00:00I refuse to give stars for movies on Letterboxd, and I think you should too.
00:04If you're a movie lover or, God forbid, a cinephile, you're probably on Letterboxd,
00:09the social media platform where you can rate and log movies that you're watching.
00:13You probably love reading funny reviews and seeing what your friends are watching,
00:16but one of Letterboxd's key features, the ability to rate whatever movie you just saw out of five stars,
00:22actually undermines the art that it pretends to celebrate.
00:25When you reduce a film to a number of stars, you flatten it from a piece of art into a commodity.
00:32Your personal reaction and impression of the movie is foregone for one single number.
00:36I watched Interstellar for the first time when I was 15 years old,
00:39and I thought it was the worst movie I'd ever seen,
00:41and then about 10 years later, I watched it again to see if I would still hate it,
00:45and I did, but it also made me cry thinking about how Matthew McConaughey is one of our last true movie stars
00:51and how the fourth dimension really is love.
00:53All that to say, I can't distill my feelings about Interstellar into a star rating.
00:58I want to talk with you about it for three hours over coffee, and then I want to watch it again.
01:02Rating systems are far from uncommon in the world of movie reviewing.
01:06Famous reviewers Siskel and Ebert gave either a thumbs up or a thumbs down.
01:10But the best critics aren't just reviewing movies, they're creating art about art.
01:15I know what you're thinking, you could just write a really long review on Letterboxd,
01:19and that would solve your problems, and bro, it isn't that deep.
01:21But what if it is that deep?
01:24When we treat movies this way, we lose valuable discourse.
01:28Film stops becoming a dialogue between the creator and its audience,
01:31and then starts becoming a consumable product like the one sold on Amazon.
01:35And if you're looking for a quick way to decide whether or not a movie is worth your time,
01:39then I hate to break it to you, but you're not a movie lover.
01:41You're a movie liker.
01:43And on Letterboxd, I only roll with movie lovers.
01:46So, are you with me?
01:47So, are you with me?
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