San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
How to watch a film like a critic would
People ask me how to watch movies like a movie critic all the time, and here is my Zenlike answer: If you want to watch movies like a movie critic, the first thing you must do is not try to watch movies like a movie critic.
Instead, watch them like a normal human being. Watch them just as you’ve been watching them your whole life.
That sounds easy, and ultimately it is easy. But if you happen to actually be a movie critic, achieving that kind of relaxation at first takes some discipline. The reason? If you know you’re going to write about a movie, you might end up watching it while half the time wondering what you’re going to write.
When I first started out, I tended to be an anxious viewer. Then one morning in 1987, I was standing on the corner of Fifth and Mission, waiting to cross the street to go into the Chronicle. I felt some tension, as usual, knowing that in three hours, I was going to have to produce something, and I had no idea what I was going to say.
But then, just before the light changed, I had this thought: “I’ve done this about 200 times by now. Every time I’m about to write something, I’m anxious, and yet every time I get started, I find that I have plenty to say. So maybe today is the day to drop this particular source of anxiety from my abundant anxiety repertoire.”
So I did.
From then on, I was able to watch movies in complete relaxation. I watched them as I always had — perhaps with a slightly elevated sense of attention, but only in a way that actually improved the experience. I stopped thinking about what I was going to say or even what I thought. I just let the movie happen.
Ideally, the real work of a critic begins after the viewing, and I recommend you try what I’m about to describe. Not for every movie you see, but for special movies that interest you, either for better or worse. I believe it will increase your enjoyment and imprint the movie in your mind in a deeper way.
Get a notebook and a pen, sit down and start by asking yourself a simple question: “How did I like the movie?” Then write down your answer.
Then ask yourself why you felt that way. Write down your answer. What did it make you feel? Why did it make you feel that? What moment did you particularly enjoy (or dislike)?
Why? Keep asking why. What was notable? Why? What do you think was good? Why? What do you think was bad? Why?
At a certain point in this process, you may look down at your notes and realize you’ve written two answers that seem to be in opposition to each other. You have contradicted yourself.
Good!
Do not suppress contradictory thoughts. A contradictory thought may indicate you need to change your mind, or it might mean that you need to refine your thinking. Or you might find that the seemingly contradictory thoughts aren’t contradictory at all, and that the exact truth may reside in the small space where two ideas overlap.
Final step: If a friend walked in and asked you what you thought of the movie, what’s the first thing you’d say?
What’s the second thing you’d say?
Write down your answers to these questions as fast as you can. Don’t censor yourself. Don’t try to sound intelligent. If you try to sound intelligent, the best you’ll sound is glib, and glibness is the enemy of original thought. Just let it out.
This entire process should take you no more than a total of 10 or 15 minutes, depending on how fast you write — or type.
Now look at what you have written.
Congratulations! You now have all the notes you need — indeed, more than what you need — to write a movie review.
But lucky you, you don’t have to write one!
You’ve refined your thoughts, deepened your understanding, stretched your critical faculties, and just as the fun part is over and the work is about to start, you’re done.
That’s how to watch a movie — and how to think — like a critic.
By the way, if you’re a student, the above process works for term papers as well. The best ideas come when you’re loose and allow your mind to breathe. You don’t ever want to write tight, and you don’t ever want to think tight. Neither do you ever want to sound, act or try to think like anybody else.
Just be loose and be yourself, and trust that the good stuff will come. I know from experience — it always does.
Do not suppress contradictory thoughts. A contradictory thought may indicate you need to change your mind, or it might mean that you
need to refine your thinking.