Filmmakers suffer from more critical attacks today. Back when the internet wasn’t as widely used as stonewashed jeans or facial oil paper, they would only get bashed in printed materials. But now everybody can publish their opinion about a movie. Everybody has a blog. Anybody can add comments on the Internet Movie Database. And everybody tends to hate a movie today. Contrary to public opinion, I hate to hate a movie. Every time I have to write a bad review for my column at The Jakarta Post, I feel like I have betrayed the form of art that has inspired, even saved my life so many times. Of course, it feels so good when I write a good review for a good movie.
After I become a filmmaker myself, I know how it feels to be criticized (read what those who hate my first movie had to say here). Shortly after my directorial debut was released, I thought about quitting my job as a professional film critic. But then I discovered that I could appreciate a movie better than before I became a filmmaker. I shouldn’t quit now. Not that when I (slightly) begin to get a hang on the craft. Strangely, being on both sides, I love movies more than ever. Now I think I can get more out of a movie. Now my believe is even firmer: if you can love a movie and other people can’t, it’s their lost. If I don’t like a movie, it’s my lost, too.
