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Andrew Grant

Tell us about your blog.

Like Anna Karina's Sweater, which was launched in March of 2004, is simply a place for me to jot down my cogitations on all things filmic. Rather than being just another voice offering opinion on the week's new releases, I decided that lesser known, foreign, undistributed, or forgotten classics would be the blog's focus. And though on occasion I do offer up an opinion on a major release, I actually prefer writing about titles that haven't been done to death in the blogosphere. I also run a weekly screen capture quiz that is quite a success. The blog's name (which I'm often asked about) was inspired by the dance sequence in Jean–Luc Godard's Bande à part.

How would you describe your readers? Do you have much contact with the people who read you?

I have readers from all over the globe – something unimaginable prior to the Internet. Though we take it for granted these days, I'm still in a state of dumbstruck awe over that fact. Receiving an email from a Korean film fan in Estonia about a review I wrote makes it all worthwhile. As for my regular readers, I'm not sure I can describe them with any sort of demographic accuracy, but I can say that they are a dedicated bunch of film lovers. Many of the quiz entrants send comments or anecdotes with their submissions, and I've struck up quite a few email relationships as a result. I've also established friendships with several readers I've met in person, some of whom are film bloggers themselves.

Tell us how – and why – you started your blog?

I was working as a writer for a financial data firm that was in the process of being bought out by a multinational corporation, which basically meant all work had ceased. It was at this time I learned exactly what a blog was, and came across The Cinetrix's site. Impressed with what I read, and with nothing but time on my hands and a heart full of rage over the then–upcoming The Passion of the Christ, I set up the blog in a moment of impassioned spontaneity. For the longest time I did the whole third–person thing (the Filmbrain persona), not out of a desire to hide my identity, but simply because I felt that who I was and what I ate for lunch that day didn't matter. Though some bloggers skillfully weave personal details into their content, my private life isn't interesting enough to warrant doing so.

Describe your blog day – do you work at home? Go to a café? Sit in an office?

As it is with many bloggers, I once believed that I had to post several times a week in order to maintain readership. When RSS readers became all the rage, I decreased my posting frequency, which certainly helped alleviate the guilt and stress over not posting daily. Busy as I am these days, I find it increasingly difficult to find the time to write, and I do so whenever and wherever I can. I'm a creature of the night, so most of my writing takes place in the wee hours.

How do you find things to blog about and how do you decide that an entry is worth being in your blog?

Living in New York City, there's certainly no shortage of source material available to write about. At any given time there are at least half a dozen retrospectives or mini–festivals running simultaneously. Yet most of the material I've been writing about lately comes from films seen on DVD. I regularly scour the grey–market sites, seeking out lost gems that have found their way onto DVD via somewhat questionable means. I've mostly been seeking out American films of the 70s, several of which I've already written about (Dynamite Chicken, Bye Bye Braverman). I do a bit of web hunting to see what else is out there about a particular film; the less available, the more I'm inclined to write about it.

What is your favorite blog entry?

I'm terribly self–critical, and tend not to look back at older posts for fear of cringing, but if I must pick one it would have to be my review of Martin Ritt's magnificent No Down Payment. James Wolcott mentioned the piece on his blog, which was a great bit of recognition.

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What was your most popular/controversial blog entry?

Though neither the most controversial nor popular entry, my overly–enthusiastic review of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance resulted in a rather heated dustup in the comments section, particularly around the tendency to dismiss a film by simply branding it as fanboy material.

Is blogging the new path to fame and fortune?

There certainly are film bloggers who have sussed out a way to make money off their sites, but I've never been interested in that. Though fame is perhaps too strong a word, the blog has provided me with several opportunities (panel discussions, interviews, other writing gigs, etc.) that I'm thankful for. One troubling tendency of late are bloggers who court fame by playing the contrarian for no reason other than increasing their hit count. It's tired and boring, and the guilt–by–association aspect makes it that much more difficult for film bloggers to find credibility amongst the old–media types.

What separates journalism from blogging?

In the film blogosphere the burning question is, what separates a film critic from a film blogger, and there must be more than a million words out there on the topic. The fanboy sites that trade in the "It's awesome!" brand of film criticism unfortunately became the stereotype of the film blogger – the pasty, sun–deprived sociopath living in his/her mother's basement tossing off snarky, uninformed opinions. While some of these sites have grown into a cottage industry of their own (studios now even arrange screenings for Harry Knowles), the better film blogs, which don't receive a tenth of the traffic of those sites, are unfairly grouped under the same umbrella by professional (read: paid) critics. Look at the bashing we receive every year from the gang at the Slate Movie Club, or in pieces such as this one from The Guardian. Talk about uninformed opinions! In a way I'm sympathetic to their position, for when they were coming up the ranks there wasn't an alternative to print or broadcast media, and the fact that an unknown, unpaid individual can find a receptive audience in the thousands must sting a little. For the longest time they were the culture guardians, with the power to make or break a film. Now there are literally hundreds of alternatives – many of them pointless, and certainly not criticism, but they're there just the same, and, given their readership, will probably be around for a long time. Read some of the better film blogs and it becomes patently clear that a film critic is not defined by a paycheck. I gain far greater insight to a film by reading a review from Zach Campbell or Kevin Lee than I do from … well I won't name names.

Who are the bloggers that you read religiously?

David Hudson's daily posts at GreenCine are an absolute must – everything you need to read that day will be there. The bloggers I couldn't live without are probably too numerous to list here, but beside the two mentioned above there's Girish Shambu, Daniel Kasman, Lisa Rosman, the gang at The House Next Door, Andy Horbal, the Self–Styled Siren, Peter Nellhaus, The Cinetrix and Dennis Cozzalio, to name but a few. Cinematical does a great job of keeping me up to date on both studio and indie news, and of course The Reeler for wall to wall NYC film coverage. Then of course there are the critics who maintain blogs, Dave Kehr, Glenn Kenny, Michael Atkinson, etc. I could go on and on. . .

How has your life changed because of your blog? Has it gone in any new directions because of your newfound prominence?

I've met and befriended some wonderful people as a result of having the blog, including a well–known critic (who shall remain nameless) who for years had been a tremendous influence. Also, if it wasn't for the blog, I probably never would have started Benten Films, my new DVD distribution company. After years of writing about films that are unavailable in the States, I figured … why not do something about it? In a way I feel like I'm giving something back, and I'm thrilled to be able to release titles, both new and old, foreign and domestic, that meet the single criterion of "I love this movie." I see the label as an extension of the blog, and in time I hope that people know what they can expect from a Benten release, even if they've not heard of the film before. As far as I know, Benten is the only DVD label started by a film blogger, and it's been a fascinating experiment so far!