Film as Art

I am a self-confessed cinephile. I love watching movies, reading film reviews, and study about various periods of film history.

On the surface, films seem to only serve one purpose; to entertain its viewers. For a long time, I only thought that film served only this purpose, until recently. Last May, I went to the Film Society of Lincoln Center to attend a retrospect they were having about Marcello Mastroianni, who is one of my favorite actors. The film of his that I went to see was Federico Fellini’s 1960 masterpiece, La Dolce Vita, which I had not see before.

Something that initially surprised me when I walked into the theater was realizing just how packed it was, with varying age ranges. Next me was a father and his teenage son discussing the film, while there was an elderly couple in front of me, making me wonder if they had watch the film when it was originally released.

Aside from deeply enjoying this film, for a few days afterwards I could not stop thinking about the impact it had on me. The lush black and white visuals stayed in my mind, as well as Mastroianni’s amazing performance as a celebrity reporter. Furthermore, I had reached an epiphany about film as an art form. The hallmark of a good film is not just to entertain or keep an audience interested on the screen; instead, it served to bring people to together, transcending language, ethic, and even age-related boundaries. La Dolce Vita‘s story about post-war restlessness was a universal one, forcing the audience to question their purpose in life, as well as what their true passions are. If a film can still make you think in these way even after 50 or so years, then it is an important piece of art.