The best films don’t really end when the credits roll. They linger, sometimes as a single striking image, sometimes as a symphony of sound and picture, and other times as a feeling I can’t quite name but can’t quite shake either. More often than not, I only start to understand what a film has done to me once I try to put it into words.
That’s why I’ve decided to start writing informal film reviews from time to time — not because I intend to become a traditional film critic, and certainly not because I feel any need to rank or definitively judge films — but because writing is often the only way I can begin to make sense of why a film stays with me. Some movies leave behind a quiet idea that slowly reshapes how I think about something; others frustrate me in ways that become more interesting the longer I sit with them, especially when I try to articulate what exactly didn’t work, or why they still managed to hold my attention despite that.
These reviews won’t follow a fixed schedule, a consistent structure, or any pretense of objectivity (not that criticism should do the latter). They are not meant to be authoritative takes, but rather personal reflections; notes to myself that I’m choosing to share. At their core, they are a space for me to think through what a film is doing, how it is doing it, and why it lands the way it does. Sometimes that means focusing on what works; other times it means sitting with what doesn’t and trying to understand whether that failure is meaningful or incidental.
Given my background in photography and cinematography, I naturally find myself paying close attention to the visual language of film: composition, lenses, lighting, color, camera movement, and the often invisible technical decisions that shape what ends up on screen. I’m interested in how these choices guide attention, create mood, or subtly influence emotion without drawing attention to themselves. But I’m just as interested in everything that sits beyond the frame as a technical object—performances, pacing, narrative structure, tone, and the ideas that emerge when all of these elements interact.
Reviews so far: The Odyssey (2026) · The End of Oak Street
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