Notes towards a working definition of Film-Rockism — 1 [reg req’d, I think]
‘People employed to write about film are like cinema punters in one respect: in a time of deluge they will cling to anything buoyant that passes their way. It took me about two weeks, however, to realise that this reviewing stint would offer no golden period for me, no time like the 1940s or the 1970s, when great work was being produced by young and developing talent or by great directors approaching their zenith — a time that might automatically bring zip and moral purpose to the weekly effort of writing a column.’
Excerpted from the current Granta special on film, to which I’ll return if I can fight my way through it, this is meant as a six-gun blast at everything from contemporary cinema (‘Nearly every film I saw in the year 2000 was a version of something else’ — OMG) to audiences (‘my commentary on the life suggested by modern film was also a secret and hurtful commentary on their own choices and their own values’ — WTF) to Cannes (‘I couldn’t take Cannes seriously’ — LOL) but obv natch simply inflicts some nasty toe injuries on the writer (former Torygraph film critic Andrew 0’Hagan) himself. Useful as a kind of index of wrongitude.
HKM