Why subscribe?

If you’re not sick of the myriad of movie blogs, review sites and online publications dealing with film, maybe this newsletter could be your final straw. I’m an ex-film critic whose bylines include The Playlist and Way Too Indie (R.I.P.), and more recently I reviewed movies for the Cyprus Mail, and wrote an essay that was accepted by BWDR (one of my favourite sites).

Subscribe to my Screen Reflections if you’re keen on reading a different take on popular films, deep dives into directors' filmographies, and objectively apolitical opinions that measure a film’s worth solely based on the artistic weight of its production and message (no gender agendas here, sorry!)

Oh, and yes, like most contemporary movie-related online sites, I may also occasionally write about exceptional TV shows.

Read on for a little bit more about me, if you’re curious.

I, the beholder.

Movies have been a part of my identity since childhood, and for about 6 or so years I was actually a “film critic” (still feels weird to say that). After grinding for a few years on a volunteer basis, I actually started getting paid! To write about movies! I covered the biggest festivals (Cannes most notably), interviewed some big names, had my quote and name appear on loads of promotional posters and trailers (oh my Duke of Burgundy, ahhh) and had the honour of sitting on the floor near an exit of a screening long enough for Uma Thurman to walk by and look at me with eyes full of pity. It was a wonderful time.

Alas, it was not a sustainable lifestyle (or income). After moving to Cyprus for family reasons, I had to “Wake up, you need to make money!” as the old classic song goes. That meant a steady job, and little to no more time for film writing. I also lost connection to press screenings and timely releases of movies (unless said movie was based on a comic book), so every time I saw an interesting movie all the tweets about it were already tweeted, and the movie was yesterday’s news.

Years of lurking passed on Twitter, while being very unsuccessful at growing any kind of following (I still don’t get that platform), and I continued to write whenever I could, including for the biggest English newspaper on the island whenever they needed a film critic.

As tennis god Rafael Nadal once said, “what happen-ed in Monte Carlo happen-ed, what happen-ed in Barcelona happen-ed, and what happen-ed in Madrid happen-ed, and now here we are, we are in Rome.” This Substack newsletter is my Rome; the latest chapter in my writing adventure and perhaps a fresh start. Let’s see how it goes.

I plan to make a few posts about my favourite directors, favourite movies and that kind of stuff, but here’s what I’d say if I had to rattle off some names and titles that’ll give you an idea of my taste..

Five directors from the present

• P. T. Anderson

• David Fincher

• Terrence Malick

• Mia Hansen-Love

• Lynne Ramsay

Five directors from the past

• Stanley Kubrick

• Krysztof Kieslowski

• Andrei Tarkovsky

• Akira Kurosawa

• Orson Welles

Five movies from the 21st Century

• The Tree of Life

• Mad Max: Fury Road

• There Will Be Blood

• You Were Never Really Here

• Mulholland Drive

Five movies from the 20th Century

• Barry Lyndon

• Three Colours Trilogy

• Stalker

• Rashomon

• The Wages of Fear

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