During my junior year of high school, one of my best friends opened my eyes to what is now my favorite app on my phone, Letterboxd! I had never heard of it, but because she has (mostly) infallible taste in movies, I knew I had to check it out. (Shout out Lillian! I miss you and your movie-watching expertise all the way in Ireland!)
what is it?
If you aren’t familiar, Letterboxd is a website that allows you to rate, review, “log”, organize, and share all of the movies that you watch. (It is very similar to “Goodreads” with a 5-star rating system, a way to browse new options, and a profile to connect with friends and family!)
Letterboxd allows all of us to be film critics in the exact ways that we want because whether your favorite movie is Casablanca or Ratatouille (both really strong choices), you can customize and track your lifelong movie-watching journey to reflect the directing choices, visuals, soundtracks, characters, scripts, and performances that resonate with you the most. With a few simple steps, you can also add in a profile picture, write up a bio, and start adding to your future watchlist, but no account is truly complete without one critical piece: the “Top 4.”
Labeled “favorites” on the site, Letterboxd gives each person four spaces to list films at the top of their own page. This sacred and coveted feature is the way to update and advertise your own “desert island” films, and people often make sure their Top 4 list is well-rounded and crafted to represent the different parts of who they are and what they love to watch.
My favorites
Because I am sure everyone is dying to know, I will humbly present you with my Top 4, which have not changed since I downloaded the app. My personal criteria for these have always been movies that make me feel the most. I absolutely love watching something that makes me feel in a way that is complicated and reflective of all the happiness in life that doesn’t exist without the hardship, uncertainty, and sadness that come with it. (I am a big crier during a good movie, but that usually has less to do with feeling sad, and more to do with feeling overwhelmingly connected!)
The four movies that do this better than any others I have watched so far are Dead Poets Society, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Good Will Hunting.
These movies simply feel so full.
They are filled with nostalgia, fear, adrenaline, loss, adventure, and discovery, but each leaves you feeling hopeful, seen, and grateful for the ability to feel at all. They help me describe emotions that are hard to articulate without them, and their themes feel both specific to my immediate life and eternal at the exact same time. Each of these has a slightly more on-the-nose theme of self-actualization and chasing what feels authentic and meaningful in life (which may be indicative of the period of life I am in as a young college student now), but I’m pretty sure I could watch them on repeat for the rest of forever and never get bored.
See! You have already learned so much about me! (You have also gotten some really amazing movie recommendations if you haven’t seen them yet.)
Personalized picks
Everyone has their own criteria for their top 4, and it absolutely does not have to be the list of movies that changed your life. This is such a cool form of self-expression that is both instantly understandable and, if you want it to be, really layered. (It literally can’t be done wrong!)
I love the idea that your Top 4 changes as you do. As you move through different eras of your life, new movies are going to take those top positions, and an old movie may make its way back up the list because you have a whole new perspective watching it years after you first did. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, each Top 4 choice is going to say something about the way you are resonating most with media, art, entertainment, and the world around you because movies themselves are a reflection of the world we live in. It can be really incredible to watch that evolve.
the perfect interview
You might have seen celebrities asked about their picks on red carpets, and I truly believe there is some serious merit to this interview technique. A person’s top movies (of all time) reveal so much about what they value, enjoy, and take comfort in. There is no better way to feel connected to an A- List movie star than to find out that they also just watched the newest A24 movie, and they also haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
The “Criterion Closet Picks” is a similar interview format in which actors, directors, and other public figures are invited to explore the Criterion Collection, which comprises over 1000 physical copies of films. Each person gets to find, hold, and rave about the art that has not just shaped their career, but shaped the people they are now. It’s so incredible to see actors that are just starting out get just as giddy and choked up talking about their favorite films as older people who have worked in that industry for decades.
universal language
Discussing a “Top 4” with friends truly isn’t just another icebreaker.
Often, a movie really touches someone because it reminds them of the period of their life when they watched it, or of a certain person who was always talking about it. Maybe the movie had some really incredible social commentary that opened their eyes to a new way of thinking, or maybe they just became obsessed with the soundtrack or actors. No matter the reason, sharing a favorite movie is an open door for vulnerability, understanding, or just a really fun pop culture discussion.
Talking about movies really is a kind of universal language. No matter your age, gender, or background, you almost certainly light up when you discuss something you are passionate about.
In the interest of keeping movie theaters alive, we should all be getting tickets for the latest movies, and in the interest of forging new bonds by sharing more about what you love, we should all be using these watching experiences to start new debates and dialogues! If you see someone pull out their phone the second credits start to roll in that movie theater, they are probably logging it on Letterboxd, and maybe, if the movie was good enough, they are probably updating their Top 4!