It never occurred to me that when you make a movie you're holding up a big sign that says 'hit me!'. I regularly peruse the reviews written by viewers on the various movie sites and I have to say that we're running positive except on NETFLIX where we average about 7 out of 10 positive and low ratings. It's the negatives that stick with me. Clearly this is a personal issue but also an instructive one.
I picture the negative reviewers in grey tinged y-fronts, (yes they seem to be all men), with big bellies and pizza boxes strewn about a room with the curtains drawn, stacks of unwatched movies and unwashed dishes, maybe a cat. Men who have no women in their lives, and who live to pontificate on what's good and what's bad with no grey in between, excepting their own u-trow, and no concept that an opinion is genrerally just that, not fact.
The negative reviewers all seem to be actors as well, since they lament the participation of the players in RACING DAYLIGHT as embarassing or wasted. So sad. I don't believe the actors feel this way, as many of them are returning for our next adventure SLAP AND TICKLE. I'm sorry that they missed the nuanced moments, the psychological underplay, the humor.
I try to figure out if the reviewers know that many people spent years crafting and executing a dream which they have somehow successfully maneuvered into the marketplace, and that the same people realize their film is not for everyone. It was never intended to be. I try to figure out these things and then realize that all I can really do is learn from this experience to be kinder, more thoughtful in my own criticism. Nothing is really black and white...only shades of grey.
New Years resolutions:
Focus on the positive
Be kinder to self and others
Let go what you can't control
Stop reading Netflix reviews
Make another movie
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