Revelation Perth International Film Festival 2023: "I Like Movies" review
Revelation Perth International Film Festival returns to Palace Cinemas for its 26th year. Offering a slew of shorts and features from across the globe. The festival runs from July 12th to July 16th, opening with homegrown talent Ben Young’s crime feature Devils Peak and closing with De Humani Corporis Fabrica, which takes viewers on an intimate journey through the human body. The full festival calendar can be found here.
In anticipation to the forthcoming festival, we bared witness to Canadian Feature ‘I Like Movies’, a coming-of-age dramedy following the trials and tribulations of film buff Lawrence, as he navigates his first job, relationships, and prospects.
The iconic Perth film festival is known for its renegade spirit when it comes to its curation, bringing us inventive, experimental, and never-before-seen films that not only seek to entertain us, but challenge us as as movie-goers. In line with this, Revelation brings us I Like Movies in its 2023 season, a polarising that you will either charm you, or lose you completely.
Unfortunately, I did not like I Like Movies.
Whilst there is some praise be said for writer/director Chandler Levack’s screenplay, which states plain and bluntly the horrors of Hollywood and the ill-treatment of women both minor and major, the film itself is a poor imitation of recent coming-of-age films, taking very notable page from the likes of Lady Bird, Edge of Seventeen, and Mid90’s, with diminishing returns.
As a love letter to film, it is contriving and ubiquitous. Shot in a flat, uninspired 4x4 ratio, plastered in a dull colour palette, and with very little to say for itself, I Like Movies will not appease many film aficionados. Overlong, and following a frankly unlikeable character (who is barely likeable after his comeuppance), I Like Movies almost unintentionally reminds you of how painful it can be to be part of a fandom.
Disappointingly, to me, I Like Movies feels cheap and taciturn. If you are looking for a challenging cinematic experience, however, this could be the one for you! Otherwise, the Revelation Film Festival has a myriad of other experimental film gems, waiting to be discovered.
