I think I come by film criticism honestly. I didn’t watch At the Movies growing up; never worked in a video store; didn’t go to film school; certainly didn’t start writing for the money. I stumbled into film criticism for passion, as an advocate. The ignominious title of “film critic” that I bear was hefted upon me out of love, not derision, for film.
I’m originally from Atlanta, Georgia, but once I turned 18, a winding path from Massachusetts through Mozambique somehow ended with me in Vancouver, Canada. A queer immigrant with a mountain of student debt and an itch to do something that wouldn’t pay: write about movies.
I, of course, do work a real - ahem, paying - job as a debate coach with the Vancouver Debate Academy. I cherish my full-time job and the work I do with the younger generations as much as I enjoy any film flickering at twenty-four frames per second. My life is a careful balance of those two loves (and also my love for my family, and my friends, and basketball, and yata, yata, yata… Maybe it isn’t so carefully balanced afterall.)
Just as my life is in an apparently constant state of imbalance, so too is my taste for film. Beholden to no genre, no era, no school, I’m a wanderer of the canon. I won’t be satisfied until I’ve turned over every rock in the far-reaching canonical fields of film. Very well, I may never be satisfied. But as long as there are films to watch (and write about), I will be fulfilled.
As for the question of a favorite film - every critic’s least favorite inquiry - I will say, quite simply, that the defining film of my childhood remains my answer: Clue. Though perfect, it is by no means the best movie ever made. That question - the other least favorite inquiry for film critics - remains the great mystery of my lifetime. It may be Ikiru, it may be Get Out. Maybe The Godfather 1 or 2? Citizen Kane, Vertigo, and Jeanne Dielman are all perfect answers. I’m partial to both The Ascent and The Descent. Like I said, my mission is a futile one. I’ll let you know if I find an answer to that infuriatingly impossible question. In the meantime, please enjoy the thousands of words I pour into movies that may or may not be the “best” movie of all time.
Although I may have just made the case that my curiosity, and therefore criticism, stems from some sort of neurosis, I promise it comes from a place of love.
Before I sat down to write this, I asked my partner what they believe I’d describe as the most important thing in the world. They answered with one word in the singular: movie. ForReel.
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my FIRST REVIEW on forreel: "JEEN-YUHS: A KANYE TRILOGY"
“As a viewer and a fan, it makes me want to pause the documentary and restart it from the beginning; to (once again) spend those hours with a young, hungry, and thoroughly enjoyable Kanye West, instead of the contemporary West that already enshrouds so much of our everyday culture.”
“[Alex Garland is] reaching to make a statement about the importance of journalistic neutrality, but his cowardice neuters his own mission statement before even making it on screen.”