Life after lockdown is a checklist. Humans are becoming used to activities we’d been banned from for months. Been to a restaurant again? Tick. Visited your local Waterstones? Check. Gone on holiday? Managed that. Gone to the cinema…not yet. That is an activity I haven’t enjoyed recently. Indeed, the last time I was in the cinema was 1st March 2020, watching the utterly majestical The Personal History of David Copperfield.
However, lockdown has meant that, while I watched plenty of TV series, I also invested a serious amount of time catching up on different films that I hadn’t seen before. Our DVD collection had plenty of hidden gems waiting to be explored and enjoyed. With that also came a recent discovery of the excellent film collections on iPlayer and All 4. Who needs Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney+ when so much is available for free viewing online? If lockdown has had any benefits, it has helped me regain a love of films. I have fond memories of going to the cinema every Saturday morning with my family. We’d see cheap films at the local Cineworld complex. In particular, I remember seeing Fantastic Mr Fox time after time. Based on the brilliant novel by Roald Dahl, it captured my imagination for what cinema could be. Having more time to watch films has been bliss. I like to know as little as possible going into a film. Trailers, reviews and spoilers irritate me. Ideally, I know only the title and running time. Despite my best intentions, I also try to watch the film all the way through with no distractions. This is far easier in cinemas than at my computer or television. In a large room full of darkness, the brightness of one’s phone is simply unacceptable. At home, it’s far easier to give into the temptation of Twitter. However, after watching a film, I like to garner the views of others and hear their thoughts. In particular, I always like to read the views of Mark Kermode, who I believe to be the UK’s foremost film critic. He is exceptional at his job. The chief film critic for the Observer, co-host of Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review on BBC Radio 5 Live and The Film Review on BBC News, Kermode is an articulate, entertaining and wry critic who lives and breaths cinema. He is a joy to listen to. I first came across him, ironically, when my obsession with politics began. After school, I would rush home to try and hear the 3.30pm bulletins on the BBC News channel. I lived a fun childhood, as you can see. As I watched the news channel more and looked ahead in the schedule, I saw special programmes like The Film Review. Initially co-hosted with Gavin Esler, Kerrmode was always the constant presence, showing clips from the film and giving his honest and subjective opinions. I only came across him again via YouTube. Best known for the 5 Live show with Simon Mayo, the team brilliantly clip his reviews each week and put them out online. Think of any film released in the UK since 2008, type it next to Mark Kermode’s name into Google and the chances are a video will appear featuring his review. Kermode clearly does his research. Having learnt to write in the dark during films, he is able to give any reaction that he felt immediately upon viewing. While watching four or five films a day could seem wearisome to the outsider, it is something he never bores of. That passion for a cultural medium, that desire to express the brilliance of cinema is something truly admirable that deserves credit. Mark manages to fit so much in. It is amazing to think how many films he had seen, given his number of ventures spent talking about films and cinema. In recent months, I have particularly enjoyed listening to his Kermode on Film podcast. Ranging from interviews with film stars, head to heads with the great Jack Howard and his personal rundown of the best and worst films, the podcast does what every great podcast should do. It connects with the audience, ensures they carry on listening and are desperate to hear another edition. As I say, it is amazing how vast his knowledge of cinema is. At a live event, someone asked him ‘What’s the one classic film you really should have seen but haven’t?’. He couldn’t think of an answer (though admitted not seeing Citizen Kane until his mid-40s). While, thanks to BBC iPlayer, I was very pleased to see Citizen Kane aged 18, there are too many classic films for me to include. It would take up a whole blog. Two that immediately spring to mind are Jaws and It’s A Wonderful Life…and The Exorcist of course! An individual shouldn’t have to always agree with a renowned critic to appreciate their writing and contribution to public discussion. Kermode really likes Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, which, despite Sally Hawkins, I struggled to connect with. Similarly, I believe The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman is incredibly overrated. Kermode doesn’t. Film criticism, according to Kermode, isn’t about critics seeing the best and worst films of the week and telling audiences what to watch. It is about discussing films and the power of cinema in an intelligent manner. When writing for the Observer, Kermode has spoken about the importance of brilliant editors. I couldn’t agree more. On a far smaller scale, the editors at my student newspaper are essential for any of my writing to sound somewhat understandable. It is so different from broadcasting, yet Kermode manages both in an effortless manner. Whenever I finish listening to a review or reading his column, I think about a film differently, even if I completely disagree the argument! Just from his choice of films to review, the audience can tell what generates bursts of enthusiasm, rage, despair and disappointment. Listening to one episode can be like watching Inside Out all over again (which is also my favourite Pixar film by a country mile). While I never have and never want to see Entourage and Sex and the City 2, Kermode’s beaming enthusiasm for Leave No Trace, Raw and Pan’s Labyrinth has meant films I may otherwise not have known about have been added to my eternal watch list. I sincerely hope Simon Mayo and himself continue their film review show for all eternity. I mentioned that Mark Kermode likes to do regular lists rounding up the best and worst films of the year. 2020 has been such an awful year for so many that I won’t create a worst films of lockdown list. Having enjoyed listening to so many ‘Top Ten’ lists, I thought I’d create my own. 2020 has been such an awful year for so many that I won’t add to the negativity by making a worst films of lockdown list. Below are the top ten films I have watched since lockdown began in March. As an indication for how high the bar was, here are some of the truly splendid films that *didn’t* make the top ten: The Blair Witch Project, Four Weddings and a Funeral, A Fantastic Woman, Gravity, Trainspotting, Movern Callar and, yes, Citizen Kane! 10) The Truman Show (1998) 9) Kes (1969) 8) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) 7) The Aeronauts (2019) 6) A Matter of Life and Death (1946) 5) Official Secrets (2019) 4) Ordinary Love (2019) 3) The Farewell (2019) 2) Ginger & Rosa (2012) 1) Once (2007)
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