Here's a sneak preview of the book's introduction (published here with permission from Regal Books). I welcome your thoughts, questions, and comments.
(Since we're still in the editing phase, you're welcome to send me corrections if you find any that are necessary... but send those via email to joverstreet [at] gmail.com, so they don't clutter the discussion. Thanks.)
introduction
“You didn’t like it? Why not? That movie changed my life!”
“How can you call that piece of trash your favorite movie of the year?”
Over the last decade of writing film reviews for magazines and Web sites like LookingCloser.org and Christianity Today Movies, I’ve received all kinds of questions, some of them charged with emotion. “How can I know if a movie is safe for my children?” “Aren’t you taking this too seriously? Isn’t it just entertainment?” “American Beauty changed my life — how can you say that it’s flawed?” “The New World bored me to tears. How could you recommend something that moves so slowly?” Many of these questions require more than short answers, more than an argument.
Movies inspire passionate feelings. And those feelings, once expressed, can inspire strong bonds between us, or cause us to clash. As I sort through my email and talk with moviegoers at work, church, or film festivals, I find that once we get past those initial, emotional responses and begin to explore our shared experiences and differing interpretations, we can learn a great deal about each other and ourselves.
Because I am a Christian and a movie critic, I wrestle with certain questions that other film reviewers may never face. Religious readers are particularly interested in what filmmaking and faith have to do with each other. Viewers raise questions about movies that are “worldly,” or violent, or films in which they perceive a political agenda. One asks, “Is it okay for Christians to watch R-rated movies?” Another writes, “You gave that Bruce Willis film a good review — but what about the foul language?” Some are troubled by the sex scene in Cold Mountain, or the unflattering portrayal of prayerful Christians in Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby. Some are worried about witchcraft in the world of Harry Potter, and others declare that Hollywood is preoccupied with attacking traditional values. “The Bible says we should have nothing to do with darkness,” a reader reminded me. “So, how can you justify spending so much time at the movies?”
I’ve wrestled with many of the same questions in past years. The answers did not come easy. While other moviegoers were quick to instruct me on what movies were good or bad, backing up their arguments with Bible verses and statistics, my experience and understanding of Christian freedom and responsibility led me to different conclusions and to new questions as well.
Thus, when I respond to readers, I find my answers require something more than a simple explanation. I end up sharing stories about my journey. I talk about my changing relationships with certain films, my conversations with moviegoers and filmmakers, and events that transformed me.
So I decided to write a book.
And the book became another chapter in that journey. I retraced my steps backward from Michael Haneke’s Code Unknown, Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colors trilogy, and Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, all the way to the days when Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars stimulated my young imagination. As I did, I began to see how the power of art has led me to growth and understanding. I realized that I was already responding to the light shining through art when I was nine years old, delighting as Kermit the Frog headed out of the swamp on a rickety bicycle to pursue his dreams in The Muppet Movie.
I was also startled to discover how profoundly time and experience have changed my perspective. As I re-read my own review of Spike Jonze’s film Adaptation, I was ashamed to find that I had reacted hastily to the film. The characters’ reckless behavior had made me uncomfortable, and so I had judged the film prematurely, without perceiving the film’s meaningful observations on human depravity. Revisiting the film since then, I’ve been moved and inspired. Other films that ignited my enthusiasm now, after a second or third viewing, seem heavy-handed or derivative — even shallow.
This is one of the things I’ve learned along the way — a first impression is rarely the final word on a movie, and, in fact, there is probably no final word at all. Art needs time to settle in our minds and hearts so that the process of contemplation, discussion, and ongoing exploration can open up possibilities that never occurred to us in the theater.
This process was first modeled for me by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel on television. Even as a ten-year-old, I wanted to understand how two experienced and respected moviegoers could disagree so passionately and glean such varying insights from the same movies. Their heated exchanges made art seem so much more mysterious, so full of possibility. I began to understand that this — interpretation, conversation, and revelation — was what art was all about. Even though they concluded with “thumbs up” or “thumbs down,” moviegoing was not really about casting judgments. No simple checklist of do’s and don’ts, no quick scan for certain volatile ingredients, could lead me to a fair assessment of a film. This was to be a journey.
I’m sure that many of my strongest friendships would never have grown without the art that provoked me to share feelings with others and learn from their perspectives. Would I have met and fallen in love with my wife if I had not learned a few things from movies about love and looking closer?
Writing this book has shown me how movies have enhanced my life. It has reminded me of why I do this — why I see movies two or three times (or more), why I examine the truth that shines darkly through the veil of the movie screen, and why I go home to write about the experience. Just as Christ’s listeners attended to his metaphors and parables, and heard him say, “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear,” so I have found that we can glimpse transforming truth through the beauty of art if we put aside fear and judgment, and look with “eyes to see.”
This book is not a catalogue prescribing what movies you see and what you should avoid. It’s not a technical manual on the finer points of filmmaking. It is, rather, an invitation to the journey. To those who wrote to me with questions about moviegoing and never received a reply — I apologize for the delay. But I could not give you a satisfactory response without presenting the bigger picture, without taking you to the movies with me.
I hope you’ll come along and join the conversation.
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