Over 2015 & 2016, I would often go to the cinema (at least) once a week. This same period coincided with my development in understanding my personal taste in film. Towards the end of 2015, I looked back at all the films I saw that were released that year. I realised that there were very few I loved (Inherent Vice, Queen Of Earth, Inside Out), a couple that I enjoyed (Bridge Of Spies, Loin Des Hommes, Spectre, Mistress America), and an overwhelming majority that I didn’t like. I don’t hate watching bad films as much as others, I find that there is always value in watching something. However, the financial cost was becoming a burden. Despite this, I decided to follow the same approach in 2016 and visit the cinema as much as I could. Why? Because there is no other experience that I prefer than appreciating a great film on a big screen. I thought that for every Still Alice, one day I would get a Clouds Of Sils Maria; the risk seemed to be worth it. I was wrong.
2016 was a terrible year for film, I would argue even worse than 2015. I saw over 80 films (mostly in cinemas), and enjoyed probably 20 of them. As Samuel L Jackson says in Snakes On A Plane, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”. Towards the end of 2016, I stopped going at my rate of once a week, and went at about once a month. This period, however, gave birth to one of the most rewarding cinematic experiences I have had. I started buying movies on VHS.
VHS movies are usually found at Op-Shops for no more than $1-2. Despite this world of streaming-everything, I prefer VHS to Netflix for a few reasons:
1) I’ve always preferred Media in a physical form.
2) I find the act of going to an op-shop, not knowing what they have and purchasing something based on my instinct thrilling.
3) Netflix’s catalogue is inundated with new films. Old films are much better (obviously).
4) I prefer the VHS aesthetic.
Shopping around for movies on VHS has provided me with memorable cinematic experiences. These include John Woo’s Face Off, the 1932 original of The Mummy, Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero, as well as the hilarious 1997 so-bad-it’s-good Anaconda, which features Ice-Cube, Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez and Jon Voight as an insane Paraguayan explorer who may or may-not have a fetish for anacondas. Variety is key. And while not a film, I have also developed a deep love for Nature documentaries (Art Of Landscape, Natural Treasures Of The World (amongst others)).
My departure from cinema-going to VHS watching has given me an opportunity to see films I would have never usually seen, and is now my go-to for when I want to watch something.