What'choo Talkin' Bout, Hillis?

Happy new year, everyone. As my terrific friend David Hudson moseys on down to IFC.com to continue fighting the good fight with The Daily, the baton has been handed off here to yours truly. Thanks to David, the accommodating good folks at GreenCine, and especially to all of you for sticking around to see what evolves. It may be a bumpy ride until I learn how to drive this behemoth, but if you promise to be patient, I promise it'll be worth your dwindling attention span.

The world is collapsing in on itself! Arts journalism is dead, and so is cinephilia! In a wintry climate like this -- and I'm not talking about the weather, although seriously, what were those poor fools thinking by standing around in Times Square on an excruciatingly frostbitten night like last? -- there has been so much chatter (again: not just our teeth) about whether film criticism matters. I passionately believe it does, and with GreenCine Daily 2.0 or whatever you'd like to call the post-Hudson era, I intend to find a tone and platform that not only proves it matters, but encourages curiosity, discourse, and awakens new cineastes. Just as Sean Penn channeled Harvey Milk, my name is Aaron Hillis and I'm here to recruit you.

As a New York-based critic, I do bring something different to the table than David Hudson. GreenCine Daily won't be the large-scale news aggregate that it was yesterday (a full-time job for David), and it would be imprudent to attempt what he does on what's now a part-time shift. Also, as I myself still freelance for IFC.com, it would be unfair to myself, David, and you to become a direct competitor, rather than a complementary site with its own branded merits. You don't have to click the criticism link above to realize we're all scooping out water from the same sinking ship, but I'm optimistic that we can nurture and save our mutual appreciation for cinema from ghettoization and homogenization.

So how will this site change? I think it begins with my personal voice. The interwebs allow any yahoo with an opinion to rant about anything and everything, but I believe it's important to be both progressive and pragmatic (two of my favorite words, as you'll learn). Both as a writer and as vice-president of the indie film label Benten Films, I've championed films that I felt might otherwise fall through the cracks, and thus my role here will be curatorial. Currently and quite sadly, marketing dollars are becoming more powerful than the collective voice of art and culture critics worldwide, and I've noticed some ugly trends that clearly aren't helping the cause. Some writers pander cynically with mean-spirited snark and tabloid sensationalism to attract readers, while others get high-and-mighty on their academic soapboxes, sniffing at anyone who has even remotely populist tastes.

I'm of the old chestnut about attracting more flies with honey than vinegar, and though my own tastes are perhaps eclectic, I'm too much of an old-school hippie (minus the smelly armpits) to want any of that inaccessible from the masses. Isn't the "death of film criticism" argument about nobody caring anymore? Perhaps that's because very few are trying to bridge the extremes of the cultural spectrum, and even the so-called gatekeepers and tastemakers are too busy feeling threatened about their words no longer carrying weight to try to remedy the situation. I personally believe The Dark Knight deserved to be as thoroughly dissected and written about as Profit motive and the whispering wind, even if the latter is a tiny little gem that needed the attention more. It's an oversaturated world, and it's impossible to keep up, but there's no reason to alienate those willing to learn, absorb and contribute to the conversation. What's sorely lacking from the film blogosphere is this attempt to expand our base.

Anyway, before I tear off on a rant like one of those aforementioned yahoos, let me give an analogy that might bring my point in clearer focus: A few years ago, I ran a Brooklyn video store and made it more profitable than it had been in the dozen years prior. How? By directly engaging my customers, learning their leanings, prescribing them more challenging films that they might never have tried out otherwise (or inversely, recommending to the snobs the mainstream movies that stood out amongst the mass-market product), and simply having a dialogue that attempted to inspire, educate, enlighten, and yes, entertain. I see this site as a way to continue those efforts, especially the entertaining part. Why do so many film bloggers have to be so humorless?

You, my new friends, are smart and fiery. You're also busy, which is why I believe 2009 demands a quality-over-quantity model that cuts through the noise succinctly and with a laser's focus. We're no longer starved for more information as we were just a few years ago. When a site posts a dozen-plus times a day, I wonder: who reads all this filler? Two-line news items are recycled and bloated to four-paragraph blog posts. In trying to grab hold of everything, once useful sites are now digital diarrhea, and their influence is cheapened. Rather than posting several times a day, I'll be writing far less but more purposefully. I'll begin posing question(s) of the day to get you thinking, talking, and hopefully refreshing the page to continue our ongoing conversation.

I'm hugely inspired by Girish Shambu's comments section, which is sometimes more alive than his already meaty posts themselves. I loved how Stu VanAirsdale captured the regional flavor of the New York film scene with The Reeler (and I won't lie, I plan to write about what NYC has to offer since it is the blog's new home base), which he unfortunately doesn't have as much time for with his current gig. I think Kevin Lee's video essays might be the future of film criticism as technology improves at an escalated pace, and while he doesn't know it yet, I'll tell you publicly that I hope to bring his magic to GreenCine Daily. My dear friend Andrew Grant regularly champions new yet little-known-yet Asian cinema and forgotten '70s Hollywood at Like Anna Karina's Sweater, and it was his readers' feedback that inspired him to launch (then bring me aboard) Benten Films a couple years back. I want to take a little bit from Columns A, B and Z here -- along with other sites that I feel are forward-thinking -- and fashion something that brings everyone together, opens up a dialogue that anyone can join, and combats the notion that we're spread too thin as a culture. What say you?

On Tuesday, I'll launch a "DVD of the Week" column since this is GreenCine, after all. Similarly, Fridays will see my "Film of the Week," which will spotlight a new feature receiving a U.S. theatrical run. In between, there will be interviews and a gaggle of podcasts (stay tuned later today), light festival coverage, op-ed pieces, and of course, news items. But my emphasis will always be curation, original content (not just regurgitations that overlap a bazillion other blogs), and cutting through the noise. Although this is starting to become a manifesto, my posts won't regularly be this lengthy, mostly because I respect how full your days likely are. Keep it simple, stupid.

In the meantime, please give back. I'm only one voice in a choir, so it's up to you to keep me in tune. The comments section is open, or you can email me: cinephiliac at gmail dot com. In due time, the community building will hopefully extend to informal meetups here in New York, at festivals and elsewhere. In a leaner, meaner year like 2009, let's channel our energies on making this all matter.

Posted by ahillis at January 1, 2009 8:25 AM