Those who have known me for a couple of years, might remember that - on my blog - I used to mainly write movie reviews and share my past or ongoing filmmaking adventures ( Remember Tunnels of the Shadow People? ).
I guess that´s kind of a logical thing to do for someone who studied film in University (2000 to 2007) and who worked on his own shoestring indie projects from 2010 to 2019, including three unsuccessful attemtps at producing and directing a feature film, the last one, in Spanish, on the tiniest of the Canary Islands (El Hierro).
I took a break from filmmaking in early 2019. It burnt me out and I was already recovering from a burnout and what was probably a depression, the effect of trying several times to actually fit into the system thereby depressing my creativity and actual desires.
Now I think of it, I worked as a film teacher in many different forms and shapes but I have also had a job as a film critic or movie reviewer a long time ago. I had to look it up. It was 2006-2007 (near the end of Uni, at a time when I was struggling with my final (film)thesis ).
I held that job for a year and a half. It was voluntarily and I was 'paid' in DVD´s and movies screenings in cinema (excluding popcorn and drinks). Doing this mainly made me realize that I wanted to be more than just a movie critic. It didn´t satisfy me and reminded me too much of what I wasnt doing, had stopped doing: making movies. I was merely watching them and writing about them and had done this for a long, long time.
In all honesty, I was focusing on everything but actual film making itself. Although I had made some attempts at film production, starting as early as 2002 and had worked for months on an ambitious short film project in 2005, it would eventually take until 2010 (and after two 'escape attempts' to Spain, where I learnt Spanish) before I finally got into filmmaking. In all the years in between, I kept writing stories and screenplays though.
2010-2019 Filmmaking vs Fitting In
From 2010 onward, up till early 2019, I worked more or less actively on indie shoestring budget film projects. Several attempts to make ends meet, by working on ( commercial ) films ( made for others ), didn´t feel right and often led to unsatisfying results. I got sucked into the system again and again, which - in turn - drained me from my creativity. I couldn´t find my freedom there, as a creative. I had hardly any money, got fired or quit jobs all the time and had to move house again and again. All of this adds up to why I ended up on the block- and blogchain in 2017, as well as to why I made the move to The Netherlands from Portugal, early 2018. I can survive with way less money here. You could say that the system doesn´t have me in a stranglehold any longer, although it still tries (and is fading out in the background). I left the hamster wheel and am running free again. It isn´t always easy but way less of a struggle than it used to be.
In case you´re interested, back in the days I wrote 4 posts called How to not Make a Movie based on my experience and struggles as a filmmaker. I've ofen thought and said that I might write a book one day with that title. I´m just not sure how helpful that will be. It might be entertaining though for the reader and they might learn from my mistakes.
Fast forward to 2019, when I paused my filmmaking activities after having spent 8 and a half years of some fun and mainly a lot of struggle.
At the end of that same year, I decided to focus on (book) writing, something I have been wanting to do for ages. It led to the dinoverse / hypersensitivosaurus series that I'm working on now.
Three dino books in progress...
Then, last year, in 2020, I started a dedicated movie account @vincinema but that one was short lived. I wasn´t really feeling it. I also lost my keys (at least temporarily due to tech issues as of late)
That's Entertainment!
Film is not necessarily entertainment for me. Or, to rephrase that, most films that entertain others don´t easily entertain me (and not because I lack a sense of humor). I just turned into somewhat of a film snob in the last two decades or you could say that I have a unique taste in movies. I´m sure it would happen to you, after studying film and making no budget films yourself.
The fact that I´m subscribed to a movie streaming site called MUBI known for international (mainly) arthouse cinema tells you enough. Most stuff on Netflix doesn´t make my heart beat faster. I'm not a binge watcher, although I've tried.
I prefer decent storytelling over special effects, realistic (non) acting over moviestars recycling themselves again and again, suspense over fast paced action scenes that make your head spin and so on and so forth.
I still have a weakness for 80s and early 90s movies though, as I was born in 1981. I also love 70s movies (many of my favorite films are from those 10 years), the decade when the blockbusters were born and when arthouse cinemas started to flourish, showing international (not merely North American) cinema to their audiences worldwide.
It's fair to say that I usually prefer a well made B movie over an average, forgettable big budget film.
Let´s stop beating around the bush. I can do that in my dino stories (there's a jungle there). What can you expect from me here? As the title hints at, I plan to write about non mainstream movies and I will do so in an atypical way.
I usually get bored of reviews that just talk through the plot or story. If I´d wanted to know this, I would just watch the movie. I love more personal reviews, for instance about the situation surrounding the watching of a particular movie. I wanna know how the viewer felt, what emotions were evoked while and after watching the film and so on. I wanna feel!
Therefore, I aim to make you feel emotions when you read my reviews. I want to inspire you to go watch something, not just because everybody talks about it and you FOMO. No, the opposite, because hardly anybody does talk about, because I awakened a little light inside of you to watch something you wouldn´t ordinary pick...
Ambitious, I know, but I can´t help it. This is how I am. Take it or leave it. I don´t make promises but if people like this (possible series) it might become a weekly thing.
I plan to start with the XTro trilogy. Still need to watch Part 3 through.
TO BE CONTINUED...
