By: Keaton Marcus

PREFACE:

If one ponders this topic, will they be able to respond with a clear response? It's a challenging task. Arriving at a focused resolution on why cinema matters so much to an entire population of people who occasionally watch multiple a day seems almost impracticable. The purpose of this is to attempt to find core reasons that fuel the moviegoer and their desirous passion for seeing, writing, and living for cinema. Keep in mind that all of these essays are only my personal opinion so that readers will disagree with me. It's inevitable.

MEMORABILITY:

When you watch a damn good film, and I mean something excellent, at least one aspect should be memorable. It could be anything, being honest. The cinematography or visual effects were striking; the actors transformed themselves into their roles. The musical score conveyed emotion with simple noise. Did it terrify you? Make you tear up? Get you pumped for the following action sequence? Practically anything visually or substance-wise can affect audiences while witnessing an extremely well-directed movie. For example, when I first saw The Godfather Part II, I had just witnessed greatness in acting. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro changed my whole perspective on what a good performance was. Then we have an unrelated movie, such as Waves, which destroyed me with its powerful camera work and scored conveying heartbreaking juxtaposition. So what am I overall getting at here? I'm explaining that one of the main reasons we keep watching cinema is for memorability. The fact that we take away at least one bit of it long after initially watching. Anyway, aren't forgettable, mediocre films the absolute worst?

NOSTALGIA:

I commonly see this word getting thrown around older people, who don't necessarily make up most of this community, and it more or less angers me. Anyone can experience this feeling of elating reminiscence, and at least for me, a 15-year-old, it hits me hard a lot of the time. For folks wondering what I'm referencing, it's principally a sensation that strikes you while thinking about the past. In the case of cinema, it was a wistful affection of a movie you watched (and probably had a passion for) years ago, and the experience is just hitting you now. It's incredibly personal and should be held highly in terms of fueling the love for cinema. I always remember seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens in theaters while re-watching it at home. It was the first of the franchise that I witnessed on the big screen, and say whatever you want; it was magical. When I re-watch Cars, The Iron Giant, or Wall-E, I remember when it was on repeat in my childhood. The most remarkable aspect of this concept is the fact that it's utterly unique to just you. No one else has the same, distinct feeling you will. Hold it dearly.

INSPIRING:

Although this generally applies to aspiring filmmakers, editors, actors, screenwriters, or anything in the film industry, anyone can at least feel it during a film. Think a bit for a moment. What was the last movie that inspired you to sit down and write? How about shooting your own short randomly? Or make you rapidly write down ideas in the notes app on your phone? When a film does this to you, it's something special to you as a viewer. Whenever I get struck by this and the movie is of good quality, it usually ends in my favorites. Take my absolute all-time favorite director, Denis Villeneuve. Every single project he takes up affects me in this way, even though it's for very different reasons. In Blade Runner 2049, it inspires me to make jaws drop. Prisoners motivates me to make audiences go through excruciating tension only for a delightfully ambiguous ending. Enemy and Next Floor make me want to disturb—Sicario to thrill. Whatever it may be, inspiring films are genuinely the greatest.

ESCAPING TO ANOTHER WORLD:

Transportation through cinema. A concept experimented with since the beginning of movies that absorb audiences to places they could only dream about at the time, and generally currently. Qualifications could consist of many things. It could take place on a whole other planet, fictional or real. Perhaps we witness a complete fantasy land with monsters, dragons, and brave medieval heroes. Could it be set in another period? Pick the decade, any decade from the last two centuries, and there's likely something to watch. There's more. What about an entirely animated universe where anything can happen? What if superheroes landed on Earth one day and caused absolute havoc? The possibilities are infinite with this one. Primary examples that come to mind instantly would be the Lord of the Rings franchise, Star Wars, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pixar's animated films, or any examples that create fiction. Something that you can escape into from your repetitive life. It is a war with apes, an adventure with Rey, Finn, and Poe, a battle against Goblins. Anything that isn't already in this reality. Then again, Drive makes you feel like you're in an ethereal environment, so that's that.

THOUGHT-PROVOKING:

Ah, the thinking man's film. An unofficial genre that is only for the real fancy pants cinephiles, right? Shut up, these may be frequently confusing, but that doesn't justify blocking them from the mainstream. Films that ask deep, otherworldly questions are so compelling in influencing the mind. They make you ponder the impossible. Imagine a concept so far-fetched and insane that people will make fun of you. These films can be Christopher Nolan and Cameron Crowe making characters live in dreams while reality and fiction blend in a line of lunacy. Charlie Kaufman delving into a janitor's deepest desires in his last years of existence. Denis Villeneuve's Enemy mashes faithfulness concepts in a relationship with a subconscious war between two versions of the same man. Yeah, all of the directors and movies they made mentioned here are bonkers, but in a good way. These are sometimes the only modern films that genuinely make you sit down and contemplate. A unique grouping of cinema that deserves infinitely more recognition.

CONCLUSION:

Please let me know what you thought of this highly personal write-up. Does any of it resonate with you? I'm hoping it at least made readers see why they have such a passion for cinema from another perspective. I was hopefully successful in explaining the reasons behind my passion for cinema that likely applies to many other people. Whether it directly affects you in this way depends on the person, so I would love to here others! I personally attempted to put more in here, like the ability to educate us and create literal magic with visual effects. There must be too many to count.