We’ve all met someone who is too self-centered, someone who cares about their own interest over anyone else. People like that can be found everywhere, even right here in the G.T.A.
I Like Movies is a great coming of age movie, regardless of whether or not you like movies. pic.twitter.com/NmSRKRqr0U
— James Mackin @ TIFF22 (@JamesMackin10) September 10, 2022
I Like Movies is set in Burlington in the early 2000s. Lawrence (played by Isaiah Lehtinen) is a teenager who cares about only two things. Those are the artform known as cinema, and going to film school in New York. He sees his life as currently stuck waiting for the big things to happen, all of the people around him simply placeholders until he becomes a famous filmmaker like Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson, or Todd Solodnz.
He’s working on an end-of-the-year video for school with his only friend Matt (played by Percy Hynes White), but he won’t let anyone see the footage because it’s not cinematic enough. He fully expects that he’ll go to film school in New York, but won’t even apply for any Canadian schools in case he doesn’t get in. He gets a job at a video store, but only sees it as temporary despite the rest of the staff working there as a career.
This film is the debut feature of journalist and film critic Chandler Levack, and she expertly treads a thin line in garnering the audience’s sympathy for Lawrence. We see that Lawrence has gone through an immense tragedy, which cuts him some slack. Ultimately, what he yearns for is connection with others but he’s only able to pursue that through an intense self-centeredness. In Lawrence’s opinion, he knows what’s best, and nobody else has the right to challenge him.
But through his friendship with his boss Alana (played by Romina D’Ugo), he starts to get challenged on things. While they both work at a video store, she hates movies which completely confounds him. She holds him accountable for not doing parts of his job, and D’Ugo does an admirable job in showing the strain this requires. Lawrence is nearly an adult, but hasn’t figured out how to interact with others. D’Ugo’s character takes the reins in teaching him, even when he doesn’t want to learn. Her performance is easily the highlight of this film.
In an era where incel culture grows, and social media creates divides between people interacting with others through the digital medium, we can often forget that everyone we interact with is another fully formed person. Everyone’s got their own lives, their own dreams, their own depressions. I Like Movies is a film to remind us not to forget about the other person, to remain empathetic. We’ll always be wrapped up in what’s going on in our life, but it never hurts to ask another person how they’re doing.
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