What made you become a film buff?

..and why not?
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GoogaMooga
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What made you become a film buff?

Postby GoogaMooga » 26 Oct 2018, 19:50

I can pinpoint almost to the day when I became a film buff instead of just a casual viewer. It was in August 1978, and we had moved into Sendagaya Mansion, Tokyo, as a stopgap before a house. In the lobby they had some paperbacks lying around, and I picked up The Book of Lists. The film section had ten best lists from the likes of Orson Welles. To my great surprise, I knew quite a few. I decided then and there that I was going to explore further...

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"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Quaco
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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby Quaco » 10 Dec 2018, 19:17

Good book. Seminal to me as well.

I don't know that I would call myself a film buff, but my story is this: Growing up, I had seen some interesting movies but didn't feel I had a real grasp on film the artform. I felt a little behind, didn't know directors, hadn't seen enough classics, and so on. Luckily, around 1994 (I think), I moved to a new place which was down the street from the local revival cinema (incidentally, the same place where Q. Tarantino claims he got his own film education), so I availed myself of it often, and really started catching up on things -- such that I can now carry on a conversation about film!
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GoogaMooga
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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby GoogaMooga » 10 Dec 2018, 20:11

Quaco wrote:Good book. Seminal to me as well.

I don't know that I would call myself a film buff, but my story is this: Growing up, I had seen some interesting movies but didn't feel I had a real grasp on film the artform. I felt a little behind, didn't know directors, hadn't seen enough classics, and so on. Luckily, around 1994 (I think), I moved to a new place which was down the street from the local revival cinema (incidentally, the same place where Q. Tarantino claims he got his own film education), so I availed myself of it often, and really started catching up on things -- such that I can now carry on a conversation about film!


Nice! Whereabouts was that new place?
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Quaco
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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby Quaco » 10 Dec 2018, 21:11

GoogaMooga wrote:
Quaco wrote:Good book. Seminal to me as well.

I don't know that I would call myself a film buff, but my story is this: Growing up, I had seen some interesting movies but didn't feel I had a real grasp on film the artform. I felt a little behind, didn't know directors, hadn't seen enough classics, and so on. Luckily, around 1994 (I think), I moved to a new place which was down the street from the local revival cinema (incidentally, the same place where Q. Tarantino claims he got his own film education), so I availed myself of it often, and really started catching up on things -- such that I can now carry on a conversation about film!


Nice! Whereabouts was that new place?

It's in Hollywood. Here's a nice article...

http://www.fright.com/edge/NewBeverlyCinema.htm

I have to confess that it's lost its lustre for me now that Tarantino is running it. I've only been there twice since the changeover, both when they were showing something I was never going to see on the big screen anywhere else -- once was Hickey and Boggs, and the other was a print of Nilsson's Son of Dracula. When Quentin bought the property to save the theater (because the previous landlords were trying to kick the theater out), I swore I'd never say a bad word about him. Now, he's changed the vibe, and transformed it into his dream place, which is different from my dream place -- which was pretty much how it was -- so I can only say more power to him.
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GoogaMooga
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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby GoogaMooga » 10 Dec 2018, 21:31

It might be fun to have Tarantino as curator, but I think I'd be happy with him just being a "guest" curator. ;)
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Davey the Fat Boy
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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby Davey the Fat Boy » 11 Dec 2018, 08:00

I had the Book Of Lists AND spent much of the 80s and 90s at the New Beverly.

But my love of film started with The Z Channel.
“Remember I have said good things about benevolent despots before.” - Jimbo

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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby ` » 11 Dec 2018, 08:24

A childhood spending rainy Sunday afternoons in front of a tiny black and white TV watching British movies of the late 50s and early 60s in which you quickly came to name almost every actor.

Let's hear it for the late great Dennis Price, Richard Wattis, Sam Kydd, Victor Maddern and many, many more, too numerous to mention

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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby Jimbly » 11 Dec 2018, 09:48

caramba wrote:A childhood spending rainy Sunday afternoons in front of a tiny black and white TV watching British movies of the late 50s and early 60s in which you quickly came to name almost every actor.

Let's hear it for the late great Dennis Price, Richard Wattis, Sam Kydd, Victor Maddern and many, many more, too numerous to mention


this and also the regular movie seasons on bbc2 on saturdays and sundays.
So Long Kid, Take A Bow.

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GoogaMooga
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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby GoogaMooga » 11 Dec 2018, 11:35

In the 80s, BBC2 had the critic Derek Malcolm introduce a weekly film, I forget which night. All the good films were on 2 and 4.
Last edited by GoogaMooga on 20 Dec 2018, 22:41, edited 1 time in total.
"When the desert comes, people will be sad; just as Cannery Row was sad when all the pilchards were caught and canned and eaten." - John Steinbeck

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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby Ghost of Harry Smith » 19 Dec 2018, 22:53

I think it was growing up at a particular time when cult and classic films were starting to be discussed but weren't readily available, so that created a desire to track stuff down and to unearth things that weren't easily found. The seeds were probably sown watching BBC tv in the ‘70s when they would screen films by Powell and Pressburger, an old Ealing comedy with Alec Guinness or maybe Tony Hancock’s The Rebel. And if I stayed up late I might see one of the strange early ‘70s adult films I didn’t completely understand like Don’t Look Now, or Deep End, or Unman Wittering and Zigo.

When I was about 15 I went on my own to see a double bill of Badlands and The Conversation, that sealed it.

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Re: What made you become a film buff?

Postby $P.Muff$ » 20 Dec 2018, 02:20

Open-minded parents
Curiosity
The VCR
The IMDb


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