Cassandra Bauer
Fellow cinephiles likely relate a lot to the title of this film. I knew I had to find a way to see it when I Like Movies stumbled across my Letterboxd about six months ago. When it finally made its festival rounds to a location near me, I was able to catch this gem at the Twin Cities Film Festival.
Chandler Levack writes and directs this overtly realistic coming of age story about seventeen-year-old movie addict Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen). As a bit of a social outcast, Lawrence finds comfort, like a lot of us do, in movies. He boldly proclaims, “Movies are my entire life. I need to watch movies like I need to breath air” and his dream is to become a serious filmmaker by learning how to shoot on 16mm at NYU. The film opens in a 3:4 aspect ratio to reveal a short film that Lawrence and his best friend Matt have concocted for his media class. What was supposed to be a brief video essay now becomes what Lawrence calls “a love letter to friendship.” This line alone gives you a window into the type of person Lawrence is, but let me spell it out for you further.
Lawrence is a stocky adolescent with unkempt hair, a large messenger bag, and an oversized winter coat. He prides himself to a fault, always adamant that he is the smartest in any room. He is quick to disregard anyone’s criticism against himself, but just as quickly will dish it out in return, even if unsolicited. He is the epitome of a film bro, idolizing the works of Stanley Kubrick and Paul Thomas Anderson without any acknowledgement of female filmmakers. For many people, this character feels horribly familiar.
Never having had a job in his life, Lawrence is desperate to save up for film school in America. He finally lands a gig at the video store where he previously spent much of his free time wandering around recommending movies to customers. Now he gets paid to upsell new releases, but gets upset when this includes pushing copies of Shrek (which he argues isn’t real cinema, feel free to debate in the comments). Here he learns the joys of restocking, cranky customers, shockingly small paychecks and the many other pleasures found at minimum wage jobs. But most of all be begins to develop relationships with his co-workers, particularity his manager Alana (Romina D’Ugo) who pushes back against his ridiculous attitude problems.
Picking up more hours at work Lawrence looses time with Matt, and their weekly “Rejects Night,” where they routinely watch the latest Saturday Night Live episode, gets pushed to the way side. Their friendship comes under even more scrutiny when Lawrence tells Matt he only sees him as a placeholder friend. When his relationship with his single mother falls under scrutiny, and Alana starts to turn on him, Lawrence is left without anyone to fall back on.
Reminiscent of Greta Gerwig’s film Lady Bird, Levack creates a character driven story with such realistic settings making I Like Movies feel as though it was pulled straight from real life. Many times the teen film will contain characters that are one note or clearly built on stereotypes, but Levack evades that entirely. Everyone has their own backstory that is revealed at just the right moments granting us powerful monologues, especially from D’Ugo. This specific monologue makes use of some powerful blocking and strong stable cinematography letting the character come through and D’Ugo’s performance to shine. Lawrence is such a true-to-life character he is straight up unlikeable. He is not the type of unlikeable character where you might think “aww he’s just misunderstood” no he is a major brat with little to no redeeming qualities. And yet we keep watching any way.
Alana, who often seems to be speaking for Levack, makes a great point, in which she says that the world is made for people like Lawrence. He is narcissistic and entitled, but Hollywood is filled with people just like that. This is certainly a wake up call for Lawrence and maybe even for ourselves. A female director creating a coming of age story about a young man is very unconventional. We typically get men directing films with male leads and women directing films with female leads when it comes to this genre, but I Like Movies gives us the rare female perspective on a man going through these formative years of life. Lawrence isn’t made out to be sympathetic, and Levack’s point of view allows for this new take on the genre.
The coming of age genre is a favorite of many, and certainly is one of mine, but it has become riddled with clichés and cheesy writing. I Like Movies has managed to cut through any tired tropes but still adheres to generic conventions for a movie that I’m sure you will like.
