As a student, I am often bombarded with a crazy number of questions. Often I have been asked, “What are you going to do after college,” or “Why did you change your major?”
However, there is one question that always has me stumped. What kinds of movies do you like to watch?
Now cinema comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Movies have many varieties and genres. I could be enjoying one of Kathryn Bigelow‘s action-packed, explosion-filled adventures one night, and I could be appreciating a quirky yet heartfelt coming-of-age film by Wes Anderson for the next.
It’s easy to say that I enjoy movies like Bigelow’s “Point Break” or Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom.” In my opinion, those are great movies, but I would not be completely honest if those were my only answers.
When I am faced with the question of what kind of movies I like to watch, my honest answer would be that I like to watch bad movies.
Many people would argue that film making is an art form, and art is subjective. Saying a movie is bad would be a personal judgment.
Normally, I would agree with those people. However, to others, being bad is a type of genre, a type of art.
The two pieces of art that I would like to bring to light have questioned the very meaning of what a movie is. Both Neil Breen’s “Fateful Findings” and Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room” lead cult followings for being bad movies. Breen directed, wrote, produced, edited and starred in his hodgepodge of a movie, “Fateful Findings.” This movie follows an author named Dylan who grows tired of writing books and turns to hacking to exposed the corruption in the government while mastering paranormal powers.
Now that may sound like a lot; however, those are just three of the several plots that are tossed into this movie. Dylan’s wife has an addiction to his prescription medicine, his best friend’s teenage daughter has the hots for him and so much more.
While Breen’s film confused the audience in identifying the main plot, Wiseau’s “The Room” has a somewhat clearer main plot. Wiseau just decided to dedicate an awkward portion of the movie to several unresolved subplots and side character developments.
The main plot of “The Room” is a weird love triangle between Johnny, his fiancée, and his best friend. Of course, why just have a love triangle when you could also include run-ins with a drug dealer, the introduction of an enigmatic client at Johnny’s bank or a friend who’s struggling with breast cancer.
When I am asked the question of what kind of movies I watch, I am reluctant to say that I like watching bad movies. For when I do, there is always the same follow-up question.
Why?
Because, in the end, I do not know how to put into words how much I enjoy movies that juggle absurd plot points or films that take a break from the main story just to talk about a drug dealer.
