DVD Times and Me
I began writing for DVD Times in July 1999, in answer to an advertisment by the webmaster Colin Polinowski - I hesitate to use the term because ‘webmaster’ sounds like one of those DVDs you can get for a quid from Tesco. Colin was kind enough to read my amateurish scribblings and give them a home - my first review was for The Exorcist and you can read it here. Please be indulgent - I was young and I needed something to do since I was, at that time, off work for medical reasons.
I’d like to say that I improved quickly but the truth is that I was a slow learner. I hadn’t developed a style; indeed, I didn’t have any style at all. The only consolation is that nobody had much style on ‘Times in those days and bare competence was all that was demanded. As we move into the autumn of 1999 you can see me getting a bit more confident with reviews like Airport 1975 but it’s nothing that would give Martin Amis any sleepless nights. I could write a half-decent sentence when I wanted to, but a lot of the work was knocked-off in the space of half an hour or so.
In other words, I need a sharp clog up my rectum and I got one with the arrival of Michael Brooke and Gary Couzens, both of them experienced writers and both with more knowledge than I possessed and a lot more commitment. You see, the discipline of writing is something I found very hard to attain and maintaining it is a real effort - as my reviews editor Dave Foster will happily tell you. I will produce three reviews in a couple of days and then nothing for two weeks. This must drive Dave to distraction but he’s enough of a gentleman not to kick my arse into next year.
With Gary and Michael showing me how it should be done, I had to raise my game and it was during 2000 that I tentatively began developing what I would now call my style, though I don’t think I would have called it that at the time. I never got the kind of e-mail reaction that some of my colleagues received, and I still don’t for reasons which puzzle me a little, but people started saying nice things about occasional reviews. The first time I know I made someone laugh was with my review of Blown Away and the first time I felt I had got somewhere near the heart of a film I loved was with my piece on Vertigo. The judgements are somewhat askew but the feeling is there.
But it wasn’t until 2001 that I was regularly producing material that I was happy with and that doesn’t make me blush now when I read it. Indeed, I think my pieces on Salvador, Carrie and North By Northwest still hold up quite well. But what I learned, partly through experience and partly through reading the excellent work of my colleagues, was that you never get good enough and although I think I’ve now developed a style which is quickly recognisable, I’m not entirely satisfied.
So where am I in 2007? Well, I’m the longest serving reviewer on the staff of DVD Times and I’ve seen a score of other writers come and go. Some go and then come back. Others vanish off the face of the earth. What is my secret? I think it’s probably plain bloody-mindedness that I’m going to keep at it. And while I’m well aware that I could be down a coal mine or soldiering in Iraq, I have to admit that it’s not always as much fun as it appears. A good review isn’t something you just jot down in a few idle moments and then redraft quickly. It’s the product of pure hard work and, in the case of the very best work I’ve done, it’s ripped out of my guts. If that sounds melodramatic in the extreme, it’s the only way I can describe the process. I’ve spent days and days agonising over a few pieces and, when I look at them now, I can still see things I’d like to do again. There’s always a better way to say something - it’s a constant battle for precision, for ways to most accurately express what’s going on in your mind. If I’m not careful, I tip over very easily into the realm of purple prose, especially when I get emotional.
Very occasionally, though, I get it right and it’s those pieces which I would like to represent me as a writer. What follows is a list of my personal top 5 pieces in alphabetical order:
Brokeback Mountain - A film I had a very strong emotional reaction to and a piece in which I needed to be very specific about my feelings.
Dead Ringers - I’ve written a lot about Cronenberg but this is the closest I ever got to fully expressing how I feel about his work.
Don’t Look Now - The review which became my calling card and got me several other jobs. I’m still very proud of it because, again, I think it’s very specific.
The Hitchcock Collection - I wrote all of these thirteen reviews from the heart and, as I said at the time, it was one of the pleasures of my life to have the opportunity to look in depth at such a range of a director’s work over the space of a month.
The Wild Bunch - My very favourite film of all and a difficult task because I didn’t want to betray it. It’s very, very hard to write about a film you love but as soon as I got the opening paragraph, I knew how to do it. I’m also rather pleased with the Philip Larkin allusion which seems so apt.
So I’d like to say thankyou to Colin for accepting my piece all those years ago and thankyou to all my colleagues for making working on ‘Times such a pleasure.