Everybody
loves cinema, right? We’ve all seen a fair few films too. Some of us, many more
than others. Director Paul Anton Smith celebrates his love of cinema by using
what seems (and sometimes feels) like every film clip in existence that features,
what else but a cinema. Smith has found plenty of footage, but the question is,
was it really wise to use it all?
Like a super-cut that has grown too long
for YouTube, Have You Seen My Movie? Meticulously pieces together clips from
existing movies that feature characters at the cinema. At first, there is a
story as we watch characters arrive in countless different clips, then they
take their seats, then the trailers start, ushers sell sweets in the aisles and
the audiences settle in to watch the movies.
So far so good, but it’s here that Have You
Sen My Movie? starts to lose its way. There’s a certain novelty to seeing the
old picture palaces and witnessing how the cinema experience has changed over
the years. It’s a sad reminder of what has been lost, particularly when seeing
inside the projection rooms and seeing what film projection was like before the
digital age. It’s also disconcerting to see on the screen what is essentially a
mirror image as the audiences stare at the screen, and we watch as their
various reactions are captured.
But then Have You Seen My Movie? quickly
falls into repetition. While celebrating the cinema experience, it soon makes
the experience of watching the film almost interminable. It’s like being caught
in a time loop and the clip carousel goes round and round, exploring similar
scenes, but from different movies. It also reveals a huge range of annoyances
that go along with the the cinema experience, reminding of why sometimes it’s
sadly just better to watch a film at home without all the talkers, popcorn
munchers, gropers and back-seat comedians to ruin the movie.
What helps is playing a game where you have
to hope and wait for your own personal favourite cinema-set scenes to pop up. And
unless your knowledge is ridiculously encyclopaedic, or you only watch films
from say Nigeria, then Smith has probably found every one that you can think
of. The range of films is astounding, covering classics of the Golden Age
through to many modern examples.
It’s brilliantly edited with sound being
used to bridge clips and eye line matches making it appear as though characters
from films made decades apart are sitting in the same cinema interacting with
each other. And where else are you going to see a film that includes clips from
such a diverse range of films as Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill through to A
Clockwork Orange. If only Smith had been a lot more discerning instead of using
every clip under the sun.
Have You Seen My Movie? is clearly a work
of huge endurance for its director, but sadly overstays its welcome and becomes
a test for its audience. It might be a beautiful testament to the power of
cinema to move us, but this ambitious and overlong movie-loving montage will
make you long to watch a real movie… one where the cinema audience isn’t
constantly staring back at you from the screen.
HAVE YOU SEEN MY MOVIE? / CERT: TBA /
DIRECTOR: PAUL ANTON SMITH / STARRING: VARIOUS / RELEASE DATE: TBA
Expected: 8/10
Actual Rating:
