This wasn’t a great year for quantity, but it was for quality. Overall a phenomenal set of film experiences.
ARIK DEVENS
2024
And that’s it for 2024 here at Cinema Gadfly. A new record for fewest films watched, but also a ten year anniversary celebrated. And few films isn’t no films, after all. This journey continues, even if it feels glacial at times. These films are my meditation, and I will keep going at whatever pace is available to me.
If there’s a theme in my watching for this year, it’s that I overcame my hesitation on a lot of these films. From a previously unliked Wes Anderson, to a film I have owned for almost the entire time this site has existed, to a film that I have literally started and not finished three or four times before. This was a year of just getting over myself and hitting the play button. I am better for it.
Last year I wrote about hope for the future. Sadly this year none of those external hopes came true. The world is even less filled with the kind of nuance we so desperately need. People are even more team oriented and individual over community focused. It’s quite depressing. I’m currently avoiding the news, just to try and rebuild some basic mental health.
On the family front though, all those wishes continue to come true to an astonishing degree. My kids keep getting more and more interested in everything around them. They, and my wife, are truly the primary drivers of joy in my world. I watched less movies, but I spent more time with them. I’ll take that deal any day of the week.