Favourite Film Snobbery

I always feel that there can be a slight snobbery around talk of someone’s favourite film. I am certainly not a person who has never been a film snob, and I did once openly laugh in someone’s face when they told me that their favourite film is Love Actually. Another Richard Curtis film, Notting Hill, is just incredible; that is the best thing that he has written, and I would recommend that over Love Actually any day.

I do have a favourite film, which when I first saw I completely fell in love with. The cast, characters, script, director, cinematography, soundtrack – everything about this film just worked so well.

Although it is a clique to say, I haven’t seen a film since which has held me in the same awe as when I first saw this. I am a very big film fan, and I will watch almost anything, but even years after seeing this for the first time, I still have never felt the same about another film.

As this is seemingly a marmite film, I sometimes get ‘I really love/hate that film!’ (delete as applicable), but in general, the reaction I get is surprise. As someone who has seen a lot of films, people are very surprised to find out that this is my overall favourite.

I cannot say that I am never a snob, certainly in terms of the Indie vs. Blockbuster debate. I would much rather see Richard Ayoade’s The Double (amazing film) over The Avengers (massively overrated) any day. Don’t even get me started on Avatar. There is only so much Marvel and CGI one can take before needing a good, characters based, indie film.

I do enjoy some of the bigger blockbusters. Titanic, which I find generally has a mixed reaction (in that females like it and males hate it) I do think is a very good film, if not slightly cheesy. The famous classics, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca and 12 Angry Men will always be favourites, as is the Back to the Future trilogy. Although I have a variation of favourite films in my top twenty, this one particular film will always be my number one.

I guess I will have to live with the fact that my favourite film choice may always get a weird reaction and a bit of a laugh. But is there any point in saying my favourite film is, say, Doctor Zhivago, which I do love, over what actually is my favourite film? It probably always will be my number one film, and it will always be the film I make my friends watch and put on when I need a cheer up.

(I will also defend Titanic, always).

Read the piece at readwave.com