The idea of the ‘film bro’ is one that seems to have recently transmogrified. Originally meaning a frat bro who was obsessed with films he regarded as reinforcing his masculinity (ex. Wolf of wall street), it has changed to really mean anybody who likes movies outside the mainstream. Especially old movies. From countries that aren’t England or the United States. Yeah, the meaning has become pretty racist. And I’m curious about the evolution of the term because I’m a person who LOVES movies (including traditional film bro movies) and I don’t like it when people dismiss films through mockery of the people that like them.
Pulp fiction. The Dark Knight. A clockwork orange. Basically any movie that centres men, especially violent or counterculture men, from a male director who has a distinctive visual style. Generally the bro has a shallow understanding of the movie, focusing on the aesthetics and ignoring or misunderstanding the deeper implications of the film.
This was the original film bro archetype and I think the term still retains some of this meaning since the average gen z/millennial will still think of stanley kubrick if you mention ‘film bros’. Unfortunately I have a great liking for many movies in this ‘genre’ (Joker and the Matrix are good ok???). That said, I have very little issue with this original archetype because it’s a real thing and points out misogyny in a subculture. Being AFAB and interested in movies means you’re at high risk of talking with men who decide to mansplain the plot of Goodfellas to you.
Very cursory googling shows that the concept of the ‘film bro’ shifted around 2020. It coincided with the explosion of TikTok’s popularity, COVID-19, and a lot of people in the English-speaking world having more free time at home. DVD rentals are essentially dead and buried, with only a few stragglers which often cater to narrower audiences. This also coincides with the increasing popularity of adventure and action films. This, in my view, coalesces into a few consequences:
Film bro-ism has changed. Film bro movies are now:
There’s actually nothing wrong with not liking long, old, avant-garde movies. I can’t stand the film Heroic Purgatory and that was long, old and avant-garde (and foreign, too!). The types of movies people are describing (or trying to describe) usually do exist too. A lot of the descriptions smack of Tarkovsky, and I can absolutely see a traditional film bro mansplaining about Stalker to some poor woman. But the overall trend is one of anti-intellectualism and is, frankly, pretty bizarre. Are there really people who watched The Red and the White or Electra, My Love and then mansplain about them? Hell, do people mansplain about The Bicycle Thieves?? I rather doubt it. Instead it feels to me - and this is truly just feelings, not well evidenced theory - that the people who engaged in this trend didn’t think that deeply about it, and just don’t like being looked down on for enjoying mainstream movies. Which they shouldn’t be! But it’s so disappointing when people throw movies - even hypothetical movies - under the bus because they’re long, old or foreign. Instead of mocking people who engage in this kind of trend, I think it’s more constructive to meet it with empathy and encourage everyone to try movies outside their comfort zone (while, of course, pointing out their obvious racism). There’s a lot of films out there and I think there’s something for everyone. In that vein of sharing, here are some long, old, avant-garde, and/or foreign films that I quite like.
Based on a real investigation into a missing persons case, A Man Vanishes is initially played as a real documentary about the search for a missing man, interviewing his relations and tracing his movements. Then - spoilers - in the last quarter the third wall is broken. For example, at the end of an argument between the missing man’s fiance and her sister, the camera pans out to reveal the conversation took place in a movie set rather than a real room. The director sitting with the women says things along the lines of 'this is entirely fiction, this is a fictional movie we're making here'. But is it? The movie is a bizarre mix of reality and fiction, with no way to tell which is which.
This classic is an incredible watch - tightly paced, incredibly tense, both simple and shocking. Little can be said that hasn’t already, considering Battleship Potemkin is critically acclaimed and had a huge influence on cinema. It’s also just over an hour long, making it a nice quick watch.
It’s La-La Land before La-La Land. Also the only French movie I’ve watched where literally every character ISN’T chain smoking.
