Welcome to Bedroom Cinema

A Brief Introduction

In 2017, I challenged myself to watch 300 movies. It was a pivotal year for cinema. Moonlight. Get Out. The Fits. 2017 was the historical soil from where some of my favourite films sprouted from.

I began strong. My film choices were peppered with auteur directors and arthouse cinema. Elle (2017) Raise the Red Lantern (1992). Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2003) The Passion of The Christ (2004). I’d finish two films a day and scrawl my thoughts about them on my phone. When I fell sick with influenza on Valentine's Day, I coughed and sniffled my way through Richard Linklater’s entire “Before” Trilogy. I was dedicated to hitting the milestone I’d set. An ambitious sect of me even wanted to surpass it.

CUT TO: A difficult July. My consumption of arthouse films slowed. The density of their subject matters coupled with the unbearable whiteness of a lot of their political lenses fatigued me. I rested on the comfy laurels of being way ahead of schedule and decided not to watch anything for a whole month.

JUMP TO: Mid-September–a scene of panic. I had 100 films left to watch and I was still emotionally depleted. I decided to flood my itinerary with “simpler” films. Lego: Batman Movie (2017). Osmosis Jones (2001). Hercules (1997). I picked films that were a little easier to digest. Or movies whose familiarity was soothing. 

The flurry of arthouse films influenced my palette. I noticed that I was a little more sensitive to the ebbs and flows of narrative structure, a little more contemplative of the intention behind emotional beats, a little more aware of how cinematographic and acting choices added depth. These perspectives would shine inside the prism of my Blackness and refract outwards. I saw everything in a new light that I couldn’t switch off. I’d scribble about things like “resistance against the carceral state? in Chicken Run (2002)”. With a brand new perspective, watching the “easier” films allowed me to appreciate them even more.

SMASH CUT TO: December 31st. The count: 301. 

I went into the new year with a revitalised appreciation for the craft. I viewed the majority of the films by myself. I took pride in my solo achievement but a profound loneliness permeated through my victory. I’d kept a lot of my thoughts to myself out of fear that they weren’t cohesive enough, polished enough or knowledgeable enough to stand up in the literary universe of film criticism. But I’d routinely read popular criticisms and reviews about the films I’d enjoyed and find their perspectives disagreeable. Or I’d feel like there was something missing. Whenever I looked for spaces where I’d find people who thought similarly to me about the movies I held dear (or the ones I held not so dear) - I’d always come up short. 

CUT TO: The Dream of the Bedroom Cinema Club  

I imagined a way for those who enjoy the solace of their own space but who long for a connection to a community where they can read and discuss their opinions on TV and film. 

I’ve been wanting to create something like this for a while but I never quite knew how to start. 

I knew I wanted to share my opinions about the motion pictures that have been influential to me, interrogate the motion pictures that have been influential to the world, and make a case for which motion pictures should be influential to all. I wanted a way, or a place, to collect all those niggling missing pieces into a forum. But I didn’t want it to seem so… Serious. I wanted to practise and exercise a relaxation of form. Sure, sometimes I’d love to share a traditional review or a fully fleshed-out essay. But sometimes I’d simply like to share reflections in the form of notes or musings that are still works-in-progress. There is something so finite about how we treat the spirit of writing. Publication is immortalisation. We crystallize the written word–despite the fact that language bends and grows and our opinions are containers of fluidity (if we’re lucky). I hope that, here, can be a place of relief–with the freedom to try, and fail, and laze, and succeed and be.

Thank you for choosing to rest here.

Bedroom Cinema Club

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