Originally published in print in December 2023.
“Letterbox? That’s where you show the movies that you’re loving? Is there a dating aspect to it?”
These are the words of esteemed director Sofia Coppola, but could be mistaken for those of any poor unsuspecting Trinity student who is about to be subject to an earful from someone who takes the business of watching movies far too seriously. Alongside the birth of mainstream social media websites like Facebook and Instagram, more niche sites devoted to specific interests have also sprouted up in recent years. Goodreads and Letterboxd, dedicated to reviewing books and films respectively, stand out in particular. Goodreads has been a staple of any self-respecting reader since about 2014, but Letterboxd is a space which has seen a particular explosion in usership in the past couple of years. 2020 and the experience of the pandemic birthed many a casual cinephile, but also apparently unleashed the compulsion to share said film consumption with those close enough to us to care.
Created in 2011, Letterboxd at first remained an obscure website used only among the most die-hard of film fanatics to log their cinematic activity. Today it boasts a usership of more than 10 million people. Its various features make it a fun tool to complement one’s movie-watching: you can rate each film you watch out of five stars, write your own review, and compile your own lists of films based on whatever vibe you’re going for. As for the social aspect – while it has yet to develop the dating element Coppola envisages, you can follow other users, observe their film consumption, and like their reviews. Reviews with the most likes show up at the top of each film’s page; pithy one-liners tend to do the best numbers, much to the chagrin of the more self-serious filmbros. It is a very unserious endeavour – the top comment on The Godfather is about the scene which references it in Disney’s Zootropolis. There is a space at the top of everyone’s profile to display your four favourite films of all time – a weighty decision that requires much consideration, but also makes the impossible question (often casually thrown about in conversation by philistines as if it means NOTHING) easier to prepare for.
The Letterboxd Top Four has become such a thing that the likes of Viola Davis, Matt Damon, and Jennifer Lawrence have been asked about theirs on the red carpet. The presence of Letterboxd representatives at nearly every red carpet event is testament to how much the platform has grown and how significant it has become among the film community. Although this influence has regrettably not reached Sofia Coppola, other respected directors have recognised the platform and have gone so far as to endorse it – Barbie director Greta Gerwig did an interview with the site, while its star Margot Robbie made a list of films she watched to get into character (this included The Truman Show, mermaid rom-com Splash and the 1967 French musical comedy The Young Girls at Rochefort). After being discovered by the masses, Robbie deleted her Letterboxd account, but not before we were able to find other lists she had compiled for various roles, such as the one for 2022 box-office flop Babylon.
Lists are by no means the most popular, relevant, or coveted feature of Letterboxd. If not the famed Top Four, this might be the option (unlocked by paying for Letterboxd Pro) to change the posters of each film and how they appear on your profile. But for most of its users, it’s not that serious. It’s just a fun way to share with your friends which movies you have watched recently and what you thought of them. Or really, a way to document it for yourself, like a diary. Because it is still cringey to bring up in conversation, most of us do not follow our friends on it. Rather than sites like Facebook and Instagram where it is encouraged you follow everyone you have ever met, Letterboxd and its cousin Goodreads require a deeper level of intimacy before one can broach the prospect of connecting on these hallowed platforms, which arguably require much more vulnerability than mainstream social media sites. The books and films you engage with, as well as your opinions about them, reveal a significant amount about you as a person, and it can be easier to keep these guarded rather than divulge such passions in a world where doing so can be seen as embarrassing.
There are different categories of Letterboxd users: notorious filmbros (write eight-hundred-word reviews which no one will read), people who like films a bit more than normal (mostly write brief witticisms, but nearly always change the film posters of their Top Four to the most aesthetically pleasing ones) and those who, like me, are a bit obsessive about everything in their life and use the site as one of many tools to document their existence on earth (log movies watched, rate them out of five stars, sometimes write a one-line review if feeling brave). While more and more of the Hollywood elite are acknowledging Letterboxd’s existence, actual celebrity users remain rare; although, this October, Martin Scorsese famously joined their ranks – a big win for bros and mere enthusiasts alike. Much like himself, his bio is short and sweet, and references the meme a quote of his has inspired (see illustration). Let us have the courage to unabashedly do the same – to shamelessly share our likes and dislikes, to relentlessly record every take no matter how lukewarm or trivial, to stand up and say of our favourite film, without a hint of irony that such a situation normally necessitates: “This is cinema.”
WORDS: Rosie O’Mara
