About My Movie Group

by Bruce E. Parry

I belong to a Movie Group. We meet once a month and have been meeting now for 5 years. We have 5 members. We select the movies ahead of time by consensus. Any member can veto a movie. Everyone is required to watch the movie ahead of time. Then, on the night of the movie, we eat dinner together, decide on future movies and dates, and then watch the movie again. Anyone can stop the movie at any time to make comments or go back and re-watch a scene. It often takes three or four hours to watch a two-hour movie. We don’t pick long movies because some of us have to work the next day. So far, the record seems to be that we stopped the movie to comment at about 4 seconds into the movie. Long shots are particularly interesting and we tend to watch them all the way through to get their full effect. Then, we’ll go back and dissect them for content.

The Movie Group is a diverse group, even though there are only five of us. But the key diversity is in our approach to movies. I tend to watch the movies four or five times before the group, so I have a full knowledge of what goes on in the movie. I often listen to the commentary and/or other special features to get a better understanding of the film. I’m good at following the theme and putting it in a social context, but it’s work for me to understand the variety of shots, angles, lighting, timing and scene content. David, on the other hand, looks for exactly those things—the variety of shots, angles, lighting, timing and scene content—and watches less for the plot and character development. Patrick has a virtually encyclopedic knowledge of films and can tell us who directed and acted in any film. It’s uncanny, but when the actors in a film are watching a film within the film, Patrick can always tell us what they’re watching. Nick has an encyclopedic knowledge of Film Noir and as an artist, brings a subtle understanding of form and color to the discussion. Sam has a broad knowledge of film and often focuses on the plot, character development and entertainment value of the film. All of us bring unique points of view to the discussion based on who we are. Some are more intellectual, others more visceral, some more visual, etc.

I love my Movie Group. We go out of our way to cover different directors, producers, genres and periods. In short, we watch old movies, new movies, action flicks and Film Noir. We’ve seen Hitchcock, Sidney Lumen, Martin Scorcese and a zillion others. We’ve seen animated and live action, documentary and fiction. We strive for diversity and achieve it. Some of the films I’ve never heard of before we watch them. Others are old favorites.

I’ve learned incredible amounts from the Movie Group. I virtually never walk out with the same opinion of a film that I walked in with. That is to say that the discussion always broadens and deepens my understanding and appreciation of the film. I don’t always like them, but I always appreciate them more after the discussion. I don’t watch only Movie Group movies—I watch a lot between groups—but I always have a deeper, more detailed understanding of the movies we watch. Movies are an important art form and the Movie Group has given me an eye for movies that I never had before. It’s great!

Copyright Bruce E. Parry