Are we all Letterboxd-pilled?

Film study grad or not, everyone's a critic now!

- Ananya Rai

Sometimes you just have to bottom your way to the top," reads a review of the Jacob Elordi-starrer movie Saltburn (2023) on Letterboxd, a social network for movie buffs. The review has over 52 thousand likes and sort of aptly describes the movie's plot in the most Gen-Z style possible-a one-liner in all lowercase.

My introduction to Letterboxd came through X (formerly Twitter), where conversations about the app piqued my interest. I am no movie buff, but I do know that American film director/screenwriter Sofia Coppola's daughter once tried to charter a helicopter from New York to Maryland and was later grounded for that (yes...I know my fair share of blockbuster gossip). But movies?

Not so much. I am the kind of person who thinks it's an achievement if I finish watching a movie without once looking at my phone. I find it difficult to sit through a two-hour movie but can watch endless episodes of Real Housewives. However, with no Real Housewives seasons currently airing, I found myself delving into the world of cinema, inadvertently becoming one of those men I typically disdain-self-proclaimed cinephile, perhaps overly enamoured with certain classics like The Godfather (1972) and Scarface (1983), to the point where it becomes the core of his personality. Of course, not all cinephiles fit this mould.

And so, my cinematic journey commenced with cult classics such as Roman Holiday (1953) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), before venturing into more unconventional movies with titles like The Scary of Sixty-First (2020). I balanced my viewing diet between Bollywood and Hollywood and revisited my all-time favourites like Match Point (2005) and Black Swan (2010).