Introduction:
Teenager Stripped Bare By The Movies
By Benjamin Cho (Australia)

I had not planned on a film-related career when I first began to really consider my future but two events after I'd left high school changed all that. Like most people who make a similar career choice, the first was watching a film. The one that did it for me was Nicholas Ray's In A Lonely Place. I had only seen a few Ray films at that stage but after that one I was hooked. It completely altered my beliefs on cinema and life, the seductive (and destructive) entwinement of the two. I watched it again and again and then began to think about why I loved this one film more than any I'd seen previously. I hunted down more and more Ray films and then began to branch out in to new eras, regions, genres and filmmakers in the hope of discovering more films like that one. During this time I realised that if this one piece of art can inspire such strong feelings in me then maybe this art-form is worth attempting a career in.

The second event that had a profound impact on me was meeting with David Stratton, Geoff Gardner and Tony Rayns — three servants of cinema I hold in the highest esteem — who were all seated at this one table in Brisbane eating lunch at the city's film festival. Listening to them discuss everyone from Jean Painlevé to Wong Kar-wai, I was inspired to keep at it, keep focussed on a career as a critic. Since then these three wise men have provided feedback on my writing, exposed new directors to me, taught me how to recognise genuine masters from false prophets and maybe most valuably, encouraged me to just keep watching and writing: I probably would be pulling out my hair as a low level marketing drone or junior-economist if it weren't for their generosity of spirit and time.

Australia may not have a "Film Comment", a "CinemaScope" or a "Sight and Sound" but thankfully the country does have "Senses of Cinema" and "Rouge"which are bastions of cine-culture down under. Like many countries, serious Australian film culture pretty much relies on the tireless, risk-taking and often un-praised work of hundreds of critics, programmers, curators, lecturers and acquisition staff whose love of cinema shows no boundaries or prejudices and like filmmaking, there are the usual pressures within the realms of film-writing and film-festivals to balance economics with art and find sustainable models for development. But when I go to a suburban DVD store and find Millennium Mambo, L'argent, The Major and the Minor, Code Unknown and The World on the shelves something in me holds out hope that a healthy film culture is within reach with dedicated and discerning people at the helm. My interest lies in Korean and Chinese cinema but I try and keep check of what's happening closer to home. While Australian cinema still seems to have its fair share of dreck — commercial comedies (and I use the term 'comedy' very loosely) or dull 'art-cinema' devoid of both art and cinema — glimmers of hope arise from filmmakers like Rolf de Heer, Tony Ayres, Kriv Stenders, David Barison and Daniel Ross to name a few who immediately spring to mind.

Getting back to it, why did I choose a career in cinema? Because nothing can provide quite the same consistent level of inspiration, education, seduction, thrill, fear or emotional resonance that a terrific film can.

Benjamin Cho

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