The screenshot above this write up shows you my recent viewing history on MUBI: A film from Morocco about an impossible relationship between a rich, white middle aged Frenchman and a poor, young Moroccan woman; An atypical Indian movie about 1980s C movie underground filmmaking in Bombay, with a mixed in Romeo and Juliet like love(?) story and a crazy French movie classic about magic and a haunted house, that I found more or less entertaining but I cant say I enjoyed it.
If you´re still with me, I talked about the first 2 XTRO movies with my good friend @inuke This guy recently got serious about movie reviews himself. I suggest you go follow his alt account @moviekeeda He tends to write about bad movies in a good way.
Damn, what an interesting read. It sounds like you have a lot of cool experience! Film making was always what I wanted to do but I never had access to the necessary resources. I still frequently write storys/scripts/screenplays but I have yet to produce one that I really found "good". It's tough to be your own critic!
I hear you on Netflix- I think it's a bit of a garbage platform. I ditched that one and tried Hulu, where I found some better stuff but not what I was looking for. MUBI sounds interesting; I'll have to check that out. I also prefer B movies to a lot of the high budget shit being pumped out. Are you a horror fan by any chance? I know it's a hate-or-love kind of genre, and there's a lot of trash in it but it's also a community that supports a lot more independent filmmakers and allows more room for plot-driven films and prioritizes filmmaking over budget; often times using the cheap budget for a comedic effect in a well-written and directed film. At least, that's my view on it; I'm no expert.
If you are, have you ever checked out Shudder? It's currently my only streaming subscription. I love it. There's a lot of trash on there, and there's a lot of gold. But, I'd rather watch a trash independent film than a "great film" that's greatness is defined by budget and actors. As Stephen King famously said, "the worst horror movie I ever saw was fucking great"
Thanks man! I truly appreciate thoughtful comments like these.
Cool to hear about your affinity with filmmaking. Being my own toughest critic was one of the reasons why it took me so long before I started taking filmmaking seriously. I merely studied it for ages, before I took the plunge. It´s probably also the reasons why I often abandon projects.
That kind of sucks as it looks interesting and I (used to) like horror a lot. Together with scifi (especially mixed in one) it used to be my favorite genre. A little less these days, as there's enough horror and fear in the world and I'm a sensitive human being who only know realized how much everything we consume affects us. I still admire most horror classics though aside from torture stuff without a message.
P.S. Trash and gold sounds like a golden mix and that Stephen King quote made me smile!
This documentary might inspire you. It sure inspired me! ( hopefully you can find the full movie somewhere )
Hope to see you around!
Yeah, I took a few film classes during my year and a half of school. I had to drop out as it wasn't working for me financially. It was pretty much the only subject I was studying I was fully interested in- I often forget that that was the direction I wanted to go with my life, yet it proved to be unrealistic for me, at least at the time.
Oh I feel you there. I think that's one of the reasons I love horror so much though. It offers a different perspective to these issues, and the way esoteric monster stories can be used to represent these issues is something fascinating to me. Take Night of the Living Dead for example, speaking of classics. The political implications of that movie are incredible, and the way they use a story about the undead to represent these things is amazing to me. On the flip side, I also can use the pure shock value of horror to take myself to a fictional world to get away from the issues of the real world.
And yeah, torture porn sucks. I'm glad that's a mostly universal concept. When I've talked with publishing companies before that's always in the rules; "we don't want torture porn*.
Bummer Shudder isn't available where you are. My partner lives in Chile and has the same issue there. It's still a fairly small independent streaming service, compared to most; hopefully it will grow into a more international thing, even though it's a very niche community.
I am definitely going to check out the documentary! The name sounds familiar, but I certainly haven't seen it. Thank you!
Catch you on Cine. I'm excited for that. When I first got into blockchain(Steemit) I mainly wrote film reviews, as well as music. Film was my "thing" though. Hoping to get back into that routine!
and I almost forgot to mention that the XTRO trilogy that I briefly talked about (and might review soonish) belongs in the horror scifi b movie genre.
Oh perfect. I'll be keeping my eye out for that review, and it may inspire me to check out the trilogy :)
Hi, welcome to Cinetv. I'd be looking forward to reading your reviews.
Good day. :)
Thank you and great name. I love the work of Werner Herzog, especially his films with Klaus Kinski!
Great to see you here finally!
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Good to be here and thanks for the pizza. Haven´t tastes that in a while!
Ha, I felt an emotion reading this. Whaaaaaaaaaat? You are 1 year younger than me??????? Felt my emotion? 😄 I wanna break out too, how is Portugal lol
Hahaha!
One year is nothing. In that case you´re still pretty young ,>)
You're welcome to join the cool peepz in Portugal haha.
This area is actually changing a little bit in a colony of British, Dutch and German people (not sure if that's a good thing haha but at least I speak Portuguese and I respect nature)
A recipe for disaster 😂
Awesome post with solid writing, @vincentnijman.
Welcome to the CineTV family.
Obrigado / Thank you!
First thing first,
What an Intro Bro!!!
Image Source
I am really excited that you are here. To restore balance to the universe. ;-)
Really glad that you are again enjoying talking about movies or maybe redefining.
I did not know you had a film background. Very cool how this path actually led you into creative writing, a very different world, but definitely a place where prior skillsets can be applied.