I love movies. I love watching them, watching videos about them, everything about movies. If you know me a bit better you might know that one day I even want to be a screenwriter. That’s how deep the passion goes. 

I love all sorts of movies. Dramas, classics, romances, and even some action. I think everyone’s range is pretty broad. However, we can all agree that regardless of name or category or nomination, certain movies are inherently superior. I was wondering about what it was that could draw a seemingly inconspicuous movie from obscurity. Was it an intricate plot, large payoff, satisfying conclusion, character development, what? Which aspect shadowed all the movies that I and so many others adore? 

There are about 15 or so movies that I could pretty much watch any day at any hour under any circumstances. I’ve seen them God knows how many times, and yet each time I somehow divulge something else out of them. There is absolutely nothing these movies have in common. To give you some perspective, they range from the Silver Linings Playbook to Moulin Rouge to Waterloo Bridge. One similarity I guess is that in the latter two the main characters die in the end, but let’s call that chance and not a fondness of tragedy.

Anyways, between all those 15ish movies, there is not one that does not have superb characters. I didn’t say character development, because not all characters need to change in my opinion, but the characterization is on point. Dialogue is also always a staple, and the ending has to make sense given the rest of the movie. That makes it ok if the main character dies in the end, as long as it’s been embedded in the whole fabric and wasn’t just stitched on for shock factor.

Shock factor… not my favorite. Huge twist while the protagonist is trying to get so and so object to meet so and so objective? Not for me, and not very re-watchable either. This brings me to my final point: very few objective-based movies are, as I said earlier, ‘superior.’ They are literally a means to an end. They entertain you while you watch some variation of the hero’s journey, but as soon as the quest ends, so does the movie. 

There’s nothing much to project into your own life, nothing to take back home. Sure, the main character had to employ the epic trait of courage to overcome all obstacles, but what else? This is why character driven movies will always outlive those that are goal or even plot based. There’s just more to them. Movies are made more than just a series of pictures on a film reel because they are projected and we as emotional beings have the profound ability to take what they show and make them mean something.