martimusross

I have always loved film and in an age of subscription and fake news the power of this medium to shape and inform societal discourse gains ever increasing importance as the century progresses.

Film matters and a fair appreciation of these high art products becomes ever more important, I live by this maxim.

The purpose of any criticism is not to destroy casually the work of others, but to recognise excellence and areas of improvement and to add to the understanding of what was intended and has that intention been realised within context.

Lastly, criticism needs to call out any sort of doctrine, ideology or political stance that seeks to pervert public thought for its own purposes, a gentle liberal approach to life is good as a stance, but if this leads to a dumbing down, liberal authoritarianism or societal controls on freedoms of expression this must be steadfastly resisted.

Film needs to be brave and not just give the public what is wants in the pursuit of profit and recognition, like any great art it must exist in some purity and often we all need to be presented with shocking and upsetting thoughts and images in contradiction with our own lives.

Reluctantly if film matters so do awards and critism helps to contain and restrain the excesses of those who would seek to subvert the Oscars and the Baftas for their own narrow political reasons. An award must fundamentally be there to recognise excellence and any other result is a significant betrayal of public trust, brings that organisation into disrepute and ultimately damages the very industry it was created to promote and support.

Film enriches our world.