Why I'm starting this journal.

I have infrequently written film reviews since 2014. I attempted to start a weekly collection on Medium but that fizzled out rather fast. I then started posting these reviews on my personal Facebook account. (This was before the events of 2016 that showed us what a hot mess Zuckerberg's algorithms were.)

These reviews, usually composed hours after I had left the cinema, were a delight to write. To my quiet delight, they gained a fair bit of traction with friends both close and distant. Even today, reconnecting face-to-face with colleagues and classmates I've not seen in years, they bring up these film reviews and ask me if I've seen any film that struck/stuck with me.

I don't know how frequently this newsletter will land in your inbox. Given my past and current film-viewing habits/practices, there should be no more than one a week, and ideally two or three a month.

As with before, the films I will write about here will skew towards what's recently been released in Singapore cinemas, rather than some older film that I may have chanced upon on a streaming platform. (But never say never.)

This is a fresh go at journalling my thoughts about the films I've seen. Two contemporary forces—the mistrust of corporate social media, and the resurgence of email newsletters—led me to this current format you are reading. Freed from the walled gardens of Silicon Valley giants, I'm hoping I encounter a deeper joy and satisfaction writing about the films I've seen, and I hope you find the same here.

P.S. Please forward the subscription link to anyone you know who might be interested to read this!