The Magic Of Movies: A Tribute To Cinema

Cinema has the power to bring people together. There is something undeniably special about stepping away from the familiar to embrace the warm unknown of fictional lives. 

In movies, we search for mirrors — characters to point to and say, “That’s me.” Ones who share our interests and quirks but, to be honest, might just be entirely idealistic versions of ourselves. 

It doesn’t stop there. In movies, we look for our troubled parents, childhood friends, life-changing teachers, and horrible bosses. We look for relationships that echo our own to feel less alone in the confusion of the human experience. 

I watched Matilda (1996) for the first time when I was about five years old. As a young girl with an older brother and two parents who never seemed to understand her, I became enamoured with the possibility of being magically saved by one of my teachers. I watched the film on a loop, and that whole week, my mother couldn’t figure out why I was staring so intensely at inanimate objects. 

Unfortunately, I never seemed to master the skill of telekinesis, only that of escapism. 

One of my greatest joys in this life is floating adrift into the fictional worlds of fictional characters. I get a high from meticulous colour grading, a thoughtful soundtrack, and a careful script. I have found pure magic within the walls of movie theatres. 

There is something so tribal, so ritualistic about the movie-going experience. A room full of people, all laughing together, crying together, screaming together — there is nothing quite like it!  

I can measure my life in movies. The first one I ever saw in theatres was Hannah Montana: The Movie when I was seven years old. I fell in love with the smell of buttery popcorn in the air and the feeling of the whole world going silent for a couple of hours. 

I experienced the heartbreak of Call Me by Your Name when I was 14. I discovered a love for horror after watching Midsommar at 17. At twenty, I found a piece of my soul when I watched Detachment. 

As I continue through life, I realize more and more that for me, films are more than just entertainment; they are my teachers. In the absence of shared wisdom from my elders, movies have taught me everything I know about love, loss, and all that lingers in between. 

Whether it’s the shared laughter of a ridiculous comedy or the tears shed in a thoughtful drama, the magic of movies lies in their ability to connect us more deeply to each other and to ourselves. 

• cinema
• entertainment
• film
• movies