Trailer Narrator Voice: In a world . . . where film Substacks have become extinct, one man is crazy enough to try the impossible.
Me: I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career, skills that make me qualified to write about films. If you stop reading now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will recommend films for you; I will educate you, and I will entertain you.
Coming in January: The Film Lit Pitch
[End trailer bit]
Dear Reader,
Welcome to The Film Lit Pitch, and thank you for being here. To paraphrase one of my all-time film heroes, if you’re reading this, it means you’re interested in film. And if you’ve come this far, perhaps you’re willing to read a bit further. You remember the name of the town, don’t you?
The vision for this Substack is a space to address two separate but related elements of my Film Lit course. First, there’s simply not enough time to teach every wonderfully teachable film. I’m not expecting anyone to cry for me about this one, but paring down literally thousands of films into twelve that make a final curriculum cut is harder than it might sound, and carries with it inevitable frustration and disappointment.
Second, I consistently get film recommendation requests. What I’ll do here is recommend films by way of making a case for their inclusions in some future (hypothetical) Film Lit course; that is, I’ll pitch them. I’ll talk about what makes the films work, what makes them worthy, and where they could fit. In theory, this Substack will create greater reach and scope of my course: even if I never teach these films, and even if you’re never in my class, we can all experience a (remote and) small taste of what watching these films through a Film Lit lens would be like.
This next part is important. To make the most of each Pitch, I’ll write under the following Operating Principles:
I will assume you’ve already seen the movie. So, if you come across a title of a film you haven’t seen, go see it. If you’ve seen the film already, fantastic. Depending on your familiarity with it, maybe see it again. Then, of course, come back and read the Pitch for it. (The busiest among us will likely find the Archives section especially helpful on this front—you can always go back and read about a film when you see it.)
I will do my best to keep the Pitches tight—no more than a few minutes’ worth of reading. Good pitches should be quick anyway; and, anecdotally, most of my in-person pitches are between-class riffs with a beloved colleague, and take no more than a few minutes.
I will be family- and work-friendly in my writing. Many of the films, though, will be for mature audiences. Please do check with the appropriate authority figures in your life if you have any questions about a given film.
I will locate each film in a reasonable Film Lit sweet spot. To qualify for a Film Lit course, a film has to be teachable. Now, teachability is a difficult-to-define standard that relies on several sliding scales; if I pitch a film here, that means the film a) is at least tolerable for high school students; b) features not-too-oblique and not-too-obvious story and cinematography elements; c) opens itself to nuanced discussions about its characters and story; and d) has broader thematic connections to the world at large. Put another way: worthy Film Lit films would be worthy additions to any year-end “Best of” lists—in a universe where year-end “Best of” lists aren’t exhaustingly super-pretentious. And when I pitch a film here, I’ll also spitball some ideas for a teaching Unit it could be a part of. (For our purposes, a teaching Unit is an educational frame, a teaching angle. (You’ll see what I mean.)) And, thus, yes, I’ll recommend some film pairings for it.
I will give a two-week notice of the next film to be pitched. Ideally, this notice will give you a chance to watch—or re-watch!—the next film before it’s pitched. (See Operating Principle 1, and see below.)
The Film Lit Pitch will have both free and paid subscription options. (There will be additional content for paid subscribers, including regular “Question and Answer” threads, and some recommendations for wonderful films that I love but cannot plausibly imagine teaching.) And if you’re in the market not to subscribe but to offer a donation, that option is available, too.
I think I’m going to have fun here, and I hope you will, too. Thanks again for reading.
Your friend,
Mark
Next Pitch: Fargo (1996), on January 25th, 2023.