March Madness, but Make It Film: A 40 Films a Month Challenge
By: Ally Iseminger
You’re meeting someone for the first time and you land on the topic of movies. They ask you if you’ve seen a movie, and it happens to be a classic. You wince a bit as you quickly decide between telling the truth or covering for yourself. As soon as the word “no” comes out, you see their face change.
Maybe I am a bit insane, but I pride myself on being a cinephile. I love having a long, extensive list of transformative movies that I can recommend to those who ask. It’s hard to admit, but I still haven’t seen some of the classic everyone-has-seen-these films. To help combat this, I came up with my own version of March Madness in 2022. The challenge? Watch 40 films I have never seen before within the 31 days of the month. I chose the month of March due to the Oscar’s season, but also because it offered a nice challenge to bring me right through the end of winter. At the time, I was working from home and had a slow-paced office job, so it was easy to fill the gaps in time with back to back movies. This year proved to be a bit more challenging as now I've changed careers and have a busier schedule.
I started out the month with going through the Oscar nominations. Totaling 53 movies and only having half the month to watch them before the big show, I dedicated my time to watching the nominees that I had heard the most about. Starting with RRR on day 1 was a strong, energetic, and incredibly masculine way to start. If you’re someone who hasn’t watched any Indian films, or really any foreign films before, I highly recommend checking out RRR for a refreshing take on film storytelling. Exposing yourself to anything outside of western filmmaking comes with a bit of culture shock at first, but can feel so incredibly refreshing. RRR was an all-encompassing film, offering Michael Bay level action pulled to 150%, incredibly choreographed dance numbers that can’t help but leave you smiling, as well as electric comradery from the main cast.
After making my way through Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, TÁR, The Fabelmans, The Elephant Whisperers, Puss in Boots, All Quiet on The Western Front and even Avatar, I finally felt like I was well-equipped for the Oscars. This proved to be right, as this was the first year that I truly felt like I got all of the witty banter and inside jokes about the films and I was so excited. Luckily for me, I had watched every single film that happened to win their categories.
Now that the Oscars were officially over, I was free-range to watch anything. My strategy for this year’s challenge was to watch things that have stayed dormant on my watchlist, because when else am I going to watch them? I finally brought myself to watch Psycho, which was a wonderful experience considering Anthony Perkins was on my screen. I also finally got around to watch The Silence of the Lambs, which quickly became one of my all-time favorite watches. On the topic of classics, I also got around to watching Nicholson’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which offered incredible storytelling that was similar to Girl, Interrupted. Nicholson just fits perfectly into any role he takes on, and this film was just another great performance from him. This next film is a rather embarrassing admission, but I finally watched Rocky, which I loved so much that I followed it up immediately with Rocky II, III, IV, and V. I always avoided Rocky because I labeled it as a “man movie”, my terminology for movies that essentially fail the Bechdel test. I figured a boxing movie about a man from Philly had nothing to offer me, but I was proven wrong. This film, although considered one of the great boxing films, really didn’t have too much boxing going on. It’s more of a tale of heart and determination from a lonely, close to retired Rocky Balboa. From a filmmaking standpoint, this film is gorgeous. I am already planning on rewatching it when my local theater shows it on either 35mm or 70mm. I highly recommend checking out Rocky if you haven’t yet before.
What films stood out the most to me? Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! was a storytelling delight. In true Linklater fashion, this film transports you in time and genuinely makes you feel as if you’re living out the events in the room. Linklater has a great way of crafting natural dialogue while also keeping the plot progressing in a fun to watch way.
I also watched We Live In Public, a documentary that tells the tale of the early internet days and all of the crazy parties and social experiments that went on. Think of the worst type of crypto-bro you know and multiply that by five. This documentary left my jaw on the floor the entire time.
A late contender to my Oscar watches, All The Beauty and the Bloodshed had me in tears multiple times throughout its 122 minute run. I’m not sure how I skipped over this in preparation for the award show, but I’m very mad at myself for doing so. This film offered so much love and heartbreak and literally everything in between. Artist Nan Goldin carries out protests at the world’s largest art museums to protest the large donor, the Sackler family, who is single handedly responsible for the Opioid crisis as they own Purdue Pharma. These art institutions have entire wings, plazas, and centers named after the family, “thanks” to their large contributions to the art community. Essentially, the Sacklers used their profits from the Opioid crisis to fund, and essentially hide their wealth, in the world of art. As an artist herself who had struggled with addiction and had lost countless people to the crisis, Nan felt like she had the chance to create change where no one else even seemed to care.
If you’re someone who wants to expand your film knowledge, I highly recommend challenging yourself to your own personal March Madness event even if that is watching 10 new films a month. Not sure where to start? Look up your local movie theater and see what fun screenings they have planned for the month. I find a lot of hidden gems from going to local art theaters, watching things I would have never watched otherwise.
For a look at the completed list of 40 films along with reviews, click here.