe that nobody is born with a soul, that you have to earn one through suffering and thought [and cinema]. – Lisa Simpson
But most of the time watching the soul-nourishing cinema is hard. You’re tired, you don’t want to think/feel, all of your friends are talking about WandaVision — you’ve always thought you’ll see the Three Colours trilogy before you die, but just not tonight. It’s like exercise. You put it off again for another time.
Like exercise, it gets easier once you start, you get more out of it than you put in, and it’s more fun with others.
One reason I started Film Club 2000 is because I too need to stick to my regiment of cinematic nourishment. Another is that a whole lot of times people have asked me to send them lists of films to see — but it’s not like I can just send an email with subject “The Five Films to See” and a promise of fulfilment.
What I can do is attempt to share what makes cinema meaningful to me — it’s not just about experiencing more meaningful films, but about the path taken. Rather than just accepting the next suggestion from an algorithm, it’s about discovering a film that’s already embedded within a discourse (however minor). It’s about shared narrative. It’s about following a thread.
Each Sunday I send three films and why I’m enthusiastic to watch them, with the hope that the enthusiasm carries over. Each week’s selection is vaguely associated triptych, with the films of past weeks inspiring the selection of the following weeks. And there’s a short (or long) preface on how the thread evolves as we go.
But I can’t possibly watch three films a week?!
That’s okay! The intention is not to have you watch all the same films as me, but to feel like you might discover something together with other people.
(Btw Tom Cruise watches a movie a day and I hear he’s pretty busy.)
Why “2000”?
It was important to have the club seem cutting edge. And 2000 is clearly better than zero.
