Can someone tell me why on earth haven’t I seen this film before?

What planet have I been living on?

I’ve made a little pact with myself to spend my Sunday afternoons catching up with movies that I may have missed that are ones on lists of “must see in your lifetime”.

The reason is that I’ve watched some shows and recent films on Netflix recently and they leave me…flat.

Or rolling my eyes.

Or groaning at the dialogue.

When I see a film, I want to be inspired or challenged in some way. I want to be moved to the depth of my core. I want to see the beauty of a striking set; or beauty in great writing and dialogue. I’d like it to have depth and meaning. To strike a chord with me because the themes resonate with me and I’m thinking long and hard about it afterwards.

I want a movie (come to think about it, books too) to be with me – and to hold that feeling – for years afterwards.

Unfortunately too many films made for the mass market nowadays have underlying themes of political correctness and it annoys me no end. They’re made for public consumption and are forgettable.

It shows a lack of creativity on the part of movie makers to create scenes and stories that allow the audience to determine themselves what’s right or wrong, instead revert to easy, basic dialogue that tells us what we can already see happening on the screen. I don’t want to be lectured to when watching films. Nor do I want to be made to feel stupid.

I decided to watch Scent of a Woman because of the above tango scene. I had seen this snippet before and it’s a great scene of two people being in the moment and having a ball dancing a great tango. I had never seen the entire movie.

However, the film itself such as the suicide scene (that shows us the conflicting emotional point where someone realises they never acted with integrity) and the moment Fred (played by Al Pacino) says his speech on courage at the school was spectacular. I held my breath throughout these scenes.

So despite the film being made in 1992, it’s themes are timeless. We see the angst, anxiety, uncertainty, love, loss, longing, anger, regret, conflict, it’s all there in the faces of the characters, their words, the impact of their words, stories, experiences on others around them. We resonate with them because we know and understand those same feelings in life.

We don’t need these moments narrated or provided with a perspective from the film makers or the script writers.

So my plan now is to pull together a list of movies I must see – movies that will move me, to watch on my Sunday afternoons.

Life is too short for shit films.